30

Jump Start # 1279

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1279

Psalms 51:12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.

  Our verse today comes from David. He’s hit bottom. He’s still the king and lives in the palace and most would gladly trade places with him, but on the inside, deep within his heart, he’s crushed, broken and defeated. David broke one of God’s 10 Commandments. That led to him adding more and more sins to hide it and make it seem to go away. It never did. His adultery was known by God. A baby was born out of wedlock. A talented and loyal soldier was killed on purpose. David’s hands were dirty with so many wicked and evil deeds. How was it possible for him to sink so low? He was spiraling downward at a rapid pace. During this time, no Psalms are written. No prayers recorded. No goodness done. The bottom has fallen out of his soul. God waits. David doesn’t move. Finally, God sends one of his prophets to confront David. Face to face, the truth comes out. David’s secret is known. He has sinned deeply. God was angry, disappointed, yet willing to forgive David.

 

Our passage today is written by David as he seeks to find that peace with God. Being on the outs with God is no place to be. Realizing that you have disappointed God and lost His favor is a terrifying situation. David, with a broken heart, I expect with tears rolling down his eyes, pleaded for God to forgive him. He was so sorry, so wrong, so broken. Restore the joy of Your salvation. What a powerful expression.

 

This verse has been racing through my mind since yesterday evening. There were two men I saw last night that had tears in their eyes. One had wondered to the wilderness, away from God. We often do that. He knew it was wrong. He came to talk. He is back with God and wants to be back with the church. He is on fire for the Lord. While we were talking the other man showed up. He’s also a friend. With tears in his eyes, he was ready to be baptized. There has been many sermons pointed right at him. Many have talked to him. But finally, it was time. He was ready to give his life to Christ and start new with Jesus.

 

Both are good at heart. Both have been where so many of us have gone before. Life without the Lord doesn’t work. It’s a dead end street. Like David, the troubles and inner turmoil tear you up. Finally, a person realizes, this isn’t working out. Living without Christ isn’t the way to go. Instead of running from God, they run to God.

 

Last night ended with many hugs, smiles and hearts thankful to God for second chances and grace. The joy of salvation is what the prodigal experienced. This is so foreign to us. When we come back from doing wrong, we expect lectures. We expect beatings. We expect frowns and stern warnings. We expect restrictions and probation. We expect it will be hard. But God’s just the opposite. Running toward us, He orders not us, but His servants to bring the best robe, and sandals. He orders the prize beef to be butchered and a feast to be prepared. As He embraces us, He takes the ring off His hand, and puts it on our dirty finger. With tears streaming down the face of God, He welcomes us home. This is grace. This is God. This is the joy of salvation.

 

I never tire of seeing this picture over and over again. It never gets old. The lost home. The sinner saved. The hopeless finding peace and love. The dirty cleaned. Redeemed. Justified. Sanctified. Saved. Those are our words. We must never forget them. We must never grow weary of trying to help people back to Christ. It’s not about building congregations. It’s not about numbers. It’s about the lost coming home to God where they belong. This is the greatest story of all time. All of us have our own version of this story. The fun in sin leaves. Guilt and shame fill the heart. Fear takes over. The desire to be right with God drives us past any embarrassment, shame or other emotions. Broken, we ask God for a second chance. Sorry, we bow wanting mercy.

 

Amazing grace—I once was lost, but now I’m found. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation. This was David’s prayer. This is our prayer. Satan messes things up. We get things all mixed up. We listen to the wrong people and make the wrong choices. We get dirty and become broken. God is the one who doesn’t throw away the broken. He restores. He fixes. He salvages. He saves.

 

That new life fuels a a greater passion. Walking with the Lord is such a wonderful expression and experience. Being able to worship the Almighty with His family. Being able to be an instrument that He uses to help others find this salvation becomes meaningful and important to us. Real hope. Real joy. Real Heaven.

 

From tears to joy…I saw it last night.

 

Way to go Josh and way to go Will. Walk strongly with the Lord. Lift your head up. You are forgiven, loved and pleasing to the Lord. Those that witnesses these things benefit. It swells the hearts of the righteous to see the grace of God in action.

 

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

 

Roger

 

29

Jump Start # 1278

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1278

Proverbs 11:1 “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight.”

