SOLID FOOTING

When I arrived in St Louis on Saturday night amid snow flurries, the pastor who picked me up at the airport handed me a set of keys for a rental car. I took one look at the snow falling (a beautiful sight if you can stay indoors) and handed the key back. "We’ll both enjoy this week better if someone drives me back and forth to the meetings," I said. "For one thing," I said, "You’ll not have to preach for me while they tow me out of a ditch somewhere!" I had just had a major car wreck the month before and driving in snow and ice wasn’t of high wisdom.

People from the South like me aren’t used to driving in icy conditions. Our cities don’t have the equipment to clear the roads and drivers don’t have snow tires. As far as I’m concerned, the world shuts down when there is ice on the road.

But many people who live in the colder climes of the country take it all in stride. Schools don’t close at the first sign of a snow flake, people don’t rush to the grocery store and stock up for the next hundred years. It’s different in those areas. Through experience they have gained a solid footing.

All this recalled to mind a favorite passage in Habakkuk 3:18,19.. This small prophecy opens on a vista of disaster—and nothing gets better!

Yet at the end the prophet expresses his faith with these words:

"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hind’s

feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places."

When the deer was pursued by his enemies, he would run into the high places of the mountains where the rocks were loose and less sure-footed animals could not pursue. Anyone could run on the smooth, level ground at the foot of the mountain, but only the hind, could remain stable in rocky places.

I’ve always loved horses and the last horse I owned was named trooper. He was part quarter horse and part thoroughbred and he loved to run. And when you gave him his head on the track and let him run it was sheer joy. He was sure-footed. But while Trooper could run like the wind, he couldn’t walk a dozen feet without stumbling twice.

Off the track, he lost his sure-footedness.

Most of us can keep our footing when things are smooth and level, but the real test of faith is when God can make us sure-footed in the rocky places of our lives.

TIMES HAVE CHANGED

A few weeks ago Kaye and I sat in front of our television and watched the 1998 version of Desert Storm, Desert Fox, play out before our eyes. As in 1990, it was amazing, awesome and fearful. Imagine watching a real war on TV! It was amazing to watch those smart bombs and missiles with cameras in their noses as they pinpointed their targets. And this time they had one that could penetrate the top of a building and decide on which floor to explode. I thought, Times have really changed from the World War II era in which I grew up. Have you ever watched one of those historical movies where great armies, armed with swords and hatchets and long bows went at it and thought, "Wouldn’t it be great to step in there with an Uzi machine gun and blow away the enemy!" Boy, would they be surprised.

I thought times have changed. And just as quickly, I thought, but that’s all that’s changed—just the times. Nothing really important has changed.

Human Nature hasn’t changed. Ever since Cain slew his brother, men have been killing each other -- with stones, knives, swords, bow and arrows, muskets with powder and shot, repeating rifles, machine guns and semi-automatic handguns and now with missiles and smart bombs. Nothing has changed. Men still kill men. Nations still rise against nations—they just do it quicker and smarter now.

With all the advancements in education and science, men are still primates at heart, having not grown an inch in matters of the heart. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, as the ancient prophet Jeremiah said, and no one can predict what it will do. Men are no less greedy now than when King David stole a poor man’s herd. It is tragically comic that we, the smartest, more advanced civilization the world has ever witnessed, still behave as if we still lived in caves, scrawled upon the walls and grunted instead of speaking words. The World hasn’t changed. I’m speaking of the world system, civilization organized without God. Again with all its advances, it hasn’t changed.

It would still crucify Jesus if it could. In John 17, Jesus said the world would hate believers because they hated Jesus and because they had the Word of God. Lately, watching the impeachment hearings, I’ve heard the name of God invoked by many politicians, as you have. Did you hear anyone mention the name of Jesus? I didn’t. It’s easy to mention God because it has become a generic name for anything and everything that qualifies for a higher power. Today it basically has no worthwhile meaning. It is saluting an officer that isn’t there. It’s just a nice way to end a speech. But the name Jesus is taboo because it is concrete, not abstract. You can attach any meaning you desire to the name God but when you utter the name of Jesus it means only one thing—the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the Son of God, the Crucified Son of God. And the world chokes on the word.

The world still hates Christians because they have the Word of God. Believers of the Word hold to absolute truth which is out of style today and politically incorrect. All things must be relative, there must be no judgments only acceptance, no condemnation of evil only affirmation. John tells us the world is passing away—not will pass away—but is right now in the process of decaying, and anyone who fixes their star on the world is building their house in the direct path of the next hurricane.

