HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-07-30, Page 16By Pastor Ernest DowLiving Water ChristianFellowship, BlythYou don’t have to live very long
until you discover that bad things
happen in life. But sometimes it’s
not just one or two bad things;
sometimes there’s a whole string of
serious losses that leaves you
wondering where it will end.
Some cynic with a sense of
humour said, “Just when we think
we see a light at the end of the
tunnel, it turns out to be a train
coming right at us!”
Apart from trust in God, life can
be oppressively dark when losses
mount, if not unbearable.
A skeptic wrote in his
autobiography: “What else is there
to make life tolerable? We stand on
the shore of an ocean, crying to the
night, and in the emptiness
sometimes a voice answers out of
the darkness. But it is the voice of
one drowning, and in a moment the
silence returns and the world seems
to be quite dreadful. The
unhappiness of many people is very
great, and I often wonder how they
endure it.”
What a depressing view!
Yet without knowing a sovereign
wise and loving God, that can be
where one ends up. By contrast,
looking back in scripture, we see
David turning to God when losses
seem unbearable, and being
encouraged in the Lord.
In 1 Samuel 27, David feels he’d
be safer from the threat of Israel’s
current jealous King Saul if he were
to escape to the land of the
Philistines, Israel’s enemies who
occupied the coastal area just east of
the Mediterranean. Achish the king
of Gath grants permission for David
and his 600 or so comrades to live in
the town of Ziklag.
When the Philistine leaders of the
other major cities decide it’s time to
push back the Israelites along their
borders, King Achish informs David
that he and his fighting force have
been conscripted to help out. David
and his troops show up for the
Philistine-Israel battle as ordered.
Nevertheless, the other Philistine
army commanders view this
inclusion of Hebrews as an
unacceptable security risk; fearing
they’ll turn on them in the heat of
battle, they send David and theothers back home to Ziklag.When they get back from co-operating honourably with the
conscription, what do they find?
Amalekite raiders had pillaged
Ziklag in their absence and burned it
to the ground. They’d captured and
carried off all the women and
children and livestock (30:3).
How devastating! David and
comrades are utterly demoralized
and distraught.
You can sense the degree of their
despair by 30:4, “David and his men
wept aloud until they had no strength
left to weep.”
That’s getting very low –
completely drained. Besides the
material and personal loss, it was an
emotional catastrophe. Totally
devastated.
When in your life have you felt
devastated? When did you weep so
much you had no tears left? If
you’ve been there, you can begin to
understand how David must have
felt.
His grief soon became
complicated by another threat: a
challenge to his leadership. 30:6,
“David was greatly distressed
because the men were talking of
stoning him; each one was bitter in
spirit because of his sons and
daughters.” Understandably so. Loss
led to grief, then anger, then
bitterness; and bitterness, as usual
when it’s not resolved before God,
prompted lashing out destructively.
Yet although his family and goods
were gone, his house was burned,
and his leadership was in danger,
David didn’t give in to self-pity or
suicidal thoughts. Note carefully
how verse 6 ends: “But David found
strength in the Lord his God.” Or as
the King James version puts it,
“David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God.” He found God to be
his devastation-sized Encourager.Likewise, Jesus’ words inMatthew 10 (28,30f) give usassurance when we’re threatened by
deadly attacks. Jesus reminds us how
precious we are to our Heavenly
Protector. “Do not be afraid of those
who kill the body but cannot kill the
soul. Rather, be afraid of the One
who can destroy both soul and body
in hell....Even the very hairs of your
head are all numbered. So don’t be
afraid; you are worth more than
many sparrows.”
God loves us individually, right
down past the head-count to the hair-
count; He has a plan and a purpose
for us, in Christ; and He will see us
through.
Although things seem stacked
against David so as to destroy him,
when he finds strength in the Lord,
that makes all the difference. David
asks for guidance and the Lord
directs him to pursue the raiders.
The result of the chase? 30:18f,
“David recovered everything the
Amalekites had taken, including his
two wives. Nothing was missing:
young or old, boy or girl, plunder or
anything else they had taken. David
brought everything back.”
What a turn-around! God
rewarded David’s faithfulness by
returning his family and his goods,
and much more besides.
