Advice for the Traveler- Part 2
Sunday, 9/13/09- Psalm 84:1-12
Introduction: “Practice, Practice,” Illus. Unlimited, p. 317, # 14- There’s a story of a man named Hank, a landscape contractor, who got his first job doing some landscaping for a farmer. As he arrived for his first day of work, he realized that his first job would be to blast away some stumps with dynamite. Not wanting to appear to not know what he was doing, especially with the farmer watching, he went to some length to measure out the fuses and set the dynamite. But the problem was that he didn’t know exactly how much dynamite to use. When he thought he was set, he breathed a prayer that he had enough dynamite to do the job, but not enough to blow them to kingdom come. The moment of truth came. He looked over at the farmer trying to give him a look of confidence, and then pushed down the plunger. The stump rose high in the air and began flying towards his truck, landing right on the roof of his cab, demolishing it. The farmer looked at Hank and said: “Son, you didn’t miss by much—just a few feet away from the cab. With a little more practice you’ll be able to land those suckers in the truck bed every time!”
So often we are like Hank, walking around wanting to appear like we know what we are doing, afraid to seek out advice from others. Last Sunday we began to look at some verses in Psalm 84 talking about the 4 Keys for a Successful Passage through Life. To review/ the first 2 keys for a successful passage through life were: Look to God alone for your strength, and put your whole heart into the journey.
We are indeed on a journey, a pilgrimage through life. 1 Peter 2:11 says that we are aliens on a pilgrimage. We are passing through this world, our destination is “The Heavenly City” - God’s Eternal Presence. And we do well to remind ourselves of this every day, so that we might keep our priorities straight and true.
Let us now look at the final 2 Keys.
I. SEE THE OPPORTUNITY IN EVERY TRIAL- (Psalm 84:6; Romans 8:28)
a. From weeping to blessing- Up to this point, in verse 5, the Psalmist has said: “Happy (blessed) are those whose strength is in the Lord, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.” Then the psalmist continues in verse 6- “As they go through the valley of Baca…” The Hebrew word “Baca” comes from a root word which means: “to mourn, wail, or lament”.
“The Valley of Baca” is literally: “THE VALLEY OF WEEPING”.
The 3rd key to having a successful passage through life is NOT to pretend trials don’t exist ... but rather to SEE TRIALS AS OPPORTUNITIES. The Bible talks about trials on nearly every page. The Bible talks about them a lot, because they are common to every person on the face of the earth, from all times of history, in all walks of life. And if some well-meaning person has suggested to you that Christians aren’t supposed to have trials – that we won’t ever experience sadness or loss, that we won’t ever feel financial pressure - then they haven’t read their Bible very carefully, because even Christians have trials, problems, struggles, and heartache. The difference between the Christian and non-Christian is the way the Christian is to handle their trials.
Haven’t we all passed through some Valleys of Baca? Some Valleys of Weeping?
The psalmist reminds us that if the Lord is our Strength, and if our heart is set on the journey, we can see the Valley of Weeping become a spring. What to others is a place of bitterness can to you and me become a place of blessing; a place of growth.
Someone once said: “Faith dares to dig blessings out of hardships!”
It might not always be apparent, but the opportunity for growth and blessing is always right there in the middle of the trial. It’s not always easy, but with God’s help, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, we can use trials as OPPORTUNITIES.
**Opportunities to prove that God is with you, working for our benefit; opportunities for growth; opportunities to be a shining testimony to others.
