Everything God has ever promised, ever uttered, every single letter in the Bible, will never fail.
If that doesn’t motivate you to get into God’s word and to study it, nothing will.
The thing is, God loves you. God could not imagine a world without you in it. So God created this world and when sin wrecked God’s creation. God sent his only Son to die for you so that you can take your place in God’s eternity. For God’s eternity is incomplete without you in it.
God absolutely loves you.
So, whatever it is you are going through today, you are not alone. God is with you. God loves you. God has a plan for you.
Seek God’s plan. They are all there in the written word.
“Those who wait in the LORD will renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31).
Isaiah 40 is one of my favorite chapters in all of the Bible. It is one of the most hope-filled chapters in all of the scriptures.
The NIV translation says, “Those who hope in the the LORD will renew their strength,” but the Hebrew word is, “qavah,” which means to “wait.” Wait is the proper translation. I think what the NIV translators were saying is that those who wait are those who hope. I get that, but I wish they would have left the translation as “wait.”
How can one live in God’s strength today? Great question. Let’s find out!
First, the key to living in God’s strength is to wait.
Wait? I don’t get it.
What’s waiting got to do with living in God’s strength? The first truth about living in God’s strength has to do with our attitude and posture.
You see, the word wait here is best translated by an old English term “tarry.”
To tarry means to eagerly long for.
We turn to God and eagerly seek, long, yearn, tarry for God because we know that strength is not in us. We are seeking a strength which is not in us.
Secondly, we aren’t waiting for waiting’s sake. We are waiting for the LORD.
We wait, long, yearn, and tarry for the LORD because he is the source of strength.
When is the last time you were intentional about carving out time to wait on God? Is there a time slot in your day where you are free from activity so that you can devote your entire attention on God?
When is the last time you waited, longed, yearned, and tarried for the LORD like that?
Perhaps that is part of the reason why we so rarely experience the strength of the LORD.
Finally, carve out a time every day to seek the LORD, to wait, long, yearn, and tarry for the LORD.
Those who do so, “shall soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
I am going to start off by letting you know today’s entry is going to be a little longer than normal.
Last week a white gunman killed eight people, most of them of Asian descent, at two massage spas in the Atlanta area. This is a tragic story.
The gunman who perpetrated this heinous crime was an active member of a Baptist congregation. The gunman grew up in the church, was an active participant of the youth group, played drums on the praise ministry, helped set up chairs, and was a regular in the Bible Studies of the church.
The gunman’s home church removed this individual from membership and fellowship, and has openly questioned whether this person ever knew Jesus at all.
As I read this story, I wondered what we would have done had this happened at our church. I wondered what I would have done as a pastor if the young men were one of our’s at the Little Church and Lakewoodgrace.
I can’t speak for the church as I haven’t had a chance to speak with the staff or session regarding this. However, I want to share with you what I would have done as your pastor.
First, in no uncertain terms, I would denounce the violence and heinous murders in the strongest terms.
Murder is NEVER okay.
Murder is NEVER acceptable.
Murder is NEVER right.
Murder is NEVER God’s will.
The gunman must be held responsible for the terrible crimes and the consequences of his actions.
Second, in no uncertain terms, I would extend grace and an opportunity to repent to the gunman. What the gunman did was atrocious. It is absolutely a heinous crime against humanity and against God. However, I would extend God’s grace and an opportunity for this young man to repent because that’s what Jesus would offer to this young man.
As hideous as this crime is, it is not the unpardonable sin. There is only one unpardonable sin: blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said, “And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31).
While these murders are terrible, they are NOT blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
Did these actions go against the Spirit and the heart of God? Absolutely. But so does every lie, every thought of envy and jealousy, every feeling of hatred and prejudice. There are a multitude of sins. Every one of them goes against the Spirit of God. However, they are not blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. There is only one unpardonable sin: blasphemy.
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the consistent and on-going denial and rejection of the Holy Spirit. When we go to the grave denying the Holy Spirit, that is unpardonable because we choose to reject God to our last dying breath. That is blasphemy.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the moment we accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, our hearts, desires, and thoughts were automatically changed as well? When we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, our status is absolutely changed from sinner to a child of God. When we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, while our status is absolutely changed, our personality and character hasn’t changed. Our personality and character will need on-going change. This is called sanctification. We are made more and more into the image of Christ as the days go by.
The gunman was in the process of sanctification and made a horrendous decision. He will pay for the consequences. Lives were lost. Devastation ensued. Some failures have deadly and devastating consequences. But it is a mistake to equate deadly and devastating consequences with blasphemy.
Finally, I would lead the congregation through a time of mourning and lamenting. Mourning and lamenting does several things:
One, it declares what is happening is unacceptable. It declares that what is happening is not God’s will. That the present circumstances goes contrary to what God’s will and purposes. So we mourn and lament what could be if we would all obey God.
Two, mourning and lament accepts that even though God is at work, human freedom still acts out in heinous ways. We mourn and lament the presence and reality of evil and its work. We lament and mourn for the present knowing that there will come a time when God will make all things right.
The shootings in Atlanta, the gunman’s church removing him from membership and fellowship, all of it. All of it makes me sad.
For this pastor, I choose to side with God’s grace and forgiveness. I HATE the murders. I HATE sin and sin’s consequences. However, I choose to offer God’s grace and forgiveness to ALL sinners. Because when I don’t, I disqualify myself.
Praxis: Faith in Action 