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This verse describes different types of praise and appreciation of our God. It reminded me of different types of people within my church.
All around the world there are loud people and quiet people, anxious and carefree, nervous and confident, introvert and extrovert, and sometimes a mixture of several of these types which can make us very complicated creatures! I think it is amazing that our Heavenly Father knows and understands each one of us. He knows exactly what we need in life and will help us when we have committed our lives to His hands. In the same way in church, there are different types of worship. The Holy Spirit is sensitive to the needs of those who have gathered together. If He has the freedom to move according to the will of God, He will come to us in just the way we need. For some they will ‘burst with joy’, whilst others may ‘rustle with praise.’ It’s not given to everyone to be a whooping Christian! For some that would be a false portrayal of who they are. What is important is not how we worship but whom we worship. We should never worship the music or the praise band. We should seek in our worship to find our way into the presence of God. We know we have achieved this when we can truly forget about those ‘out front’ in church and even forget about ourselves as we worship. Don’t try to be someone that you’re not. Be yourself when you are in church. God loves the exuberant and He loves the quiet. He wants you to worship Him. When you are relaxed you will transmit Him. When you are uptight you won’t. Accept yourself for the kind of personality that you have. You will be at home in Him if you are true to yourself and God. In this way, you become of the greatest usefulness to God. He will have found your inner self and by His mercy, can take you, the quiet or the exuberant, and use you as He desires for His glory.
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For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own special treasure.”Psalm 135:4 NLT19/9/2022 Our Heavenly Father has chosen us for Himself. Each church group, and each person within that group, is a special treasure, a prized possession to Him. He gave us His own Son so that we might be redeemed.
As many of you who follow us on Instagram know, we have had a very blessed weekend celebrating the 25th anniversary of the opening of our church building. We had an afternoon and evening filled with activity, and it was great to see our church so busy all day. One of the things I enjoyed doing in preparation for this event was collating all the dates and places when people first came to us, to form a timeline from the beginning of our fellowship until the present day. Over the years we have seen hundreds, if not thousands, come through our doors. Many of these have worshipped with us, whilst others came to observe or to find out more. Some received help, some we never saw again, some returned to their churches whilst a remnant remained with us and joined our church family. Our timeline didn’t show all those who had come through our doors but it did show when each member of our fellowship joined us and when the work began in the various towns surrounding Cumbernauld. I noticed one lady as she stood reading the names weeping. She was so moved at how our church family has grown over the years. Another said to me, “You must be a very proud Mama.” However, for me, it brought back some very painful memories as well as some very happy ones. The work of God doesn’t come without paying a price. Our Lord Jesus bore the ultimate price on the Cross but before His death He said to His own: “A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” John 15:20 TLV We are, certainly, not greater than Christ but we are simply His servants. Over the years “all kinds of evil” has been spoken against us. I have not always gotten everything right, although I have always tried to do my best in any situation and I have learned from my mistakes. Some have been offended at the stand I have taken for Christ. Indeed, it has not been an easy road. It made me realise that whilst others looked on marvelling at the growth of the work of God I saw things from a slightly different angle. I looked on with a mixture of pain and pleasure. I don’t have a great sense of achievement but I do have a drive to see the work that I have been called to do completed whilst I still have strength. I became aware amid the pain and pleasure of the depth of the love of God for me. Despite my mistakes, He has loved me through it all. I am His special treasure - called and chosen by God. Having confidence in the love of God is the only way I have been able to cope with the difficulties that have come our way. Whether we are congratulated or criticised we are still loved by Him. It is what keeps me going. More than this: it is what has drawn each soul who has come through our doors. The love of God is the only thing that has held us together as a fellowship for over 30 years. We have all become conscious we are chosen, a special treasure to Him. As the years roll on no matter what life throws our way let us keep this in the forefront of our minds so that the work may continue to grow and bring glory to His Name. “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35 TLV There are so many wonderful promises in the Bible, but there are also some fearful words. This is one of them.