[EXAMPLE]: …The Tardy Oxcart, “Dr. R. A. Torrey,” p. 253-
Dr. R. A. Torrey, founder of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, lost his 12-year-old daughter in an accident. The funeral was on a rainy day. At the funeral of course was all of the family. At one point Mrs. Torrey leaned over to her husband and said: ‘I’m so glad Elizabeth is not in that box.’ The next morning Dr. Torrey got up to take a walk, and during the walk a wave of grief came over him from the loneliness he was feeling due to her absence and knowing he would never laugh with her again or see her grow. This grief caused him to stop and lean his head against a light post and he began to pray. Here are his words of what he experienced: ‘And just then the fountain, the Holy Spirit, whom I had in my heart, broke forth with such power as I think I had never experienced before. And it was the most joyful moment I had ever known in my life! It is an unspeakable glorious thing to have within you a fountain ever springing up, springing up, springing up, ever springing up 365 days in every year, springing up under all circumstances.’
That’s digging blessing out of hardship! The Valley of Weeping had become a spring for him! This is the truth of scripture. Just this last week we had sad news when we found out that Les St. Royal died. Last Sunday he was at church; the next morning he was dead! The good news is that he didn’t suffer in his dying; and even more, that he is en heaven. We can be grateful that there is life beyond this life and there is the promise that we will see those we love again.
b. From blessing to growth- So God can comfort us and give us some blessing in the midst of trial. But from where does the growth come? How can fruit be born out of the trials? Well, while mountain top experiences are nice, you don’t find much fruit growing up on the mountain tops. THE FRUIT GROWS IN THE VALLEYS! And it’s those trials in our lives that God can use best to build into us by His Spirit. But for this to happen we must have the right attitude.
WHAT IS YOUR ATTITUDE ? Do you see trials as opportunities? Are your trials going to make you bitter or make you better?!
Someone once wrote: “Faith digs wells in the driest places and finds living water.”
Did Joseph see the whole picture of the opportunity that presented itself by his trial - sold into slavery by his brothers - carried off to a foreign land all alone - accused by Potiphar’s wife and wrongfully imprisoned?! Could he have imagined in his wildest dreams that it would ultimately lead to him becoming Prime Minister of Egypt, and the savior of his entire family? I’m quite sure he COULDN’T have seen how God was going to use all his hardship to orchestrate such a wonderful outcome. He couldn’t have foreseen how much he would grow and mature and turn into a great man of God through his trials. But I do know that Joseph’s attitude was that he trusted God. He had confidence in the One who is over all things! He did not have a copy of the New Testament - it hadn’t been written yet - but He trusted in the eternal truth of God that we read about in Romans 8:28-“All things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to His purpose”!
We live in a world that is full of problems. It is a challenge to live in this world. Illus.- There is a story of an interviewer who tried to simply ask people if they were happy, and most of what he got was rudeness and negative attitudes. People didn’t want to be bothered by this question, because so many people were not happy… But being happy is not just a matter of not having problems. Everybody has problems, and yet not everyone is unhappy. Being happy is also not a matter of not having material wealth. Most people do not have material wealth, and still there are many who are happy.
It is about understanding that in the midst of trials, in the midst of being in the “valley of Baca,” in the midst of being in a dry and barren place, God can well up for us a spring, and cause blessing and growth to occur in our lives! As I said before, the third key to having a successful passage through life is SEE THE OPPORTUNITY in every trial.
II. REMEMBER THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL- (Psalm 84:6-8; 2 Corinthians 3:18;
2 Timothy 1:12) a. Let God direct your steps- Lastly, we need to remember that God is ALWAYS in ultimate control. He will never surrender His position on the throne to any person or any thing. He cannot be defied; He cannot be overcome!
Here is the promise of God. The promise of Him who sits on the throne, far above all! If I am….looking to God alone for my strength, and….if I’ve put my heart into the journey, and if ….I’m looking to see what opportunity God might have for me in every trial, then the sovereign God will do two things for me:
1) He will direct my steps in strength, and
2) He will bring me right through to my eternal destination.
We see that in verse 7, where it says, “They go from strength to strength.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 says it to us this way- “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
This is the work of God in a person’s life. When we allow the Holy Spirit free reign in our lives, we will go from glory to glory; we will grow from strength to strength until the image and likeness of Jesus Christ in seen in and through our lives. Submit to Him, and see how God can bring to you fullness of life because God is in control; not you. I urge you to start doing this today.
