The 2 kinds of men

Psalm 37[a]

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Of David.

1 

Do not fret because of those who are evil

    or be envious of those who do wrong;

2 

for like the grass they will soon wither,

    like green plants they will soon die away.

3 

Trust in the Lord and do good;

    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

4 

Take delight in the Lord,

    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 

Commit your way to the Lord;

    trust in him and he will do this:

6 

He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,

    your vindication like the noonday sun.

7 

Be still before the Lord

    and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when people succeed in their ways,

    when they carry out their wicked schemes.

8 

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;

    do not fret—it leads only to evil.

9 

For those who are evil will be destroyed,

    but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

10 

A little while, and the wicked will be no more;

    though you look for them, they will not be found.

11 

But the meek will inherit the land

    and enjoy peace and prosperity.

12 

The wicked plot against the righteous

    and gnash their teeth at them;

13 

but the Lord laughs at the wicked,

    for he knows their day is coming.

14 

The wicked draw the sword

    and bend the bow

to bring down the poor and needy,

    to slay those whose ways are upright.

15 

But their swords will pierce their own hearts,

    and their bows will be broken.

16 

Better the little that the righteous have

    than the wealth of many wicked;

17 

for the power of the wicked will be broken,

    but the Lord upholds the righteous.

18 

The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care,

    and their inheritance will endure forever.

19 

In times of disaster they will not wither;

    in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.

20 

But the wicked will perish:

    Though the Lord’s enemies are like the flowers of the field,

    they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke.

21 

The wicked borrow and do not repay,

    but the righteous give generously;

22 

those the Lord blesses will inherit the land,

    but those he curses will be destroyed.

23 

The Lord makes firm the steps

    of the one who delights in him;

24 

though he may stumble, he will not fall,

    for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

25 

I was young and now I am old,

    yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken

    or their children begging bread.

26 

They are always generous and lend freely;

    their children will be a blessing.[b]

27 

Turn from evil and do good;

    then you will dwell in the land forever.

28 

For the Lord loves the just

    and will not forsake his faithful ones.

Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed[c];

    the offspring of the wicked will perish.

29 

The righteous will inherit the land

    and dwell in it forever.

30 

The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,

    and their tongues speak what is just.

31 

The law of their God is in their hearts;

    their feet do not slip.

32 

The wicked lie in wait for the righteous,

    intent on putting them to death;

33 

but the Lord will not leave them in the power of the wicked

    or let them be condemned when brought to trial.

34 

Hope in the Lord

    and keep his way.

He will exalt you to inherit the land;

    when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it.

35 

I have seen a wicked and ruthless man

    flourishing like a luxuriant native tree,

36 

but he soon passed away and was no more;

    though I looked for him, he could not be found.

37 

Consider the blameless, observe the upright;

    a future awaits those who seek peace.[d]

38 

But all sinners will be destroyed;

    there will be no future[e] for the wicked.

39 

The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;

    he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

40 

The Lord helps them and delivers them;

    he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

    because they take refuge in him.

do not fret

commit your way

delight

consider

turn

be still

trust

These are the words, the ideas that spring out of this psalm in relation to God and his cause. God and his people.

destruction

wickedness

anger

wrath

wrong doers

These are ideas that spring out of this psalm and are connected to those who do not know God.

There is a picture of the two kinds of men drawn here in  this psalm. Two sorts of people. There is the man or woman who lives in the world and who is part of the world. He or she lives according to the 'rules' of the world. The unsaid but obvious order of things. He flourishes in the world by living according to its rules. This man or woman withers and dies as the grass does. He receives his inheritance.  This is a picture of one who flourishes and yet perishes.

The other man or woman is one who waits.... trusts... hopes... is still.. before THE LORD. This person centres his life on something other than the world. He pins his hope and sights on God.

This man is exalted By God himself. Lifted up and receives an inheritance that lasts forever. An ever lasting inheritance.... treasure and blessing that goes on and on and on.

The contrast between the two is clear. 

Which are you?

Why Rob has it so wrong

Rob Bell and Oprah Winfrey - what a pair- what an opportunity to hear what people think about who God; is heaven real and what happens when we die. 

To watch the interview click here...

http://www.oprah.com/own-super-soul-sunday/Rob-Bell-and-Oprah-Go-Soul-to-Soul-Video

I watched this show today was primarily sad for both Rob and Oprah. The God who they imagine to be real sounds so compelling, like someone I might actually quite like to meet. The show explores and shares some of Rob Bells life journey through seeming spiritual things. In it he shares his thoughts on Who God is and what connecting to God looks like - feels like - is. He shares his ideas on who will be in heaven and what the afterlife might be like. 

