God loves the outsiders and misfits

It’s Christmas.  The time when we ponder afresh the wonderful news of God becoming a baby, Immanuel, God with us.  This year I am drawn again and again to the misfits, the outsiders that are an integral part of this incredible story.

Firstly Mary, a completely unknown young lady living in Nazareth, a despised town, called to the greatest honour for a woman – to be the mother of the Son of God.  Joseph, an ordinary carpenter, called to stand with Mary and share in the social disgrace of a child conceived outside of marriage.

The first visitors to the infant Jesus were the social outcasts, the shepherds, those lowest on the ladder. The other significant visitors were the religious outcasts, the Gentiles. The contrast between the rural, coarse, illiterate Jewish shepherds and the highly educated, foreign, exotic Gentiles could not be stronger.   Jesus came for everyone not just the rich, the famous, the respectable or religious people and not just for his people the Jews but for all people.

It is hardly surprising though for the Bible is full of stories of those chosen from the outside to become important players in God’s plan of redemption. Moses was an exiled murderer hiding out in the desert so inadequate and insecure he didn’t think he could do anything for God. He certainly didn’t want to go and talk to Pharaoh and be the instrument for the release of the Israelites from captivity.

Or David, the youngest member of a large family of sons so insignificant he was out with the sheep not even in the family home. Some have proposed his legitimacy was in doubt which was why he was looking after the animals. However this was where he learned all the skills necessary to kill Goliath, survive in the desert when a king was determined to kill him and most importantly of all, the place where he developed into a man after God’s own heart. His beautiful psalms are a lasting testimony to the years spent as an outcast but which prepared him to be the greatest king Israel ever had and the ancestor of the Messiah.

Even Jesus’ forerunner and relative John the Baptist was a social outcast and misfit growing up in the desert dressed in camel hair. Yet Jesus said of him among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist (Matthew 11: 11). Surely in the desert John developed into the one called ‘to prepare the way of the Lord.’

Jesus didn’t choose his disciples from the religious elite or synagogue. He chose rough fishermen who would become great fishers of men.

All of these men had to flow against the tide of the day, to stand up for the Lord and lead their nation into righteousness.

Jesus himself was the greatest outcast. The Son of God was born in a stable in obscurity and poverty because there was no room for his parents in society. His whole ministry was lived on the edge of society, feted one minute and condemned the next.

However this is a great source of encouragement for us, the ordinary made extraordinary by God’s call. Wherever we are whether we are in the spiritual desert, running from persecution, a social misfit or down the bottom end of society or just plain obscure, God uses people just like us. He calls us from the desert, obscurity, the despised places, the mundane where he has been transforming and training his sons and daughters, his people, his chosen ones to do extraordinary things for him.

Psalm 8

Psalm 8

Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’

So God created mankind in his own image,
            in the image of God he created them;
            male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ Genesis 1: 26 - 28

Psalm 8 is one of those wonderful psalms of David which praises the Creator and his wonderful creation. You can imagine David sitting looking up at the starlit Milky Way marvelling at the wonders of the heavens.

Several years ago we went to Namibia and stayed out in the desert in a remote guest house. Electricity was provided by generators so there was little light pollution. We walked a short way up the untarred road by the light of the moon and gazed at the night sky. It was absolutely stunning. Stars hung so brightly that it felt as if you could reach up and pick them. The sky was covered in stars and planets, far more than I had ever seen before even in a dark place in Britain. It was as if the heavens were aglow with tiny lights.

It must have been a night sky of such beauty that David gazed with wonder.  He marvelled that God ordained praise to overthrow every enemy not from the powerful, rich and famous but from infants and children.

As he considered the glories of the heavens he was amazed that God should even remember, let alone honour or even consider puny man. Man is the apex of God’s creation, made in his image and created only a little lower than the heavenly beings, the angels.

In this space age we have some understanding of the heavens that David did not have yet it is this very knowledge that we have acquired that should make us wonder afresh at man’s position in the creative order. As telescopes and space probes reveal ever more amazing sights in the heavens; black holes and star systems, nebula and exploding gases we realise how awesome is this creation and therefore how truly incredible is the Creator.