Example- There is an Aesop fable which talks about a group of frogs who wanted a leader. They bothered the dog, Jupiter, until he tossed them a log into the pond. For a while the frogs were happy to have a leader. But after some time they found that they could jump up and down on their leader and run all over it. So they bothered Jupiter some more, who proceeded to bring them a stork for a leader. This was even better, because the stork was tall and had the good appearance of a leader. He also walked around making a great amount of noise, which brought great attention to the frogs and their pond. But then their joy turned to fear as the stork attempted to eat the frogs./ This fable reminds us of our usual tendency when we try to be in control, and or try and control who will lead us and how they will lead us.. Either we are passive and don’t attempt to do much with our lives, or we are aggressive, trying to do too much and in so doing end up abusing others. We create more of a mess than we started with. (Illus. Unlimited, p. 313, #8)
It is important for us to let God direct our steps, then we will be living in confidence and strength!
b) He will bring them through to their destination- But secondly, the goal is to be successful in life all the way up to the final destination, which is heaven! It is important for us to understand that this life here on earth is not all that there is. In fact, this life here is really just the starting point; a training ground for when we get to heaven. When we die we will live for eternity in heaven with God, and in God’s presence. Just think about the few years we live here on earth, 80 or 90 or maybe even 100, compared to eternity in heaven. As C. S. Lewis puts it in The Last Battle, one of his stories from the series The Chronicles of Narnia:
“The semester is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning….all their life in this world…had only been the cover and title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” (C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle)
Then verse 7 continues, “They go from strength to strength until each one appears before God in Zion (the Holy City)”
As I said last week, this pilgrim Psalmist is just longing to get to Jerusalem - to the House of the Lord; the House of the Lord in Jerusalem, but also the eternal House of the Lord in heaven. And here is the assurance - God will bring him through, safe all the way. Verse 7 is telling us that God will continue to give us strength, continue to guide our way until we appear before God in the Holy City, which is in heaven.
Can you be sure that you’re going to make it all the way to Heaven? Can you really know? ABSOLUTELY. God IS the Author and the Finisher of our faith! Paul, in the last days of his life, wrote to Timothy, his son in the faith - not words of uncertainty - but a powerful declaration in 2 Timothy 1:12: “I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that (Eternal) day.”
One of the things that sets Christianity apart from other religions, one of the things that is there to give us hope and strength, is the fact that through Jesus Christ we have the opportunity to spend eternity with God. We have the opportunity to be in God’s glorious presence, and experience the full love of God in our lives. We will get to be with our creator in an unbelievably wonderful environment, beyond anything we could possibly imagine!
So, if this is true, then we should let ourselves trust this God of eternity with guiding and controlling our life while we are living here on earth.
The fourth and final key to a successful passage through life is: REMEMBER THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL!
CONCLUSION:
There is a German proverb which says: “It doesn’t depend on size, or a cow would catch a rabbit.” (Illus. Unlimited, p. 34, #1) Sometimes the size of the advice is not so important, as is the impact of the advice. I’m sure that what I have talked about these last 2 weeks is not earth shattering advice. It might not even be new advice to you. But if you put it to practice, you will see big results. You will see God giving you the ability to live as you were created. You will see joy and hope abound in your life. You will see growth and promise happen as you let God turn your trials into blessings, and you will not have to feel the stress and anxiety of making everything happen.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just limp through life - by the grace of God I want to go from strength to strength! With faith in God I believe I can outgrow my difficulties. I believe YOU can outgrow YOUR difficulties.
LOOK TO GOD ALONE FOR YOUR STRENGTH; PUT YOUR
HEART INTO THE JOURNEY; SEE THE OPPORTUNITY IN
EVERY TRIAL; And REMEMBER THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL. Amen.
