Staying on the Job

From the last post you can see that Daniel was definitely qualified for the job. But how would he perform under the pressures of working for such a violent boss? Did he have what it took to stay the course? And do we have what it takes to stay the course?

A few months ago Ben Lenz was doing a series on commitment. To illustrate the point about little we value commitment these days, Ben asked every at Crossing to stand and remain standing as he called out the number of jobs they've had. We were to stay standing till he called out a number that exceed the number of jobs we've had. Well the last person (who was in his twenties) sat down at 24. He'd had 24 jobs in his short life time. Amazing.

What testimony do we give our friends, boss, and fellow employees when we change jobs as often as we do socks? What does our level of on the job commitment say about the God who is supposed to drive our actions? Does our God bail when the tasks are boring, unrewarding, mundane? Did Christ ever do anything that was beneath Him? Did he follow every offer of better pay, benefits, hours, or job title? Did you know that Christ had only one job - he was a carpenter. He was a faithful employee. Man, I bet His work was exquisite. Imagine being the craftsman down the street who had to compete with that. Yikes.

God wants us to be good employees. One of the hardest tasks facing employers today is longevity of employees. Guys keep jumping ship at every change in market conditions and employers are doing everything they can to keep their best ones. My close friend Miguel was a phenomenal friend and right hand man on the job. He was the First Sergeant in Fox Troop, 1/16 Cavalry Troop. I was the commander. Though I out ranked him by position and title, he was senior to me in both knowledge and experience. Yet he was incredibly faithful to me. If I said it, he echoed it. If I said do it, he got it done - on time, on budget, high quality. Not once, not most of the time, but every time. He never back stabbed - though he could have. He never complained - though he'd been justified. He was faithful. Here's the kicker - he did all this knowing that he wasn't competing for promotion because he was retiring from the Army. He gave more in his last few months before retirement than some gave in their best months. Do you think it surprised me to know he was a believer? Not at all. For his faithfulness at work, we became friends after the Army, and years later stay in touch, praying for the other's family. Now he works for a defense contractor. And you guessed it...they love him. Why? Because he was a Daniel type of employee.

Daniel was consistent too. It took three years of training to get the chance just to interview for the position of service to the king. Daniel could have taken the attitude that he wouldn't give his best to an unsaved, ungodly boss. He didn't. Daniel's consistency in training and more importantly attitude got him the king's blessing. King Nebby found Daniel and the boys to be ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who worked for him. And Daniel chapter 1 ends with "Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus."

Daniel's consistency carried him through three years of training. It carried him through the turbulent reign of Nebuchadnezzar. He was consistent through the reign of Nebby's son Belshazzar, King Darius, and into the reign of King Cyrus. And what was the payoff? For Daniel, he lived an amazing life. But it goes far far beyond that. Daniel got to see his terrible boss declare the majesty of the one true God. He saw God's power demonstrated again when God snuffed out King Belshazzar's arrogant rule. Daniel experienced divine rescue from the lion's den at Darius' hand and saw Darius declare that Daniel's God ruled and that all men should tremble and fear before Daniel's God.

Am I having that kind of impact on my employer? Are you? That's what God wants. His desire is that none would perish but that all would come to repentance. Daniel was a Psalm 1 guy, knowing what true success meant. Daniel 6 ends by declaring Daniel a Psalm 1 guy - "So this Daniel prospered..." Time for us to do the same.

Qualifications for the Job

We've spent two weeks of the Forward Bible Study class learning about how God wants us to live boldly and who we are in Him. This week's focus is on how to live "Forward" at work. Regardless of where you work, there will be times when your work and faith will collide. What we do now will determine how we'll respond when the collision happens. As we learned last week in Psalm 139, God saw our substance (our character) before we were even born and He fashioned our days for us before even the first one of them began. We know that God has placed hedges around us to protect and grow us through a host of experiences. We also saw that God is active in our lives, personally active, from conception to the grave. All aspects of our character - whether derived from our nature or nurture are His handiwork. He's examined us and loves us despite the influences of sin upon us.

All that sounds great. I love it. On Sunday it warms my heart and spurs my soul. Then Monday comes and it's off to work again. Is it just as true on Monday as it is on Sunday in my life? That's the real test of the Forward life. How do we express our faith in Him for Him in the Monday morning world? For most of us, that means expressing Him at work. Let's look at Daniel, a man who definitely showed us many examples of how to live for Him at work.

