Be Strong and Courageous

“Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” ~Joshua 1:9 (NRSV).

Jump from the burning building to a certain death or die from fire—not much of a choice in living your last moments. Courage is the thing of life and death. What else could prevail?

As relatives and friends consider the obvious stark gravity that was laid before the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks they are compelled to redefine courage by those terms. When death is imminent there’s no going through the motions.

Courage comes to the fore when adrenaline shoots through the veins of crisis. With no choice, the geographically forlorn resolved to do, that horrible day, what we cannot even contemplate. Each one is a hero or heroine.

Do Not Veer Off Course

The central theme of early Joshua is obedience as an ally to conquest. If the nation of Israel were prepared to obey the law, not turning to the left or the right of it, the Lord would bless their strength and courage.

Journeying through this book on the way to the Promised Land we find that strength and courage were absolute necessities. Not many of us could understand the clear and present danger in that. Our lives are not threatened daily, and our conquests are generally mild and self-apportioned. We get away, generally, with disobedience.

Courage and obedience come together to the blessing of our plans in the Lord.

But beyond the blessing, courage and obedience are still found entwined.

Our September 11 heroes and heroines found themselves in this territory. Obedience had one line. No other choice remained. Their courage will live on as an indelible legacy.

The Provision of Courage – A Fact Of Life

No true hero is found that way by intention.

Heroism is commonly found in the shrivelling fearful, but those without a choice; the way of obedience made plain and inevitable. This is why most people who are tagged “heroes” are that way reluctantly so. At the time they had no choice, or they made a split-second choice. They obeyed their instinct.

Courage comes as a necessity to get through the most impossible situations life can deliver. Let us not assume that because we are safely cocooned in our present lives that life will remain that way.

If we were thrust into a situation where alternatives to courage were to all but dry up, the Lord would then provide the courage to get through. Let us be thankful if we’ve never experienced this, not fearful for the possibility of it in the future, and prepared in any case.

***

We will have the capacity for strength and courage when we need it. God will see to that. At these times, obedience is predictable but, nonetheless, commendable. We should revere the memory of the September 11 heroes and heroines who epitomised unenviable courage and obedience.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

How Do We Embrace God?

“Ask, and it will be given you: search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” ~Matthew 7:7 (NRSV).

For people who have magically found God, the mystery is less mysterious. But just how do we embrace a God who has not, apparently, embraced us? How do we find God when all our searching has revealed possibly nothing?

***

For some it seems easy; and others just never get the feel for God at all—yet, we are told that we are all God’s children.

A hard concept to grasp is that God seeks us out. We may go searching for him, but in reality this Lord has already opened our heart to accept the Divine.

If we are seeking to embrace God, surely we are ready to receive. We have to believe that God rewards the search of those who are beginning to investigate; to explore more about themselves as much as God. After all, Jesus says, in the gospel of Luke, “the kingdom of God is within you.” (17:21)

Being able to embrace God can be assisted by:

1. Learning more about God by reading one of the gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. (Mark is the shortest and is told like an adventure story. Here is the link.)

2. Speak to trusted others who have a good relationship with God—for embracing God is about having a willingness to be in relationship; to be a friend of God’s. God wants to befriend us all.

3. Crying out to God in our need. God hears. Read the books of Psalms and Job in the Bible. God is not foreign to or upset by our complaint.

4. Finding all sorts of different ways of investigating God and finding answers to the deepest questions we have. Many of these questions are so personal we need to trust God (we may not even yet trust ourselves!).

5. Quiet spaces in nature where we can think and meditate help us experience God, but these are unlikely to help if we don’t know what that experience is supposed to feel like. That shouldn’t stop us, however, because we can look back and see where God was. He was there all along.

6. Go to church. Go on, I dare you. Those churchy kinds won’t bite and they won’t judge you either; if they did they’d prove their weak relationship with God. Active Christians, we can see, are very well aware that compared to God every human being is faulty—but, the grace of God never expects perfection. Indeed, God expects imperfection from us. Every church should have a sign on the front saying, “NO PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED!”

7. There are those who will have tried all of the above, and are still no closer. Our hearts go out to these, for God is the prime source of peace and joy in this life. The process of embracing God always has a chance, though, if we never give up looking.