Sunday, 9/13/09- Psalm 84:1-12
Introduction: “Practice, Practice,” Illus. Unlimited, p. 317, # 14- There’s a story of a man named Hank, a landscape contractor, who got his first job doing some landscaping for a farmer. As he arrived for his first day of work, he realized that his first job would be to blast away some stumps with dynamite. Not wanting to appear to not know what he was doing, especially with the farmer watching, he went to some length to measure out the fuses and set the dynamite. But the problem was that he didn’t know exactly how much dynamite to use. When he thought he was set, he breathed a prayer that he had enough dynamite to do the job, but not enough to blow them to kingdom come. The moment of truth came. He looked over at the farmer trying to give him a look of confidence, and then pushed down the plunger. The stump rose high in the air and began flying towards his truck, landing right on the roof of his cab, demolishing it. The farmer looked at Hank and said: “Son, you didn’t miss by much—just a few feet away from the cab. With a little more practice you’ll be able to land those suckers in the truck bed every time!”
So often we are like Hank, walking around wanting to appear like we know what we are doing, afraid to seek out advice from others. Last Sunday we began to look at some verses in Psalm 84 talking about the 4 Keys for a Successful Passage through Life. To review/ the first 2 keys for a successful passage through life were: Look to God alone for your strength, and put your whole heart into the journey.
We are indeed on a journey, a pilgrimage through life. 1 Peter 2:11 says that we are aliens on a pilgrimage. We are passing through this world, our destination is “The Heavenly City” - God’s Eternal Presence. And we do well to remind ourselves of this every day, so that we might keep our priorities straight and true.
Let us now look at the final 2 Keys.
I. SEE THE OPPORTUNITY IN EVERY TRIAL- (Psalm 84:6; Romans 8:28)
a. From weeping to blessing- Up to this point, in verse 5, the Psalmist has said: “Happy (blessed) are those whose strength is in the Lord, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.” Then the psalmist continues in verse 6- “As they go through the valley of Baca…” The Hebrew word “Baca” comes from a root word which means: “to mourn, wail, or lament”.
“The Valley of Baca” is literally: “THE VALLEY OF WEEPING”.
The 3rd key to having a successful passage through life is NOT to pretend trials don’t exist ... but rather to SEE TRIALS AS OPPORTUNITIES. The Bible talks about trials on nearly every page. The Bible talks about them a lot, because they are common to every person on the face of the earth, from all times of history, in all walks of life. And if some well-meaning person has suggested to you that Christians aren’t supposed to have trials – that we won’t ever experience sadness or loss, that we won’t ever feel financial pressure - then they haven’t read their Bible very carefully, because even Christians have trials, problems, struggles, and heartache. The difference between the Christian and non-Christian is the way the Christian is to handle their trials.
Haven’t we all passed through some Valleys of Baca? Some Valleys of Weeping?
The psalmist reminds us that if the Lord is our Strength, and if our heart is set on the journey, we can see the Valley of Weeping become a spring. What to others is a place of bitterness can to you and me become a place of blessing; a place of growth.
Someone once said: “Faith dares to dig blessings out of hardships!”
It might not always be apparent, but the opportunity for growth and blessing is always right there in the middle of the trial. It’s not always easy, but with God’s help, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, we can use trials as OPPORTUNITIES.
**Opportunities to prove that God is with you, working for our benefit; opportunities for growth; opportunities to be a shining testimony to others.
[EXAMPLE]: …The Tardy Oxcart, “Dr. R. A. Torrey,” p. 253-
Dr. R. A. Torrey, founder of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, lost his 12-year-old daughter in an accident. The funeral was on a rainy day. At the funeral of course was all of the family. At one point Mrs. Torrey leaned over to her husband and said: ‘I’m so glad Elizabeth is not in that box.’ The next morning Dr. Torrey got up to take a walk, and during the walk a wave of grief came over him from the loneliness he was feeling due to her absence and knowing he would never laugh with her again or see her grow. This grief caused him to stop and lean his head against a light post and he began to pray. Here are his words of what he experienced: ‘And just then the fountain, the Holy Spirit, whom I had in my heart, broke forth with such power as I think I had never experienced before. And it was the most joyful moment I had ever known in my life! It is an unspeakable glorious thing to have within you a fountain ever springing up, springing up, springing up, ever springing up 365 days in every year, springing up under all circumstances.’