God hasn’t changed. "I am the Lord; I change not," He said through the prophet Malachi. God has not been affected by the changes in time; He has not rethought His position on matters of good and evil, right and wrong. He hasn’t been pressured to "get with the program." He doesn’t mind being called old, traditional and out of touch with reality, because He is Reality. Truth is still truth, sin is still sin, hell is still burning and heaven is still shining. Jesus is still the only way to the Father. He is still a He and not a she. And He still opens wide the arms of grace and forgiveness to those who come to him by His Son, Jesus Christ.

So before we break our arms patting ourselves on the back for our outstanding achievements, let’s consider the many ways we are still the same old Adam. Times have changed, but that’s all.

A CRITICAL OMISSION

Like Many Americans I have watched with growing interest the impeachment hearings on TV. President Clinton is only the second president, and the first elected president, in U.S history to be impeached. The last was 130 years ago.

As expected Democrats and Republicans fought viciously, sometimes shamefully, for their positions, the hearings often reaching the lowest levels of demagoguery. At one point one congressman tried for the higher plane by paraphrasing Micah 6:8, saying that we must do justice and love mercy. But that is not what Micah 6:8 says—it says that we are to do justice, love mercy AND WALK HUMBLY WITH THY GOD. The congressman, whether intentionally or not, omitted that last phrase. It was a critical omission. Of course, it isn’t politically correct to mention God—and that is one of the things wrong with trying to be politically correct.

As I said, leaving out the phrase "walk humbly with thy God," was a critical omission, because it was the failure to do just that that brought about the impeachment hearings in the first place.  Without that third injunction, the first two are simple human ethics and human efforts to obey them. Let’s face it, it is contrary to fallen human nature to do justice and love mercy. Only walking humbly with God makes the first two possible.

The Hebrew word, "humble," means to bend over, bow down—to stoop. It is the opposite of a self-serving ego. Paul expressed it to the Philippians as a Christ-like mind that looks on the interests of others and exalts others better than themselves. I didn’t see anything like that in the hearings. Humility should strike the death knell to party spirit and strife. I saw many stoop to lies, innuendoes and slander, who would never stoop to walk with God.

We hear a lot about integrity today, specifically, the absence of it. Specifically, among leaders, both spiritual and political. Stephen Carter in his book, INTEGRITY, says that this is perhaps "first among the virtues that make for a good character because that in some sense it is prior to everything: the rest of what we think matters little if we lack essential integrity, the courage of our convictions, the willingness to act and speak in behalf of what we know is right."

We become like those with whom we associate. Walking with God, which implies a constant companionship, we become in a sense like God—in the sense that we do justice and love mercy. Those are godly and God-like qualities and cannot be achieved by human effort—only by divine companionship.

To walk with someone, you both have to be heading in the same direction. I heard the word "pray" a lot in the hearings. But I think that is more style than substance -- although I do know people in congress who actually pray. There was much mention of polls, what the people thought ( who are these phantoms? No one has ever polled me). If there was any mention of what God thought, I missed it.

No, we may cry out for justice and plead for mercy, but until we learn to walk humbly with our God, there will be little of the other.

A few weeks ago I was in Chicago and on Monday afternoon I got a call from my wife. When I answered, she asked, "Are you okay?" "What?" I said. "Are you okay?" I told her I was fine. Then she told me why she was asking.

It seems that the pastor of another church in town got up on Sunday night and asked the church to pray for me because I was near death. I Laughed and said that I was certainly not near death, I was feeling fine. Later they discovered that the pastor had mentioned a name similar to mine and a friend thought they announced my name.

No, I assured Kaye, I was not near death, not even sick. I laughed at the thought -- near death! And then I thought, "Hey, maybe that was a prophetic statement. Maybe I am near death and don’t know it. That’s quite possible in Chicago, especially trying to cross the busiest street in front of my hotel. Maybe I ought not venture outside.

And then I realized that I WAS near death. We all are. Just a heartbeat away. A good friend of my was preaching at a conference and dropped dead in the pulpit of a massive heart attack. Ironically, before he spoke, they tried to put some make-up on him for the TV camera, and he shooed them away, saying, "I don’t want to meet Jesus with make-up on."

The prophet Amos said, "Prepare to meet thy God." Good advice to all of us. Someone has said that we are not prepared to live until we are prepared to die. There is a time to be born and a time to die. I know the time of my birth, but I do not know the time of death. The wise person lives everyday as though it were his last.

