JOY COMES IN THE MORNING (This Too Shall Pass)

Psalm 30:5
"Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning."

"Anyone can give pep talks, but if God is who He claims to be, He sure as shootin' better have a word for the despondent. Self-help manuals might get you through a bad mood or a tough patch. But what about an abusive childhood or a debilitating accident or years of chronic pain or public ridicule? Does God have a word for the dark nights of the soul?

He does. The promise begins with this phrase: 'Weeping may last through the night...".

This is not news to you. But this may be: 'Joy comes with the morning'. Night might delay the dawn, but it cannot defeat it. Morning comes. Not as quickly as we want. Not as dramatically as we desire. But morning comes, and with it comes joy." (Lucado, p.118, Unshakable Hope)

One of the great Biblical examples of this journey through our nights of life to the mornings of life is illustrated through the life of Mary Magdalene and her relationship with Jesus. Mary had battled many demons in her life, but when she met Jesus those demons fled with just a few words of rebuke from Jesus. From that day forward, Mary devoted her time, energy, resources - basically her life - to Jesus.

Is it any wonder with the freedom she now experienced that she would stick closer to Christ than white on rice? We find her at the Crucifixion (John 19:25). She aided in the preparing of the body for burial after Jesus was lowered from The Cross. And Max says it best like this - 

"On Friday Mary Magdalene watched Jesus die. On Saturday she observed a sad Sabbath. When Sunday came, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to finish the work she had begun on Friday." (Lucado, p.119, Unshakable Hope)

As she approached The Tomb, to her, what was already a bad weekend - now got worse. The stone that only could be moved by strong men (plural) which was in front of the tomb entrance was now moved aside - shock to the system #1. No body on the slab inside the tomb - shock #2. Add to this two strangers, one at the foot of the slab and the other at the head of the slab (really angels) asked Mary, "Why are you weeping?" Now, come on, really? Where have you been these past few days guys? And why are you sitting inside this tomb? That would be me. 

However, Mary must have been so overcome with grief and despair that she answered the men/angels - "They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid Him." So, whoever "they" were - robbers, gardeners, practical jokers or whomever - they had taken the body of Jesus. But just as she had given that grasp at plausibility - Jesus showed up, unrecognizable, in the doorway of His own tomb. 

Mary and the rest of the Disciples don't quite get The Mission and who they are dealing with in Jesus until The Resurrection. Mary wants closure, so here she is with a stone rolled away, empty tomb, strange men inside asking questions and another one that just showed up at the door with more questions. The man asked, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" She thinks - to be sure this guy knows something or is the culprit himself and says, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him and I will take Him away."

"She didn't recognize her Lord. So Jesus did something about it. He called her by name. 'Jesus said to her, 'Mary!'. When she heard Him call her by name, she knew the source. In a second. In a pivot of the neck. In the amount of time it took her to rotate her head from this way to that, her world went from a dead Jesus to a living one. Weeping may last through the night, but joy...." (Lucado, p.121, Unshakable Hope)

She latched herself onto Jesus. Wouldn't you?!!! "We don't know how she held Him. We just know she did. And Jesus let her do so. Even if the gesture lasted for only a moment. Jesus allowed it. How wonderful that the resurrected Lord was not too holy, too otherly, to divine, too supernatural to be touched. The regal hero is relentlessly tender." (Lucado, p.122, Unshakable Hope)

So - "Do what People of the Promise do. Keep coming to Jesus. Even though the trail is dark. Even though the sun seems to sleep. Even though everyone else is silent, walk to Jesus. Mary Magdalene did this. No, she didn't comprehend the promise of Jesus. She came looking for a dead Jesus, not a living one. But at least she came. And because she came to Him, He came to her." (Lucado, p. 126, Unshakable Hope)

 Psalm 30:5
"Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning."

GOD WILL ACT ON YOUR CHOICE

1 Peter 5:5 says that God Will Act On Your Choice - "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

One of the best examples of this in Scripture is King Nebuchadnezzar. God had sent the king messages that He, Jehovah God, was greater and that Nebuchadnezzar was not. Then God sent a dream to Nebuchadnezzar picturing him as a tree that would be cut down to the stump. The king did not take the symbolism of the dream seriously and proceeded to dive in to and enjoy his accomplishments with prideful comments. "God gave the king another year to climb down from his pompous throne. But he never did. Oh, the proliferation of pronouns. 'I have built', 'my mighty power', 'my majesty'. The king was all about the king." (Max Lucado, p.63, Unshakable Hope)

"When the mighty fall, the fall is mighty. And we are left with a lesson: God hates pride." (Lucado, p. 63 Unshakable Hope)

Nebuchadnezzar was humbled greatly for seven years. So incredible was his fall that he found his kingdom, authority and sanity all stripped from him - and his home was the pasture of the fields. 