Imagine never finding inner rest, never being at peace with yourself, always tormented with thoughts within and fears without. No wonder some overindulge in alcohol or substance abuse to drown their sorrows! There is only One who can take away all our heartaches; only One who has promised He can bring peace to your soul and bring you into a place of rest. His Name is Jesus. But there is a condition attached to this promise. It is that we listen to what He is saying and then we obey it. The reason these people never entered a place of rest is that: “They are a people whose hearts turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.” Verse 10b The Bible is very clear. It is very easy to understand these principles if you are willing to consider them. If we have a heart after God, it means we’ll be hungry to learn more about Him. We’ll want to read our Bibles, say our prayers, get to church and genuinely be with other Christians. If our hearts turn away from Him then we’ll not be interested to learn more about Him. We won’t care to pick up our Bibles and our prayers will be selfish and half-hearted. Church will be an inconvenience, and we won’t make any effort to spend time with our brothers and sisters in Christ after church. Not only this, but we choose to refuse to listen and keep His commands. Instead, we’re influenced by the world and our peers. Do you have rest, deep inner soul rest? Or are you anxious, fearful, angry or tormented? Come to the Cross and surrender all. Christ is the only One who can give you deep heart rest by leading you into a place of rest. It’s worth it - His rest is exquisite. “He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.” Psalms 23:2 NLT This verse reminds me of my school days when I was a teacher. I used to particularly enjoy days when the children weren’t in school and the teachers had time to get organised, arrange classrooms, prepare their walls with suitable materials and plan their topics. There always seemed so much to do and it was a great feeling to have time to tackle the mountain of work that was waiting for me. Then the children would arrive, and from the moment they appeared, you never had a minute to yourself. The mountain of work seemed to just stand there towering over you until the children went home at the end of the day. School seemed a great place when the children weren’t there!
A church can feel a bit the same. When you’re in the building on your own it feels peaceful and quiet. Then the people arrive, and the children with all their energy and high spirits. The church bustles with clamour and noise. People are happy to see each other and there are many happy hellos, handshaking and even hugs! This is where the second half of this verse comes in: ‘but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.’ Prov 14:4b If we are to reap a harvest, and a large one at that, we have to be like the strong oxen. We have to be able to pull a heavy load and plough a straight furrow. Amid all the happiness, there are people from all different walks of life who all have different opinions and are all at different stages of their faith. It requires strong oxen who can pull in the same direction to plough a straight furrow: bringing the truth of the word of God and the unity of spirit that is needed to bring us into the presence of God. We have many coming around us who come from all different walks of life. Some have addiction problems, some are mature Christians who have been on the road for many years and are hungry for the deep things of God, and others are fairly new and are just learning how to pray and hear the voice of God for themselves. If I were to look at the task ahead of me without faith, I would think it was impossible. Only the Spirit of God can bring the unity that is needed for the blessing of God to fall. Only the Spirit of God on the strong ‘oxen’. It’s a good illustration. There’s not much glory about being an ox! It means an obedient heart, a steady pace, a clear goal and a daily ploughing in a straight line. There can be no wavering, no days off, no wandering off where you want to, doing your own thing and taking it easy. The goal must be set and your eyes are on the target ahead. The fields need ploughed. The truth needs to be taught. Souls need to be welcomed, questions need to be answered, scriptures need to be explained and help offered to those who struggle. And yet would we want it any other way? When I am alone in the church in quiet would I want it to stay that way? Of course not! There is no greater joy than leading souls to our wonderful Saviour. It is an utter privilege to be yoked with Christ and to steadily plough with Him, winning souls into the kingdom. Let each learn to be strong for it is in serving Him that we will find our greatest joy. There are very few who find calmness to be a quality that they naturally possess. Most of us find ourselves fraught or distraught at times and the danger with this is that it encroaches into our spiritual lives and affects our relationship with God.
