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2 Chronicles 20:15

Raising the Dead

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 3, 2025

During my many years of preaching, I made a point of pointing out our mortality at the beginning of every year. I would say that some of you here today won’t finish the year on earth. That goes for me, also. I might not be here at the end of the year. I would then mention those who had passed away in the previous year. This might sound morbid, but it reminded me of my mortality. If the preacher has any responsibility, it is to remind people of their mortality. That’s why pastors always officiate at funerals. It should lead us to worship God. When we humble ourselves before the Lord, we worship him. We acknowledge our dependence on Him, and He looks favorably on us. “God resists the proud but gives grace (favor) to the humble.” It begins with our declaration of dependence and ends with God’s deliverance. That was Jehoshaphat’s experience in “The Valley of Decision.” This is where he and the entire nation humbled themselves before God in the face of three advancing armies. They expressed their helplessness and their desperate need for God. And God answered them. In 2 Chronicles 20:15, we read, “This is what the Lord says to you: Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s!”

Jehoshaphat was under attack and looked to the Lord. Joshua, on the other hand, was doing the attacking. In either situation, the solution is to worship God. Joshua was on the brink of his first battle against an impregnable fortress city named Jericho. The adventure was getting to be too much for him, and he was up all night. That’s when he met the captain of the Lord’s army. They had an exchange that resulted in Joshua’s worship. In Joshua 5, 13-15, we read all about it: “When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, worshiped, and said to him, What does my lord say to his servant? And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua did so.” I need not tell you about the victory that God gave to both Jehoshaphat and Joshua! They were both miraculous, and they were both total.

When we are under attack, when we are advancing against the enemy, the most important step we can take is to worship. That’s holy ground. When we come before the Lord and declare our dependence, acknowledge our weakness and His might and power, we are indeed on holy ground. That’s when we need a miracle. When we come to the “dead end” of ourselves, God is ready to do what God is best at. No human institution, academic, economic, technological, or cinematic, can solve our problems. Religion won’t solve the problem either. Religion won’t meet our needs. Max Lucado said it well, “We don’t need more religion; we need a miracle. We don’t need someone to disguise the dead; we need someone to raise the dead.” There’s only one place to turn. John tells us in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

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2 Chronicles 20:12-13

Declaration of Dependence

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 2, 2025

There are three passages in scripture (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, and 1 Peter 5:5) that say, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” That means that those who don’t need God, who have it all together, who are able to do it all on their own, are not looked upon favorably by God. Grace is sometimes translated with the word “favor.” God loves to see His children dependent on him. Really, if we get to the point that we feel that way, we really aren’t doing much. When we step out in faith to do something significant, we truly learn how dependent we are on God’s favor. Sometimes, when we feel we don’t need God, He will bring a trial, contest, or conflict into our lives that will prove again how much we need him. It’s always better to tackle big things, have dreams, go for the gold, and learn how much we need God on the way than to seek the quiet, reserved, cautious life of trying to make all things comfortable. God cares so much more for our character than our comfort. I have always loved the line Bilbo Baggins gave Gandalf when he was challenged to embark on a great adventure-filled mission. He said, “Oh no, no, no! Adventures make one late for dinner.”

In the middle of life’s adventures, we encounter our need for God firsthand. It’s not until we truly learn that we can’t do it ourselves. We do not know it all. We cannot manage our lives as neatly as we might want to, and we surely can’t make the world around us bend to our wishes, even when it’s for good. God wants us at that point in our lives because it’s there that we truly learn how to draw near to God: That is worship! And it’s at those times God will draw near to us as well. During the course of the coming year, we will all live our lives. We will face challenges, even if we don’t want to. We will face hardships and sometimes have to deal with major losses in our lives. There is no escaping it. Worship is the only long-term solution.

When the three armies surrounding Judah mustered their forces against the meager army of Jehoshaphat, that’s when he was brought low before the Lord in worship. He knew that he stood no chance against the advanced, well-trained, well-equipped armies that mustered at the borders of his country. He fell on his knees and said in 2 Chronicles 20:12, “We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We don’t know what to do…” Here is the situation that God brought about to bring Jehoshaphat and his people to worship God. It worked. The next words out of his mouth are in 2 Chronicles 20:12b-13. He says, “We don’t know what to do, BUT we are looking to you (God) for help. All the men of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, wives, and children.” Whether you have embarked on a great adventure or are facing a seemingly immovable obstacle, humble yourself before the Lord. Worship is the answer. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

