There’s no biblical prohibition against making plans. There’s wisdom in planning for the future. Yet, it is foolish to leave the Lord out of our planning for God is the one who holds the future. So, ask for God’s wisdom when making plans. Seek godly counsel. Pray for clarity and follow God’s instruction. And when things don’t go according to plan, don’t get frustrated. Adjust. Perhaps God has a better plan.
Jesus prayed for those that would believe in him both present and future. That includes us! The prayer found in Matthew 6 that begins “Our Father” is referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer,” but really it is the Lord’s model prayer, for he gave the prayer as an example of how to pray. The prayer found here in John 17 is the best insight into the Lord Jesus actually praying. This is how he poured out his heart to the Father. He prayed specifically for us that we would be one with one another and with God. He prayed for our protection from the evil one. He prayed for us to experience his glory. And we know that the Lord Jesus isn’t finished praying for us. He sits at the right of the Father continually interceding for those who belong to him (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25, 1 John 2:1).
David was a sinner. He committed adultery with Bathsheba and then conspired to have her husband murdered. Yet, God forgave him. How was David different than Saul? On one hand there is the mystery of God’s mercy. As the apostle Paul said, “God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy” (Romans 9:18). Then, on the other hand there is the different response to sin that David had. Saul made excuses, but David “confessed” and repented. Perhaps this is what made David a “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). Not that he was without sin (he wasn’t). But that he was quick to confess and repent, asking God for forgiveness and mercy.
Psalm 119 is not only the longest psalm. It is the longest chapter in the Bible. It is an acrostic poem with 22 stanzas based on the Hebrew alphabet. This verse is found in the stanza beginning with Hebrew’s 7th letter “zayin.” It speaks of God’s “promise” which comforts the psalmist in his troubles. It doesn’t name which promise. It could be one of many. Psalm 119 is an anthem to God’s Word. It celebrates his laws, promises, statutes, words, decrees, etc. (and many other synonyms for “word.” How many can you find?). When I feel troubled, I often find solace in God’s promises. The Lord is a promise-making and a promise-keeping God. I meditate on his promises and find comfort there. Today, I am encouraged by his promise to always be with us, even until the end of the age. If I have his presence, I have him and all his promises too.
This prophecy was given to David through the prophet Nathan when he asked to build the Lord a temple to house the Ark. God told David that he was not the one to build him a temple, but that his son would be. This prophecy had both an immediate and an ultimate fulfillment. It was immediately fulfilled in David’s son, Solomon, who built a glorious temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. Yet, this temple was destroyed. Centuries later, another one was born to the house of David named Jesus. He is the ultimate fulfillment of this Davidic promise. He is both the Chief Cornerstone and the Builder of this eternal temple, which is the Church of the living God.
Our greatest apology to the world is that we love one another. Intellectual arguments for creation, philosophical proofs for truth, and existential equations of reason are all helpful. But our most powerful persuasion is love. Loving one another we will “prove to the world” that we are disciples of Jesus.
The one who leaves Jesus and his disciples to go “out into the night” will hurt Christ and his church, but in the end will be the one most harmed by that decision. That is what sin does. It caused Adam to hide in the shadows of the garden from the Lord. It caused Saul to search for answers under cover of darkness from a medium. Sin always leads to separation. Sin goes “out into the night” to do its work. But the righteous walk in the light of day. They do not leave the Lord’s table. They stay even when the Lord rebukes as he did Peter saying, “Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you.” Don’t give into sin’s pull. When the Lord speaks of washing feet, suffering and dying for him, stay. It will seem easier and perhaps even beneficial to leave the table. Yet, no matter how difficult the Lord’s Word is for you, stay at the table. Do not go “out into the night.”
Every stone in the Hebrew Temple was inspected for flaws by the builders. The stones where cut from a quarry some distance away and had to not only fit their designated location in the Temple, but they had to be without imperfection to support its weight. Of all the stones in the Temple the cornerstone had to be the most perfect for it anchored the corner of the building. Jesus quoted this Psalm to the Jewish religious leaders to illustrate how they had rejected him as God’s Messiah (Matt. 21:42). Peter used this Psalm in his great Pentecost sermon to speak of Christ as its fulfillment (Acts 4:11) and 3,000 people believed that day. Jesus is not only a stone fit for our temple of faith, He is its Chief Cornerstone, the Stone upon which our whole Christian faith stands.
This was Jesus’ reply to Judas when he accused Mary of wasting an expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet that could have been sold to help the poor. Judas sounded pious as he judged Mary’s offering as wasteful. Yet, Jesus knew their hearts. He accepted Mary’s offering as appropriate worship from a pure heart. But he rebuked Judas knowing his was the heart of a thief and a betrayer. Jesus commented that the poor would “always” be around, but that this opportunity to worship Jesus would not. Poverty is the result of sin in this world. No amount of money can completely eradicate poverty. Yet, no one who has received the treasure of God’s Son can ever be poor again.
The shortest verse in the Bible is one of the most revealing. Did Jesus cry because Lazarus was dead? No. He knew he was about to raise him from the grave. I think he cried because Mary cried. He was sympathetic to her loss and grief. But mainly, I think he cried because he hated death. As the Life, death was anathema to his very being. He was so angry about the death that man’s sin had wrought that a sound like a snorting horse escaped his lips and tears fell down his cheeks. As he angrily approached Lazarus’ tomb, he commanded them to “roll the stone away!” Life said to Death, “Come forth!” And Lazarus was raised up and walked out of the tomb. Oh the depth of Christ’s passion for us! Oh the great love he has that he would take our death, so that we could receive his eternal Life.