  This Sunday is the Super Bowl. The big game, Super Sunday, it’s called. Each year family and friends gather to watch the game. There will be detailed analysis by the experts, review of the season and how each team got there, those special commercials and this year one new element that everyone will be talking about, deflated footballs. Deflate-gate is the term used to describe the controversial under inflated footballs in the Boston-Indy game. Was it on purpose? Was it cheating? Did the weather have an affect? Who’s behind it? Lots of theories. Lots of talk. The final word hasn’t been said at this point.

 

However, one thing is true, especially in sports, the drive to win is so intense that cheating has always been a problem. In baseball, it was pine tar on bats, steroids, and spitballs. In boxing, it was foreign objects inside the boxing glove. In horse racing, it was finding ways to shave weight off to make the horse and rider lighter. There’s been cheating in nearly every sport. We witnessed this even on the high school level. One of my boys ran cross country. One private school they ran against had a ton of runners. They get their fastest out ahead and then have a line of others that would block the narrow path so no one could go around. Cheating.

 

Cheating has been a problem in finance, business, sales, school tests for a long, long time.

 

Our verse, deep into the Old Testament, tells us that cheating was a problem back then. A false balance was a form of dishonesty and cheating. The balance was used to weigh things. Products didn’t come prepackaged as they do today, so they would be weighed. It would be assumed that a pound is a pound, unless the merchant messed with the scales and you purchased less than a pound but paid the full pound price. The buyer got cheated and the merchant profited. It would be hard to know, unless another scale was brought in and a comparison was made. God knew. God knew full well what was going on.

 

There are two sides to cheating.

 

First, the one who gets cheated, feels violated. He’s been ripped off. He’s paid more than he should have. He has a sick feeling about the deal. He will tell others about this bad experience and word of mouth will hurt future sales.

 

Second, the cheater thinks he is slick. He doesn’t really care about his customer. He’s only interested in profits. He takes advantage of someone and is only thinking of self. There are many areas that cheating would disturb us. For instance, to know that your surgeon cheated in medical school is not a comforting thought. Does he really know his stuff? To know that a pilot cheated in flight school is very disturbing. The cheater always fears getting caught. Often they do. We see them on the nightly news, being led away in handcuffs. Trusted people taking money that doesn’t belong to them for personal use. Sadly, this happens even in the church. There has been stories of those who count the contribution, stealing and of treasurers playing with numbers so they don’t get caught emblemizing.

 

The atmosphere of cheating begins at home and at a young age. Parents need to drive the point of honesty more than winning. When caught trying to cheat, the youngster needs to be punished. Rewarding wrong behavior only encourages more of that.

 

But the spirit of honesty must first prevail through our lives, words and actions. Money is not more important than character. One cannot love his neighbor and then take advantage of him by being dishonest. The truth often hurts. The truth can cost. But this is where it must begin. When selling things, be honest. When at work, be honest. Be honest in your words. Be honest with your promises. Be honest with your commitment.

 

It’s hard for honest people to compete with cheaters. Cheaters have their own rules. They have their own standards. They expect everyone else to be honest, except them. When someone cheats a cheater, they get real upset. Hard to understand why? It’s ok for the cheater to cheat, but not for someone else to cheat them? Very odd.

 

We are heading into tax season. Cheaters come out of the woodwork when it’s about taxes. No one wants to pay taxes. The cheater tries to find ways to keep from paying. Zaccheus was a cheater. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. Most tax collectors back then added a fee to the taxes they collected. The fee was their salary. The taxes collected went to Rome, the fee they kept. Some were very dishonest. The best, rose to the top. Zaccheus was at the top. He met the honest Savior. He had heard about Jesus. He wanted to see Jesus. This Jesus was different than most Jews. Most hated tax collectors. They worked for Rome, the enemy. However, Jesus had been to the homes of tax collectors. More than that, Jesus had chosen a tax collector to be one of his apostles. This man was different. He not only saw Jesus, but the Lord knew him and called him by name. They had a brief conversation and Jesus invited Himself to the tax collectors home. This is when honesty hit Zaccheus. He promised to do right. He promised to make things right. His cheating ways were over. He had a character change. What he proposed to do would send a message through the tax collecting world. He was upsetting the system. He was going honest.

 

We all need to do that. Honest with who we are. Honest in our prayers. Honest to out mates. Honest in our hearts. The honest Savior meets you. Will it change your character?

 

It should.

 

Roger

 

28

Jump Start # 1277

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1277

Matthew 12:22 “Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.”

 

Our verse today shows the amazing power and compassion of God. Healing people seemed to be nearly an every day occurrence in the Gospels. Jesus’ fame had spread so deeply into the villages that people came to Jesus with the sick and crippled.