That’s digging blessing out of hardship! The Valley of Weeping had become a spring for him! This is the truth of scripture. Just this last week we had sad news when we found out that Les St. Royal died. Last Sunday he was at church; the next morning he was dead! The good news is that he didn’t suffer in his dying; and even more, that he is en heaven. We can be grateful that there is life beyond this life and there is the promise that we will see those we love again.
b. From blessing to growth- So God can comfort us and give us some blessing in the midst of trial. But from where does the growth come? How can fruit be born out of the trials? Well, while mountain top experiences are nice, you don’t find much fruit growing up on the mountain tops. THE FRUIT GROWS IN THE VALLEYS! And it’s those trials in our lives that God can use best to build into us by His Spirit. But for this to happen we must have the right attitude.
WHAT IS YOUR ATTITUDE ? Do you see trials as opportunities? Are your trials going to make you bitter or make you better?!
Someone once wrote: “Faith digs wells in the driest places and finds living water.”
Did Joseph see the whole picture of the opportunity that presented itself by his trial - sold into slavery by his brothers - carried off to a foreign land all alone - accused by Potiphar’s wife and wrongfully imprisoned?! Could he have imagined in his wildest dreams that it would ultimately lead to him becoming Prime Minister of Egypt, and the savior of his entire family? I’m quite sure he COULDN’T have seen how God was going to use all his hardship to orchestrate such a wonderful outcome. He couldn’t have foreseen how much he would grow and mature and turn into a great man of God through his trials. But I do know that Joseph’s attitude was that he trusted God. He had confidence in the One who is over all things! He did not have a copy of the New Testament - it hadn’t been written yet - but He trusted in the eternal truth of God that we read about in Romans 8:28-“All things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to His purpose”!
We live in a world that is full of problems. It is a challenge to live in this world. Illus.- There is a story of an interviewer who tried to simply ask people if they were happy, and most of what he got was rudeness and negative attitudes. People didn’t want to be bothered by this question, because so many people were not happy… But being happy is not just a matter of not having problems. Everybody has problems, and yet not everyone is unhappy. Being happy is also not a matter of not having material wealth. Most people do not have material wealth, and still there are many who are happy.
It is about understanding that in the midst of trials, in the midst of being in the “valley of Baca,” in the midst of being in a dry and barren place, God can well up for us a spring, and cause blessing and growth to occur in our lives! As I said before, the third key to having a successful passage through life is SEE THE OPPORTUNITY in every trial.
II. REMEMBER THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL- (Psalm 84:6-8; 2 Corinthians 3:18;
2 Timothy 1:12) a. Let God direct your steps- Lastly, we need to remember that God is ALWAYS in ultimate control. He will never surrender His position on the throne to any person or any thing. He cannot be defied; He cannot be overcome!
Here is the promise of God. The promise of Him who sits on the throne, far above all! If I am….looking to God alone for my strength, and….if I’ve put my heart into the journey, and if ….I’m looking to see what opportunity God might have for me in every trial, then the sovereign God will do two things for me:
1) He will direct my steps in strength, and
2) He will bring me right through to my eternal destination.
We see that in verse 7, where it says, “They go from strength to strength.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 says it to us this way- “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
This is the work of God in a person’s life. When we allow the Holy Spirit free reign in our lives, we will go from glory to glory; we will grow from strength to strength until the image and likeness of Jesus Christ in seen in and through our lives. Submit to Him, and see how God can bring to you fullness of life because God is in control; not you. I urge you to start doing this today.