Whoever we are, no matter how close or far we are from God, let us all continue to ask, and search, and knock at heaven’s door. We are all God’s children.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Enjoying God’s Embrace

“Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” ~2 Corinthians 13:11 (NRSV).

The letters to the Corinthians are difficult. They were difficult for the Apostle Paul, as surely they were difficult for the Corinthians. And they can be difficult for us, as we’d prefer to perceive joy and grace glistening from every page.

Five Imperatives

As is Paul’s custom, this sign-off is punchy and direct. He is using single Greek word concepts to finish with a bang. Until now the theme has been patiently adversarial, but in such a way that should leave the Corinthians strong, and Paul weak—for the message of reconciliation has been sent forth.

1. Farewell (Rejoice)

What Paul is saying when he says “farewell” is really, “rejoice.”

The sweet Presence of the Lord is known when we’ve faced conflict, yet out the other side both of us are resolved with each another. Mutual respect has been maintained, even buoyed. It’s sound reason to rejoice. The impasse has passed.

The apostle is being very gracious here. The olive branch of mutual respect has been extended, even though the Corinthians have not been so gracious.

2. Maintain Order

There were varying levels of sin that the Corinthians were involved in. Some were involved in the profane, whilst all of them, it would appear, were involved in discord, envy, slander, conceit, and the like.

This is just as relevant to our churches today. How harmonious are our fellowships?

3. Listen

Paul is beseeching them to listen up; to act upon his appeal. He seeks for them to be of the same mind as the Lord (see Philippians 4:2).

We know, ourselves, how quickly we stop listening to the Spirit of God. The importance of discipleship is constant; we need our daily fill.

4. Encourage One Another

To “agree with one another” is to encourage one another. The Corinthians struggled to love in this sort of way, preferring dissonance and disparity.

If we encourage one another, we align in one mind—the will of God for the Body of Christ. This is the outcome we must always seek; anything other than unity is grieving God’s Spirit.

5. Be At Peace

There were clearly factions within the Corinthian church.

The key test for any church is unity. Fellowship enjoyed at peace, as the theme of that assembled throng, is a key sign that God is healthily there and the Spirit, vibrant.

Peace is reconciliation, a major theme of 2 Corinthians.

The Promise Of God’s Presence

An affirmative response to the abovementioned imperatives brings the promise of God faithfulness—the blessed experience of God’s Presence.

This is nothing to be taken for granted. Everything that God offers is available eternally, but to only those churches and individuals with the mind of Christ. The knowledge of God’s peace, as it permeates our spirits, is conditional upon surrender in mutual love.

The Lord is, after all, a God of love and peace. We know how to enjoy God’s embrace. There is no rocket science in pleasing God.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

General Reference: Frank J. Matera, II Corinthians: A Commentary – The New Testament Library (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), pp. 312-13.

Jesus Wept

“When Jesus saw Mary weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved... Jesus began to weep.” ~John 11:33, 35 (NRSV).

God feels. As we feel, a mirror image of the Lord, so too our Lord felt. Yet, this passage of John’s Gospel separates many a commentator for the type of tears that Jesus wept. And it appears a literal reading of the original Greek words does prove a contentious point.

Angry Tears?

The word used in the Greek to describe Jesus’ reaction at Mary’s and the Jews’ tears is actually quite adversarial. He is “deeply moved” and not, as it seems, in sympathy. He is possibly indignantly angry. He is ripped to the heart that Mary and the Jews don’t already see what he is capable of.

Was the emotion that propelled Jesus to weep, anger? Somehow, it just seems too hard to reconcile. Let’s move on.

Compassionate Tears?

This is a second option; and perhaps our preferred one at that.

It’s clear that Jesus wept quite differently in response to the death of Lazarus, and the weeping of Mary and the Jews. We know this because the Apostle John uses a very rare Greek word to single out the tears of our Lord. Perhaps, again, these are tears of exasperation—the faithlessness of Mary and the Jews in full view.

But I wonder, knowing the heart of the Lord, imagining him confronted with such grief, would he really be angry?

Our Decision Is Our Answer

The decision we make as to whether Jesus was angry or compassionate provides an answer toward the theology we base our faith on.

