60. Rescued!

January 5th, 2012

Tom Satre told the Sitka Gazette that he was out with a charter group on his 62-foot fishing vessel when four juvenile black-tailed deer swam directly toward his boat.

“Once the deer reached the boat, the four began to circle the boat, looking directly at us. We could tell right away that the young bucks were distressed.

“I opened up my back gate and we helped the typically skittish and absolutely wild animals onto the boat. In all my years fishing, I’ve never seen anything quite like it!

“Once on-board, they collapsed with exhaustion, shivering. We headed for Taku Harbour. Once we reached the dock, the first buck that we had been pulled from the water hopped onto the dock, looked back as if to say ‘thank you’ and disappeared into the forest.

“After a bit of prodding and assistance, two more followed, but the smallest deer needed a little more help (that’s him in the wheelbarrow).

“My daughter, Anna, and son, Tim, helped the last buck to its feet. We didn’t know how long they had been in the icy waters or if there had been others who did not survive. My daughter later told me that the experience was something that she would never forget, and I suspect the deer felt the same way as well!”

source: Northern Broadcasting, Second Chance Ranch

 

When I read this true story, I couldn’t help but be reminded of what it means to be rescued spiritually. Naturally, we are like those young bucks– helpless in the cold waters of death– headed for a lost eternity. We really don’t want to admit we’re unable to reach the other shore, but when we finally realize that the time is short, we’re not ready, and we can’t get there on our own, there is a safe haven available for us to swim toward. It’s not in our nature to get into that boat and let the Lord Jesus take us in, but when we’re desparate, we finally give in and accept His kind, nail-pierced hands. Then the Lord sets us free, giving us a new life, a new location and destination, and a new love for the things of God. It is an experience we will never forget– a life-changing one!

Have you experienced it?

You can, because He can! He’s able to save because He went into the waters of death and judgment on the cross to take our death sentence for us. His blood paid the debt in full. Receive Him, and what He has done for you, and then you will be able to say “THANK YOU” too!

 

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59. A Rejected King Returns

December 8th, 2011

“Oh, that I were made judge in the land…” (2 Samuel 15:4).

So said the proud Absalom, he who stole the hearts of the people of Israel by his deception and feigned love. So said Satan in the Lord’s day, as the people cried out “Away with Him” (John 19:15). So says Satan today as he tries to incite rebellion and destroy God’s order, while making himself king instead of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was a sad day in the life of David. Ahithophel his trusted counselor left him to side with Absalom, his son that had turned against him. Realizing that the hearts of the people were no longer with him, he chose to hastily leave Jerusalem. Yet in his rejection, David still had those who were loyal to him, and they proved their loyalty in these difficult circumstances. One of these men was Ittai. His speech to David when he was invited to leave is precious (2 Samuel 15:21) :

“As the LORD liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.”

Ittai was ready to die with David. He was totally committed to his king, and nothing could change that.

Another of David’s faithful remnant was Hushai, “David’s friend” (2 Samuel 15:37). Hushai was willing to live in the place of David’s rejection, in Absalom’s domain, and in so doing be a help to David.

Thirdly, there was Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was the lame man David showed kindness to for Jonathon’s sake, when he rightfully could have been killed. Misrepresented and misunderstood, he remembered his unworthiness, and faithfully longed for the king’s return until he saw him again (2 Samuel 19:24-28).

What a parallel there is in this to the life of the Lord Jesus! Judas, one of the 12 disciples, betrayed him and sided with the adversary, Satan, who wanted him to be crucified. Yet even in His rejection, the Lord had a faithful remnant who willingly stood for Him in his rejection. I like to compare Ittai with Peter, who proclaimed his allegiance to the Lord saying,

“If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise” (Mark 14:31).

Though he did not know his own weakness and denied the Lord, his heart was right, and he eventually did die for his Lord (John 21:19).

Then there was John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” who went in to the judgment hall and sided with Jesus, like Hushai David’s friend.

As for Mephibosheth, I am reminded of the Lord’s people down through the centuries, unworthy recipients of His grace, who are anxiously waiting for His return.

