God Is: Faithful

Psalm 89

Introduction

How many of you know what a Hi-fi is? It was the name used to describe record players. How many of you know what a record is? The record was described as Hi-fi which stands for High Fidelity. What it means is that the recording was being reproduced with high fidelity or high faithfulness to the original performance. Fulfilling what is promised is one way to describe faithfulness.

When I looked up the definition of faithfulness, I found that the Hebrew word used in the Bible is translated as “firmness, steadfastness, fidelity.” The Hebrew word is also sometimes used to describe an artist or one who has a steady hand and can reproduce an original faithfully. It is defined as certainty and dependability. The root of the Hebrew word is also the root of our word for “amen” and so conveys the idea that something is true, that we agree with it and it is good.

As anyone who has played a record player knows, there were some things like scratches on the record or a damaged needle which would produce a poor quality reproduction of the original sound. Sometimes it didn’t faithfully fulfill what it promised. Then listening was disappointing because it was no longer faithful to the original.

We experience broken promises or unfaithfulness in many ways in life. When people promise to meet us at a certain time and then don’t show up, their unfaithfulness is disappointing. When marriage vows are broken, that is a serious situation of unfaithfulness and is devastating. When God doesn’t do what He promises that is a disaster. Does God keep His promises? Is God faithful?

In order to think about this question, I would like to invite you to look at Psalm 89 where the word faithful appears more often than in any other single Psalm.

Promises

Promises To Israel

This Psalm speaks about the promises which God made to Israel. Please look with me at Psalm 89:19-37 where God’s promises are spoken of.

What is written here is a promise that David’s rule as king will be successful, that God will sustain and help him, that his kingdom will be extensive so that as Psalm 89:27 says he will be “the most exalted of the kings of the earth.” The most significant promise in this Psalm is the promise made in Psalm 89:29 which says, “I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure.” The promise comes directly from the mouth of God who spoke to David in II Samuel 7:5-16 - “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says:… the Lord himself will establish a house for you:… my love will never be taken away from him,… Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”

The strength of the promise is seen in Psalm 89:30-37 where God says that even if David’s sons sin, “I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have sworn..his line will continue forever…”

That is a pretty powerful promise which had implications not only for David, but for the entire nation of Israel.

Promises To Us.

David is not the only one to whom God has made promises. What are the promises of God which are an encouragement to us and in which we rejoice? Some of you have books of God’s promises which outline all the things which God has said He would do. A few of God’s promises to us are:

Psalm 91:9,10 – “If you make the Most High your dwelling— even the Lord, who is my refuge— 10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.”

Matthew 6:26 – “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” And Matthew 6:30, “If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

I John 4:18 – “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…”

What a blessing to have these promises! We rest on them and we count on them and we rejoice in them and live by them.

Broken Promises

But, is God faithful to His promises?

To Israel

As we read on in Psalm 89 we discover a stark contrast to the wonderful promises which God has made to Israel. We find that at the point at which the Psalmist, Ethan the Ezrahite, was writing, God was anything but faithful to these promises.

Look at the words which speak of what the writer was experiencing in Psalm 89:38-45. The most devastating is verse 39 where he says, “you have renounced the covenant with your servant.” What is he saying? He is telling God – you don’t keep your promises! Those are pretty harsh words, a pretty direct accusation! Bible commentator Marvin Tate speaks about “the glaring contrast between the promised ideal and the present reality.”

What was going on? There are several historical situations which could correspond to these accusations. After the days of Solomon, the kingdom was divided between Jeroboam and Rehoboam. A son of David was still king, but not over the whole nation, rather over a divided kingdom. Later during the days when the Assyrians destroyed Israel and later still when Judah was exiled to Babylon there were other occasions when it seemed God was not keeping this promise. Scholars are not certain nor united on the exact historical context, but there are lots of possibilities when it looked like God’s promises were not being kept.

We look at these stories from a historical distance and perspective that takes a larger story into account, but we need to put ourselves into the position of the writer who is watching his whole world fall apart and watching as God’s people are being decimated by enemies and seeing it as a time when the promises of God are not being fulfilled. It was a terrible time and we need to give full weight to the disaster which the writer was experiencing.

It raises what Tate calls the “riddle of the inscrutability of God’s way of acting in history.” It is a time to ask, “Where are the promises of God? Is God faithful?” To the writer it looked as if He was not!

To Us

The writer of Psalm 89 is not the only one who has struggled with the fear which comes when our experiences tell us that God’s promises are not being kept and that God is not faithful.

When I read Psalm 91:9,10, which we looked at a few moments ago, I was reminded of a tornado that ripped through the area around Rushing River Ontario when we were camping there. On Sunday, we went to a worship service at a Lutheran camp a little way down the road and learned that during the tornado a tree had come down on a tent and killed an 11 year old boy. Where was God’s promise that “no harm will befall you?” If you have ever been in an accident, ever gotten an illness, ever experienced any disaster, ever experienced violence against yourself, you must have asked where God’s promise that “no harm will befall you” was! You must have questioned God’s faithfulness.