David knows God’s the One
responsible here. When they return
to the ravine, some ‘evil men and
troublemakers’ among David’s
followers maintain the plunder
shouldn’t be shared with those who
had stayed behind to guard the
supplies, having become too
exhausted to fight.
But hear how David upholds
God’s sovereignty and grace,
obligating us to be gracious in turn:
“No, my brothers, you must not do
that with what the Lord has given us.
He has protected us and handed overto us the forces that came againstus...All will share alike.” (1Sa30:23f)
David viewed God as the One in
control, the One to be credited with
the victory, not himself.
What keeps us going when we’re
tempted to despair? At the core of
Christianity is a prevailing hope and
optimism that isn’t trite or flip, but
grounded in the deep experience of
Jesus Christ who endured total loss
for our sake out of love for us, and
who after making Himself nothing,
was raised victorious. A verse to remember in ‘down’times is Ephesians 4:10: “He whodescended is the very one who
ascended higher than all the heavens,
in order to fill the whole universe.”
When losses mount, it is tempting
to despair. But faith in God helps us
overcome doubts and damage.
Jeremy Taylor wrote, “It is
impossible for that man to despair
who believes that his helper is
omnipotent.”
PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2009.From the Minister’s StudyDavid’s devastation-sized encourager
Youre Invited
to come worship
with us
Sunday, August 2
Brussels Arena
at 10:30 a.m.
Sunday School for children
4 to 11 years of age
Childcare provided for infants and toddlers
Coffee & cookies after the morning service
For additional details please contact:
Steve Klumpenhower 519.887.8651 Rick Packer 519.527.0173
Please join us for worship
SUNDAYS
Morning Service 10:00am
Evening Service 7:30pm
BLYTH CHRISTIAN
REFORMED CHURCH
Pastor John Kuperus
Hwy. 4, Blyth
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
Welcomes you to come
and worship with us
Trinity, Blyth
9:15 a.m.
519-523-9595
St. John's, Brussels
11:15 a.m.
519-887-6862
Sunday, August 2
PASTOR DAVID WOOD
119 John’s Ave.,Auburn
519-526-1131
www.huronchapel.org
9:30 a.m.
Sunday School is cancelled for
the summer months
10:30 a.m.
Morning Worship Service
Sunday, August 2
Pat Emerick of “Gospel for Asia”
will be speaking
Sunday, August 9
Don Plant Jr.
will be speaking
BBQ FOR EL SALVADOR
Saturday, August 29th
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
at Auburn Riverside Retreat
All-U-Can-Eat for $20.00
Special Music and More!
All proceeds going to build
homes in El Salvador.
getlivingwater.org
Pastor: Ernest Dow
519-523-4848
Living Water
Christian Fellowship
Joint Worship at Blyth
Community Church of God
JULY - AUGUST 10:30 am
Evangelical Missionary Church
Head.
Heart.
Hands.
Health.
Help Wanted.
Right now, 4-H needs volunteers to work with youth in
your area. We also need you to encourage neighbours
and co-workers to do the same. Join for the projects, for
the competitions, for everything that helped you get
where you are today.
4-H-Canada.ca/join_again
308 Blyth Rd. E. ~ Pastor Les Cook 519-523-4590
B l y t h C o m m u n ity Church of God
C H U R C H O F G O D ,ANDERS
O
N
,
I
N
D
I
A
N
A
“The Church
is not a building,
it is people
touching people
See you
Sunday!
Worship Service
10:30 a.m.
for July and August
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
SUNDAY, AUGUST 2
Wheelchair accessible ~ Nursery care available
519-887-9831
11:00 am - Sunday Morning Worship
- Sunday School
9:30 am - Sunday Belgrave Service
BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Sandra Cable, Worship Leader
Church Office 519-887-6259 E-mail - bepc@wightman.ca
Sunday, August 2
Ethel United Church
Worship Service - 9:30 a.m.
Brussels United Church
Worship Service - 11:00 a.m.
Celebrating our Christian Faith together in worship
Corner of Dinsley & Mill Street
Blyth United Church
Office: 519-523-4224 Rev. Gary Clark
All Welcome
Sunday, August 2
Worship Service 11:00 a.m.