Yet even more amazingly, God has assigned to man the most wonderful honour of ruling over this breathtaking creation in subordination to God himself. David remembered man’s original call given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  How far short mankind has fallen from this God given mandate.

However the writer of Hebrews in recalling these verses (Hebrews 2: 8 – 9) shows that their ultimate fulfilment came in Jesus Christ and that through him mankind will once again fulfil their destiny.

Next time you have opportunity to gaze at the night sky, marvel again with David at our awesome God and his amazing creation and remember our true calling to rule over this creation with love and compassion and with the wisdom of God not to exploit and manipulate it for our own ends but to steward it for God’s glory.

A man after God's own heart

After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” Acts 13:22

When God told Samuel to go to Bethlehem and anoint a new king, one of Jesse’s sons, his first thought when he saw Eliab, the first born, was that this must be the one (I Samuel 16: 6). Samuel was looking for a king as the people had, a king like all the other nations had, a king like Saul, tall and handsome.

God told Samuel not to look at the outward appearance because God does not look at these things, he looks at the heart. God was looking for a king who would have his heart and do the things God wanted him to do.

How true it is that man looks at the outward appearance. So often we look at men’s success or failings from the outside – we do not see what God sees – a man’s heart. Today when we hear of Christian leaders, who have fallen into moral or financial sin, it is shocking how quickly churches and individual Christians jump in to criticise and distance themselves from these people.

Whilst I understand that people may feel disappointed that those they admired or whose teaching or ministry has blessed them in the past have fallen, criticising and judging them is not the answer.  I wonder what the reaction of these people would have been to King David’s adultery with Bathsheba and his subsequent actions to have her husband Uriah the Hittite killed? There is much to criticise in David’s actions but as he himself said:

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Psalm 51: 17.

David was truly sorry and repentant:

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Psalm 51: 10 – 12

So often people look at the outward appearance – they do not know the heart of other people – only God knows that. It is not for us to criticise other people’s actions and whilst we also cannot condone sin, it is not our place to judge them – only God can do that.

We are all sinners saved by grace and unless we have walked the path that others have walked and faced the temptations they have faced, we are in no position to comment on their moral failure. So often the price they have paid for their sin is heavy, David lost his baby son. Many will have lost their marriage, family, home, ministry and income.

God and God alone knows their heart.  God not only restored David, he used his moral failure as a stepping stone to his plans and purposes to build an everlasting kingdom through David’s line. It was from this line that God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ was born.

We must pray for our fallen leaders and let God’s amazing grace ‘create in them a pure heart and restore to them their joy of their salvation’.

Don't run away

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1: 12

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139: 7 – 10

All of us will go through trials and tests in our Christian walk.  Sometimes circumstances will seem to build up against us and at other times they come from our own mistakes and sin. God permits them in order that what is on the inside is exposed to us. Often it is only through difficulties that we get to see what is really in our hearts. Sometimes this is not good viewing!

Under pressure our attitudes, prejudices and beliefs come to light. It is often when things are tough that we discover what ungodly beliefs, pride, selfishness and insecurity are underneath the surface. This is not a surprise for God but can be a big surprise for ourselves. There have been times when I have been mortified by what has been exposed in my heart by the time of testing.  However this is not to make us feel bad about ourselves but to free us from sin, pride and insecurity.

The first thing that can happen though is that we want to run away and hide and we would be in good company. Adam, Elijah and Jonah all tried that one. Moses argued with God and tried to get out of an assignment that seemed to expose all his weaknesses. Our model though instead should be David. 

When caught in adultery and murder, he went straight to God and pleaded with him not to take his Spirit from him (Psalm 51). Psalm 139 written by David shows he knew you can never get away from God – even if like Jonah you run to the far side of the sea – even there God will find you and David was comforted by this. Hiding from God and other Christians in our times of weakness and testing should be the last thing we do. Instead we must press into God and seek out the company of trusted Christian friends.