 

There are a couple of quick observations that we notice. First, there seemed to be a lot of blind, crippled and lepers in Jesus’ time. I was out and about yesterday, and I don’t think I ran into one person that was blind, crippled or a leper. The only leper I ever encountered was in India. This short man, wearing what looked like a bed sheet wrapped around his waist, came smiling and enthusiastically shaking my hand. He did this after I had preached. He kept shaking and shaking my hand. He was saying something, but I couldn’t understand him. Someone interpreted for me and said that he worked with lepers and the he was a leper. He was still shaking my hand when I was told that.

 

Second, this particular person from our verse had three things against him. He was blind, unable to talk and had a demon. Jesus had healed all of those but to have all of these in one person was most unusual. Often, the demon possessed recognized Jesus and the demons spoke. I guess that didn’t happen here since the man was mute. Most blind people begged. It’s hard to out beg other beggars when you cannot speak. The healing of this person turned into a religious debate with the Pharisees. They accused Jesus of working through the prince of the demons. They said nothing about the healing. They didn’t thank Jesus that someone in their village was now able to return to a normal life. They couldn’t discredit the miracle, so they tried to discredit the miracle worker. Their arguments didn’t make sense. If Jesus was working through the power of demons, you’d expect Him to be putting demons into people, not taking them out. The Pharisees were more blind than the man who was healed. Their thinking was shallow, inconsistent and definitely not winning the people over.

 

I find it most interesting that this man had three huge problems: blind, mute and possessed. Were all three linked together? Or, was he blind and mute and then a demon came? Why would a demon possess someone who was already so limited? Why bother a blind, mute person? There are many things that we simply do not know, nor are they needed to know to tell what Jesus did.

 

It seems that some people are like this blind, mute, possessed man. Trouble just follows them. They don’t just have problems, it comes in multiple layers. Health problems, spiritual problems, marriage problems, family problems, job problems—all at the same time and all cast upon the same person. For the person defined in Matthew, there was one simple answer, Jesus. Take the man to Jesus and he was healed. Some problems are so complicated and interwoven that it’s hard to put a finger on what is most pressing and what the greatest need is. A family is about to lose their home financially. They have a child in the hospital who is very sick. The mother fights depression. The dad, trying to keep everything together, is working so much that he can’t come to services. The church prays. It’s hard to know what to pray for. It seems that they need so much. Their many problems can tax a church and leave people weary because there are so many things that have gone wrong.

 

I have seen this story played out more than once. Often the way it is handled is not pretty. The results, if not dealt with carefully, can lead to disaster. A tired church gets angry with a family that can’t seem to ever find “normal.” The problem plagued family pulls further away from the church family. Feelings are hurt. Things said, that probably shouldn’t have. Fingers pointed in both directions. And through it all, few prayers are offered specifically and little glory is given to the Lord.

 

Why is it that some families seemed plagued? They have one problem after another. Maybe it’s the choices they have made. Maybe it’s just one of those things. Bad luck, if there is such a thing, isn’t spread out evenly. Some seem to get into problems more than others. Too often, others get weary of helping out the same family. The problem could be the same, but if it was on another family, folks would treat it differently. But here we go again. Another issue. Another crisis. Another call for prayers. Another need. Folks grumble. People are slow to help out over and over. The leadership of a congregation is at a loss to know what to do.

 

I find it interesting that Jesus never said, “Another blind person?” He never said, “I’m tired to healing blind people, find me someone who has a different problem.” Not Jesus. Not our Jesus. I don’t know what all the answers are but here are some things I see.

 

1. We can’t refuse to help people because we are tired of helping. I do believe there comes a time when helping crosses the line into co-dependency. Instead of helping a person, we may in fact be enabling their continual problems. A person that has needs, must want to be helped and they must take some steps themselves. The old expression, “give some a fish or teach them how to fish” is very true. Helping others learn to make right choices, especially financially, parenting and in marriage is something that some have never learned. The person that continues to make the same mistakes over and over, refusing to listen, to learn, may need a serious reality check. But not all are like this. Some, are blind, mute and troubled to no fault of their fault of their own. And even if it was their fault, they need help. Taking food to the same family…here we go. Giving rides to the same people…sitting down and having a serious talk, again, with the same people…it can consume you, but you do it because it is the right thing to do. Deep inside, you know that you are making a difference. What is the alternative? Abandoning them because they have problems again? Leave them to fend for themselves because they have more than one problem? Did Jesus do that here in our passage? Did he say, “I’ll take care of one problem and only one. Which will it be: blindness, inability to speak, or the demon?”

