DIVINE APPOINTMENT IN DEATH AND HUMAN DISAPPOINTMENT

DEATH: How does that word affect you when you hear it? It is something we all must face. We hear it mentioned on the news, we read about it in the newspaper and we experience it with a loved one. We also know that one day whether sooner or later, we too will experience it.

My first witness of death was that of my mother. It was one of the hardest things I had ever done, even though I knew she was going to be with the Lord and was no longer going to experience the pain and suffering she had gone through most of her life. After her death, I wrote to a friend and mentor and told him that I could certainly see why the Apostle Paul called Death an enemy in First Corinthians 15:26. When my friend replied to my letter he reminded me that while death certainly is an enemy, that same chapter in Corinthians also says that it is the last enemy, it is swallowed up in victory and it is one of the things that is ours.

We cannot escape the subject of death in the bible or in life. The real question is, are we prepared for it? We know the reason for death . It entered into the world because of sin, Adam's sin. "In the day that you eat of it, you shall surely DIE", (Gen.2:17) was the command of God to Adam. We also know the result of sin and death. It is the eternal suffering and separation from God. But, the good news is that God has supplied a remedy for our death. It is in the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus, "just as through the disobedience of the one man (Adam) many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man (Christ Jesus) many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:12 &19). The one death we can escape is the eternal death but there is only one way to escape it and that is faith in the ONE who became sin for mankind, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.

We still however, must all face that physical death unless the Lord comes before then. What should our attitude be toward this death if we are Christians? One thing we learn from writers in the New Testament is that they were not afraid to talk about death and deal with it, as hard as it may be. Jesus spoke often of his suffering and death. The Apostle Paul said that he faced death daily and that for him to live was Christ but to die was gain (Philippians 1:21). Even Peter talked about the fact that his death was imminent as the Lord had shown him. (2 Peter 1:14)

In the last post I mentioned the famine that Naomi and her family faced in Bethlehem. Famine almost certainly meant death if there was no relief from it. But, as I mentioned also, the Lord had given his people a promise to "keep them alive in famine" and they were to put their trust in HIM alone. It seems, though we cannot be sure, that Elimelech took his family to a foreign land to escape the famine and death and only to live there for a short time. We know nothing about the long years they were there except that the very thing they had tried to escape, death, had found them in the very place they had tried to escape it.

Naomi is now left alone having watched her husband and only children die in a foreign land. She has lost everything. The expectations of her wedding day are shattered, her youth is gone, her family is gone, her means of income is gone. She no longer has the support and encouragement of her friends and family from the land of Bethlehem, and she is left in a foreign land with no hope, no hope that she can see anyway. It is no wonder that her cry was, "the hand of the Lord is gone out against me". But, hope deferred is not hope denied and in her grief and bitterness she was unable to see that the Lord was not against her, but FOR her. This is something that Jacob had to learn in his affliction and it is something that both David, in Psalm 56:9 and the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:31-32 assured us of, that God is FOR US.

He was FOR us when sin and death entered the world and He gave his only begotten Son to die FOR us. And, He is for us in life, for if he has done the most for us in giving His Son, will he not do the lesser in giving us all things that pertains to life? It is hard in our grief to see the hand of God in our afflictions and to fight the temptation to say, "the hand of the LORD is gone out against me", but if we are HIS, He is never against us, he is always FOR us. Even when we sin and grieve Him and his chastening must come, we are told that His chastisement is FOR us, for our good (Hebrews 12:10-11). The real question is, "are we HIS - do we belong to the ONE who is never against us, but FOR us? Have we seen Him with eyes of Faith, dying for us? Have we placed our faith and trust in his work on the cross FOR US? If so, then He is never against us in the circumstances and losses of life.

What are you facing today? Does the thought of death frighten you? First of all we must face the fact of death. We are told, "It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment, (Hebrews 9:27). That should frighten us if we do not belong to Him, but the Lord Jesus tells us that if we are His, we don't have to be afraid of death, HE has overcome it and given us victory even in death. As a Christian, it is one of the things that is ours!

But, while we live, we do face the sorrows of life, the loss of income, youth, family, friends, even our loved ones in death. How do we face these things? We grieve, yes, that is natural and normal and we should. Even Jesus in his humanity grieved over the loss of friends and the sorrows of this life because of sin and unbelief. But, we should never forget that God is not against us because of the circumstances we are facing but rather is FOR us, working all things FOR our good. Look to Him and see his hand working FOR you not against you as you face your trials. Remember that in your human disappointments, even if that disappointment is the death of a loved one, or perhaps your own coming death, that He is working His Divine Appointment and it is for your good and His glory.

We will see in the next few weeks how God worked for Naomi's (and Ruth's) good and how He reveals that He is FOR them in all of the circumstances they have had to face, including the death of their loved ones. My prayer is that you will see by faith his Hand working FOR you today and place your trust in Him.

GOD IS FOR ME, THIS I KNOW,
SO ONWARD, UPWARD WITH HIM I GO,
FACING LIFE OR FACING DEATH
HE IS FOR ME AND WORKS MY BEST.

DIVINE APPOINTMENT IN TRUE LOVE

TRUE LOVE: Have you experienced it? A few weeks ago when our granddaughter was visiting us she begin telling me about her week and the fact that her Papa was not the only one who went to work. Her daddy went to work and her mama sometimes went to work and when her mama went to work, her daddy took care of her and her sister. I asked her if her daddy took very good care of her while her mama was at work? She immediately and emphatically replied in a higher voice, "OH YES, MY DADDY LOVES ME"!!!!