God is for us, not against us.  He does not want us weighted down and hampered by sin and weakness. He wants us free from them to enjoy the fullness of his plans and purpose for our lives. The next time you stumble or feel under attack by either people who discredit you, speak unkindly of you or reject you or by the devil spinning his lies, don’t run away. Press into God’s presence. Whether the situation is of your making or by others, seek God and his comfort. Don’t try running away – it really doesn’t help. God will find us; God will have his way and we can completely trust his loving dealings in our lives the first time.   

Psalm 3

O Lord how many are my foes! How many rise up against me!

Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him”

 But you are a shield around me, O Lord

You bestow glory on me and lift up my head.

To the Lord I cry aloud and he answers me from his holy hill.

I lie down and sleep. I awake again because you sustain me.

I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side.

Arise O Lord! Deliver me, O my God!

Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.

From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. Psalm 3

This psalm was written by David when his son, Absalom, rose up in rebellion to try and take the throne from his father. It was treachery at the highest level; in the family, the court and the nation and David does what David always did – turned to God.

Psalm 3 is such a great encouragement to us when life and the devil comes and attacks us. It gives us a blueprint for how to deal with these assaults. First of all David states the situation; he has many foes rising against him who do not believe God will deliver him.

Then David affirms who God is; his protector, his provider and the lifter of his head – his encourager. He knows God will answer him (that is a wonderful thought to meditate on) and he can even sleep in the midst of all of this because the Lord sustains him and so he will not fear.

Finally David asks God to arise and defeat his enemies. I love the fact that he asks God to strike them on the jaw and break their teeth. If that happens you cannot talk!  It silences the enemy! David concludes that God brings deliverance and asks him to bless the people who will have got all caught up in this.

David did not accept the situation and just lay down and give up but unfortunately that is what many Christians do when they get sick, they face financial, family, work or even church problems. They accept them and give up.  David shows us the better way.

Tell God the problem as you see it. Remind yourself who God is and what he has done and will do. Then ask God to rise up and strike your enemies. We have the victory over all our enemies (who are not flesh and blood) and in Jesus Name we can resist the devil and all his works and he will flee.

God gave David strategy to defeat Absalom’s rebellion and he will do the same for us. Do not let circumstances overwhelm you; turn to God and he will arise on your behalf as you use the authority that Jesus won for us on the cross. God is our deliver and always acts on our behalf as we trust him.

David and Jonathan 2

“Do not be afraid,” he (Jonathan) said, “my father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You shall be king over Israel and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.” The two of them made a covenant before the Lord. Then Jonathan went home but David remained at Horesh. I Samuel 23: 17 – 18
Jonathan would have made a much better king than Saul. He knew that a king of Israel ruled under the kingship of the Lord. He knew that battles were won because the Lord fought them and gave you victory. The only reason he did not become king was because of his father’s disobedience and foolish mistakes (13: 13 – 14). He knew his father’s kingship was doomed after Saul did not follow the Lord’s instructions when fighting the Amalekites (15: 28).

Jonathan fought bravely for the Lord and the Israelites and had great victories and was popular with the men (14:45). He supported David and spoke well of him to Saul even when Saul was trying to kill David.  He made a covenant with David before the Lord on several occasions.  He was committed to David but his loyalties must have been divided and I think this lead to one great mistake.

In the verses above Jonathan told David that he would be king – even Saul knew that – and he would be second to him. Jonathan was quite right; I am sure that was God’s plan but look what happened – Jonathan went home- he didn’t stay with David to work out the call of God on his life. The tragedy is that they never saw one another again and Jonathan died by his father’s side. He was meant to be second to David but having been loyal to David all through the difficult times, at this moment instead of staying with David, he went home.  He knew God’s plan, he committed himself to both God and David by making a covenant with David before the Lord but a false sense of loyalty took him in the wrong direction and he went home back to Saul and later died with him. He never fulfilled God’s plan for his life.
A false sense of loyalty can keep us in the wrong place too. It is important to know when to move on, when God is doing a new thing and how to go with it. Someone told me once they knew they were in the wrong church but it was too difficult to leave – so they stayed and were not fulfilling what God had planned for their lives.