If, as we've learned so far, that life isn't about us, then it's just as true that our jobs can't be just about us. Our purpose in work is not be a business man who's a believer, but to be a reflection of how God operates in the business world. So whatever job you do can't define you. Our role is to reflect the nature of Christ in our workplace. How did Daniel do it?

In Daniel chapter 1, we see that the kingdom of Judah was captured by Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar. We know that Nebuchadnezzar (let's call him Nebby for short since I'm a terrible typist) wasn't a follow of the Lord. In fact he permitted the raiding of the Temple and had the sacred relics brought for worship for their gods. Next old Nebby asked asked one of his chiefs to select some of the best men Israel had to offer for service to the king. Based on Dan 1:4 it sounds like Nebby's plan was to indoctrinate these hand picked men into his way of doing things in the hopes of passing the Chaldean culture onto the captured Israelites. So far he sounds like a great boss.

Daniel was one of these hand selected young men. The king appointed over Daniel a master who would be responsible for their training and development for service. Right away Daniel's faith comes into collision with his job. The king thought it would be good for his servants to have a slice of the good life. To enjoy the best education, the best wine, and the best food. Normally such a gesture is made to gain the trust of a perceived enemy. But regardless of Nebby's reason, it conflicted with the Jewish laws of diet.

Daniel spoke up. OK, let's set the stage since all the know the story. We know Daniel spoke up. We know they went on the Daniel Diet of veggies and water. We know it worked. Yippie for Daniel. But there's more to it. This boss of Daniel is the king. Not just any king, but ruler of the known world at this point. The same guy who just starved out your fellow countrymen until they were too weak to resist his armies. The same guy who raided the Most High God's temple and stole the holy things from it. This guy booted Daniel from his homeland. So would most of us have the courage to sound off about what was on the menu? But Daniel was a Forward thinker. He know his decisions now would affect things later and he wanted them to be Godly decisions. He was a Psalm 1 guy and knew the cost of heeding ungodly counsel. So he spoke up about the menu.

Daniel has a down right evil boss with lost men working in the positions of authority. But Daniel was firm about the little things. He was exhibiting in his work the things of his faith that made him strong. And he wasn't a jerk about it either. Often Christians complain about being "persecuted" at work. What a joke. Most of us don't even have the faintest idea of what real persecution is. What some call being persecuted is really just them being ostracized for being a jerk at work about their faith. I've heard stories about people being "persecuted" for reading their Bibles during the work day. Really? Your boss isn't paying you to read your Bible. He's paying you to work. Work is time to live out what's in the Bible. Imagine Bret Favre pulling out the play book to read on the field in the middle of the game. Too late guy, those millions you're getting are for putting it into practice. Same for us as Christians. People who are lost don't give a hoot how many passages we can quote, how many Christian CDs we have, the Bible on our desk, or how many ministries we're involved in if we're a lousy employee. You want to reflect Christ at work? Then be a faithful top-notch employee who gets the job done without complaining, without excess supervision or follow-up, without cheating or hurting the customer or other employees. Be on time with a positive attitude. Do quality work. Don't make your boss fix your mistakes. Give your boss more than he's paying you for. Go above and beyond. Be a blessing to your boss. Pray for him, the company, the other employees and your customers. When we reflect Him at work like that, maybe then people might get curious about knowing how we came to be that kind of person.

Daniel was that kind of employee. In fact Dan 1:9 says God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. This word for favor is the same that was used to describe Joseph when he worked for the Egyptians. God wants us to be good employees.

When you work for lost people, expect them to do things lost people do. In Daniel's case, his trainer wasn't too crazy about the Daniel Diet. In fact he was more concerned about his boss' affinity for killing people if Daniel's idea failed. Did Daniel preach at him for a lack of faith? No. Daniel expected his boss to behave like a lost person does. 1 Cor 1:18 says that the "message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing" and Daniel knew that to reach him, he had to meet him on his level. So Daniel proposed a 10 day test. This wasn't a compromise from Daniel, but it was Daniel meeting the other man at his level with his fears and concerns and practically showing him God's truth in a way that would strip away those fears.