Example- There is an Aesop fable which talks about a group of frogs who wanted a leader. They bothered the dog, Jupiter, until he tossed them a log into the pond. For a while the frogs were happy to have a leader. But after some time they found that they could jump up and down on their leader and run all over it. So they bothered Jupiter some more, who proceeded to bring them a stork for a leader. This was even better, because the stork was tall and had the good appearance of a leader. He also walked around making a great amount of noise, which brought great attention to the frogs and their pond. But then their joy turned to fear as the stork attempted to eat the frogs./ This fable reminds us of our usual tendency when we try to be in control, and or try and control who will lead us and how they will lead us.. Either we are passive and don’t attempt to do much with our lives, or we are aggressive, trying to do too much and in so doing end up abusing others. We create more of a mess than we started with. (Illus. Unlimited, p. 313, #8)
It is important for us to let God direct our steps, then we will be living in confidence and strength!
b) He will bring them through to their destination- But secondly, the goal is to be successful in life all the way up to the final destination, which is heaven! It is important for us to understand that this life here on earth is not all that there is. In fact, this life here is really just the starting point; a training ground for when we get to heaven. When we die we will live for eternity in heaven with God, and in God’s presence. Just think about the few years we live here on earth, 80 or 90 or maybe even 100, compared to eternity in heaven. As C. S. Lewis puts it in The Last Battle, one of his stories from the series The Chronicles of Narnia:
“The semester is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning….all their life in this world…had only been the cover and title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” (C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle)
Then verse 7 continues, “They go from strength to strength until each one appears before God in Zion (the Holy City)”
As I said last week, this pilgrim Psalmist is just longing to get to Jerusalem - to the House of the Lord; the House of the Lord in Jerusalem, but also the eternal House of the Lord in heaven. And here is the assurance - God will bring him through, safe all the way. Verse 7 is telling us that God will continue to give us strength, continue to guide our way until we appear before God in the Holy City, which is in heaven.
Can you be sure that you’re going to make it all the way to Heaven? Can you really know? ABSOLUTELY. God IS the Author and the Finisher of our faith! Paul, in the last days of his life, wrote to Timothy, his son in the faith - not words of uncertainty - but a powerful declaration in 2 Timothy 1:12: “I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that (Eternal) day.”
One of the things that sets Christianity apart from other religions, one of the things that is there to give us hope and strength, is the fact that through Jesus Christ we have the opportunity to spend eternity with God. We have the opportunity to be in God’s glorious presence, and experience the full love of God in our lives. We will get to be with our creator in an unbelievably wonderful environment, beyond anything we could possibly imagine!
So, if this is true, then we should let ourselves trust this God of eternity with guiding and controlling our life while we are living here on earth.
The fourth and final key to a successful passage through life is: REMEMBER THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL!
CONCLUSION:
There is a German proverb which says: “It doesn’t depend on size, or a cow would catch a rabbit.” (Illus. Unlimited, p. 34, #1) Sometimes the size of the advice is not so important, as is the impact of the advice. I’m sure that what I have talked about these last 2 weeks is not earth shattering advice. It might not even be new advice to you. But if you put it to practice, you will see big results. You will see God giving you the ability to live as you were created. You will see joy and hope abound in your life. You will see growth and promise happen as you let God turn your trials into blessings, and you will not have to feel the stress and anxiety of making everything happen.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just limp through life - by the grace of God I want to go from strength to strength! With faith in God I believe I can outgrow my difficulties. I believe YOU can outgrow YOUR difficulties.
LOOK TO GOD ALONE FOR YOUR STRENGTH; PUT YOUR
HEART INTO THE JOURNEY; SEE THE OPPORTUNITY IN
EVERY TRIAL; And REMEMBER THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL. Amen.
posted by Logan's Blog at 10:38 AM
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