Whatever the problem might be, whether it’s a house full of young children or a stressful job, we need to develop the quality of calmness so that we can learn to remain in Christ and continue at our post. The full verse says: “If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great errors to rest.” The Oxford dictionary says calmness is ‘The state or quality of being free from agitation or strong emotion. The state or condition of being free from disturbance.’ I have known a mother to leave her post when upset in a situation: she left her children without a meal. I have known someone leave a job that they loved because they were so upset by their colleagues. I have known people who refused to attend church because they were offended by another. All these situations describe people who have left their posts. It is given to us to hold steady no matter what is happening at home, at work, at church or amid our family circumstances. Jesus said: “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.” Matt 10:37 NLT Let nothing disturb you so much that your relationship with Christ is affected and you walk away from your spiritual responsibilities. Whether it be a small insignificant issue that gets under your skin and irritates you, or whether it be an insurmountable problem, work hard at maintaining your peace throughout it all. He needs to be the most important person to you. He will provide a way through all your difficulties and will give you the strength and calmness to remain at your post if you put Him first. “Calmness can lay great errors to rest.” Remaining calm and in Christ often disperses trouble before it has time to materialise. The divisive destructive work the enemy set out to accomplish fails because the servants of the Lord have learned the secret of remaining calm and standing strong at their post. This week, no matter what, remain at your post calmly, trusting He will work it all out. There are several little gems in the book of Ecclesiastes that are easy to miss. One has to read carefully to find them hidden amongst some difficult verses. Different translations also help us to understand what a verse means. The New Living Translation of this same verse says this:
“God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.” Ecclesiastes 5:20 NLT To be ‘occupied with gladness of heart’ or to be ‘so busy enjoying life’ is something man desires above and beyond anything else. He looks for it in his work, his family, his money, in dream holidays and the luxuries of life. However, the truth is we can have all these wonderful things and yet still feel discontent. It’s good to step back from time to time and measure your happiness. When do you feel blissfully content? When you get up in the morning or when you finally get into bed tired out and exhausted after a full day’s work? The truth is many of us have happy moments when we celebrate in a particular way: the birth of a child, a happy engagement, when we achieve something new, when our team wins the league or when we retire. Many don’t live occupied with ‘gladness of heart’ all of the time. It’s something that comes and goes like our Scottish weather! One minute it’s sunny and the next it is raining! God-given gladness of heart is not dependent on our circumstances but on our consistent relationship with God. We may never have been successful or achieved any long-term goals but if we put Christ first, our hearts will overflow with His blessing which leads to contentment. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11 NIV “I have told you this..” What did Jesus tell them? He told them this: “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” John 15:10 NIV This is the only way to complete joy: it is being obedient to His commandments. Stop searching for complete happiness by any natural means. Look for it in the eternal. Find out what the commandments of Christ are, obey them, and you will find yourself ‘occupied with gladness of heart.’ Not only will you overflow with blessing, but the mistakes of the past also won’t haunt you any longer. Then our joy will surely be complete. “God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.” According to the Oxford Dictionary delight means ‘great pleasure.’ Do you take great pleasure in all you do? Your ‘work’ is not only your job but every duty you have to do.
The Bible tells us it is good to take great pleasure in all our duties whether it is household chores, looking after children, or being in the office or classroom. Whatever your ‘work’ is, find great pleasure in doing it. Even in the most menial of tasks we can learn to find pleasure. It can make the difference between being in touch with God or not. The moment we resent having to do something we develop a ‘chip on our shoulder.’ This brings a shadow over our spirits and affects our inner communion with God and happiness. It’s so easy to be careless over this issue because we are not doing anything deliberately wrong. We are not consciously sinning. It’s an inner attitude that can develop because we are tired, stressed or just have too much to do! However, if you’re not careful you develop a grumbling spirit and that can become a habit, something we return to whenever we are asked to do something. You find you begin to resent every little task that is asked of you. The Bible says: “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;” Colossians 3:23 KJV If we truly put this into practice we will find a huge difference in our spiritual lives. We begin to approach each new task, not with a negative point of view, but with a positive one. The old resentful, almost bitter feeling, will disappear and it will be replaced by a willingness because your focus will be on Him. Life will be worth living! Whether you’re returning to work after a long summer holiday or you never got a summer holiday it won’t make any difference for whatever you do, you do it for the Lord. This inner attitude is the difference between being reliable and unreliable. It’s the difference between having a beautiful spirit or a negative temperament. If we want to stay close to God then we need to work on this. “So I hated life … All of it is meaningless … I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.” (Ecclesiastes 2 v 17,18) Imagine living life like this! How awful it would be to not find pleasure in anything. Most of us find pleasure in something, but it’s normally the things we want to do! Finding pleasure in the things we have to do is the key to a happy life, and the only way to find that is to do it: “as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” Colossians 3:23 NLT May you find His help and happiness. “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8 KJV There are so many beautiful things in the world that help us to understand something of the beauty of our Creator. The sunrise in the east as it stretches across the skies, whilst the quiet sunset brings each day to a finale.