So David crossed the Kidron brook and sent the ark of God back to Jerusalem. In like manner, the Lord Jesus crossed the brook (John 18:1) and sent the Spirit to be in the world in His absence (John 16:7).

David continued to the Mount of Olives, where he wept, and worshiped (2 Samuel 15:30,32). The Lord wept there as well (Luke 19:41, Hebrews 5:7), and worshiped (Luke 22:42).

Ahithophel hanged himself when his counsel was not followed, and so did Judas when his pleas were not granted.

David was victorious over the enemy who was hung in a tree by his pride, and the Lord Jesus was victorious at the cross, having destroyed the one who had the power of death with the adversary’s own weapon, death (Hebrews 2:14).

With the enemy defeated, the people finally bring their king back again (2 Samuel 19:10) and David returns to Jerusalem. There is coming a day when our Lord from heaven will respond to the distress of His people and will return to the Mount of Olives from which He left, bringing peace and righteousness to earth again (Zechariah 14:4).

David rewarded Ittai with a place as captain in his army (2 Samuel 18:2). The Lord said to His own when He was here, ”Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom…” (Luke 22:28-29). Those who are faithful to Him now will be rewarded in His future kingdom. (Compare also 2 Tim. 4:8, Rev. 2:10).

The Lord’s desire while He was here was that His own might “be with me where I am.” That will be realized in a coming day, for Paul says, “so shall we ever be with the Lord” (2 Thes. 4:17). What a blessed future there is for the child of God!

You can meditate on this stirring story yourself in 2 Samuel 15-19.

Are you interested in furthering this meditation? Compare the words of Ittai with the words of Rebekah and Ruth (Gen. 24:58, Ruth 1:15-17).

“Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad” (Psalm 14:7). He has come, and He will come again.

Let us have courage to follow our rejected Lord until He returns to take us to be with Himself in glory.

 

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58. What is my life?

November 12th, 2011

Bethany Beckett, missionary to Mexico, died from a heart attack on October 25, 2010, one day before her 24th birthday. Nine days before she died, she wrote, “All the pleasure we can have in this world won’t even compare to what God has in store for us in Heaven. This life is short, eternity is long. When we get to Heaven, I’m pretty sure we won’t remember the things we thought we were missing out on, or even the things we thought were so great….”

David Alves, missionary, commented, “Really, how important is that Hollywood movie, or who won the World Series? To live is Christ! To die is gain.”

Abraham Lincoln said, “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. ”

James 4:13-15 reminds us, “What is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” My life: it’s brief.

Paul says (Galatians 2:20), “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me….” My life does not belong to me. As a believer in the Lord Jesus, I now am dead to the old sinful life, and have been brought into a new kind of life (1Cor. 6:19, 2Cor. 5:17). Without Christ, in our sins, we could not please God (Rom. 8:8), and even in Christ in our own strength we can do nothing (John 15:5). But “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (NKJV). He who gave me my life gives me the ability to live it (Rom. 8:4). Our life is now bound up in the life of God, and we live for and through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us (2Cor. 5:14-17). Is this new life a bondage? No! It is liberty from a life of sin. It is being brought in to share the heart and life of God. When He lives in and through us, we experience His life, which is truly living. Why would I want my own way when I can share in the life of God?

Romans 7:20 says, “Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me…” My life is not bound. With a new nature, I am no longer under bondage to sin (Romans 6:14-18, Heb. 10:16). Though I am responsible for my actions (2Cor. 5:10), that old nature is no longer the real me, and it will one day be done away.

Finally, we learn from 1Cor. 15:10 that my life is not boastworthy: “But by the grace of God I am what I am… I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. ” You could see this verse as though Paul were saying, “Don’t look at me: I wasn’t the one doing the labor; the grace of God did the work.” I am only who I am by the grace of God.

So in summary,

If Christ lives in me, then it doesn’t matter about my abilities: I can be greatly used of God because it is His power. My part is but to have a surrendered will, a steadfast faith, a devoted heart.

If I no longer desire to live a life of sin, then I live in His perfection.

If my life is a result of God’s grace, then I enjoy His provision to make me who I am.

And if my life is so very brief, let me consider His purpose, that I might not lose out on what is truly living: the life of God.

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