Consider for a moment that Jesus knew that Lazarus would be raised; that not only that, but the latency of his raising would give even more glory to God. Four days dead and not one man or woman would believe. Reading verses 38-44 we get a glimpse of just how alone—with the Father—Jesus felt. Was this not similar, emotively speaking, to what was about to come; the Garden of Gethsemane experience?

Again, if we rally against the ‘anger’ answer we see a very human Jesus; maybe too human. God knows what God is capable of. We perhaps forget that Jesus was fully human whilst being fully Divine also. Then again, only a human might be tempted into despair. In this, Jesus shows his humanity.

As we dig deeply into the array of possible emotion Jesus experienced we have to entertain everything our minds can conceive. This is a difficult reading.

Is Jesus responding to the barbed goad of Mary? (John 11:32b) Had he been there earlier Lazarus might have been saved. Mary still sees the miracles of God tied to the process of time—she can’t get past a worldly conception of Divinity. Jesus may have well wondered what might shake them toward full belief.

***

There is a challenge for us in this. Jesus’ tears, whilst possibly evoked in compassion, are more likely to have been founded in the same sense of exasperation he was to experience in his final twelve hours of life.

We can see the raw Divinity of Jesus, here; our Lord with no thought for earthly or human boundary in the construction of miracles. Jesus wept because of a faithless situation. That sin grieves God’s heart.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

The Call to Holiness

“Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.” ~1 Peter 1:13 (NRSV).

The ultimate quest of faith surrounds the final revelation of God in the Lord Jesus Christ’s coming again. Underpinned by the living faith expressed in the grace-led life, this end-times hope comprises the real character of our hope.

In simple terms, the expression of our faith now is but part of our overall hope. But that overall hope is both far off yet near. Strangely, this hope is an eternal hope. As we wait for the end to come—willing it, but not stopped by hoping for it—we live holy lives.

Two Aspects of Grace

John Newton’s famed hymn, Amazing Grace, captures, in terms of grace, the favour of God for both now and to come: “’Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.”

These two aspects of grace anoint each present moment—no matter how estranged to hope we may feel we are—and the destined reality for the saved person. Our experience of grace is the down-payment on the promise, and that promise is incomprehensible in its splendour.

The Power in Grace – Power for Obedience

Grace is the reason we can endure anything. Even when we cannot go on, God’s grace holds us aloft.

This holy quality that has been poured into us by the Holy Spirit is one and the same quality taking us all the way to the final revelation of Christ in Glory. A key theme of Peter’s—of thanksgiving—acknowledges grace and promulgates response: we feel compelled to comply through obedience.

Obedience for Holiness

Peter’s call to holiness is, hence, encouragement to live the full Christian life, unabashed, and humbly confident in the ability to struggle well.

We cannot indwell the concept of holiness without an unconditional commitment to obey the Lord. This is when the Christian walk gets tough, whilst at the same time straightforward.

We either struggle well or we struggle poorly; though we might feel we are struggling poorly, but in reality it’s a relatively solid obedience. The Lord knows our heart.

Peter’s point is that the facts of grace—the present and future hope—afford within us thankfulness that compels obedience. Simply, we obey because we want to.

Power to Endure unto Hope in Eternity

The mightiest reality of the grace-powered, gospel-driven, and thankfully-obedient life, notwithstanding the vehicle of faith and the promise of Glory, is the empathy of God in the moment of our suffering. Only in God do we have the power to endure.

Endurance always seems beyond us when we most need it. Still, we have, somehow, the Spirit of Endurance in living the holy life. This same Spirit has blessed us with not just capacity, but true hope—we will know God in the heavens.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

General Reference: David L. Bartlett, The First Letter Of Peter: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections – The New Interpreters Bible Volume XII (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1998), pp. 249-58.

Honouring Heroic Acts of Intercession

“My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” ~James 5:19-20 (NRSV).

I wonder if there is a harder thing to do than speak the truth into a “wandering” person’s life such that they might, sometime later, extol God again, in truth, by embracing their humiliating position.

We all wander from the way of life; our path ordained eternally from the beginning.

