Don’t Ignore the Bulging Wall  

A family in our church recently had a tree fall on their garage. Thankfully, no one was hurt, including the goats and other animals who typically roam in that area of the yard. The residents of the home told me they weren’t completely surprised that it happened. Although the tree wasn’t dead, it had grown in such a way that it leaned toward that particular structure. They had a sense that at some point it was going to come down.

I know of others who have leaning trees on or near their property. For one reason or another they haven’t had the threat removed. Instead they wait, watch, and pray when strong winds blow or other factors occur which tend to produce fallen trees. They live with that foreboding feeling that disaster could strike at any time.

It reminds me of a picture Isaiah gives us of God’s impending judgment. He condemns the people for being rebellious against God, for not listening to His Word, and for encouraging the preachers of their day not to proclaim what is right and true but to tell them the lies they want to hear. Then he warns them, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perversity, and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. And He shall break it like the breaking of a potter’s vessel, which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare” (Isaiah 30:12-14). God’s judgment is pictured as a bulging wall that could break at any moment. There is no question about it - at some point it is going to fall.

 I believe we are living in similar times today. Our society is guilty of many of the same sins pointed out by Isaiah concerning the people of his day. We are rebelling against God. We are refusing to listen to what He clearly says in His Word. We flock to those who tell us lies and half-truths while condemning those who dare to proclaim the true Word of God. We are promoting perversity and sin rather than goodness, purity, and godliness. False ministers call themselves Christians while embracing the sins of our society and denying the exclusive claims that salvation can come only through faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins.

In the meantime, the wall is bulging. A holy God is only going to tolerate our rebellion for so long, in spite of His great mercy and patience. His judgment is building. At some point it is going to burst forth and force us to face the consequences of our actions.

Some will deny that the wall of God’s judgment is bulging. They may see the whole concept of divine judgment as an outdated idea that doesn’t fit their skewed picture of God’s love. Others will see the bulging wall, but will choose to ignore it because they are unwilling to change their beliefs or lifestyle. Others will have a sense that disaster is on the horizon but point to other causes rather than sin and God’s judgment.

Isaiah went on to reveal the remedy for the situation of the people in his day. It was to return to the Lord. We need to do the same. I am not talking about trying to return to some past age in the history of our nation which some may tend to glorify. I am referring to a real repentance of our sins, putting aside those things in this world we tend to idolize, and truly surrendering our lives to His will.

The wall is bulging. Judgment is coming. We need to turn back to God.   

 

Don’t Keep Digging a Deeper Hole for Yourself  

One day I was trying to get rid of a reminder message that kept popping up on our video projector at the church. Somehow I managed to push a wrong button, suddenly switching the words on the main menu from English to some other language that I couldn’t read. I panicked, pushed more buttons, only to change other settings, and see the screen get modified further and further from its original position. The more I tried, the more I kept digging myself into a deeper and deeper hole.

If we are not careful, we can do something similar when it comes to spiritual matters and seeking a remedy for that sense that our hearts are not right with our Creator. We can try to do good things in an effort to make up for our wrong actions of the past. We can try to find our own way out of our sin and selfish behaviors. We may try to excuse ourselves or seek to get society to tell us that what we are doing is acceptable. However, the more we attempt to find our way out of sin and into the favor of God by our own means, the further we sink into a pit of our own making.

The Bible reminds us that “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14). Apart from the help of God, we can’t even understand enough to get on the right pathway to God. It is like the directions are in a foreign language. We may hear people talk about being saved or getting born again, but it makes no sense. We may read Bible verses, but their meaning doesn’t click with us. So how do we find our way out of such a predicament?

I finally got our projector issue resolved. I calmed down, went back to the basic menu, and methodically searched through the unreadable options until one of them resulted in the language switching. Eventually I got it back into English. From there I was able to restore all the other settings I had messed up along the way.

In our spiritual journey, we are not going to get anywhere until we are willing to listen to the Spirit of God. “Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (I Corinthians 2:9-10). We need to listen as the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and calls us to repentance. We need to pay attention to what He has said through the eternal truths He has revealed to the inspired writers of the Bible. We need to get back to the basic message God’s Spirit has witnessed to – that the only way to be saved from our sin and get our hearts right with God is through faith in the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.

Without our listening to God’s Spirit and our submitting to His working in our lives, there is no escape from our lost condition. We are stuck, spinning our wheels in a never-ending futile effort to be good enough to win God’s favor or to rid ourselves of the sins in our lives. We will just keep sinking deeper and deeper until we are willing to hear the truth and let the Holy Spirit do a work of transformation in our hearts. Let God’s Spirit guide you onto the right way.