Daniel said please. Daniel offered a Godly course of action to meet his ungodly boss' need. Daniel wasn't afraid of accountability. Daniel recognized the man's authority over him. He didn't call him stupid, incompetent, didn't turn the other employees against him. The result was better than even Daniel expected. Because Daniel was a faithful employee and believer, his boss allowed Daniel to obey his diet. God rewarded Daniel and his friends with knowledge, skill in all literature, and wisdom. To Daniel he gave understanding in all visions and dreams.

What was so special about the things God gave Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego? They were all things that the king (their boss) wanted them to know so they'd be fit to serve him. (Dan 1:4) The king's qualifications for the job were wisdom, knowledge, language and literature. God wants us to be qualified employees. "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

Identity Theft - Prized Possession

When something's valued, it's protected. We watch our kids and never take our eyes off them. Our important papers are locked away. You keep your keys and money on you all the time. You lock your car when you park it. We protect computers with passwords. We raise up barriers around the things in our lives that we want to protect. We hedge them in just like the Father does for us in Psalm 139 verse 5. Scripture says we're hedged behind and before. It makes me imagine farms in Europe back in the early days. Estates would be protected with enormous hedgerows. They'd let small game in but would keep other predators out. It channeled people to where you wanted them to go. It protected privacy. And they did all this without making their wealthy owners on the inside feel imprisoned by their own doings.

Christ treats us as valuable. He gave us this kind of liberty. Scripture says the Lord has placed His hand upon us within the hedged space of our lives. We're free to move under the watchful hand of God. We're protected. We're safe. What He's built around us let's in exactly what He wants and filters out what He doesn't. So I can know that if it crosses my path, I can handle it because He permitted it. When I'm tempted, frustrated, defeated, sad, prosperous, or any other vulnerable time I can rest in knowing that I'm sheltered by His love and care. What's in my path is only there by His permission. Scripture promises us that we won't be tempted beyond what we can bear and not only protected but liberated. We're free from the law of sin and death. We're free to make choices, not enslaved to sin. We're free to be intimate with the Father, not banished for sin and guilt.

But what about when we fail? What about when we don't listen and do our own thing? What if we really screw up and have sex outside God's plan? What if I get involved with substance abuse? What if my words turn to fear or hate or greed? What if I don't measure up? Satan wants you to believe that once you screw up you're done. Oh there are little things that you can do, but as far as great things for Him - you're done. It was enough to drive Judas to suicide. Thankfully it's not about us. It's about His greatness. Verses 7-12 elaborate on the inescapability of His presence. His presence is love since He is love. So whether I am in the glories of heaven or the pit of the grave, the depths of the ocean, the darkness or the light, His love is solid even when my location in reference to Him is not. There's no place too far away from His love. Sound familiar? Romans 8 says we can live forward, boldly because "we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels or principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

My first assignment inthe Army was to a unit just a few miles off of the border of North and South Korea. My church threw a going away party for me before I left and the interim pastor asked everyone to pray for and lay hands on me for my protection. I was nervous about flying 18 hours around the world to a foreign land. The pastor prayed for God to make His presence known when I got there and for comfort and bravery. After the long flight over, we arrived in Korea late in the evening and were promptly escorted to a hotel for the night. Early the next morning I got up and went to have some breakfast. I bowed my head and prayed for a second and when I opened my eyes, a Major was sitting across the table from me. He said "I was across the room doing my quiet time and I felt the Lord telling me I needed to come over and talk to you." Wow - I was in the country about 7 hours and this had already happened. I had the opportunity of interacting with the Major for many hours travelling to our assignment and through that experience I quickly learned that there was no escaping God's presence and power. I knew I could be bold and at ease and didn't worry about what was going to happen while I was there for the the next year because God was in control.

I imagine Jonah inside the belly of the fish soul searching and the words of verse 9 giving him peace and comfort "and if I dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me and Your right hand shall hold me." Do you think he was saying to himself "These words were written for me!"? The same is true for us. They were written for you for Him. It's not about us. It's about His nature and so we should embrace Him and yield to His divine leadership in our lives no matter where it takes us. So get up, be bold, take chances, dust yourself off when you fail. Your Father values you enormously and has plans for you.

Identity Theft - Fully Insured

Now they sell insurance for identity theft, as if it's some sort of consolation for losing your identity. I guess the idea is that you can have a few bucks back if your sense of self gets stolen. Nice consolation.