James is telling us that the person that expresses courage in redressing our fault, presumably with great sensitivity, deserves God’s highest praise. It is the highest form of love; to selflessly communicate truth with no gain in sight for the communicator, only potential loss.

The Role and Importance of Sponsorship

Those who have had a sponsor—one that became like an older brother or sister, or mother or father—for a time such as that ordained at our rock bottoms—will have sheer appreciation for their heroic intercession.

Many times the sponsor has found the resource of tact to bravely go where others would understandably fear to tread; that is, to go to battle with our pride and whisper the truth into our minds and humility into our hearts.

Bringing us about to a wakefulness regarding our sickly moral sense—to be able to instil the revelation of such truth via facilitation—is perhaps the skill required having themselves learned the coarse lessons, personally. The sponsor is, therefore, usually someone who has been sponsored. Such an inspiration has inspired them.

Part of the process of sponsorship is in converting people to new salvation, and another part is steering those already saved through discipleship. Both genres of sponsorship are equally important.

A Message to the Sinner

We are all squarely and comfortably placed here—sinners, all.

Therefore, these concluding few sentences from James—the urgent, blunt slave of Christ—are a proclamation to last like a taste in our mouths. He says to us, “You should know...”

Let us, for a moment, let those three words absorb into our conscious minds.

“You should know...”

This is a twofold message, plain and simple. As sinners we are to recognise the gift of God provident in these. As sinners we are also supposed to note that we, too, have a role—at the God-appointed time—to speak truth into the lives of our fellows, as and how the Spirit leads.

Redressing wrongdoing—either our own or making another aware, without judgment—is a task we are anointed for. Wisdom, however, has it working; nothing else.

The blessedness of being a sinner—besides the fact of grace—is we are in good company; the reproof given or received in the spirit of love is a gift from God, and we ought to all have the humility to value the truth above our pride.

We know, it’s more difficult than it sounds.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Psalm 98 – The LORD Has Come

“O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvellous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory.” ~Psalm 98:1 (NRSV).

A joy beyond the difficulty of our circumstances is visible as we read this psalm. Nothing compares to the Glory of the Lord as it captivates our knowledge by way of the Saviour coming to smash the curse of sin. The Lord Jesus has come.

Continuing the echo of Psalm 96, this psalm magnifies the Nativity event; celebrating the coming of Christ not so much by death on the cross, as in humanity. These two psalms challenge the superficial theology that Jesus became Christ on the cross, missing the holy miracle that is the Incarnation of God in the human Jesus.

This is why the Christmas story is of vital importance. Kings are born; they are not made. The King of kings ignited the Divine redemptive plan in the manger of Bethlehem.

Psalm 98 follows a three-x-three structure, each stanza building on the previous.

God’s ‘Vindication’ Made Known

The first three verses peel off praise for the fact of God’s victory in the human birth of Jesus. The Lord’s vindication of Israel is made known, but that’s not the end of it. God has “revealed” the Saviour of humankind to all nations (verse 2b).

In verse 3, the steadfastness of Divine love is noted, by a sharp paradox; the psalmist sees God remembering the Divine nature. What enormous comfort it is when we see the faithfulness of the Lord operating in reality, before our eyes. There could not be a greater gift of God’s faithfulness than provision of the Messiah and, poignantly, our friendship made formal at the acceptance of Christ.

“Victory” is the catchcry in each of the first three verses; a victory causing all those witnessing these events—not just Israel—to create and sing a new song. This new song is a new life, sung to the sounds of grace; by the chords of salvation.

The Sound of Grace – the Chords of Salvation

Verses 4-6 build upon the victorious foundation—the testimony of the remembrance of faithfulness; the Father giving the entire world his only Son, the redemption promise fulfilled.

Musical nuances create imagery enlarging joyous sounds arranged by those enjoying new life. The bevy of instruments, and the utterance of layered tones, makes for a festival mood characterised by joy and praise in the community.

Grace sounds like sweet music. There is nothing bad about it and everything good. Grace grapples in love with a never-give-up approach, searching endlessly for the prodigal. There is nothing defensible about a God before salvation.

In salvation the Lord has come. God’s entire character is salvific.