What about the poor and the naked? – Where is the promise in Matthew 6 for believers in certain parts of Africa?

Why are so many still plagued with fears when I John 4 promises that the love of God present with us will remove all our fears?

Sometimes it is our own fault, a result of our own faithlessness that brings events that look like God is not keeping His promises, but in those cases, it is our faithlessness and not Gods. But that is not always the case! When a missionary family dies in a car accident, when innocent children starve to death, we wonder, “where is God’s promise?”

When we think about these things then the question which the Psalmist raises with deep intensity becomes our question, “Is God faithful?” “Does He keep His promises?”

What Do We Do When God Seems Unfaithful?

How do we respond to broken promises? If someone promises to meet us and they are consistently late or frequently forget. How do we respond? We begin to doubt their words. We begin to act as if we don’t trust them by reminding them or giving them an earlier time so that we do not have to wait for them so long. Trust has been broken and we compensate.

If one marriage partner breaks a marriage vow by abuse or adultery, how does the other partner respond? Besides trust being broken, they would question their partner’s love. They would certainly ask, “do you still love me?” but would have a hard time believing the answer!

This Psalm is amazing in that it is quite up front about God’s broken promises. The Psalmist does exactly what we do when someone is unfaithful. He questions God’s love and faithfulness. Please take note of 89:49, “O Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?” But is that all the Psalmist does? How does the writer handle this very difficult, real and personal question?

One writer who comments on this Psalm suggests that it is OK to stay in this difficult place of questioning God’s love and faithfulness. He rewrites the first verse, “I wish I could sing of the Lord’s great love forever…” implying, “but I can’t because of what I have experienced.”

In some ways he is right because there are some things we cannot and are not meant to understand. Not every Psalm ends with a happy ending. Psalm 88 does not resolve, but remains in a position of depression and questioning to the end. This same writer points to Elie Wiesel, the Jewish writer who survived the holocaust in Auschwitz and who wrote that “Man defines himself by what disturbs him and not by what reassures him.”

There is a time when all we can do is live in an uncomfortable silence with God, but I don’t think that is all that is in this Psalm. In this Psalm we see much more that moves towards recognizing that God is faithful and affirming and resting in His faithfulness.

Pray

One important response to the apparent unfaithfulness of God is prayer. That is what the Psalmist does in Psalm 89:46-51. Although in this prayer he questions God’s faithfulness, it is important to note that he does so in the presence of God. When we do that we are expressing faith in God in spite of what we do not understand. In the prayer he acknowledges his own human frailty when he says, “what man can live and not see death.” He acknowledges that from the human stand point, such experiences are hard. He says in verse 47, “Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you have created men!” Marvin Tate writes, “He can only state that contradiction with a bleeding heart; he can only lift his hands to God in prayer and bring his affliction before Him and lay before Him the problems which his own thinking and reason are unable to master.”

Charles Spurgeon comments on these verses, “God’s actions may appear to us to be the reverse of his promises, and then our best course is to come before him in prayer and put the matter before him just as it strikes our apprehension. We are allowed to do this, for this holy and inspired man did so un-rebuked but we must do it humbly and in faith.” “He puts the matter plainly, and makes bold with the Lord, and the Lord loves to have his servants so do; it shows that they believe his engagements to be matters of fact.”

So if you are struggling to see God’s faithfulness and believe that He has broken His promises, talk to Him about it in all honesty, but with humility and trust.

Praise In Trust

Another reason I don’t believe that living in uncomfortable silence is all that happens in this Psalm is because the conclusion to the Psalm is a jarring contrast to what has just preceded. In Psalm 89:38-51 we have an honest description of the situation. We hear such questioning words as, “you have renounced your covenant” and “where is your former great love…” but after that honest complaint the Psalm ends with “Praise be to the Lord forever!” How do you express such a devastating complaint and then end by praising God? Does the writer have his head in the sand? Is he divided in mind so that he can hold both tragedy and hope together at the same time? How do you do that?????

Starting Point

You do it because of your starting point and the starting point for the Psalmist is what he has written in 89:1-18.

The content of this passage is a powerful affirmation that God is faithful. If our starting point and our life conviction is that God is faithful, then even when God appears not to be faithful, we will stand on that truth. The Psalm ends with praise, but not with resolution and that is faith! It is faith in the faithfulness of God which the Psalmist declares from the beginning of the Psalm.

I Will Sing

It is possible to do this when, even in times of confusion, our life is marked by praise. Notice that in verses 1,2, the Psalmist says, “I will sing…,” “with my mouth I will make…known…” and “I will declare…” When all things are going well, it is important to express the wonder of God’s goodness. It is important because as we declare it, it goes deep into our heart and strengthens our faith and celebrates God’s faithfulness in the public arena. Then, when it looks like God has forgotten His promises, we are able, by faith, to continue to praise God. It is important to do so because when we publicly give expression to praise it reminds us that this is and always has been our conviction and we will continue to live by it.