 

2. We must realize that someday we may be the one with the problem. There was a fourth of July, a few years ago, when we lived in Kansas City, that I spent a week in the hospital with a bad gall bladder. That was eye opening to me. I have been to hospitals for years visiting others. I was always on the other side of the bed. Now, I was in the bed. People came to visit me. I didn’t like it much, but I learned some lessons. We all will have a time in our lives when we need others. That’s why God designed the church. It is our support system. The bottom may fall out of our comfort zone. We may have that dreaded trip to the funeral home for someone in our family. It is at that time that you realize how important the comfort of other is. You see the value of true spiritual friends. You understand that you do not walk alone. Others are beside you. So many have said, “I couldn’t have gotten through this, without my church family.” If that’s true, then that tells us that we need to be there for others. We must be their support system. Our time will come.

 

3. Finally, nothing beats taking someone to Jesus. That’s always the best thing to do. You do that by sitting with them in worship. You do that by sharing Bible verses with someone. You do that by praying for someone. Your presence is important. Your acts of kindness are felt. There is an invisible person in our passage today. He’s hard to see. The verse says, “a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus…” Who brought him? Was it a parent? Was it a wife? Was it a friend, like the ones who carried a crippled man and lowered him through the roof before Jesus? Someone cared enough to lead a blind man through the streets to where Jesus was. Had it not been for this unknown person, that man would have died blind and mute. His life was changed by Jesus. It was Jesus who saved him. However, an unknown person who loved him and cared for him, was the instrument that made the connection. That invisible person never got named in the Bible. We can’t do a character study of that person. We don’t know much about that person, other than he knew of Jesus and he believed that Jesus could do something. He was a believer.

 

If you and I could only be like this unknown person. It doesn’t matter if we get credit, thanked, a shout out, or any attention at all. We are just instruments. Jesus is  the one who changes lives. Jesus is the one who makes a difference. If we could only take people to Jesus, believing that good will be done, what a wonderful thing we would have done.

 

I drove by an old cemetery yesterday. Something about those old cemetery attracts me. You’ll notice in just about every old cemetery, one or two monuments that stand out. They are really tall compared to all the others. They grab your attention. You walk over there to see what “famous” guy is buried there. Don’t be that way in life. Don’t walk about doing things to grab attention upon yourself. Be the humble person that doesn’t get noticed, but does an amazing work.

 

A man with a lot of problems was brought to Jesus. Jesus helped him. Jesus always does.

 

 

Roger

 

27

Jump Start # 1276

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1276

Mark 15:21 “They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross.”

  Mark records the Lord’s journey to the place of His execution. Tired, beaten, scourged, Jesus struggles with the heavy cross beam of the cross that will hold His body in a very short time. Luke tells us that the cross was placed on Simon and he walked behind Jesus.

Simon was just an innocent person coming into Jerusalem. He most likely didn’t know all that was going on. The Romans, in charge of the execution, grab Simon and make him bear the cross to Calvary. He must have thought, “Why, me? I’m not going that direction.” He may have wondered, I hope they don’t kill me as well.

What is interesting about our verse today from Mark, is that Simon does not seem to be an obscure person that had a moment in history and then disappeared. Mark mentions Alexander and Rufus, the sons of Simon. Mark writing to Christians, assumes his audience knows Alexander and Rufus. That thought, implies that Alexander and Rufus were Christians. Later, as Paul acknowledges many Christians in Romans, he writes, “Greet Rufus, a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine.” The Rufus of Romans may well be the Rufus that Mark mentions. If that’s the case, then his father carried Jesus’ cross. In the aftermath of all of that, as the gospel message was told, spread and understood, Rufus became a Christian.

My dad carried Jesus’ cross is something that Rufus would have grown up knowing. That fact, wouldn’t punch his ticket into Heaven, nor would it even buy him a cup of coffee, but it is a personal connection and something that Mark wanted his readers to know. This event wasn’t planned by the Romans. It was spontaneous, however, it was life changing. Those things often happen. The bent over woman who happened to be in the synagogue when Jesus was, healed and changed forever. That wasn’t staged nor planned. The young man who had died and was being carried out to the cemetery, his grieving mother following with a sad crowd of mourners, crossed paths with Jesus and His disciples. Jesus interrupted the funeral procession, touched the coffin and told the young man to arise. Jesus spoke to the dead man and he heard and obeyed.  Innocent coincidences that altered the destinies of many lives.