Some people move church or ministry far too often and some do not move when they should. We need to be aware of when God is moving on and calling us to move too and not get stuck in situations that will neither fulfil our destinies nor bring God’s life to us. False loyalty can be a burdensome thing but if we remember that our first loyalty is to the Lord, he will guide us to the right places, churches and ministries in his timing.

 

David and Jonathan

And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.  I Samuel 18: 3

I love the story of David and Jonathan because it is all about two young men who loved God more than anything else and wanted to serve him as best they could.

When Saul was king, before David was on the scene, Jonathan understood something that Saul never understood which was that the Lord was the one who fought for his people and it was the Lord who won the battles (14:6). When Jonathan went out to fight, he went out in that knowledge and had success because of it.

When David defeated Goliath and Saul took him into his army, Jonathan made this covenant almost certainly knowing that David’s success would mean he would not inherit the kingdom from his father. Jonathan stood up for David in the face of Saul’s insane attacks on David’s life. He risked his own life to support David (20:33) and consistently helped David to be aware of Saul’s murderous plans and to help him escape from them.

It takes a great man of God to stand by and help someone who will take the role that should have been theirs.  Jonathan should have succeeded Saul as king and yet instead of siding with his father and trying to overthrow and kill the one who was going to take his place, he actively supported David. One of my favourite verses is ‘Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in the Lord (I Samuel 23: 16). How we all need people who will not just give us sympathy but will help us find strength from God in our times of need.

I wonder if David would have been able to keep going and trust God to help him do what was right in the face of severe provocation from Saul if Jonathan had not been there for him. How difficult it must have been to know that God had anointed him king and yet he had to wait for God’s timing even whilst the present king was trying to kill him. Jonathan’s strength, commitment and loyalty to David must have been of inestimable comfort and encouragement to him.

Too often our main concern is our life, our ministry, our church and yet God may be calling us to support, strengthen and encourage someone whose success may appear to be to our detriment. Yet in the Kingdom, we need never fear that. If we are fulfilling God’s plans for our life, we will always be successful even if we are not prominent. Too often people confuse success with prominence. Success in the Kingdom is measured by obedience; are we doing what God wants us to do and that may mean supporting someone else and making them successful.

We are called to serve – God and other people both Christians and those in the world. We need never fear other people’s success; rather we should rejoice in it knowing that God holds our destiny in his hands and we can trust him to bring his success to our lives.

The Good Shepherd

¹The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
³ he restores my soul.  He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23: 1 - 4

What is it that God so loves about sheep and shepherds?  The Bible is full of references to them. The most famous psalm read at weddings and funerals is Psalm 23. Jesus himself said he was the good shepherd – twice - just to make sure we got it!  (John 10: 11 and 14). In addition the two most famous leaders of the Jewish people in the Old Testament, Moses and David, spent their formative years as shepherds.

In Old Testament times, the concept of a shepherd / king was well understood by the people many of whom would have been shepherds and probably all of whom kept some flocks.  These kings were not tyrants lording it over the people, exacting taxes and demanding allegiance; they looked after their people and protected them. The Lord was acknowledged as the shepherd / king of Israel and it was when the people forgot this that they got into all sorts of difficulties.

Psalm 23 is a great insight into the role of a shepherd, learned firsthand by David. He understood that the way God looks after us is very similar to the way he had looked after the sheep. Just as a shepherd wants his sheep to prosper and flourish so the Lord wants his people to do the same. They will flourish through the Lord’s good provision for them through metaphorically green pastures and quiet waters. This speaks of good quality provision of all we need to both sustain and refresh us.

The shepherd makes his sheep lie down in safety and God too wants his people to feel secure and safe and he leads and guides them in his righteous ways. When they are down hearted he restores them. This is not just for his people’ sake but also for the sake of his name for when God’s people prosper and live in his safety and protection, his name in honoured.

However, even when the times are tough and it feels like we are walking in the valley of the shadow of death, we know God is with us and we have nothing to fear because he is by our side. We know he will keep us on the path of righteousness with his guiding ‘rod’ which can rescue us if necessary and protect us from danger. His supportive staff will comfort us in the hard times.