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Psalm 101:1-8, Various

Christ Crucified

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 1, 2025

David’s Psalm 101 is only eight verses long. It sounds very much to me like a collection of resolutions that David intends to live in the future. We might think of them as New Year Resolutions.  “I will” introduces these resolutions.  First of all, in verse 1, he resolves to “sing of God’s steadfast love and justice.” In verse 2, pledges to “ponder the way that is blameless.” In verse 3 he expresses his determination to “walk with integrity of heart.” In verse three, David tells us what he will not do. He says, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” Then, in verse 4, he says, “A perverse heart shall be far from me.” Then, in verse five, he pledges to take the side of innocent victims when he says, “Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy.” He adds, “Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.” On the other hand, verse six contains the resolution to “Look with favor on the faithful in the land.” He promises to have only righteous advisors. He says only “he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.” He will rid his cabinet of liars in verse seven, “No one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.” In verse eight, he makes a solemn resolution as the King of God’s people. He says, “Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.”

David is not the only one in the Bible to make resolutions. We see that Daniel, a slave in Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, resolved “not to defile himself with the King’s food.” Joshua had resolved that he and his whole household would serve the Lord in contrast to those who bellied up to the gods of the Canaanites. One of my favorite Old Testament resolutions is found in the words of Ezra. In Chapter Seven and verse 10, he says that he has set his heart (resolved) to study the Law of the Lord, to practice it in his own life, and to teach it to all Israel.  If we look at the New Testament, we see that the writer of 13 of the books of the New Testament made a resolution to know nothing but “Christ Crucified.”

The idea of a resolution seems to be that we will focus our lives on something that matters most to us. In the culture we face, I’d argue with Brian Chapell, that Paul’s resolution should be ours. He says, “While the warring factions may not agree with each other’s values, all concur we are living through a cultural war on every front: arts, politics, law, business, medicine, education, and touching every area of our lives: family, gender, sexuality, race, ethics, personal responsibility, the sanctity of life. To guard against the temptation to pursue change through human power, we need to ask, in light of Scripture, What will really make a difference in the cause of Christ? Biblical answers become clear only as we clarify the nature of our mission, promoting the glory of God in the person of his Son, by the Spirit and Christ’s mandate – making known nothing but Christ crucified.”[1]

[1] Chapell, Bryan. “Prelude to Revival: A Christian Response to Culture Wars.” Reformation and Revival Journal 1994, Vol. 3 (3), pp: 35–59. ISSN: 1071–7277[1]

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2 Chronicles 20:17

Flap, Flap, Flap!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
December 31, 2024

Imagine a passenger getting on a 747 jet airliner. When the plane begins its taxi down the runway, the passenger begins to flap his arms, up and down, up and down. When the plane lifts up off the ground, he flaps hard and harder. The stewardess asks, “Can I help you?” He replies, “No, I’m helping you!. I’m helping us fly.” The Stewardess then replies, “Sir, you don’t have to do that. The plane has all the power it needs to get us safely to our destination.” But the passenger insists, “No, I have to help!”  As ridiculous as that sounds, I seem to do a lot of flapping. Many of us are flapping all over the place to help with every imaginable struggle in our life, when the truth is, we don’t contribute one bit to the success or progress of the mission. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is relax under the care and sovereignty of a loving God and let Him do what he’s best at.

When Jehoshaphat was overwhelmed by a collation of three nations’ armies against him, he took his problem to the lord. He acknowledged God’s greatness and his own inadequacy. He asked God for help and expressed his faith and trust in God’s provision and capabilities. He said, “We don’t know what to do, but we have looked to you for help, oh, Lord.” God said in so many words, “Step back, Jehoshaphat, and watch me work. “The Battle is not yours; it is the Lords.” Like us flapping fools, I expect Jehoshaphat wanted to contribute to the effort, but God corrected him and said, “You won’t need to fight in this battle. Just stand strong in your places, and you will see the Lord save you.” (2 Chronicles 20:17). It was a similar charge that Moses gave the children of Israel as they faced the Red Sea on their east and the advancing Egyptian army on their west, with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. In Exodus 14:13-14, Moses said, “Don’t be afraid! Stand still, and you will see the LORD save you today. You will never see these Egyptians again after today. You only need to remain calm; the LORD will fight for you.”