I have commented before on the fact that God could have made each little bird the same brown colour; but instead, He gave each their own amazing colours and to some the most beautiful of songs. We have a wonderful Creator! There are daily opportunities to marvel at the beauty of creation and discover God’s presence for ourselves. We need never feel distant from Him when He is all around us in the smallest of details. Our Lord Jesus encouraged us to ‘consider the lilies.’ Matt 6:28 KJV Some of us have just returned home from our annual summer camp. It’s been the first time in three years that we’ve been together (due to Covid). We had a wonderful time being in God’s presence, worshipping and glorifying His name. However, whether we are with God’s people or on our own we need to learn to tune into His quiet strength. Our faith would be all wrong if we only became stronger Christians when we were all together. We need to use the moments when we are alone in our day, and draw strength from God. Simple tasks like a walk to the bus stop, driving the car to work or putting the baby to bed can be moments when we find His presence. I love to open my bedroom window at night before getting into bed and listen to the stillness of the night or hear the sound of sheep bleating on the nearby farm. It makes me feel at one with God. It is not only in the big congregations, when voices rise in song and hands are raised in worship, that we find the presence of God. The small everyday moments are even more important to us. That’s when we are truly ourselves. Our conferences and camps are wonderful but these are only two or three times a year. The beauty of eternity is there to help us every day. Learn to live the disciplined life of seeking and finding His presence in all the little lovely things in life. Then when greater difficulties come our way, we shall be ready, and we will be able to overcome by His power What a wonderful thought that He counts our every step! When you are up in the night, each sleepy step you take is numbered. When you come downstairs for your morning coffee, go out to the garden, or walk through the office, each step is numbered. That’s how much He cares for you.
Even when we walk away from Him, He watches us numbering each step. He watches us falling and comes to help us back up again. He observes our rebellion and repentance, and sees all our ways. The Lord Jesus said, “Come unto me.” (Matt 11:28 ) He counts our steps as we draw near to Him. These steps must delight Him! When we begin to understand that He knows every step we take it brings a greater understanding of the fact that the very hairs of our head are numbered, that a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without Him. He is indeed omnipresent and omnipotent. What a comfort it is to know that even when we wander from the right path and pass through shadows He counts our steps. Even when the shadows are a result of deliberate sin or choices that we have made that have caused us to wander far from the Light. He is not far away, watching over each step we take. How grateful we should be knowing that He cares for us so deeply and that even though we can be very foolish at times, He knows the way that we take. He is but a prayer away. These are the words of Job, a man who suffered desperately. God had allowed everything to be taken from him including his family, his wealth and his health. He was left in the shadows of life, confused and wounded. He comforted himself with these words: “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” Job 23:10 NIV When he had nothing left he comforted himself in the knowledge that God watched over him and knew exactly the path He was taking. He went on to say: “My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.” Job 23:11-12 NIV Let us learn to walk carefully. We should no longer be like toddlers who take a few steps and then fall over. We need to learn to follow His steps without turning aside and to treasure the words of His mouth more than life itself. Take comfort in the fact that today each of your steps is counted even before you take it. He knows exactly where you are going to go, and what you are going to do. Commit your day into His hands and pray that each step will be pleasing to Him. As a child, I had absolute trust in my parents. Nothing ever worried me because I knew I was perfectly safe. Even if the world had crumbled around me, it didn’t matter, as long as they were both with me.
As an adult, I look back and smile at my simple belief in my parents and realise how fragile that childhood world was. But it gives me some understanding of how safe we can be in God our Father. He is our place of safety. A place we can go to when everything else is precarious. The world might be tumbling down around us, but He never changes. He is always the same strong, steady presence: our ultimate security. He is perfect stillness, strength and safety. We need never feel afraid when He is in charge. However, we do need to learn to train ourselves to run to Him when the storm arises and stay there until it passes. If you do this, you will learn to draw strength from Him and be filled with calmness and courage. You will learn to look at life’s conflict through His eyes and recognise the hand of God at work. He is our place of safety. There is no one like Christ. He is perfect, and wonderful in all His ways. A place of perfect rest and delight. Turn to Him today and tell Him of all your fears. He already knows! Bring all your loved ones and place them in His care, and then let your heart rest in His love in this place of safety. “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty saviour. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Zephaniah 3:17 NLT |
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