 

We Can Still Trust the Lord  

Recently I drove past someone strolling along the sidewalk wearing a shirt with a message in big letters emblazoned on it. It read, “Trust no one.” It reminded me of an early episode of The Andy Griffith Show in which the Mayberry police force were on the lookout for an escaped prisoner. Deputy Barney Fife was given the task of conducting a roadblock as part of their operation. He didn’t let anyone pass by without making them get out of their vehicle and be searched, even if he personally knew them. He even frisked the town’s mayor. The comedic highlight of his actions was when it showed him searching a woman with her hands spread on her car. She turned around and exclaimed in a sad voice, “But Barney, I’m your mother!”

While Barney Fife’s unwillingness to trust anyone, even his own mother, was humorous, I thought the commentary on that shirt I saw was a sad but understandable sentiment in the world we find ourselves living in today. So many people have had their trust betrayed by others – whether by government leaders, religious leaders, law enforcement, others in positions of authority, the news media, family members, or close friends. Sometimes it does seem as if you just can’t trust anyone anymore. It hurts when you put your trust in someone only to find that the person has lied to you or ends up mistreating you or in some other way turns his back on you.

Jesus warned His followers of such times, especially in relation to the opposition and persecution they would face because of their faith in Him. He foretold that “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death” (Luke 21:16). Yes, even some moms won’t be able to be trusted.

I hope you have at least a few people in your life whom you know you can trust. It is difficult to be in a position where you feel you can’t trust anyone. Hopefully a mom or dad or spouse or close friend or fellow believer are still trusted confidants in our lives.

However, regardless of who else we can or can’t trust in our day, we can be assured that we can always trust the Lord. That incident with Barney Fife was so funny because you normally think if you can trust anyone, it would be your own mother. That may not always be the case, but generally speaking a mom would be considered the last person to betray her child. However, there is Someone we can trust to an even greater extent. Jesus loves us even more than our mothers do. Jesus suffered and died on the cross for our sake. As He expressed it, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). Jesus did that for us.

We may be living in a day when it is hard to trust anyone. Nevertheless, we can continue to trust the Lord. He has promised to be with us and never to forsake us. We can trust Him to do so no matter what challenges come our way. He is not going to run out on us. He will continue to be on the side of those who are following Him. He will fight for us. He will watch over us. He will protect us. He will faithfully guide us through all the obstacles in life to bring us to our heavenly home one day. He will do everything He has promised to do.

It is true that we may have to be careful about whom we trust these days, but never doubt the fact that you can keep trusting Jesus.  

 

Be Aware of Surrounding Dangers  

One morning I looked out the window and spotted a deer in our backyard. A few minutes later I quietly made my way outside hoping to get a better look at our visitor. By that time it had made its way into my neighbor’s yard where it was grazing on some vegetation. As I observed the deer for several minutes, one aspect of its behavior became especially evident. The animal was incessantly looking around, cautiously taking note of its surroundings, and prepared to take action at any sign of danger. While enjoying its meal, it would pause between bites to peruse the area yet again. It continued in its vigilant mode until some popping sound nearby caused it to leap over a fence and disappear into the nearby brush.

It might be helpful if some of us were a little more like that deer. No, I am not suggesting that we should be skittish and fearful about all the spiritual dangers lurking around us. However, many of us could probably benefit from being a little more vigilant than we tend to be. God’s Word points us in that direction. Jesus encouraged His disciples to “watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). Peter encouraged his fellow believers to “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8). How mindful are we of what is taking place around us? Do we see those temptations coming and prepare ourselves to deal with them? Are we watching and ready when the enemy of our souls launches an attack? Or are we caught off guard, unprepared, and vulnerable to being deceived or to taking a spiritual tumble?

Too often we are guilty of letting our guard down. We get complacent or fall into a false sense of security. We get wrapped up in our activities, even in our service to God, and lose sight of the reality of the dangers surrounding us. We may grow over-confident in our own ability to withstand such attacks that we open ourselves up for a fall. It is one thing to have a settled peace in our hearts and assurance of God’s help and protection. It is another to get cocky and consider ourselves beyond the reach of temptation and the deceptive tactics of the devil. We need to stay vigilant.

If we will be as watchful as that deer, maybe we can avoid succumbing to the enemy’s attempts to harm us or hinder us. While we don’t have to be afraid and run away from every danger, there are times when the wise course of action is to flee temptation. When we see certain enticements coming, especially ones in which we have faltered in the past, we would do well not to toy around with it or let it gain any entrance into our lives. It may be best in some cases just to turn and run from it.

In other situations, if we are being vigilant we might see the attack coming and can hold up our shield of faith in order to “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one” (Ephesians 6:16). Or we might be ready to do as Peter suggested immediately after warning about our lion-like adversary – he said that we should “resist him” (I Peter 5:9).

We need to watch, but we don’t need to be scared. We simply need to be prepared. We need to be ready to run, to stand, to fight, to overcome, or whatever the situation calls for. Let’s just not be caught by surprise and stumble as a result. Be aware of what is going on around you. Watch out for the enemy. Dangers are lurking. Be ready.