The Rock that Quenches

During the course of my reading this week I came across this statement, “The ability to precisely define reality is the starting point for any hope of equilibrium.” They are simple words in one sense but very profound at the same time. I believe one of the greatest challenges in a believer’s personal journey is the ability to see and be honest with himself about his own condition.

Think about the Nation of Israel as they left Egypt and journeyed through the wilderness. It had only been three months since their leaving Egypt. They had watched as God rescued them from Pharaoh. At the hand of Moses, they had been given from their captor wealth, freedom, and now they are guided by God Himself through the pillar of fire and cloud. They have experienced starvation and bread from heaven. They were literally thirsting to death and had their thirst quenched from a rock. If there ever were a people who understood what it is to be discombobulated, it was Israel.

Sometimes as children of God, we allow the distortion of this life to mess up our equilibrium– spiritual vertigo if you will. However, in reality and from what we see in Scripture, God was and is right there all the time!

There are a tremendous amount of life lessons we can learn from the Nation of Israel during their wilderness journeys. For example, often times we confuse God’s presence with plenty. God’s presence in our lives doesn’t equal material possession. The Israelites were moving just as God instructed; they were led by the pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day.

Can we be honest for a moment? I don’t like that! They were doing what God asked; they were following instructions, and yet God still led them to a place that didn’t have water. Be honest with me; how many of you have ever felt, or currently are feeling, that you’re doing everything your supposed to do, you’re following God, you’re really putting your best foot forward, and God leads you to this dry and desolate place?

Listen, that’s a view from the trenches, that’s our perspective. Let me give you a view from the throne; “Dear children, if you’ll just go where I lead you, there is not a place I will lead you that I will not sustain you!

In every aspect of life, there is perplexity attached to it— perplexity that takes us to our limits and draws us near to God. It is in the midst of the struggles of this life that we learn that this world does not hold any finite answers. And it is in that unrest and dissatisfaction that we are forced to look beyond the limits of this earth to an unlimited God!

May the opportunities of this life force us to cry out for the new life to come…”Come, Lord Jesus!”

Pastor Barry

Worshipping the God Who Saves

Robert Coleman writes, “Worship is the adorning response of the creature to the infinite majesty of God. While it presupposes submission to Him, to worship, in the highest sense, is not supplication for needs, or even thanksgiving for blessings, but the occupation of the soul with God Himself… The end of it all is the pure joy of magnifying the One who alone is worthy.”

 Do you get this? When we approach the throne of God, we are not there to feel better about our Christian lives; we are not there for some sort of believers pep rally. We are not there to petition God for anything; we are there as the faithful subjects of our Creator, to pay tribute before His throne, to bring honor and glory to Him!

“I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.”                                                                Isaiah 6:1-4

 While I don’t want to stereotype all worship, one of the fundamental problems with worship today is

Christians often times are not worshipping the God who saves but rather we worship the worship.

Our focus is not on the God who redeems, God who rescues us from our human plight; often times we are striving to achieve some utopia of worship through the modem of worship. When in truth, if we would see God on His throne high and lifted up, the modem wouldn’t matter, no longer would music, giving, preaching, prayer be tools to bring us into the presence of God but they would be a response to having been in the presence of God!

 Worship today tends to measure itself according to the following terms:

·         The quality of the preaching

·         The music we sing

·         The length of the service

·         The comfort / knowledge / encouragement it brings the participants

·         The feeling of fellowship / friendship

 All of these are very key elements of worship! However, God-honoring worship begins when it focuses on the God who saves rather than the vehicle of worship. It’s so easy when all the elements of modern worship come together to find yourself looking to the elements for pleasure, encouragement, for emotional stimulation. Listen, these characteristics of worship in and of themselves are not bad! However, when they pull our eyes off God—when worship becomes about me— worship has just become defiled and worthless before the throne of God! Remember, it’s all about the one who saves!