Standing On The Promises

It is possible by standing on the promises. In Psalm 89:3,4, the writer speaks of the promises which God has made. Even though later he questions whether God has kept those promises, his starting point is a statement of faith that He will continue to stand on the promises of God.

Who Is Like Him?

It is possible when we examine the bigger picture. Perhaps at this time, in regards to one promise of God it looks like God is not faithful, yet where else can we turn? Who else is there who is greater than God? This is the thrust of Psalm 89:5-8. Please take note of the main idea presented twice in these verses when the writer says, “Who is like you?” God is greater than all and if we live by faith in our great God, in times when we are tempted to doubt God’s faithfulness, we will be reminded that there is still no one who is greater than God.

Creation and History Declare

It is possible as we reflect on all that God has already done and all that He is. In Psalm 89:9-13 we read of God’s great power over nature and history. We are reminded of the time when God “crushed Rahab.” Rahab is a reference to the pagan female monster of chaos and became a way of referring to Egypt, the monster who almost swallowed up God’s people. But this Psalm reminds us about how God delivered Israel from that “monster.” For us as Christians, the recollection of God’s great work of salvation in Jesus is a reminder that although in some ways God seems to be unfaithful, yet in the most essential and critical matter of salvation, God has shown Himself not only faithful, but filled with an everlasting love. It is a motivation to faith.

When we examine the wonder of God’s power and love expressed in creation, as the Psalmist does in Psalm 89:11 when he says, “The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth.” we are reminded that God still is the greatest of all and the one before whom we have to resolve these issues of doubt. As we live a life of remembering what God has done, we can continue to live by faith in God even though we don’t understand it all.

Those Who Acclaim You

In the last part of this section of praise the writer returns to the starting point and that is that a life which is lived in faith and has learned to praise God will not be easily thrown off when God’s faithfulness is in question. In Psalm 89:15 we read, “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you…”

Spurgeon writes, “…we ought still to praise God for his mercies, since they most certainly remain the same, whether we can perceive them or not.”

That is why it is so important to live by faith and to frequently engage in praise to God. When the day comes that we cannot praise Him because all the evidence suggests that God has failed to be faithful, our life habit of praise will help us to continue in faith in spite of what our eyes and our body and even our mind are telling us. That will allow us to keep on with God.

God Is Faithful!

On this basis of faith the Psalmist was able to conclude with “Praise be to the Lord.” Even if that is all we know, we can do the same. But as Christians we know something more that helps us. What the Psalmist experienced was not the end of the story. The problem was that God’s promise to give David’s son the eternal throne was not being kept. Yet we know that this promise has been completely fulfilled. Jesus fulfills the promise of God made to David. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, the sign over His head in Latin, Greek and Hebrew was “King of the Jews” and He is King and has taken His eternal throne at the right side of the Father. He is the eternal son of David who is the eternal son of God. From our perspective, regarding the promise spoken of in Psalm 89:19-37, we know that God is faithful!

How often do we give up too soon? I remember several times when it looked like the Bombers were beaten and the game was over. People left the stands and started going home. Some of them were already outside the stadium when they will have heard a roar from the crowd in the stadium because of Milt’s miracle catch which put the Bombers in front and caused them to win the game. Now with the Bombers it doesn’t nearly always happen, but with God it does. Let us not be outside the stadium before the end of the game, but let us remain faithful until we understand that God is always faithful.

Conclusion

If you are questioning the faithfulness and love of God today because of the pain and confusion in your life, let this Psalm speak:

Let it be an expression of your confusion, doubt and pain.

Let it be a direction to express those doubts to God with all honesty in prayer.

Let it be an encouragement to keep on trusting God in spite of what things look like.

Let it be a strategy for survival in the face of God’s seeming faithlessness as you keep on trusting and praising.

Let it be a statement of faith that God is faithful.

Wrestling Against The Powers

Introduction

I heard about someone who bought an item at an auction sale. For some reason or other, they got the idea that this thing had been in the possession of someone who had been involved with the occult. They felt that its presence in their house was creating an opportunity for Satan to create problems for them. They claimed that when they got rid of it, the problems stopped.

I have heard stories about people who are involved in evangelism who believe that certain geographical areas are held by certain demons, which they call territorial spirits. Some of these, they claim, are very strong and you have to identify these spirits and take special measures to remove them before evangelism will be successful.

I have known people who refuse to play with playing cards because they believe that they represent Satanic ideas and if you play with them you may be negatively influenced by them.

I was once called to the home of a family whose young son was being frightened by something in his room that they believed was there because of the previous owner who had been involved in new age religious practices. They asked me to pray and to remove the demon they believed was in that room.

We frequently hear about people who pray for a hedge of protection around an event or around people so that Satan will not have an influence.

What is the reality of these stories? To those who experience them they are very real. However, in his book, Demons, Lies and Shadows, Pierre Gilbert says, “The interpretation we give to any personal experience or anecdote depends primarily on the worldview we begin with.” What is the worldview which we have as followers of Christ? We are probably frightened by things related to Satan and demons. Should we be? What is the best way to deal with evil powers? This question came from a pastoral evaluation a year or so ago when someone asked me to speak on the, “reality of demonic powers and how to deal with them.” As Christians, it is important that our worldview be formed not by our experience or by the experience of others, but by the Word of God. So let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say about these things.