The Coming Judgment

The final three verses speak of judgment. The word “judgment” most often gets a bad rap—it is seen negatively, as if we will all endure a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Of course, the ancient Israelites saw prophecy enacted at the Exodus. They witnessed with their own eyes the Lord coming. This coming was a salvation event. This coming was also a judgment event. There is no salvation without judgment.

The coming judgment is very much an eternal coming—God coming to save and to judge in righteousness, always.

Salvation is God’s eternal judgment: the proclamation to all nations that the Saviour has come. The fulfilment of grace is, as Isaac Watts wrote, “Joy to the World.” Beyond pain and the brokenness of life stakes God: the holy plan of salvation, which is ruthlessly and innately beyond all evil.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

General Reference: James L. Mays, Psalms – Interpretation Series (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1994), pp. 312-14.

The Pastor’s Chief Pastoral Frustration

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us... If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his word is not in us.” ~1 John 1:8, 10 (NRSV).

The title of the article categorises us into generalisation. But if we were to ask the run-of-the-mill pastor what their chief frustration might be, pastorally speaking, it may have something to do with what blocks their congregants’ manifestation of the saved life. That is, the enjoyment—with oneself and others, in relationship—of the abundant life.

Nothing will block passage to the abundant life more than sin, and the pastor knows it.

Their sole, driving passion for ministry is likely to centre on seeing transformation occur in lives within their charge, including their own. This is the key reason most pastors enter ministry to begin with.

The Pastor’s Chief Task

The nuts-and-bolts of the pastor’s job is to exhort the gospel message, ensuring its relevance in parishioners’ lives. They need to highlight the priory of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission.

A central part of the task is facilitating the revelation of God’s Spirit as it pertains to individual lives, and the Body generally. Acknowledgement of sin, and the commensurate grace of God, is pivotal to correct understanding.

But highlighting such things is not a simple matter. It is the biggest single challenge any leader faces; influencing disciples to accept ownership and accountability—their sinfulness. Only from this basis will salvation have a chance to take root and flourish, for truth can only abide in those whom acknowledge their sin. Only when acknowledgement of our personal sinfulness is accepted can we as people grow in Christ.

Why is Reticence to Sin the Chief Frustration?

Our notional pastor will most likely be frustrated by individuals’ reticence to admit error and reject intention to do wrong, as well as understate preferences for ignorance.

In short, it is a reticence to own a fair share in wrongdoing that presents as the chief barrier to actually living the saved life.

It is sure to cause the pastor great concern when they see those attending church feigning a walk in the light when, indeed, they are actually walking in darkness.

***

If we wish to respect our church leaders, honouring them as we are encouraged (for instance, see Hebrews 13:17), then we will value truth, and cling close enough to the acknowledgement of our sin, that transformation—in the Spirit of Christ—is not only possible, it’s inevitable.

Most poignantly, let us never forget: vision of our sin heralds grace all the more. We have a Saviour who has saved us from the condemnation that once clung. To believe we must agree: we are sinners who need saving.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Awakening to Life’s True Purpose

Distraction is the concept in contention with life’s true purpose; the biggest, now global, trick of human history. This is as visible a threat as it is insidious. It is literally strangling our quality of life and we are helpless against it, unless we are awakened to our true life purpose.

Life, ironically, is a distraction from our purpose. Almost everything in today’s world conspires against this purpose. Not that we should reject our world and live as secluded hermits. But there is a force in this life that blocks our awareness of, and our access to, our purpose.

So, What’s Our Purpose?

Our purpose is to honour God by living our lives—not kidnapped by agendas-of-distraction but with eyes wide awake to the God-honest realities that are somehow subsumed by these agendas-of-distraction.

Allow me to put it in plain illustrative terms.

One example of distraction is entertainment; what is not clear about entertainment, however, is what distractive element takes us toward our purpose (for some entertainment is purposefully distractive) versus what takes us away. Most entertainment takes us away. For instance, we choose entertainment when we should be doing other things. Or, we choose the wrong sort of entertainment. Moreover, much entertainment takes our minds away from more relevant God-honest realities. We are all implicated.

Dismissing or rejecting entertainment out of hand, if we follow the chosen example, is not the answer; nor is merely giving in to the entertainment revolution sweeping the globe continuously.