I must ponder everyday this question: "Am I prepared to meet God in my present condition?" If I knew that this were my last day on earth, are there some things I would take care? Some wrongs I would right? Some apologies I might make? Someone I would witness to? Catch up on my tithe? If so, then we ought to take care of those things now, because we are near death.

Humming the Right Tune

Two things can pierce the umbrella of a wounded believer’s peace:

Fretting over past hurts and fearing future ones

But there is a way to plug the holes in the umbrella of peace, meditating on the things of God. To many moderns, meditation is either a lost art or a suspicious practice associated with Eastern religions or the pseudo-spiritual New Age movement, which is not new at all. But the Bible has much to say about meditating on the things of God. We are told that the person who "meditates" on the law of the Lord will be blessed (Psalm 1:2). The word "meditate" means to "ponder," "muse," "hum."

"Hum." I like that. It reminds me of an interview I heard of a popular singer. In the course of an interview, the singer said that it was his practice to constantly hum some tune. "Humming," he said, "keeps the vocal chords limbered up and in tune, so that I can sing at the drop of a hat. Humming is a constant ‘warming up’ exercise." "You never know," he said, "when you’re going to be called on to heist a tune."

In the same way, humming, meditating, constantly pondering the goodness of God, will keep us ready to sing praises to His name, no matter how suddenly a problem arises. Whatever it is and whenever it occurs, we will already be "warmed up."

Meditating on the things of God, humming the right tune, will give us the serenity of divine design. David hummed himself to sleep at night with this tune: "When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches" (Psalm 63:6). And again in Psalm 77:12, "I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds." One more: "I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done" (Psalm 143:5). The apostle Paul exhorts us to do the same thing; ‘"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things" (Philippians 4:8). The word "think" indicates a habitual activity.

It is true that whatsoever a man thinketh, that he is (Proverbs 23:7). Tell me what you think about all the time, and I will tell you what kind of person you are. Paul spoke of taking "captivity every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). And the ancient prophet advised, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee" Isaiah 26:3).

Right living begins with right thinking. And right thinking begins with thinking right about God.

Subject: On the Mountain Top

The other night I couldn’t sleep.  That happens often. I was too tired to read or study; there was nothing worth watching on TV. I did what I usually do on those occasions—I climbed the stairs, entered the cave of a closet and took down several picture albums. The one I started looking through was the record of our trip to Switzerland. I got cold just looking at them and developed a strange hunger for cheese.

One of the most beautiful places we visited was Zermaat, the quaint little village (no motor cars allowed) gateway to the mighty Matterhorn. It took us three different cable cars to finally reach the top. The view was spectacularly magnificent. If this was a mountain, I had never seen one before! We drink hot chocolate in the restaurant and stared transfixed out the window at a one-in-a-lifetime view. We had been to Switzerland several times before but this was our first visit to the Matterhorn. When I think of Switzerland, I automatically think about that trip.  It is beautiful to stand at such a lofty height—a mountain top experience if there ever was one.

But of course, nothing grows on the top of the Matterhorn— except ice. Far above the timberline, you’ll find no trees or evergreen bushes or flowers. As you descend the mountain and pass the timberline, you begin to see straggly bushes and stunted trees. It is in the valley that you find the lushest growth—the trees, the bushes, the flowers.

As believers we all love the mountain top experiences. Like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, we would wish to stay there forever. But it is in the valley that real growth takes place. I have had mountain top experiences but to be honest, I must say that the greatest things God has done in my life, have been in the valleys of disappointment, discouragement and despair.

I have always loved Psalm 130. "Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord." The word "depths" was used of a man in deep and dangerous waters. The truth is sometimes God must put us into the depths before we will cry out to him. The tense of the verb, "cry," means to cry and cry and cry—continual crying out to the Lord. Few of us ever cry out to God on the mountain top or safe on the shore. But let the waters begin to drag us down, then we will cry and continually cry out to the Lord.

But God does not always answer immediately. So the Psalmist says in verse 5, " "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word I hope." Like one waiting for the morning, he says, I wait for thee. Now there are two things I know about waiting for the sunrise: 1. You can’t rush it. It won’t be fooled if you set your clock ahead. 2. It will rise. Always has and always will. We do not wait for the sunrise in vain, nor do we wait for the Lord in vain. The sun will rise.

Alexander McLaren said, "If out of the depths we cry, we will cry ourselves out of the depths." It is then that we rediscover the grace of God. "For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption" (verse 7).