The Powers

Are There Evil Powers?

There are people who do not believe in the existence of evil powers. Our church’s confession of faith indicates that “We believe Satan is a personal spirit being. He heads the kingdom of all evil and opposes God...”

As we look into Scripture, this belief is affirmed. We encounter Satan right in the beginning of the Bible where we learn that he is behind the temptation which Adam and Eve experienced. Although the text speaks about a serpent, we understand that this serpent is the personification of Satan and the evil power behind the temptation.

Jesus also encountered Satan when he was taken into the wilderness and tempted for 40 days. Once again we see the existence of this evil power.

In the last book of the Bible we also read many passages which speak of the existence of Satan. For example, in Revelation 12, we have a visual representation of the history of God’s work in the world and present there is the one who opposes God’s work, pictured in that chapter as a red dragon.

These are just a few of the chapters which speak about Satan or the Devil or demonic forces or powers, so the Biblical answer to this question is quite clearly that they do exist.

What Is Their Power?

However, the more important questions are, “What is their power?” and “What is the nature of what they do?” Gilbert asks, “Do we live in a world dominated by evil and occult forces that forever threaten to overwhelm us at the least sign of weakness or spiritual carelessness?”

The Christian Worldview

The answer to these questions begins right in the very first chapters of the Bible. These are questions of worldview and the Bible gives us a very particular and important worldview which can help us understand these things.

When Moses wrote the early chapters of Genesis, he was writing to the children of Israel of that day. God was calling these children of Abraham out of Egypt in order to be His people. Before this, they had lived in the context of a pagan worldview and Genesis was written to help them understand things from God’s point of view. Interestingly, that pagan worldview has similarities to the way in which some people view the evil forces which we know exist in the world. Genesis provides a strongly contrasting worldview to the pagan worldview and to the worldview some have of the powers of the demonic world.

At last years regional mission conference, Nard Pugyao told us about the culture of fear in which he grew up in a pagan tribe in the Philippines. The worldview in which he grew up is the same as the worldview of the ancient people among whom the Israelites had lived. Those people lived in terrible conditions of fear. In this pagan worldview it was believed that the whole world is inhabited by different gods. It is believed that these gods are evil, that they could inhabit the physical universe and through that physical universe attack people, whom they did not like. They believed that the gods were the main actors in the universe and human beings were used by the gods for their own purposes.

Some perspectives of how Satan and the demonic world operates are similar to this worldview. There are some people who believe that physical things can be inhabited by evil spirits. Some believe that this world is basically evil and we always need to fight against the evil or we will be overcome by it. They believe that Satan is a significant power and in a constant battle with God. Some of the books which have influence people in looking at the world in this way and sowing fear among believers are the books by Frank Peretti – “This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness.”

The Genesis account of creation provides us with a contrast to this worldview which is good news. That is one of the reasons why Genesis was written - to help the people who had been living in the fear which accompanies this pagan worldview to come to know God who is very different.

The creation account tells us that the world is not inhabited by millions of evil gods who are out to get us, but by one God who has created the world and declared it good. Pierre says, “The power that governs the universe is not hostile to humanity. It is not bent on destruction. That power loves and cares for creation.” The creation account tells us that the physical things in the world are not under the influence of a multitude of malicious gods, but is simply a physical creation by a good God who has made it for people to live in and enjoy. Therefore, we understand that a stick is just a stick. The creation account tells us that, as Gilbert says, “… though we may not be the center of the universe, we are indeed in the center of God’s love!” The creation account, including 2:15-17 teach that, as Pierre Gilbert says, “human destiny is not determined by some external and irresistible force, but by the very choices that humans make.”

The worldview given to us in Genesis provides a worldview that lets us know that God is in charge and that He is a good God who has created a good world. We do not need to fear contamination by accidental association, we do not need to live looking behind our shoulders wondering if we are going to be attacked by Satan. God is in charge of this world.

This God worldview is consistent throughout Scripture. For example, in I Corinthians 10:25ff Paul addresses the matter of meat sacrificed to idols. In those passages, he shows that an idol is nothing, the meat is not tainted in any way that could negatively influence a person. He tells us there that the reason to avoid meat sacrificed to idols has nothing to do with the fact that the meat might be possessed, but rather for conscience sake or in order that we will not cause someone to stumble. To prove this, Paul goes right back to the worldview of Genesis when in I Corinthians 10:26 he quotes Psalm 24:1, which says, “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”

This is a radically different worldview than the pagan and than some presentations of how the demonic operates. It removes the need for fearing these powers and opens the door rather to properly fearing the one who has true power over the universe and that is God.

The Works Of The Enemy

So if the world is not permeated and controlled by evil, but if Satan and demons still exist, what is the work of these evil powers? As we study all the passages in which Satan and the Devil are mentioned, it becomes clear fairly quickly that the works of Satan are limited. There are only three things that these evil forces are involved in.

