George Matheson, the great old, blind Scottish preacher once said, “The hour of thy loneliness will crown thee. The day of thy depression will regale thee. It is thy desert that will break forth into singing. It is the trees of thy silent forest that will clap their hands .. the thorns will be roses. The valleys will be hills. The crooked will be straight lines, the ruts will be level. The shadows will be shining. The losses will be promotions, and the tears will be tracks of gold. The cup of suffering you prayed would pass from you will be your constant royal crown in the sweet by and by.”
The Lord sees us. He knows us. He comforts us. His comfort is strength and joy where there should be none. And though darkness may press in on us from every side, His light triumphs over it. Even the darkness is light to Him, and then, of course, to us. When the landscapes of our lives seem to stretch out before us in endless deserts, suddenly even the sand cries out, and the very rocks cry out, glory, glory, glory to the Living God! When the silence floods in and we struggle to hear anything above its noise, suddenly, glory to God the silence is broken. Just one word from our Lord shatters the deafening silence and our hearts and spirits are filled with His majesty.
Sometimes the thorns of life invade our lives yet from these thorns come magnificent roses. I am reminded of the Lord’s crown, and yet truly, He was crowned in a higher place. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Crown Him with many crowns, but first the crown of this life which was overcome. And now we overcome in Him. Paul once said that he considered the loss of all things as nothing, as less than nothing, for he only wanted to be found in Him. If our losses in this world lead us into the depths of Him, then we should surely be found praising Him in the midst of every situation. I praise Jesus today.
There is a cup in this life, and we are asked to take it, to take it all. Jesus led the way in the garden, and if He could take that cup, the cup that was filled with all the sin of this world and would lead to the death of the cross, then surely, in His power, and in His might, we can drink down the cup given to us. And in just one of the countless paradoxes in the Scriptures, we see that as we willingly drink this cup, there is another cup that simultaneously begins to fill and overflow………..Psa 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Deep calls unto deep At the noise of your waterfalls And in the daytime Your loving-kindness calls And when the nighttime comes Your song shall be with me And even in the darkness, I shall see.
To the Lord my Rock I run beneath thy wings And in the night watches I listen to the angels sing When darkness is all around Send out Your light to me Shackles are broken, and I am free
A very present help Though the mighty waters roar And mountains they fall down Yet your Spirit helps restore My troubled heart in times of need Within my chest it surely leaps As the deep within my soul calls out to Deep.
This is the word from the Lord that led to my last poem. This video is an update of my current sitution, may the Lord be praised through all of it………………..bro Frank
“And in the silence there is peace. It dwells above the noise and the din. Above the begging and the pleadings and the raging storm, there sleeps Jesus in the boat. Shall we too arrive at the place where sleep is not dependent upon the storm being stilled? Where trust lies down among the lions. Where perfect love casts out all fear. This is the Kingdom of God, this is the rarified air of heaven. This is the shaft of light that pierces the darkness and guides us home.”
This a a poem I just wrote based on a word the Lord gave me last week due to my current circumstances (cancer)
And in the silence there is peace It dwells above the noise and din And faith from heaven is released And fills completely from within
Beggings and pleadings are not heard By our own hand we are not kept afloat Yet Christ Himself in the midst of it all Keeps the storm at bay, asleep in the boat
I shall lie down, at peace in the silence When all around, the storm rages still Safe and secure in the depths of His glory In perfect peace at the center of His will.
I sleep in the midst of the lion's den They are held at bay by His heavenly hand His perfect love casts out all fear And in peace or storm I shall surely stand
I breathe in deeply the air of heaven It fills me and fills me with His perfect love A shaft of light shatters the darkness It leads me and guides me to my home high above.
The Lord is the strength of my life He is the ground upon which I stand And though war has risen and come after me I'm confident in the God who has set me free!
And in the secret place of His tabernacle He's set me high upon the Rock And His pavilion is a home and shelter to me I am confident in the God whom I can see.
This one thing is the desire of my longing heart That I may dwell in His house forever And behold His beauty and His marvelous grace And forever and continually seek His face
I would have lost heart, but for this one thing His beauty and the glory of His might And when everything's gone and I'm all alone I shall seek His face before His throne
Wait on the Lord when it all goes wrong When the world and it's ways presses in When the night has come and there's no way ahead Wait upon the Lord and bow your head
Fall to your knees and lift up your hands Cry out to the one from above And without any notice, quite suddenly You shall drenched by His marvelous love.
1 Cor 14 is a subject near and dear to my heart. I have written many times about it and have long considered writing a small book about it. The title would be “1 Cor 14-The Shattered Touchstone.” Now, a touchstone is defined as ” a test or criterion for determining the quality or genuineness of a thing.” In the new Testament we have very little to determine how the early church gathered, yet in 1 Cor 14 we see it laid out. And so, over the years, when given the chance I have a question I ask “leaders,” or “pastors.” It is always the same question, verbatim. “Does your church look anything like 1 Cor 14 and if not, why not?” You would not think that a very controversial question. Yet it typical engenders anger or a personal attack. Actually the best answer I ever got was from a dear brother who simply said, after acknowledging that his service/liturgy (order of service) did not resemble 1 Cor 14 replied “I don’t why.”
