Today Is The Day!

For those that don't know it, I am a habitual last minute kind of guy. I have lived by the motto, never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. However, the older I get the more I realize the uncertainty of tomorrow. There are things that I desire to do in this life that, if I keep putting them off, may never get done. This is the thought that was on my mind this morning as I read from the 28th chapter of Genesis.

The story is a familiar one. Jacob is on the run, fleeing from his brother's wrath. Esau is sure to pursue him and will definitely be angry enough to kill him if he catches him. So Jacob leaves Beersheba and heads towards Haran but exhaustion and nightfall catch up with him along the way. Stopping for the night, this fugitive lies down to sleep. However, in the darkness of night, God visits his dreams.

Jacob dreamed that night of a ladder stretching from heaven to earth and he saw angels ascending and descending on the ladder. In his dream, the Lord stood above the ladder and declared, "I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac..." The most interesting thing, at this point in the story, is what God didn't say. He said, I'm the God of Abraham and of Isaac, but he didn't say anything about being the God of Jacob.

This meeting between God and Jacob was not just a chance encounter. Jacob is on the run. Life's problems are more than he can bear. He has caused in his life a situation that he simply cannot face. Death and Destruction are on his trail and he is desperately looking for a place of escape. He needs some shelter, he's in desperate need of a savior. It is fitting that, while he was running from his problems, he ran headlong into the problem solver!

He didn't plan it this way. He wasn't looking for God. He wouldn't have counted himself worthy to be in His presence. Rather, God came looking for him. God steps right into the middle of the mess he's made of his life and confronts him face to face. Remember me? Remember sitting on your Grandfather's knee and hearing stories about me? I am the God of Abraham. Remember the God that your daddy served? I am the God of Isaac.

God was doing more than just reminding Jacob of the past. The dream that night was about an invitation to a fresh start. The God of Abraham and Isaac was saying to Jacob, I want to be your God too. Cast your cares and burdens on me, I can shoulder your heavy load, I want to be your God. Come walk with me and I will walk with you. god made promises to Jacob that night, follow me and I will fulfill in you the covenant that I have made with your Father and Grandfather.

Jacob woke from that dream wit the knowledge that he had been in the presence of God. The experience was so extraordinary that it frightened him. “Surely the Lord is in this place," he said, "and I did not know it.” In awe and respect he erected a monument to the glory of God. He changed the name of the place, calling it Bethel meaning "the house of God." It was his first real encounter with God. In his darkest night God became more than just a story his Daddy told him. God became more than just the provider his Grandfather had talked so much about. God became real, a present help in a time of trouble.

The thing that got my attention this morning was Jacobs reaction to God's overtures. Jacob vowed a vow saying, "“If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ​so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, ​then the Lord shall be my God." Jacob had a supernatural experience with God. God had found him at his lowest point and overshadowed him wit the glory of his presence. However, Jacob walked away from that experience with a mind set that said, "One of these days the Lord shall be my God."

God reveals Himself to Jacob. He invites him to taste of the goodness of God. He sends an implicit invitation, I want to be your God. But, while Jacob was awed at the display of God's glory, he wasn't ready yet to relinquish control of his life. Instead he was content to say to God, if you help me then, one of these days, I'll make you my God. What a shame...

The truth, today, is that many of us do God the same way. We know we need to get closer to Him. We recognize that He is calling us to a deeper walk with him. But we procrastinate, saying to God, one of these days I'm going to answer your call. When I get a little older. When i get married. When I settle into a career. When I finally retire. When I have more time. Then I will serve you and you will be to me my God. The tragedy of this is that none of us is promised that we will ever see tomorrow.

There is a reason why Isaiah 55:6 admonishes us to “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.” It is the same reason that Paul admonished the church in Corinth that "today" is “the day of salvation.” The truth is that there is no guarantee that our "then" will ever become "now." The only now that we have is the day that we were given when the sun came up this morning. I want to encourage you today to make this the day that your "then" becomes a "now."

If you've been thinking that "one of these days" you are going to get right with God, make today that day. If you've been telling yourself that "one of these days" you are going to answer his call, then make this that day. Today is the day, for none of us is promised any other day.

God is still calling out to you. How will you answer Him today?

His Blood Was Precious Blood

Did you know that blood has a voice? When Cain slew Able, God said to him, in Genesis 4:10 (ESV), "the voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground." The voice of innocent blood has the ability to speak and it gets the attention of God. I don't know what all was going on in the throne room of heaven that day but the blood of Able would not be denied an audience with the Ancient of Days. It pressed its way into the presence of God and made its plea known.