The same happens today. I have heard of folks leaving literature about the Bible on a bus or in a public bathroom. Someone comes along and finds it. They read it and in the process of time, they search out a church, a Bible study takes place and they become a Christian. The one who left the literature hoped such would happen. Often, they are unaware of the good that is done. I know of others who listened to the gospel being preached on radio broadcasts. They followed along in their Bibles as they listened. In time, their hearts were turned and they became a Christian. There is a lot of good that has been done in the past that was just like this.

 

One must wonder what happened to Simon after Calvary. Did he dump the cross once the crowd reached their destination and then scurry away to Jerusalem to tend to his business? Did he stick around to see what happened? Was he in the crowd when Jesus uttered, “My God, My God…” Did he make a connection to the darkening skies and the death of Jesus? Did he see the resurrected righteous coming into the city? Many emotions and heated words about Jesus filled the city.

 

The Bible doesn’t give us “The Rest of the Story,” with most events because that is not the intention of the Bible. We wonder. We wonder about Rufus, Simon’s son. Was it because of dad that Rufus became a Christian and earned the powerful compliment from Paul, “a choice man in the Lord.”

 

Building a bridge with that thought, what we do as parents, impacts the future of our children. We know that in theory, but it’s the reality that we often overlook. Comments on the way home from worship, what we say about our church family, how engaged we are in the lives of others, how important things are to us, are picked up quickly and easily by younger eyes. They, more than anyone, can soon grasp how meaningful these things are to us. That becomes a measurement of how important these same things will be to them.

 

I remember sitting next to my dad during worship. He carried mints in his suit pocket. I’d reach in and help myself once in a while. I remember seeing my mom being baptized. That was a turning point in our family. Things were taken more seriously and we became more engaged when that happened. It’s hard to know how much of an impression those things have on young hearts, but today I walk with the Lord. Many of us today are who we are because our dads carried the cross. Family choices were made. Church attendance wasn’t something that was decided week to week, it was a given, we are going. Certain words, shows, friends were automatically off limits because we, as a family, were walking with Christ. Those decisions helped shape other decisions. Those decisions came with expectations. Our attitudes, words, and behavior was expected to be a certain high standard. We couldn’t talk back to our parents. Cheating in school was never allowed. If we got in trouble, anywhere, we really got in trouble at home. On Sunday, we wore our “church clothes,” and then changed into our play clothes when we got home. We were expected to sit up and be still during worship. If we were fussy, we got taken out and that wasn’t a good thing. When we were older, we might get a polite and directed thump on our heads, which meant to straighten up. We knew. Preachers and elders were like Moses and Abraham to us. Old, reverent and not to be messed with. They were always seen in dark suits. I remember the first time I saw a preacher in blue jeans. I thought he must have lost his faith. He happened to be cutting his yard. I guess I figured he wore his dark suit to mow the yard. To my generation, these scenes were our Simon’s carrying the cross. Godly people doing their best for the Lord.

 

And now, we are the Rufus’ . We have been shaped and molded in a positive way by these examples and impressions. Many of us are serving as deacons, elders, preachers and are busy raising godly families today.

 

Simon carried, Rufus became. There is a connection there. There is also a connection between what we do and what our children become. There is no greater blessing as a parent than to see your grown children, busy in the kingdom, teaching, leading, helping others to know the way of the Lord. I wonder if Simon lived long enough to see Rufus become a follower of Jesus? I hope so.

 

Roger

 

26

Jump Start # 1275

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1275

Psalms 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

  I had one of those moments the other day, epiphany is what some folks call them. It’s when you finally get it in your mind. It’s when you see things that maybe you knew but never really thought much about it.

My four kids are all married and they all live a few hours away from me, some north and some south. We talk often, usually every week, with some, every day. I call them, they call me. The other day, one called. Things were changing where one worked. It’s was going to be difficult days ahead. I could see the concern, uncertainty in the voice. I felt for that one. We finished talking and another of the kids called. On top of the world, things were going great. Loved the job, thinking about getting a new car, life was hitting on all cylinders for this one. That’s when it hit me. That’s when my eyes were opened.

 

I have always understood prayer. I have taught classes on prayer. I’ve preached on prayer. I have analyzed the prayers of the Bible. Prayer is one topic that I felt pretty good about. It was something that I have done with others. It was a ready statement I shared with others, “Have you prayed about it.” I have dozens of books on prayer.