There has to be a more compelling and effectual answer.

Frustration has no part whatsoever in us living our purpose, unless it’s part of the learning process. There’s little to be learned via the frustration of chopping and changing in indecision.

The Agency and Process of Awakening

Let us be perfectly clear that the awakening in view is no New Age concept. Such an awakening—the necessity of humanity to partake—is as old as creation itself. Adam and Eve, of course, failed their awakening test, as have and do we.

Awakening is nothing about failure, however.

It is, like salvation, an initial choice as well as an ongoing choice—the finances of the mind invested in focusing on what is really relevant, as well as learning what agendas-of-distraction we are to dispatch to the archives of previous currencies.

Awakening is truly about choosing to live the abundant life.

The Science of the Abundant Life

One of the most poignant things Jesus ever said about the nature of worldly life, and the countering nature of salvation, was:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

~John 10:10 (NRSV).

Agendas-of-distraction are an example of the thief, among many examples. The myriad examples of distraction sway us away from true abundance—the experience of God breaking through our consciousness and awakening us to reality.

This is no subjective reality, but the reality.

It must surely be the greatest gift; to enjoy knowledge of reality. That is, to be at peace with it. This is where the abundant life begins. Indeed, this, not apart from the Saviour, is its source.

The abundant life journeys with simplicity. Having dealt with the distractions—those that would otherwise seal our fate as stolen—the simplicity of the abundant life opens up new doorways and new streams of thinking.

The abundant life is our true life purpose. It is no destination, so we must endear ourselves to it, rejecting distractions, and follow it passionately all our lives.

Perhaps the following quote of Isaac Newton’s encapsulates the whole article:

“I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

Ours is to look past the distractive pebbles and shells on the seashore and further yonder to the ocean of truth. There is where life is truly at; nowhere else.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Psalm 54 – A Reality Check From God

“But surely, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life. He will repay my enemies for their evil.” ~Psalm 54:4-5a (NRSV).

Disregarding the original setting—one of sharp betrayal—this simple seven-verse psalm is perhaps an eternal reality check; the Spirit of the Lord goading us with reminders of the saving nature of the Sovereign God.

This psalm is a wake-up call, as David in this situation recalls after his Selah (verse 3), and we would do well to receive, too, when railing against the iniquity of the world that bears down on us.

Two Halves Make A Whole

Being such a tidy psalm, there is a simple twofold structure. Verses 1-3 detail David’s plea; the first two verses he cries out desperately. Only the third verse dwells upon the nature of the wicked; they are the cause of the pleading.

There is such a sharp transition—noted especially if we read the psalm aloud—taking verse four immediately after verse three. We can detect that something dawns on the psalmist in their lament. His delivery from distress has happened before! (Verse 7a)

Verses 4-7, then, comprise the other more positive half.

There would not be a full story if we didn’t have a positive to go with the negative or a negative to go with a positive. All things in life are, of a sense, kept at balance. And if positives transform into negatives we are aggrieved, yet inspiration fills that void if we can transform the negative into a positive.

This psalm does just that. David talks himself around. He notes quickly the nature of God to deliver; and it’s never later than necessary.

Transforming Negative To Positive In Our Lives

There is a grand lesson that this psalm introduces. We may have been fortunate enough to have already been exposed. The mind is responsible for insights, either negative or positive. The mind decides.

But the mind can only decide if it draws on experience. We need to have experienced this salvation of God in the judgment of our living situations. We must have seen the Lord come to our rescue. These are the memories we need to draw on, for if we have no stories—no testimonies to the faithfulness of God—we will struggle to convert the negative into a compelling positive.

It’s how our faith has been built, one brick of salvation experience at a time.

Faith can only operate where it has permission; that is, the logical reason to believe by act when all around is evidence to the contrary.

Faith borrows from the past—drawing on the rich legacy of the soul’s oral tradition, which has witnessed the faithfulness of God time and again—and it mortgages it against the difficult present, knowing such arrangements provide for an assured future.

Such a reality check moves the mind to recall what God has done. Jesus’ last words: “It is finished.” Faith is reconciled by quick memory of this; to understand, again, the battle is won.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.