Able's innocent blood cried out for vengeance and retribution. Able's blood demanded judgement for a stolen life, for innocence crushed beneath the weight of jealousy and hatred. Able's blood said, "I am innocent and I demand judgement." God responded to the cry of Able's blood and confronted Cain, passing judgement upon him for the murder of his brother.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that the blood of Jesus also has a voice. However, the blood of Jesus speaks better things than the blood of Able. Where the blood of Able cries out for judgement and vindication, the blood of Jesus cries out for Mercy and Forgiveness. This is why I'm so thankful for the blood of Jesus. When He shed his blood on that old rugged cross he became my advocate, the vocal defender of my soul.

Revelation 12:10 describes Satan as the accuser of those who trust in Jesus. It goes so far as to declare that he "accuses them day and night before our God." But, in 1 John 2:1, the word tells me that we have an advocate, a voice that speaks on our behalf. I beleive, this morning, that the voice of our advocate is the voice of the blood of Jesus. That precious blood covers our faults and failings and cries out for mercy and forgiveness. It offers no defense, it makes no excuses, but rather, by virtue of its own innocence, it demands mercy! So John writes in Revelation 12:11, "and they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony."

I'll be the first to admit I've made mistakes and I've not always been perfect. But, when the accuser comes around to remind me of my past, I'll be content today to let the blood speak for me. His blood speaks better things. His blood speaks of mercy and forgieness. And his blood, combined with the word of my testimony is how I'm going to overcome the accuser of my soul!

This morning I celebrate the voice of that precious blood! It speaks of healing and deliverance. It speaks of mercy and grace. I'm so glad that His blood was not just the blood of another spotless lamb. But his blood had the power to cleanse the hearts of men. His blood has the power to heal my body and set my spirit free. I'm so glad that I know that his precious blood still flows from Calvary.

Thank God for the blood!

Bad Things And Good People

This week several preachers that are very close to me are facing very dangerous medical situations. These are good men and what is happening in their lives amounts to a bad thing. Have you ever wondered why bad things happen to good people?

A few years ago my wife and I went through an incredibly difficult time. Our first son was born and required surgery when he was only 6 days old. In the following 2 years he had 6 surgeries for a variety of reasons, none of them was particularly life-threatening, but each of them represented a difficult obstacle for his mom and I. We discovered, in that time, that one of the most difficult things you can do, as a parent, is to relinquish your baby into the hands of a surgeon and watch them walk down that lonely cold corridor that leads to an operating room.

Two years and 23 days after my first son was born, his little brother made his grand entrance into this world. The doctors recognized, almost immediately, that there was a problem with our newborn son. The saga that followed was the culmination of an incredibly difficult 2 years. Our baby boy was born with a congenital heart defect. As they rushed him to a special care facility we were cautioned that it was likely that he wouldn't survive the trip.

I'm so thankful, today, for the power of prayer. Prayer was made that day, in the name of Jesus, and a process of healing began. There was an immediate radical change in the condition of our son's health, however, six days later he still had to undergo heart surgery. When the surgeons were finally done with us and he had recovered enough to finally go home, they warned us that we were looking forward to, at least, one more surgery within the next 4 years. However, that 4 years came and went and my precious son has not needed the second surgery. God is good!

During that trying time I contemplated the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" During one of my study times, God impressed an answer on my heart. I'll never forget preaching a message that rose from the answer to that famous question.

Today, nine years later, I find myself contemplating the same question. I'm going to have to go digging through my old notes and see if I can find and revisit the sermon I preached then. But I don't have those notes handy at this moment and I just want to jot down some random thoughts that are running through my mind in relation to the subject.

God, in his infinite wisdom, treats all men equally. As the scriptures say, time and circumstance happen to every man and, when it rains, it rains on the just and the unjust alike. Just because you are a "good person" doesn't mean you are sheltered from the rain. It only means that you will never go through the storm on your own. It will rain, the trials will come, and the difficulties will be there. But through it all, God is there with you to strengthen and encourage you as you overcome the obstacles in your path.

I believe that there is a reason for this. If God began to reserve hard times and difficult things for only those who truly "deserved" them then he would no longer be the impartial judge that his very nature dictates that he must be.

Consider this: God is no respecter of persons. Our salvation is based upon this premise. The gospel is to "whosoever will." It wasn't reserved just for those that were "good" enough because if it were, we would all be lost. Rather, God shows his mercy, without partiality, to anyone that will hear and obey his word. David said, in Psalm 130:3 (ESV) "If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" The answer is simple, none could stand if God wasn't impartial in his mercy.

This simple truth follows that premise. God doesn't mark down your righteousness as reason to exclude you from the storms of this life because if he did, his righteous nature would dictate that he mark down your iniquities and exclude you from his mercy.

Because of this I choose not to fear the storms of this life but rather to celebrate the fact that the same God that is impartial in the trials and tragedies of this life is abundant in his mercy towards me! He walks with me through every valley. His rod and his staff, they comfort me. He prepares for me a table in the presence of mine enemies and all of this is possible, in his righteousness, all because he didn't shelter me from the valley!