 

After two of my kids called, I finally, and for the first time, thought about prayer from God’s perspective. I’ve always thought about prayer from our side of the world and not His side of the world. Here are some things I learned:

1. God is amazing to hear all of our prayers. We couldn’t do it. We’d be overwhelmed. We are without resources. God never is. I just thought about my simple family, for one child, everything was going great, for another, there was deep concern. That’s just my family and that was just half my kids. I started thinking about the congregation I worship with. This past week, someone had a baby. Someone’s sister recently died. Someone was in the hospital dealing with some heart issues. Someone is planning a wedding. So many different concerns, needs, emotions. And those are just the surface things. How does God do it?

Then you start thinking about all of God’s children just in this state. Then you all of God’s children in the United States, then you expand that to the world. The concerns are serious. For instance:

 

  • There are brethren meeting in Northern Nigeria who literally fear for their lives. Extremist have taken over the government, immersion is outlawed, and they must worship in fear and in hiding. They are praying.
  • At the same time, there are those all over the world, who are holding the hand of a loved one as they are slipping from this life. They are praying.
  • There are parents who go to bed at night with tears on their pillows because they do not have a relationship with their grown children. They are praying.
  • There is a young mother, with small children, who realizes that her marriage is over. Her husband has left her for someone else. She hasn’t worked outside the home in many years. She will have to move, find babysitters. Her world is coming apart. She is scared. She is praying.
  • There are congregations that have come to the conclusion that it’s time to get some fresh blood in the pulpit. It’s time to let the current preacher go and start the look for a new preacher. That’s hard. There are prayers.
  • There are people who have been studying the Bible and they now realize that they must make a change. They have not been worshipping properly. They have family and friends where they are now attending. They fight the pressure to stay, knowing the right thing is to leave. They are praying.
  • Then there are the lonely. They have never been married. Now aged, they face the end of live alone. They are praying.
  • There is a family who got into a mess financially. They now realize that they are way over their head. They don’t know what to do. They are praying.
  • There is the young person who has made some terrible choices while in college. He got caught up doing some wrong things. The police were called. He sits in a jail. He is sorry, scared and certain that he has lost the semester. He prays.
  • There are those who pray to end their struggle with pornography.

 

These prayers are every day. These prayers come from all over the world. Hundreds and hundreds of prayers. Congregational prayers. Family prayers. Individual prayers. So many of them would break our hearts. How does God do it? Situations that are complex. Problems that involve governments and laws. Problems that deal with relationships and feelings. Differences among people. Emotions. Broken hearts. Broken vows. Broken homes. Problems caused by sin. Problems caused by attitudes. God is amazing to hear all these things. Our passage states that He is near to the broken hearted. How God does this is beyond our understanding. Just a couple of these would wear us out. These are all serious, serious problems.

 

2. When I think about all these things God is receiving every day, all these serious, serious problems, it makes me not want to bother Him. It makes me think, my concerns are nothing, I’ll put my prayers at the end of the list. We might even think, I won’t even pray, because I do not want to add to God’s burdens. But that conclusion is not the right one. God wants us to “bother” Him. God can handle this. He wants us reaching out to Him. He wants us to pray to Him, seek Him, listen to Him, and obey Him. There is not a pecking order with God. He doesn’t treat us like the emergency room of a hospital, the most important cases get taken care of first. The rest must wait their turn. There is no turn with God. He can answer all prayers at once. He can deal with all problems at once. He doesn’t get stressed, as we would. He doesn’t get overloaded, overworked, as we might. He doesn’t need a break, as we would certainly need one. He doesn’t feel the need for a vacation from all these troubles. Amazing how God operates. Don’t ever feel like you are bugging God. It was Jesus who told us to pray like the persistent widow. It was Jesus who said to pray at all times and not to lose heart. If it bothers you, take it to Heaven. Another, interesting thought on this point, God is not so involved in one prayer that He must allow an angel or someone else to take care of your prayers. God, Himself will do it.

 

3. All of this reminds me to be thankful to God. Who else would we go to? Who else could help? There are some things that no one else understands. God does. I pity those who do not know God. What do they do? Who does the atheist turn to? Who does the neighbor, who doesn’t have a relationship with God,  turn to? What a blessing our relationship is with God. We must honor the relationship, protect it and cherish it. Great is our God. Great is His name. And Great is what He does.

 

All of this from a couple phone calls from the kids.

Don’t you just love the Lord? I do.

Roger