As we think about how a shepherd looks after his sheep, how much more the Lord, the Good Shepherd looks after, provides, protects and watches over us, his people because of his amazing love for us. As we trust him he will guide us and keep us on his path and bring restoration and comfort if we need it. The Lord is indeed a Good Shepherd to us.

How long O Lord

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me. Psalm 13: 1 -2 and 5 – 6

It is an unfortunate fact of Christian life that sometimes things go wrong and in some cases very badly wrong. In the last 24 hours I have spoken to people whose lives have literally fallen apart leaving them feeling that God has forgotten them and does not care about them.

Nothing of course is farther from the truth but that is certainly how it looks and feels and David must have felt exactly the same in order to write this psalm. So often our first thought in these awful circumstances is either ‘why me?’ or ‘what have I done wrong?’ There can also be an implication that God is punishing us for some misdemeanour.

Let me assure you, you have done nothing wrong and God does not punish us. All of our sin was punished on the cross when Jesus paid in full for our salvation. However we live in a fallen world, full of fallen people who do not necessarily do or say the right thing, egged on by a devil who wants to cause as much misery to as many people as possible. It is not personal. The devil is horrible to everyone.

What the devil wants more than anything else is to drive a wedge between you and God and fill your head full of lies about how much God does not care for you and has no interest in your life. He wants you to believe that the horrible things happening to you were orchestrated by God.

Dear friends, God only does good things. He does not send us nasty things to teach us lessons. He does not send sickness and cancer to help us grow in faith. He does not break up marriages because we have not been a good husband or wife. What God does do is promise never to leave you or forsake you. He promises to be your healer when sickness does strike. He promises to be your provider at all times of everything you could need (II Corinthians 9: 8).

Neither does he leave us in the lurch. How can our loving heavenly Father leave us at our most awful times? He can’t - he is there with us. The thing we have to do is find him in the midst of difficulties that are threatening to swamp us. We must do as David did: But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.

Hard as it may seem, with the world around you collapsing, that is what will get you through. God and his unfailing love for you. I pray you find him and his love to strengthen you in your hour of need.

Restoring the years

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Psalm 51: 12

One of the most wonderful things about God is his restoration process. God does not just want to save us from our sins, foolishness and mistakes; he wants to restore us to ‘good as new’.  When David sinned in adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband Uriah he was overcome with his guilt and cried out to God in repentance and for restoration. God graciously answered his prayer. David married Bathsheba and their next child Solomon, despite not being the oldest son, became his heir and continued the Messianic family line.

If we think of a restoration project whether that is an old car or an old building, the object is to restore from a state of ruin or dilapidation into something that looks and to all intents and purposes is brand new. It is usually a wonder to behold.

God’s restoration is even more incredible. Reading the Old Testament prophets can leave you weighted down with a sense of God’s judgement and grief over Israel’s sin and stubborn refusal to repent and turn back to God. However at some point in the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel judgment turns to restoration and again and again God promises wonderful things to his rebellious people. He shows them that though they will be going into exile for their rebellion, he also promises to bring them back to the land.

In our own lives God does not just want to save us and leave us there. He wants to restore us and restore ‘the years that the locust has eaten’ which is unfortunately a rather overworked Bible reference (Joel 2:25). The truth though is that there is no area of our lives that God does not want to restore and by that he means turn it to ‘good as new’. What is even more exciting is that he often uses those areas of greatest failure to become our greatest strengths in the future.

My own teenage years were fairly torrid and there was little to be proud of. God however has used those years of awful failure to give me such a heart to see teenagers now not wasting those years like I did. Instead I have been able to help them walk those tricky times holding onto God and laying a Godly foundation on which they can build their adult lives. I too want to encourage and help those who wasted their teenage years educationally to realise it is never too late with God. He will help us recover our lost education. I got my degree aged 47 so I am a walking testimony of that.

If there is an area of your life that you feel was lost, no matter the reason why, ask God now to restore it and return it to good-as-new. Trust him with the restoration process and thank him for the good things he has already done to restore your life to be more like Jesus.