Coffee With The Lord

It’s been a tragic week in our country… Riots in our cities, tragic loss of life, inflammatory rhetoric, tense court cases, crisis at our borders, and other events in our nation (some of which we may not even be aware of).  As painful and tragic as these events are, perhaps God is using them to call His people to put 2 Chronicles 7:14 into practice!

“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 I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land.”

My Bible reading this morning included Psalm 60 which seemed appropriate in light of what has transpired in the past weeks and months.  Let the truth of it grip your heart as it did mine this morning and see if you don’t find its message appropriate and challenging…

^“God! you walked off and left us, kicked our defenses to bits and stalked off angry. Come back. Oh please, come back!  You shook earth to the foundations, ripped open huge crevasses. Heal the breaks! Everything’s coming apart at the seams.  You made your people look doom in the face, then gave us cheap wine to drown our troubles.  Then you planted a flag to rally your people, an unfurled flag to look to for courage.  Now do something quickly, answer right now, so the ones you love best are saved… You aren’t giving up on us, are you, God? …  Give us help for the hard task; human help is worthless.   In God we’ll do our very best; he’ll flatten the opposition for good.” (from Psalm 60 The Message paraphrase)

One thing for sure… I don’t want this nation that I love to fit the description God gave of Judah in Jeremiah 22.21: He said, “I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’  This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed me!”

“You aren’t giving up on us, are you God?  Give us help… human help is worthless!”

He was emphatic… “I don’t want to hear it!”  Someone had just delivered some “tough love news” (a judge and jury) – It wasn’t going to end up like he had hoped!  There were consequences to some bad decisions and actions!  His mistakes had driven him to his knees in prayer and repentance!  That was good… But there were consequences!  Unfortunately, someone who claimed to be speaking for God had led him to believe a miracle would occur and there would be a speedy trial, a light sentence, and he would be quickly released.  But it wasn’t going to work out that way!  Fortunately, a godly chaplain and pastor, were on hand to affirm God’s love, God’s ultimate purposes, and God’s faithfulness, in the face of a huge disappointment!

It’s a story very much like one of the most misinterpreted and misapplied verses in the Bible – Jeremiah 29:11 is the verse often misinterpreted and misapplied (ignoring its context)… Jeremiah 29:6-14 helps provide the context…

Here is Jeremiah 29:11 (the verse often taken out of context)!  The prophet Jeremiah’s reassuring message from the Lord:  “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope!”

Here is the context: “Jeremiah 29:8–14 (ESV)

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in My name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.’  For thus says the Lord: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.’”

Here’s the truth of the passage, as difficult as it is to accept…

Sometimes we have to accept things that we don’t want to accept!  Sometimes is our own fault we have to accept those things (in this case it was the consequences of persistent rebellion and sin on the part of Judah).  Sometimes what we have to accept runs counter to what everyone else is trying to tell us (and they may be telling us deliverance from the consequences of our actions will come quickly).

But, the fact is, God is in it all and His purposes are good and faithful – God is at work through it all for our good.  What we may be going through right now is not the end of the matter!  It is because of the Lord we have a future and a hope – His plans for our lives include our ultimate welfare!  Praise the Lord!

I’d been outside working in the yard, I finished up what I was doing and stepped through the door into our home.  I walked past Sharon, my wife, and I don’t know what perfume she was wearing, but it was delightful!  I stopped… stepped over near her, breathed deeply, gave her a kiss and said, “Babe, I don’t know what perfume you’re wearing, but you smell SO good!”

Now, I’ve walked past other people… don’t know what they’ve been doing… or failed to do… But it was definitely NOT the same effect!  Know what I mean?

Christians ought to be a pleasing aroma!  They ought to bear the sweet scent of the grace of God and the loving provision of Christ!  Tragedy is, that “Spiritual odor” is not perceived the same by everyone!  This is how Apostle Paul put it…

“God uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume!  Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.  But his fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.  To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom.  But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume!” (From 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 New Living Translation)

You see, all of us who are followers of Jesus have a responsibility in this regard!  We represent the Lord!  We share His message – His word – the Gospel!  That’s why Apostle Paul in the very next verses said, “You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit.  We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us.”  (2 Corinthians 2:17 New Living Translation) 

I don’t think Paul was simply thinking about professional preachers when he wrote those words!  He had in mind every Christian and their responsibility to share God’s word with integrity though their lives and words with others.  I tell you, I want to represent Jesus, the Gospel and the message of Scripture with integrity and grace!  I never want to distort it!  “I want to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume!”