Delight Yourself in the Lord

Psalm 37: 1 – 9 (NIV): Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret – it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

King David was not a perfect man; far from it, he committed terrible sins. But this passage shows us why he was “a man after God's own heart.” David desired more than anything to have a relationship with God. That is the key. We find it in the Old Testament and new: God wants to have a relationship with us (see Hosea 6:6) and will forgive our sins when we repent.

David saw wicked people succeed in this life, just like we do today. But he knew that this life is not our true home. We are only here for a short time, then we face our maker and move into our eternal existence. So we should not envy people when they succeed, wicked or not, because living in envy is no life at all. We can take solace in the fact that everyone will stand before God.

Instead of being envious of others, we should trust in God to take care of us, and we should live a life that is worthy of God's goodness to us. Psalm 37:4 is a great memory verse and one of my favorites: Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. God knows better than we do what the desires of our hearts are. When we put him first, trust in him, seek his Kingdom, and delight in him, he will respond by blessing us more than we can imagine. To delight in someone means to take great joy in his presence. This is the key to everything.

I fear that often our relationship with God is up or down based on how things are going in our lives, but this shouldn't be so. We should trust in God and wait patiently for him to act on our behalf. To David, the most wonderful place to be was in God's promised land. That land is still sought-after and fought-over to this day, as we see in the news. But being in God's land is also symbolic of being in his will and in his presence. That's where David wanted to be – and that's where I want to be too.

God's Promise to His People

2 Chronicles 7: 11 – 14 (NIV): When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, the Lord appeared to him at night and said: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Solomon had just completed the Temple. It was the first permanent structure the Israelites built as a place of sacrifice and worship. And, of course, it was a magnificent building, worthy to be the place to worship the true God. Solomon had dedicated the temple and the glory of the Lord was so powerful that the people could not even enter the building. When you dedicate something, you are setting it aside for an exclusive purpose. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:16 that our bodies are temples today, set aside for God's exclusive purposes.

Now we come to one of the most well-known passages of scripture, 2 Chronicles 7:14. God is telling Solomon how to receive relief from the trials he and his people would face. The drought would come. The plague of locusts; the plague of sickness. Drought and locusts directly affected the people's income. The plague made them sick and took their lives.

Notice that God said he would shut up the heavens so it would not rain; God would command the locusts to devour the crops, and God himself would send the plague. We must never forget that God is in control of all things. But he told us what to do when these things happen: to humble ourselves, pray, seek his face, and turn from our wicked ways.

It's important to note that this passage is referring to a nation of people. We can see through history how true these words are. The people would begin to forget God and his decrees during times of prosperity and would suffer for it. Does God send plagues and locusts and drought to individuals? What I do know is that he uses all things for our own good, namely to get us to pray to him and to desire to get to know him.

God assured Solomon that he would allow trials and difficulties to come to the nation so they would repent and turn to him. Is America facing financial difficulties today? Is America facing a health crisis today? The answer is for God's people to repent and pray, to turn from our sinful lifestyles, and to seek God's face. Then God will hear from heaven and heal our great land.

Doubting Thomas Believes

John 20: 21 – 29 (NIV): Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

You can't really blame Thomas for not believing the report that Jesus had risen from the dead. That is not something you encounter every day. His reaction was normal; he simply said he would believe it when he saw it for himself.

Here's a little human nature fact check: a lot of people still refuse to believe even when they see something for themselves. At least Thomas quit doubting and acknowledged Jesus as the risen Christ when he saw and touched him. History says Thomas took the gospel to India, giving the rest of his life to spreading what he saw. Whether we see Jesus with our own eyes or hear the report of someone else who did, we still must choose to believe that he is the Christ. It's amazing to think about how many people saw Jesus perform miracles and heard him preach, but refused to believe that he was the Christ.

Our only question to ask ourselves is, “are the scriptures reliable?” Can we trust that what Thomas said and did in this passage is true? Did he really see a risen Jesus? The good news is that, yes, we can trust the scriptures. Yes the scriptures are reliable. When we consider the internal prophecies that were fulfilled, the changed lives, the change to the whole course of History because of the disciples' testimony, the conversion of the skeptics, the amount of ancient manuscripts, the consistency among the books of the Bible and the innumerable changed lives today, we can easily conclude that the scriptures are reliable and true.

Jesus knew his physical ministry on earth was coming to an end. He knew that subsequent generations would have to rely on the word of the witnesses. He knew we had to believe in him based on what the disciples said. That's why he said we are blessed if we choose to believe in him, even though we don't get to see his scars upon his risen body. When we realize that the scripture is true and we do believe, we will make the same exclamation Thomas made. We will cry out to Jesus as our Lord and God.

The Vine and the Branches

John 15: 1 – 5 (NIV): "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

These are among the last words Jesus spoke to his disciples. He said this the night before he was crucified. He was giving them some of their final instructions before he completed his ministry on earth. He knew how important it was that the disciples did not split into eleven churches with eleven ideas about salvation. He knew how important it was that the disciples continue to receive their strength and authority from him and him alone.

In his illustration, Jesus is using a common agriculture picture that his hearers readily understood. They knew that branches of a grape vine, or any other type of vine, could not survive on their own. Branches must be connected to the vine to receive nutrients. If you cut away a branch from the vine, the branch will wither and die without exception. If you try to create a church or ministry that is not connected to the words and power of Jesus, you are doomed to failure. Jesus is and will remain the central figure in the true church of God.

Further, branches that bear no fruit will be cut off by the gardener, God. This is the pruning process of God's church in History. Churches that remain in Christ will bear fruit for him, while those that do not will die off. The same applies to individuals – we cannot bear fruit in ministry apart from the gospel of Jesus. It was critical that the disciples understood this as the church was beginning, but it's important for us to remember today too.

One last thing: Jesus said successful branches will be pruned. God will lop away parts of our lives that hinder us. This is unpleasant at the time, but makes us better, more mature, and more effective as Christians.