I have loved our son-in-law from the day our family was introduced to him but that day I began to love him even more. To think that a man could instill such a confidence in a daughter's assurance of his love to her caused my heart to give thanksgiving to the LORD who created her. I couldn't help but think how it would please the LORD for his children to have that same assurance and express it with the tone of a three year old child and say to the world, "OH YES, MY DADDY LOVES ME".

One of the great preachers of the Gospel in the last century went on a preaching tour around the world. When he returned someone asked him, "Well, what great truth did you discover on your many travels". His answer was, "Jesus loves me, this I know." I wonder if his tone and assurance was the same as my three year old granddaughter?

In the book of Ruth one of the things we discover is true love. There was the love of Abimelech and Naomi. There was the love of Naomi's two sons for their wives Orpah and Ruth, there was the love of Naomi for her daughters-in-law and no doubt it was requited to Naomi. There was the love of Ruth and Boaz, and then the love of the baby born to them, Obed. There is no doubt about Naomi's love to him for she took the child and cared for him as her own. But all of these loves in the little book of Ruth are small in comparison to the true love of the One who inspired it. That love is seen not only in the outward expressions of love but also in the disciplines of life. I thought of that in relation to my granddaughter's confidence and expression of her daddy's love to her, knowing that he too expressed that love sometimes not just in the outward care or emotions but in the disciplines of life. And yet, when I asked her about his care, her immediate and emphatic response was not, "OH, MY DADDY DISCIPLINES ME", but it was "OH, YES, MY DADDY LOVES ME"!!

This same discipline of a loving heavenly Father opens the book of Ruth and we will expand on that as the posts develop in the future but there is a little Scripture in Romans chapter 15:4 that says, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have HOPE"!!! I capitalize that word HOPE because it has the same meaning as expectation. It is the LORD'S desire that his people have TRUE EXPECTATIONS of Him and His Word. That hope, those expectations include not only the outward expressions of a loving, caring Father, but the disciplines of life that accompany it.

If you have not read the book of Ruth lately, perhaps you could take a few minutes today and make it a part of your reading and look for God's love expressions to you both in outward blessings and in the disciplines of life. As you do, it is my hope and prayer that you will be able to say with the same confidence and assurance that my granddaughter said of her daddy, "YES, MY DADDY LOVES ME", or in the words of the hymn writer, "Jesus loves me this I KNOW". Perhaps you are one that cannot say that of an earthly father. Sadly, there are many today who cannot say that with confidence and assurance of their earthly father, but you can of your heavenly Father. Do you know that love? Can you tell a watching world with confidence and assurance, "JESUS LOVES ME THIS I KNOW?" Or, "YES, MY DADDY LOVES ME!!" May you experience and express that love today!!

DIVINE APPOINTMENT IN LOSS AND DISAPPOINTMENT

LOSS: Have you experienced any? Most of us have to our sorrow and disappointment. Whenever I experience loss, my mind immediately goes to Naomi in the book of Ruth. In one of the former posts I discussed the expectations of Naomi on her wedding day and soon we will see if those expectations proved true.

In the fist chapter of the book of Ruth we are introduced to a family in Bethlehem, the family of Alimelech, who experienced a great trial. Trials are common to the believer in Christ. The reasons are varied when we look through the Scriptures. Some trials are for testing, some for chastisement and growth, some because of our sins, some because of the sin of others, some because of the enemies of Christ and His Gospel, and some are just the natural outworking of the fall of man, but all are under the direction of a Sovereign God who appoints all things for His Glory and man's good.

The trials experienced by the family of Naomi began with a famine. This was not the first time God had tried his people by famine. Abraham, Issac, and Jacob all experienced a famine in their time. The interesting thing about the famine experienced by Naomi and her family is that it occurred in Bethlehem, which means House of Bread. Of all places to experience a famine, one would think the house of Bread would not be that place, but it was and it would benefit us to discover why.

This famine was more than likely sent as a chastisement for the people of God since the book of Ruth occurs during the time of the Judges. This history of God's people was a time when the word of God was rare and the people of God did that which was right in their own eyes. They had no regard for the Word of God or for the will of God. When we abandon God's Word and God's will, it leaves us no other choice but to be awakened by God and that awakening usually occurs by way of a trial.

If you have ever looked at the many times famine is mentioned or experienced by the people of God in the Bible, you will also notice that there were two choices for those facing the famine. One choice is to simply trust what the Lord told his people in Job 5:20, "In famine He will redeem you from death, or Psalm 33:18-19 "Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for his lovingkindness to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD, He is our help and our shield."

The second choice when facing a trial is to trust human reason rather than the Word of God. In other words, to put our trust in man or human solutions. We are warned against that, as stated in Psalm 60:11, and 108:12 "O, give us help against the adversary, for vain is the help of man," and again in Psalm 127:1-2, we are told that it is "vain for you to rise up early , to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors, for HE GIVES to His beloved even in his sleep." This is not an indictment against work but rather trusting in that work instead of the God who provides all things. We are even told to watch against putting our trust in other strengths, as stated in Psalm 33:17-18, "A horse is a false hope for victory, nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear HIM, on those who hope (trust) in His lovingkindness, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine".

So, we see that we have two choices when facing great trials, to trust God or to trust other strengths whether it be our own or something else. What did this family do when faced with this great trial?? We will discover where they put their trust and how it effected their lives in the next few posts. But, for today, are you facing a great trial? The odds are you are facing one, have faced one or will be facing one in the future. Decide today to put your trust in the LORD, not in man or human solutions. Remember His promises to those who TRUST in Him. He has promised to deliver, He has promised to provide and He has promised to keep you alive even if you go through a famine. Look to HIM today, look to His word for His great promises to you and put your trust in HIM - He is faithful!!