"How do we explain God's abhorrence of the haughty heart? Simple. God resists the proud because the proud resist God. Arrogance stiffens the knee so it will not kneel, hardens the heart so it will not admit to sin. The heart of pride never confesses, never repents, never asks for forgiveness. Indeed, the arrogant never feel the need for forgiveness. Pride is the hidden reef that shipwrecks the soul." (Lucado, p.64, Unshakable Hope)

Whether it took this seven-year duration because of the decreed judgment or because the process of eliminating pride or both - Nebuchadnezzar eventually declared, "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything He does is right and all His ways are just. And those who walk in pride He is able to humble." (Daniel 4:34, 37)

This last sentence the king said - "And those who walk in pride He is able to humble." - is a good reminder to do a lifestyle check often. "It's better to humble yourself than to wait for God to do it for you." (Lucado, p.68, Unshakable Hope) The writer of Hebrews says, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:31) However, God's action for the humble is grace or favor. God's action for the proud is to resist them. What is your decision? Because God Will Act On Your Choice.

LIVING OUT OF OUR INHERITANCE

Max Lucado delivers us a better perspective on Joshua's conquest of the land of Cannan when he says, "We typically think of Joshua as taking the land. It's more precise to think of Joshua as taking God at His Word. Joshua took the land, for sure. But he did so because he trusted God's promise. The great accomplishment of the Hebrew people was this: they lived out of their inheritance. In fact, the story ends with this declaration: 'Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance.' " (Joshua 24:28) [Unshakable Hope, p.41]

That was a divvy of land as an inheritance. The New Covenant or New Testament we have in Christ establishes and affirms an inheritance in Father God through Jesus by a deposit of the Holy Spirit. 

"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." (2 Corinthians 21-22)

"For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." (2 Corinthians 5:4-5)

"When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory." (Ephesians 1:13-14)

"Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us." (2 Timothy 1:14)

The Deposit has been made. The Inheritance is Assured. And what an Inheritance the full manifestation will be. 1 Corinthians 2:9 paints a word picture of that inheritance. Paul quotes Isaiah 64:4 saying - “'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived'—the things God has prepared for those who love him—" as awesome things our imagination might struggle to consider. However, the next verse, verse 10 says those things not seen, those things not heard and those things the human mind has not conceived yet are possible to be revealed to us - "these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit."

In the book of Revelation, we get a glimpse of our environmental inheritance - streets of gold, gates of pearl, walls of jasper and so forth. We also realize Christ as our ultimate Inheritance. However, in the here and now, our deposit is the Holy Spirit. The down payment we have is His Spirit of Grace. Flowing from His Spirit means you are fulfilling Galatians 5:22-23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." And if you are prolific in His Spirit, in His Deposit, then you are Father God's treasured kid with an incredible promise. God had Paul communicate that promise in Romans 8:15-17, it says, 

"The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

My encouragement today and always is for all of us to be Living Out Of Our Inheritance.

THE BOOK

Want to know who and what The Bible is all about? The Bible from cover to cover, front to back is about Christ Jesus and the demonstration of how much He loves us. 

Throughout the Old Testament this observation can be drawn - a relationship is broken, a temporary fix is applied, and a prophetic solution is mentioned. The Old Testament has many stories that teach us life and historical lessons. It also contains a plethora of requirements for relationship restoration between us and God. This Law over our relationship with God was set up to show us that we could never fulfill it. The Law could never be met except by God Himself in the flesh and the Old Testament foreshadows of the time when Christ Jesus would come and do just that. 

At the end of the Old Testament we arrive at the beginning of the New Testament, known as The Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Word of God in flesh arrives on the world scene and these books tell Christ's main stories, His words and most importantly His mission. "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." (John 21:25) Christ Jesus redeemed and restored humanity's relationship with Father God by His sacrificial death and His victorious resurrection. His life was lived perfectly so that The Law was satisfied in Him. Therefore, His death and resurrection fulfilled what we could never accomplish and ushered in an eternal relationship based on His Saving Grace or said another way His - Saving, Unconditional, Loving Favor.

The rest of the New Testament is mainly composed of Paul's letters to many regional churches. Christ Jesus has ascended to sit at Father God's right hand, meanwhile He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within the Christian to lead us daily in our walk with Him. Paul helps out by instructing us about better Christian living throughout his letters or books between The Gospels and ending books of The Bible. 

However, also contained within these books and John's end book - Revelation - is the promise of Christ's return to gather His bride the Church and take her home to Heaven. Again, it is all about the care Jesus shows with us by His Spirit and Jesus coming for us in the End Days.

We betrayed God's relationship in the beginning and yet God's own Word in flesh, His Only Son was the prophesied price to a humanly, unattainable, relationship requirement system established by God. He lived perfectly and died once and for all so that a new way of The Spirit could be brought to us. That is how far we fell - that it took Christ, Fully God and Fully Man (Hebrews 2:10-18) to make a mends for us, but He did and His Plan was to show us this Love, His Love all along - it says so in The Book.

FOR YOU

As far as relationships go - God knows everything about me. I still have all of eternity to get to know my Savior, God and King, but I thank Him that He has provided me that privilege. My favorite Psalm, Psalm 139, speaks to God's side of my relationship. It declares...