God, the creator of the entire universe, the sustainer of all life, the manager of the galaxies, and the choreographer of the stars (real stars!), is just a prayer away. Jehoshaphat worshiped God for who He was in all His glory and grandeur, and then he worshipped God for what He did by delivering them from Egypt and delivering them to the Promised Land. God hasn’t changed. What are we flapping about? As we face 2025, let’s look to God and stop all the flapping. Paul says in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

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The Christmas Card

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
December 30, 2024

We received our share of Christmas Cards this year, even though we didn’t send one out. We used to, but not anymore. Though we don’t send any out, we are always excited about opening the ones that we get. I did some research and found out that the creator of the Christmas card was John C. Horsley, an English illustrator who designed the first card in 1843. It showed three generations of an English family celebrating Christmas and carried the message, “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.” By 1870, the custom of exchanging Christmas cards had spread to the United States. It was promoted by Louis Prang, a Boston printer, who is known as the father of the American Christmas card. One of my sources wrote, “About 95% of American families exchange Christmas cards—usually 60 to 70 cards per family. A staggering four billion cards are mailed during Christmas. How did all these get started? Museum director Henry Cole, during the mid-19th century, used to write short notes to his friends at Christmas, wishing them a joyful holiday season. In 1843, he had no time to write and asked his artist friend John Horsely to design a printed greeting card. Inadvertently, he had invented the Christmas card.” This source went on to say, “And the President of the United States sends over 40,000 of these greetings yearly—probably having the longest Christmas card list in the country.”

Max Lucado suggests that Christmas week is the week when mail is fun. He writes, “This is the week of red envelopes, green stamps, and Christmas tree stickers. This is the week when your old roommate, who married Hazel and moved to Phoenix, writes to tell you that their fourth child is on the way. This is the week of front-and-back newsletters describing the Grand Canyon, graduations, and gallbladder surgeries. This is the week of overnighted nuts, packaged fruitcakes, and frenzied mailmen. Add to that a gift from Aunt Sophie and a calendar from your insurance agent, and you’ve got a daily reason to whistle your way to the mailbox.

He goes on, “Only a Scrooge doesn’t want a Christmas card. Some are funny. Got one today with elves pulling books off the ‘elf-help’ shelf. Others are touching, like the illustration of Mother Mary and the baby resting at the base of the Egyptian sphinx. And a few are unforgettable. Every Christmas, I read this reminder that came in the mail several years ago: If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior.” In his conclusion, Max adds, “He became like us, so we could become like him. Angels still sing, and the star still beckons. He loves each one of us like there was only one of us to love.”

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Ecclesiastes 8:14

The Mills of God

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
December 29, 2024

In Ecclesiastes 8:14, the wisest man who ever lived said with great frustration that from our human perspective, there doesn’t appear to be any real justice in life. The wicked are often rewarded, the righteous often suffer, and the innocent victims have no grievance redress. He calls this all “vanity of vanities.” This means it doesn’t make any sense! However, the views expressed by Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes often depict things the way they appear to us. God’s justice “under the sun” is often illusive. Job expressed the same frustration amidst the injustices he suffered.  It seemed to him that God was nowhere to be found when there was injustice in the world. When he failed to find justice in life, he said, “I go east, but he is not there. I go west, but I cannot find him. I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I look to the south, but he is concealed” (Job 23:8-9).

Yet both Job and Solomon trust that there will one day be a reckoning. Job says, “But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold” (Job 23:10). Solomon argues that death, the great equalizer in life, will come to all men. When he argues that there is a time for every purpose under heaven, he includes a time to die. At such a time, all wrongs will be made right. As Job was vindicated and blessed beyond measure in the end, so too will the innocent victims of all ages. The babies slaughtered by Herod in Bethlehem, as well as the babies slaughtered in all the school shootings in the world as well as those innocent ones slaughtered in the holocaust. Any evasion of God’s purposes is only temporary. You see, “…it is appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment,” says Hebrews 9:27. And one chapter later, we read this sobering verse: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

I read that Paul Harvey illustrated this point when he told about a man named Gary Tindle, who was charged with robbery. While standing in the California courtroom of Judge Armando Rodriguez, Tindle asked permission to go to the bathroom. He was escorted upstairs to the bathroom, and the door was guarded while he was inside. But Tindle, determined to escape, climbed up the plumbing, opened a panel in the ceiling, and started slithering through the crawl space, heading south. He had traveled some thirty feet when the ceiling panels broke under him, and he dropped to the floor—right back in Judge Rodriguez’s courtroom! God’s perfect righteousness will not be frustrated in the end. Sooner or later, the wheels of justice will right every wrong, balance every scale, and correct every injustice in the world. Longfellow included this truth in one of his poems, where he compared God’s justice to the grinding mills that turn wheat into flour. He says:

Though the mills of God grind slowly
Yet they grind exceedingly small,
Though with patience, He stands waiting
With exactness, He grinds all.

