What God Sees!

One of my favorite accounts in all of Scripture is the account of Gideon. The opening scene in Judges 6 is nothing less than a contrast between what we see and what God sees!

Because of their sin, Israel was under the oppressive rule of the Midianites. It wasn't like the Midianites ruled with dignity, they just waited for the Israelites to plant their crops, get read to harvest it and then would come marching in and either destroy their food supply or take it from them. It is likely during this time that the people of Israel were beginning to starve. This is where we pick up with Gideon. We find him threshing wheat in a winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. Gideon saw pain, suffering and injustice. He was hiding in order to have just a small amount of food by which to survive. He saw weakness...that which was around him but also his own. This is where most of us are stuck. We see pain, suffering, injustice, sin and our own weakness. We think there is nothing we can do, so let's hide and try to eek out a living in a survival mindset.

Maybe you are hiding behind past hurts and failures while life seemingly continues to march forward. You might look around you and feel that others are not just surviving, they are somehow thriving...but not you. No, you've been weakened by your frustration, your bitterness, your anger and your resentment. Someone, somewhere over the course of your life hurt you and brought you under their rule. The pain they caused steers your life, determines your trajectory and you find yourself limping along all the while thinking that no one really notices your pain.

But, in the story of Gideon, an angel of the Lord appears and calls Gideon a "Mighty Warrior" or as the King James Version puts it, a "Mighty Man of Valor." Clearly, the angel had the wrong address! The idea that Gideon was a mighty warrior was something that Gideon could not see. Seriously, he's threshing wheat in a winepress. He's in hiding, he's afraid and then goes on to argue with the angel about God's plan.

Yet, in this story as in other places in Scripture where man tends to get in the way of God's plan, it is not what we see that counts, it is what God sees that matters most. We see pain, but God sees potential. We see frustration, but God's remedy is faith. God, at that moment was not looking at Gideon for what Gideon saw or was even projecting or saying about himself, God was looking at Gideon for what He was going to help Gideon to become. So how was that going to happen? Gideon just had to get on board with what God wanted and let God guide him through impossible odds to show that what really mattered in his life was what God sees.

So it isn't what you see about yourself that really matters most, it is what God sees in your life. God sees great things! God sees potential! Rather than hide behind something, get ready to be part of God's solution to the problems you find around you. Begin to see what God sees!

The Wrong Kind of Thankfulness

And so here I am after a long time of not posting anything, trying now to get someone, anyone to read what I’ve written. Maybe you’ve checked once or twice and just thought to yourself - “Ha, I knew he wouldn’t keep it up.” Well, I’m back… for now! I make no guarantees for the future.

These thoughts arose as I was preparing for a message entitled “Time to Fill Your Thank Tank” to be given November 20, 2011 at Praise Tabernacle. In the sermon, I make reference to a story Jesus told about a Pharisee and tax collector who went up to the temple to pray. Since the sermon is about thanksgiving and being thankful, the words of the Pharisee’s prayer jumped off the page at me. Here are his words so you can see for yourself:

        Luke 18:11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank         you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even         like this tax         collector.

        Luke 18:12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ (NIV1984)

I’m not sure if you saw it, but let me point out a couple of things he says in verse 11.

1. He addresses God as the object of his thankfulness - Good place to start. I’ve been saying for years that to be really thankful, it’s best when thanksgiving is directed in the appropriate direction - most appropriate is God. However, this is where the positives for this religious leader comes to an end.
2. He thanks God that he is not like other men - I’ve heard and said the expression before “there for the grace of God, go I.” There’s nothing wrong with that when there is a sense of humility and realization that God is the one who has delivered you and brought you out of your sin. But really? He thanks God that he’s not like these sinful people? This guy clearly thought he was better than everyone else around him, “even this tax collector,” he says.

Let me just go on record at this point and say, this is the wrong kind of thankfulness! The story Jesus told was to teach those in the crowd who trusted in their own righteousness that repentance and humility gets God’s attention, not being thankful at how good you think you are in your own eyes. What this man failed to see was that he was exactly like those “other men” because his heart wasn’t right with God and all the outward expressions of religion don’t change that.

His most egregious error was that of actually attaching thankfulness (a quality we are reminded at least once a year to possess) to his supposed position with God; and then to thank God, as if somehow God had something to do with him being so prideful, stuck-up and horribly deceived. He was thankful alright, but he was the wrong kind of thankful.

Let’s be thankful to God that He has delivered us from sin, but stay away from the comparisons to others because that’s the wrong kind of thankfulness.

To Infinity and Beyond... Through a Mac

I really was making better use of my time when the question came to me, what it would be like to screenshare from one Mac and then through that screeenshare, open up a screenshare on the other Mac back to the one I was on?

Here's the result. Cool, huh?

The Bible Software I Use and Recommend

As a 2nd generation pastor, I remember seeing all the books in my Dad's library and remember often seeing them spread out on his desk as he would study and labor over his messages (for many years preaching 3 times a week). I wonder how many hours Dad would have saved with Accordance. Of course, by the time computers became a must have for most pastors, Dad was in the later years of his ministry and I was in the early years of mine. A few years ago, I discovered Accordance and was pleasantly surprised at the time by how fast it was (that was Accordance 6). Now at version 9, Accordance is just as fast as ever, is native to the Mac and continues to provide excellent resources for in depth Bible study. I have only begun to scratch the surface of using Accordance, but there are excellent quality resources like a the Lighting the Lamp Podcast and a knowledgeable community of users in the Accordance User Forum to help get you started. You won't regret it.

I don't remember the last time I had books spread out all over my desk because they are now neatly organized in my Accordance Bible Software workspace.

The new Multimedia Preview gives you some quick insight into a few of the things Accordance has to offer.

Thirsty?

When Jesus was on the cross, He said, "I thirst." Viewed from the physical perspective, He no doubt needed something to quench His thirst. He was becoming severely dehydrated through all that He was suffering. But we also have to wonder if He wasn't sensing the great spiritual thirst of all of mankind as the sins of the whole world were placed on Him. It was the thirst felt by billions of people around the world.

The solution? Get a drink. John 7:37 (NIV) "... If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink." The One who felt thirst on the cross, is the answer for quenching the spiritual thirsting of your soul. Nothing else will ever satisfy your thirst like He will.