First of all, Satan is a tempter. This, of course, was the first work that is attributed to him in Genesis 3. In 1 Chronicles 21:1 we also see this work when it says that, “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” On several occasions, it is the Devil who tempted Jesus. One occasion was the temptations in the wilderness, recorded in Matthew 4. But on another occasion the words of Peter, when he suggested that death was not an option for Jesus, were identified by Jesus as the work of Satan’s temptation. In Matthew 16:23, Jesus responded to the temptation by saying to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”

But what power is really present in these temptations? Gilbert says, “…Satan is, for all practical purposes, portrayed as an irrelevant quantity. He is present and he does tempt Jesus; but he is not a very significant actor and his action is devoid of impact.” Satan tempts, but can never make us do evil. The choice still lies with us.

The second work of Satan is as an accuser. He accuses us before God and says that we are not worthy. In Zechariah 3:1, we read of a vision in which the writer says, “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.” Revelation 12:10 speaks of our enemy as, “…the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night...” But this work is also ineffective because Jesus is standing at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf because of his blood shed on the cross.

He also accuses us in our hearts and tries to discourage us. Whenever we believe that we are not good enough, whenever we have a general sense of guilt, it is a work of Satan as the accuser who tries to cause us to give up. But he has no power to make us give up, only to discourage us.

The third way in which Satan works is as one who seeks to interfere with the work of God. There are numerous examples of this in the Bible. In Matthew 13:19, in the parable of the sower, we read that “the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.” When Herod killed all the babies 2 years old and younger, as recorded in Matthew 2:16; when Luke 13:16 speaks about a woman “…whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years…”; when in II Corinthians 12:7 Paul identifies his thorn in the flesh as “a messenger of Satan, to torment me” we see examples of Satan seeking to interfere with God’s work. Yet, especially in this last example, we see that while Satan tries to interfere, God uses even the evil of Satan for His purposes.

II Corinthians 2:11 says, “we are not unaware of his schemes.” The works of Satan and of his demons are obvious. We can always recognize them by one fundamental characteristic. Satan is a liar. John 8:44 says, “…there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” So whether we experience temptation, accusation or interference, we have a choice to reject the lies and believe the truth of God.

Jesus’ Victory Over The Enemy

Although we read of the influence of Satan in the gospels and in other places in the Bible, we see another powerful reality and that is the much greater power of Jesus who has defeated evil.

The defeat of Satan is seen in the work which Jesus did while he was on earth. Repeatedly in every story mentioning these evil powers, we see that the power of Jesus was greater. For example, in Matthew 8 we read the story in which Jesus cast out many demons from the man possessed. If you examine this concept it is very encouraging to see how many stories there are in which Jesus demonstrates His power over these evil forces. For example, in Mark, between chapter 1 and 7 there is story after story of Jesus driving out demons.

When the disciples came back from their teaching mission, we read in Luke 10:18, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” The coming of Jesus has spelled the beginning of the end of Satan’s power and influence. The death and resurrection of Jesus mark the final defeat of Satan. When we live in obedience and faithfulness the promise of God, as given in Romans 16:20 is, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Because of Jesus’ victory, the final end of Satan is certain and Revelation 20:10 gives us the final picture when it says, “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Jesus has absolute power over all demons. It isn’t a battle between two powerful but equal forces. The world we live in is one in which there is no contest because Jesus has already over come evil.

Victory Over The Powers

Does that mean we do not take the evil powers or the influence of evil seriously? Not at all! Satan exists. There are demons which have power to tempt, accuse and even interfere. But, from all that we have seen, it is clear that the power is limited. We take it seriously, but we do not live in fear. We recognize that they can make all kinds of trouble, but we do not fear their power because the power of God is greater. As I began to work on this message, the thought crossed my mind that I might have a difficult week because in this message I would be attacking Satan. But even as that thought crossed my mind, I was encouraged to realize that I am under the power of God and Satan can’t touch me. That thought was a temptation to fear and back off. I was able to go ahead because I know that Satan has no independent power to do things to me. I live in a world created by a good God and am in a relationship with the all powerful Lord of the universe who has demonstrated by the death of Jesus on the cross that He loves me and cares for me. Therefore, I do not need to have such fear. Pierre Gilbert says, “Demons are real, but their reality is mere illusion in the presence of the massive absoluteness of God.” Given this reality, how do we deal with this enemy?

Talk To God

If we are in a situation in which we need to confront these evil powers, as I did when the family asked me to pray in their son’s bedroom, I believe that all we have just spoken of encourages us to talk to God about it. Although we see Jesus addressing demons, I believe that when we encounter issues of possession and demonic influence, we do not need to address the enemy at all because of the victory of Jesus. In Jude 9 we read, “But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

Instead of telling the demon to be gone, we should speak to God and ask Him to remove the threat of whatever the enemy is doing. If the enemy is sowing fear, we talk to God about that fear. If the enemy is accusing us, we talk to God about what we are experiencing. If the enemy is interfering with the work of God, we ask for the power of God to overrule. If we think that someone may be under the influence of Satan, we talk to God about removing the influence. Why would we want to be found talking to Satan or demons, when we can talk with the only One who has ultimate and complete and compassionate power over the universe.