And so, I asked that question of a “pastor,” yesterday and here was the reply “I don’t want to get into a fault finding discussion about my church or any other congregation. We work hard to contend for and embody New Testament Christianity. No congregation is perfect, but I am thankful for the healthy body life in my church body.” Strange answer dont you think? Now I realize that this man ( a good man in my opinion) depends upon that church to put a roof over his head. He undoubtedly enjoys his position within that church. It elevates his status. And because he is in that position, he can never criticize his gathering. Imagine having a doctor that could never tell you what is wrong with you? Would you pay that doctor? The man in question stated that he “worked hard to and contend for and embody New Testament Christianity.” Now, if that were actually true, then one would undoubtedly go back to the Scriptures and see how they compared to it. Is there any other way?
All genuine revivals of the past started with an inward look at the state of ourselves, the nation, the community, the Church and the local church. How else can change come? If we cannot compare ourselves to the Word what is left? Well, then we must compare ourselves to others or perhaps compare ourselves to the traditions of men or the idols of our fathers. All of that would leave us severely wanting. Imagine we decided to ignore Galatians chapter 5 for instance. Within that chapter we see the fruits of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control. This is an absolute way we can measure ourselves. It’s a measure of where we are. Imagine not wanting to offend ourselves or others by daring to ignore these fruits. Imagine not having the ability to suggest to a man that is clearly lacking in self control that he is falling short of the mark of God in his life. Our actual opinions about ourselves would mean nothing, it is only meaningful in light of the revealed Word of God.
And so it is with all things. The Word of God is our touchstone. It determines the quality and the genuineness of whatever it speaks to. If we must ignore that in order not to offend or find fault with man, then we have drifted far away from the Truth. It is often easier in the flesh to offend God than it is to offend men. If our foundations rest upon the tradition of our fathers, if our salaries and pensions and status in life depend upon ignoring the Word of God in favor of not offending men, are we any better than a hireling? The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any tow edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb 4:12)
The very opening line from David in Psalm 18 is “I will love you O Lord…..my strength.” He is our strength at all times. His love for us and our love for Him creates the Kingdom of God in our hearts. It creates the atmosphere of heaven that surrounds us. It creates the light that shines forth from us to a dark world. In this particular psalm, David is writing about many years of trials and brokenness, years when he was hounded by Saul and surrounded by enemies. Years mind you. Not a day or a week or a season, but multiple years when, for all intents and purposes, he was not moving in victory. His enemies seemed to have the upper-hand. Now the question becomes “shall we be faithful yet.” Shall we still follow the Lord with all of our hearts even when our prayers are not answered? Even when we have been backed into a corner? There have been times with all the great saints of the Bible when for multiple seasons and multiple years nothing seems to be going right.
Abraham waited so very long, over twenty five years, for the child of promise to be born and with every passing year, at least in the natural, the promise became less likely. Did he stand? Jacob, on the run so to speak for multiple years, not fulfilling his destiny. Moses, all that time in the desert, having run from the Egyptians. Over and over again the story goes. Joseph and his dream, yet between the dream being fulfilled there lay ahead of him rejection and betrayal and slavery and imprisonment. And so here we are with David. Saul is dead, his most implacable enemy. God has delivered him after countless years of wilderness wanderings and betrayals and rejections and tests. And David begins His thanksgiving to God by highlighting his love for God and acknowledging His strength. He is the Lord His rock and his fortress and his deliverer. The God in whom, all through the dark days, the valleys and the caves, he trusted. God was his very shield, the horn of his salvation and his stronghold.
He called upon the Lord his God when the “pangs of death,” surrounded him. He called upon his great love when the “floods of ungodliness,” made him afraid. When the “sorrows of hell,” surrounded him and the “snares of death,” confronted him, he called upon God. In his distress he “cried out to God.” And time after time he got the breakthrough. Not necessarily from his circumstances, no, his breakthrough was “He heard my voice from his temple.” His cry had come before His Lord and even just in the knowing that God knew and saw his afflictions, there was victory in that alone and he was encouraged by living waters. How many times was Paul told not be afraid for the Lord his God was with him? The breakthrough in every situation is first and foremost to “know” that “God is with you.” Now some may say that we should always know that as His saints. I would just answer with saying that it is one thing to know something in our heads, it is quite another to recognize the manifest presence of a God who walks with His children.
Look at the response of God starting in the seventh verse, this is the response to David who was constantly crying out to the Lord His God. “Then the earth shook and trembled.” Not unlike what happened to Paul and Silas in the dungeon. A devouring fire came forth from the Lord and “He bowed the heavens and came down…………He rose upon the cherub……He flew upon the wings of the wind.” “He sent from above and He drew me out of many waters.” He saw the many situations of David and He moved on his behalf, this faithful man of God who ever cried out to Him. And in the end , after many many faithful years in the valley and in the cave, God himself delivered David from all his enemies, especially his greatest enemy, Saul. Shall He not also deliver us dear brothers and sisters? Shall He not hear our cries from the valley?
If you have been going through a long and arduous test or tests. If there seems to be no light at the end of your circumstances. If you have been surrounded by the pangs of death and great ungodliness and sorrow besets you on every side and the gates of hell themselves has come against you, keep crying out to God. He is your strength. He is the Rock upon which you stand. He is your fortress and you can run into Him. He is your deliverer and your strength in whom you can trust. He is worthy to be praised in the midnight hour. He sees the afflictions of His people. He knows, He cares, He is actively working on your behalf even when you are not aware of it. He ever intercedes for you before the throne and in truth, it is the reason you still stand. He prepares a table before you in the very presence of your enemies and in due time He shall bow the heavens and come down. He is faithful even in the midst of darkness and when we cannot see the way ahead, He is the way ahead brothers and sisters, cry out to Him today for He is your strength.
A Call To The Remnant 