All his ideas are expressed excellently because he is an excellent speaker.

Oprah is encouraging and clearly shares his "new" ideas for the new, post-modern modern man.

They laugh a lot and joke a few times about the God of wrath and judgement. The one they have tossed out and find unpalatable for the new modern man that we are.

At one point the mock the idea of a Moses who is called by God. Oh if they could only see  and taste the truth of Moses and his very real call by the living God.

Rob Bell and Oprah have some great ideas about who God is but that is just what they are, ideas. There is little truth in what he shares. These are the thoughts that come from him and are not based in any real revelathion of who God really is. Not once does Rob Bell even refer to the bible in any real and thinking way. He does not submit his thinking to Gods word and so to God himself but rather rules over Gods word and so puts himself in the place of God, deciding Good and Bad - Moral truth for himself. Of course it sounds great. This "truth" is what man loves to hear. 

Romans1:18

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but theybecame futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creepy things.

This is the very heart of sin. That man rejects God and his rightful, beautiful, safe and loving rule over us and instead we decide for ourselves what life is to be. We exchange the truth of God for a lie. Rob Bell and Oprah have done just that..... once again... as man has done countless times from the fall until now. 

Rob Bell has a who lot to say about who he thinks God is but almost nothing to say about man and the state of man before God. The broken and sad state of the worlds seems to have escaped him.

As a Christan who has been saved by grace and faith in Jesus Christ the King who even now rules the world and who will one day return to judge the living and the dead, I feel strongly that in kindness and love, I want to say that you are wrong Rob Bell. God is here for us all but we have access to him ONLY through his precious son Jesus who dies in our place for the very sin you committed on the show. He is not merely felt at our fingertips through lifes rich experiences. These are of course from him but they are not him.

 He loves you - yes he does but you do not know him and are not connected to him. The offer of forgiveness is open to anyone who believes and trusts in Jesus his son. God has revealed himself in and through his word and finally and completely through and in his son Jesus. To know Jesus is to know God himself.

I pray that God will call you to repent and believe.

I pray that you will have a real experience of the real and living, mighty God and that you will come to know him as he has revealed himself in The Bible.

In the midst of Chaos.......

As the year heads into February, I am acutely aware of the business of life.

 Each day holds within it, a myriad of things to get done; to attend; to tick off ; to enjoy. 

There is an endlessness to it all.... Some of it is great fun but some is just tiring business.

Life is busy is perhaps an understatement.

For me, it seems to be a wave of hecticness that washes in each day and retreats when sleep calls, only to wash in again the very next day. 

I steady myself and hold on to all the moments that each day holds within. Those that shout, God is good and he is here.

In the midst of the "normal" busy schedules , there are the out of the norm - crisis situations which abound. From world events to local politics; from news of disasters, crashes, wars and strife that come to us via all the Media we have to the local "load shedding" that shuts it all off, just like that and brings with it its own magical chaos.

From the pain of broken hearts, broken lives and broken relationship's. The news from far right down to local and personal often is not good. 

Chaos seems to rule. 

We try to create order in the chaos and this is right and good but the chaos squeezes and squashes its way in and will not be held back.

In the last book of The Bible, Revelation, John writes these words....

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come,and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”[b]
    and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
    and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”[c]
So shall it be! Amen.

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Jesus says to us.... He is the almighty one, risen from the dead. The one who was in the beginning and who will come again. He loves us........He is the ruler of all the kings of this earth. He is in control and he loves us. He will return.

So, if like me, you feel a little overwhelmed by the chaos of living in this age, then take heart. We have a God who is the faithful, steadfast and safe one. he is the calm in the chaos. He is the lifter of our heads and he will keep us in the midst of chaos that is.

We need to just trust him. Hold on to him. We are called to get on with serving him in the midst of chaos. I think we who are known by his name, have a unique privilege. That is, we can bring a word of calm to a chaotic world where people are lost. We can hold out a light in the darkness ( pun) and we can show others a love that is real, vulnerable and honest. We can hold out Jesus.

More than this , those of us who are forgiven, have a hope that transcends this world. It is this.....The Alpha and Omega will one day return and take us home.

Where Chaos is a stranger and  peace and calmness rules.