Remain In Faith

Although Satan can influence us, Matthew 15:18-20 indicates that it is the human heart which is the ultimate source of evil. Gilbert writes, “The Bible indicates that human beings are solicited by two voices: The voice that leads to God and the voice that leads away from God…The voice that leads to death originates from two sources. One of them is the human heart…the other…human free will: the unrestricted ability humans have to reject God and choose self…” Ephesians 4:27 indicates that we should “not give the devil a foothold.” That tells us that the power to allow Satan to influence comes from our permission.

Because evil comes from the heart, Satan is present only as one who can tempt, accuse or seek to interfere. He is defeated as we put our trust in God. Therefore James 4:7 tells us, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The power to overcome all evil influence is through faith in God.

Put On God’s Armor

Because of what we have looked at, we do not need to live in constant fear of what Satan might do. We do not need to look over our shoulder. As we live in a relationship with God, we can be rest assured that God’s got our back and will not let Satan sneak up on us. His tricks are obvious, built on lies and moving towards destruction. The best strategy to overcome them is to put on the armor of God, mentioned in Ephesians 6. This armor is simple Christian living. It is having faith and using God’s Word and praying and righteous living. When we are thus engaged with God, Satan has no power to do anything to us.

Pierre says, “The shield of faith refers to the unswerving certitude that the truths found in God’s Word are indeed authoritative and trustworthy. It is the ‘shield of faith’ that extinguishes the missiles of the evil one, not magical rituals.”

Conclusion

Is there an enemy? Yes!

Do we need to live in fear of him? No!

Do we need to live in faith in order to overcome the influence he has? Yes!

May we recognize the amazing world we live in – a world created by a good God who has already won the victory and in whom we can live securely and at peace.

Making The Most Of The Time

Introduction

There are some people who when they want to move dirt, have a front end loader or a scraper or a bobcat in their yard and can move any kind of dirt any time without problem. Others have to rent or borrow this kind of equipment or use a shovel.

There are some people who, when they want a new car, go to the dealership pick the model and color they want then ask what they owe. Other people have to scrimp and save to get a used car and even then have to borrow to pay for it.

There is no doubt that in many areas of life we have differing access to resources. We are not equal in these areas, some have many resources, others have fewer, but there is one area in which we are all equal. We all have 24 hours a day. With the resource of time, no one has more than anyone else each day.

Of course there is one way in which there are differences in this resource and that is in how many days we will live. God is eternal. Psalm 90:2 says, “from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Our time, however, is limited. We, don’t know how many days we are given. Psalm 89:47 says, “how fleeting is my life.” However, since this is true for each one of us, it is still true to say that there is equality in the resource of time.

That doesn’t mean, however, that we all accomplish the same amount with the time we have been given. Even though every one of us has only 24 hours a day, some people seem to be able to accomplish much with that time while others waste vast amounts of time. Some are always busy, but in the end accomplish little of value.

Because we all have the same amount of time and because we don’t know exactly how much time we have, we need to think about what we do with the time we have. Does it matter? Does God have a claim on our time? Does the Bible have anything to say about how we use our time?

Make The Most Of Your Time!

It Matters

The Bible does speak to this. Two verses which talk about time are Ephesians 5:16 and Colossians 4:5. Ephesians 5:16 says, in NIV, “making the most of every opportunity.” Other translations say it a little differently and help us understand what this means. NKJV - “redeeming the time;” ESV - “making the best use of the time” and NASB - “making the most of your time.” The other passage is Colossians 4:5 which says, in NIV, “making the most of every opportunity.” Once again different translations help us understand this phrase: NKJV – “redeeming the time” and RSV - “making the most of the time.” In other words, it does matter. God does care about how we use the 24 hours we have each day and each day we have been given.

Why does it matter?

Because The Days Are Evil

Ephesians 5:16 tells us that the reason to make good use of our time is “because the days are evil.” This verse is written in the context of what has preceded. The surrounding chapters call us to recognize that we belong to God and not to this world. In Ephesians 4:17, we are reminded that we should “no longer live as Gentiles do.” We no longer belong to the world and so should no longer live according to the ways of the world. Instead, Ephesians 5:1 calls us to “be imitators of God,” and 5:8 challenges us to “live as children of light.” Given that we are God’s children living in this world means that we should use our time well because, “the days are evil.” If we are not careful to use our time with God in mind, we will find that we are easily drawn into the ways of the world around us. Because there is so much evil in the world, we can easily be drawn into its evil. Just as a vacuum is quickly filled with whatever it can suck up, so if our days are empty and not deliberately filled with making the most of them, they will suck up whatever is close at hand. Marcus Barth says, “In the face of onrushing evil, the saints are all the more called upon and equipped to consider the present period a time of salvation, to take up the good fight, and to carry it out successfully.” Irwin Penner says, “The Christian does not forsake the evil works of darkness to lapse into idleness, but works hard to use all of his time for God’s glory.”