1. You know my thoughts before I speak them. (v.4)
2. You know where I am for You are always with me. (v.7-12)
3. You created me in your mind's eye and knew all my days before anybody else. (v.16)

This seems kind of a useless relationship when one side knows everything about the other, even what the other person is about to say - I might as well not speak. Yet, the Holy Spirit had Paul write - "For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:16-17)

Paul, in this condensed version of Psalm 139, affirms God as Creator, Sustainer and Purpose of all things. I cannot do anything about God knowing my thoughts before I speak them or always being with me or creating opportunities for me daily and sustaining my life breath by breath. However, I can investigate what it means to be created "for Him".

You see, toward the end of Psalm 139, David stops viewing God's relationship as Creator and himself as the created and continues to portray God as an active good agent moving forward in his life. David said, "How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you." (Psalm 139:17-18)

Such words as "precious", "vast", "count" and "outnumber" all describe God's "thoughts" toward David and toward us. His mercies are new every morning. And look, He never leaves you or forsakes you. Which is motivation in this Psalm for action on David's part. At the very end of Psalm 139, we see David desiring God to search him, gut out any offensive way and lead him in the way everlasting, not the way that is just for now.

This is where we can start with the investigation of what it means to be created "for Him" - humble ourselves and pursue Him. Jesus gave the template - "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8) 

Dear Lord, I ask for you to reveal to me what I can do for you. You died for me, I'll live for you. Savior, I seek your presence, revelation and hand, if need be, to show me what I need to do for you or where I need to be. Please, bless me with your wisdom, knowledge, courage, understanding, patience and love concerning this request. Jesus, I prophetically knock on the door of opportunity to do For You.

THE PLAN

Is there really anything under our control? Like the movie series "The Matrix" spells out - we might go about our daily lives making decisions, but those decisions are all part of a Master Program that has been played out in a File called "History" - or so it seems that way. 

Control is just an illusion. Life is a myriad of choices made every split second by us because we do not know what is in our next moment. However, God stands outside the Computer that has the Master Program running. God is outside of Time, Space and History. He is at the Beginning and at The End and everywhere in between. He knows. He is the builder of the Computer and all of its equipment as well as all the programming.

Luke reminds us in Acts 17:28 of a philosophy put forth by a Cretan philosopher named Epimenides that said, ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ We are inside Him as though every air and water molecule surrounding us were His "Holy Cells". Plus, He is in us, by the power of the Holy Spirit as wells of living water that can influence others for Christ.

We may feel like a program a lot of the time - just going through the motions; just saying what I am supposed to say and doing what I'm supposed to be doing; just being the program called me. However, God did not orchestrate a "Program", He composed a "Plan". The major difference in the perspective of these two is Relationship. 

For those who lived with Christ Jesus, they were blessed to see first hand His miracles and were called to be His Disciples as they enjoyed His immediate presence. The rest of humanity, after Christ's ascension, would rely on faith - "confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). 

Christ Jesus was a Person, not a Program. Although He was and is The Word of God made flesh, He emptied Himself of all possible honor, glory and will. Then Jesus said only what He heard Father God wanting Him to say and Jesus did only what He saw Father God wanting Him to do. 

Again, belief in this man's claim to whom He said He was and is; belief in this man's miracles; belief in this man's sacrifice on The Cross for your redemption to God; belief in victory over everything through His resurrection; belief in His return for your personal, bodily habitation with Him in Heaven - is why it is worth remembering - God is personal and has The Plan.

EQUIPPED

What does it mean to be an Equipped Christian?

·       It means you Take Advantage of the Resources at your disposal. God did not bless us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus for us to sit on it. Nor did He in like manner bless us in every other resource for us not to actively serve Him.

·       It means we Go! God gave us a Commission, not a Suggestion. The sacrifice He made for us should compel the believer, especially the Equipped Christian, to Preach/Teach/Share the Good News of Christ to Everyone – being aligned with God’s Heart that none should perish, but all should come to the saving knowledge of Christ Jesus.

·       It means we take care of our Equipment. Our equipment can range from physical tools we use like a sound system, to the teachings that are used, to the individual Christian worker/warrior that is serving. We take care of our equipment by giving it or them all the support we can and when the time comes giving it/them a refreshing break.

Paul is writing to his young apprentice, Timothy, a second time, when he magnifies the point that – “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

Notice that another way to understand this statement of truth is – if you desire to be active doing good deeds/works for God then being “thoroughly equipped” is required. However, in order to be “thoroughly equipped” and effective “for every good work”, the believer in Christ must daily be in the Scriptures for The Equipping. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that…” The words "useful" and "so that" makes this point.

The answers on how to be equipped for a certain situation in life are found in The Scriptures. So, in order to be an effective Christian, in order to take advantage of God’s Resources upon your life, in order to fulfill the Great Commission, in order to take care of the “equipment” in your life – make sure you are properly Equipped.