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Isaiah 56:5, Luke 10:20

A Name and a Place

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
December 28, 2024

Although we hold out for God’s justice to prevail in the end, the grief we feel at the injustices in the world can easily overwhelm us. Upon first hearing about the slaughter of the 20 first-grade children at Sandy Hook Elementary School several years ago, my heart grew sick and blocked it from my mind, and I refused to watch the news and face the reality of the whole evil mess! But now, this tragedy has aligned itself with all the atrocities man has perpetrated on man. It’s another slaughter of the innocents as Herod did in Bethlehem.

Every trip we’ve taken to Israel has ended at Yad Vashem. It’s the name of the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. It means “a place and a name.” It’s taken from the book of Isaiah, chapter 56, and verse 5, where God promises that within the walls of Israel, there will be a memorial for the innocent who suffered at the hands of evil. It’s to be an “everlasting memorial” and represents the vindication of the righteous. The passage says, “I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name…I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” A walk through the museum is the most sobering experience one might ever encounter in life. It contains the largest collection of documented footage and still images of the most extreme atrocities of man upon man. Some on our tours would wait at the coffee shop or browse the stores in the four quarters of Jerusalem rather than visit the museum. It’s nearly impossible to witness such wickedness and not be deeply moved by it.

The Orthodox Jew in Israel sees the museum as the place at which every name of those slaughtered in the holocaust will be recorded forever, and the generations that follow will pay their respects. It’s their eternal monument or memorial to and for the slaughtered innocent. But Jesus took this idea of a “place and a name” and gave it to all who would come to faith in Him (the slaughtered innocent Son of God). There is a place where our names are memorialized as well. When His disciples returned from their missionary trip, they were thrilled and excited about the fact that they had power over “evil” spirits. Jesus said to them, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (Luke 10:20). There is “a name and a place” for every victim in this sin-cursed world. The name is written in the Book of Life, and the place is a place Jesus referred to as heaven. It’s not an earthly resident but a spiritual one that will last forever in which all evil will be eradicated, every tear will be wiped away, and joy will reign in every life.

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John 3:16

12 Days of Christmas

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
December 27, 2024

Edna Bowman once wrote a modern parody of the famous Christmas song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” It went like this: On the twelfth day of Christmas, My littlest love gave to me Twelve dogs a-leaping, Eleven cats a-creeping, Ten fingers gripping, Nine toes a-tripping, Eight drinks a-spilling Seven glasses filling, Six friends and things, Five telephone rings, Four crayoned walls. Three loud calls, Two Kisses free, And one mother up a pear tree.”

According to Robert Webber, a modern worship guru, “Christmas worship is not confined to a single day but extends for twelve days. The origin of these twelve days of festivity lies in the early church. The early Christians of the East celebrated the birth of Christ on January 6 … In the West, Christians began to celebrate Christmas on December 25…Eventually, these two dates became the boundaries of the Christmas season, with the celebration of the birth of Jesus on December 25 representing the beginning of the festival and the celebration of the manifestation of Christ to the world through the visit of the magi on January 6.” Thus, we have the 12 days of Christmas.

I’ve suggested, along with many others, that the song was written during a period of persecution of Christians, and it was a song with a message only to those who “got it.” Yet, some of the myth buster websites argue that it was simply a nonsense song written as a joke. And this explanation is not true. But there are others that argue it is true. I prefer to see it my way, along with some others. The song has meaning. The suggested meaning, traditionally, has been as follows: My True love is God the Father. I am the receiver, as a believer, of His gifts. They are: The Partridge is Christ crucified in a tree, then, 2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments. 3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity– the Theological Virtues. Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists. 5 Golden Rings = the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the “Pentateuch,” which relays the history of man’s fall from grace. 6 Geese A-laying = the six days of Creation. 7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. 8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes. 9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit. 10 Lords A-leaping = the Ten Commandments. 11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles. 12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle’s Creed. Whether this is a historical fact or not, it sure gives meaning to a nonsense song that we’ll hear often during the Christmas season. We may as well see some significance in it when we hear it. To me, “My True Love” is the God who “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, so that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

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