Because We Have A Call

Colossians 4:5 gives a different reason why we need to make the most of every opportunity. This verse is written in the context of gospel proclamation. In the earlier part of this chapter, Paul asks the people of Colossae to pray for him that “God may open a door for our message.” Colossians 4:5 says, “be wise in the way you act toward outsiders” and then goes on in 4:6 to say, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” It is in this context of letting others know about Jesus that we are called to “make the most of every opportunity.” God has given us incredibly good news. His message of salvation is for everyone in the world. How are we using our time to make it known? It is important that we use our time well in the work God has given us to do. I like the way NT Wright speaks about Colossians 4:5, when he says, “every opportunity is to be snapped up like a bargain.”

So it is important to use our time well in order to avoid involvement in the evil of the world around us and in order to be fully involved in the work of God. In other words, using our time well is an integral part of who we are in Christ.

Making The Most Of Your Time

So how do you use time well?

Defining Values

The other day we watched a show on TV about kayaking, which really interested me. It was about a professional kayak team run by the manufacturer of Jackson kayaks. I believe it is a family run company and the father and the children also make up most of the team which travels to different events to compete in their kayaks. It was fun to watch them run rivers and play in the tidal waves in the ocean, but it was also interesting to hear the father’s philosophy of life. He said on the show that it was best to “live doing what you want to do today.” His highest value is pleasing himself each day and I suspect that value determines how that family uses its time.

How we use our time will be determined by what we value. You have probably heard the saying, “there is always time for what’s important.” Sometimes we are invited to participate in an event and we say, “I don’t have time.” When someone says this to me or when I say it to someone I wonder if it is really true. Certainly there are times when it is, but often it would probably be more honest to say, “I value other things more than what you are inviting me to participate in.” Another way to discern what our values are is by observing what we actually do. I have heard people say, “show me your bank book and your day timer and I will tell you what is important to you.”

All of us value different things, but an important question we need to think about is, “How have our values been formed by God?” Are the values we live by the values which we want to have as followers of God? If it matters to God how we use our time, God will also have some things to say about what we should value. How do we discern those values which God approves?

Romans 12:2 speaks of being “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This teaches us that when the Spirit of God comes into us when we become followers of Jesus, our minds are transformed and God’s values begin to form in us. It is with this transformed mind that we need to ask God for wisdom to develop a set of values which fit with who we are in Christ. This is a lifetime exercise, but remember this, it is important to engage in that exercise. If we live by default, never considering our values, never upgrading our values, it will be difficult for us to “make the most of the time.”

What are some of the values which God’s Word teaches us?

Nurturing A Relationship With God

First and foremost is the value of nurturing a relationship with God. Although we find instruction on this throughout the Bible – encouragements to know God, to read His Word, to pray - the most powerful picture demonstrating the importance of such a relationship is that of Jesus and how he got along with the Father. In many places we see how Jesus went away from the crowds and even the disciples to spend time in prayer. In the conversation between Jesus and God recorded in John 17, we have a wonderful picture of the intimacy which Jesus shared with His Father. It permeates the passage from the beginning where it says, “Father…Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you” to the end where it says, “you loved me before the creation of the world.” The reason that Jesus had such a relationship of intimacy with the Father was because even though He was God, He nevertheless continued to nurture a relationship with God. If Jesus needed to spend time nurturing a relationship with God, how much more do we!

Serving God

A second value which Scripture teaches is the importance of serving God. Once again we see this value throughout Scripture. Joshua 22:5 says, “hold fast to him and … serve him with all your heart and all your soul.” Romans 12:11 also encourages “serving the Lord.”

Caring For Our Family

Another value promoted by God in His Word is the value of caring for our family. Both Ephesians 6 and Colossians 3 speak of the importance of family relationships. I Timothy 5:4 tells us that the children of widows should “put their religion into practice by caring for their own family.”

Loving Others

Loving others is also a value which is all over the Bible. In I John 4:11 we read, “since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” One of the exercises I do with baptism classes to help them see how important loving relationships are in the church community is to examine all the times the New Testament uses the phrase “one another.” It is really incredible how often it appears and most of the time this phrase is associated with the word love. We recognize it as one of the top commandments as Jesus Himself has said.

Caring For Our Body And Mind

The last one I would want to mention is that the Bible also speaks about caring for our own selves. It actually assumes that we will do so in Ephesians 5:29 which says, “no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it.” However, there are other Biblical perspectives which also speak to this issue. One could think about the passages which call us to be good stewards of the resources we have been given, which would include the resource of our body and mind. Another perspective would be to remind ourselves that God Himself rested on the seventh day and a part of that rest, which He commanded us to keep, is to rest from our work. Therefore, it is a Biblical value to take time to look after our physical body, to look after and nurture our mind and to get sufficient rest.

There are probably other values which we could find, but these are probably the main ones which have an impact on our use of time. Of course I Corinthians 10:31 would be the value which is above all of these when it says, “whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

Budgeting Time

Discerning and choosing our values will go a long way towards helping us use our time wisely, but even then we may not always do what we value. Proverbs 20:4 says, “a sluggard does not plow in season.” This suggests that we may have the best of intentions, but you may know the saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Fulfilling this command of Scripture also involves managing our calendar well and disciplining our life so that we use our time well.

One way to find out if the values we claim to hold, as we have discussed above, are actually the values we live by, is to do an evaluation of how we use our time. In order to find out how you are actually using your time, for a week or two, make a list of what you have done each hour of each day. It is a bit of a job, but it will help you accurately see where your time is going.

If we were to do that, we would find out how our time is being used. Perhaps we would discover something like the following, in which the values we have declared above are all accounted for. We might find that in a 24 hour period we sleep 8 hours a day and work 8 hours a day. We might find that on average we spend about 30 minutes a day having devotions, 2 hours a day relating to our children, spouse and parents, an hour a day eating, an hour a day working on things specifically as a service to God – like teaching Sunday School or singing at Union Gospel Mission, an hour a day building relationships with others, an hour a day looking after our home and yard – cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, half an hour getting some exercise and an hour reading a book or learning something or just enjoying recreational pursuits.

Of course life isn’t like that. When it is harvest, farmers work 18 hours a day for several days in a row, but then they have other times when that which has been missed is picked up. We may go to work with MDS for a solid week but then spend only an hour a week the rest of the year as an usher on Sunday morning. But if the values we claim do not show up in some way on a regular basis in our calendar, can we really say that we are making the most of our time?

What if we were to do such an evaluation and find that there is little place in our life for nurturing our relationship with God? Is that what we really want in our life? As we consider the reason Ephesians 5:16 gives for making the most of our time – “because the days are evil” - isn’t that reason enough to make sure we are in a close relationship with God? God is the one with whom we will spend eternity, but that is no excuse to put that relationship off until later. In fact that is reason to make the most of our time by spending some time each day specifically devoted to talking to God and listening to God.

What if we were to do such an evaluation and find that there is nothing that we do specifically as a service to God? As we consider the reasons God calls us to make the most of our time in Colossians 4:5 - because of the great opportunity to share the great message of the gospel - isn’t that reason enough to deliberately think about where we are serving God? The Sunday School committee is looking for teachers and Awana will also be looking for leaders. If we have no specific place where we can say, “Here is where I am serving God” maybe we need to sign up!

On the other hand, if we have been elected to 3 or 4 committees in the church and are spending 2 or 3 hours a day at church, where is that time coming from? Either we are doing a poor job of one or all of our positions or we are stealing time from our children or parents or perhaps even from nurturing a relationship with God.

What about those things which can so easily eat up time? On a website on time management, I read the following, “How much of your life is spent on “time wasters”? These are activities that do nothing to enhance your quality of life, and actually prevent you from accomplishing more important goals. You know you’ve been seduced by a time waster when you find yourself:

watching TV shows you don’t really care about

checking email over and over throughout the day

surfing the internet or cruising chat rooms with no purpose in mind

wandering around stores, just looking for bargains

spending a few hours every day running errands

What if we look at our time evaluation and find that we are watching 3 or 4 hours of TV a day or spending an hour or 2 on the computer. Where is that time coming from? Which of the values we claim to have are not happening? Electronics, specifically TV and computer, including video games, can be huge time wasters if we do not take control of them. When internet was first available, I remember some friends of mine talking about spending the whole night surfing the web.

The article I mentioned above went on to suggest the following ways of removing the time wasters.

“When you come home, leave the TV off and find a more meaningful way to decompress (go for a walk, read a book, play with your kids). Review the TV schedule once a week, find those shows you really care about, and record them to watch later without commercials.

If you lose track of the world while web-surfing, set a timer to go off in 15 or 20 minutes. Make yourself get up and turn off the computer when it dings.

For 30 days, shop only from a list. Only go to stores that carry the item you need, and if you don’t actually need anything, don’t go to the mall in the first place.”

As we evaluate how we use our time, we need to make sure that what we truly value is included.

Conclusion

John Piper gives us a simple way of looking at how we use our time when he says, “Buy up the opportunities of life for eternity.”

In Luke 19 Jesus tells a story of 10 servants who were each given one mina. The king who gave them these resources told them, “Put this money to work until I come back.” In the course of time, the king returned and found that one servant had earned ten more minas. A second servant had earned 5 more minas. These two were rewarded for using the resources they had been given. A third servant came and returned the mina. He gave the excuse that he was afraid of the master. This servant was punished and what he had was taken from him. Although a mina is a unit of money, I believe that Jesus’ intent is to teach us that we are responsible for all of the resources which He has given us, including time. Each 24 hours is a gift from God. Each day we have been given is a gift from God. The Bible calls us to “make the most of the time” which we have been given. When the King returns, He will ask us what we have done with what He has given us. May He find us faithful, redeeming the time for our King.