Well in Christ we're fully covered from identity theft because He lovingly took the time to break down for us what it means to be me. Thanks to Him I can know what my true capabilities are and what my limitations are. I can find out what my source of energy and hope is and recharge when drained, conquer when challenged, and die content and victoriously.

Psalm 139:1-6 lays it out for us. It begins "O Lord, You have searched me and known me". Who knows us? God does. How? He took the time to search us and get to know us. Isn't He busy creating a new galaxy? Or answering a mother's prayer? Or welcoming someone to their eternal home? Did you get what God did? He personally searched me and you. Not a casual glance either...this word implies an intimate examination, like you would do for something precious and valuable. Value. Precious. God didn't send an angel to do this. He didn't send a mighty wind to shake our true character out. He did it personally. Thanks, Lord.

Isn't it amazing that God didn't get to know us last? I mean if everyone knew me....REALLY knew me, they wouldn't want anything to do with me. Yet that's the first thing God does in this chapter is to REALLY get to know us....and He stays. What a beautiful, secure thing. It totally debunks Satan's lies that we have to present a certain persona and appearance or we're not worthy of getting to know.

In verses 2-3, Scripture tells us how God knows our sitting down and our rising up, He's acquainted with everywhere we go to and fro, and He knows all our ways. It paints a picture. He knows our down and up (sitting & rising), and our left and right (He knows our paths). And He knows all the directions in between those cardinal points. It paints a picture of being completely known, in every dimension, in every level. He knows our thoughts...before we do. Since He knows our thoughts, He also knows the words we'll speak before we do.

What's the "so what" factor of all that? Being known that well, that thoroughly and still being loved speaks volumes about who God is. Isn't that what we're all about - to reflect Him? Right on. I can be known, as I am, without trying to hide in the garden under some leaf. I can present warts and all to Him and then let Him pour out his glory on me in the form of grace and mercy. It's empowering. When I screw up. He already knew before I did. And stayed ready to offer Himself for me.

Why else is it important? If God did not know us this intimately, then how could He have placed ALL of man's sin on His son one time to pay for all of us past, present, and future? He knew what our sins would be in ancient times long before our births. And created us anyway. He knew we'd reject Him many times before accepting Him, yet sent His son anyway. He knew that under grace I'd still sin and stray, and offers more grace. He knows us completely. He's all-knowing. He's supernatural - operating outside the constraints of time. Since this is true God was able to "lay on Him the iniquity of us all" even those not yet born at the time of Christ's death. Of course Satan doesn't want you to know this.

In verse 4 it says "behold, O Lord, you know it altogether". This name for God refers to the unchanging nature of God. Cool. He knows me completely and still doesn't change His attitude towards me. Satan wants me to think I'm unlovable and unworthy when I fail. He loses again.

How can Christ, the Word made flesh, be the perfect Savior without knowing me altogether? Thankfully He does. In fact, "The Word of God is powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart"(Heb 4:12) And we have no say in how well He knows us. "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

Can we see Christ in Psalm 139? Absolutely. This intimate knowledge of me that reveals my every flaw makes me disqualified for relationship with my Holy Lord. I'm stuck forever without a way to access Him. The law makes me unable to get to the Holy of Holies. I can't access the High Priest. I'm stuck and damned. But the Father took this intimate knowledge of me and examined me, saw my need in eternity past, and planned for my rescue and redemption. "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest that cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore boldly approach the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."(Heb 4:14-16) No wonder the first section of Psalm 139 ends with "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it."

Father, thank You for taking the time to know me and for personally examining me and studying me. Thank You for loving me enough to send Christ to pay my penalty and for doing that despite seeing all my flaws and sins ahead of doing that. Thank You for being an unknowable God, too infinite and majestic for me to figure out, explain coherently, and sum up in a few paragraphs. You are too wonderful for me. I love You. Amen

Identity Theft - Truth and the Counterfeit

Someone's tried to steal your identity! Can you believe it? You've heard of identity theft and what happens when you leave your credit card statement lying around for anyone to swipe.

Have you seen those credit card commercials where it shows the victim of identity theft talking about all the things they bought but the voice isn't theirs? The voice is always some wildly mismatched voiceover of some thief who stole the real owner's identity and is using their card to go on a spending a spree. Unfortunately it happens all the time.

Well you and I are victims of attempted identity theft too, just another sort of theft and the consequences are a lot more costly than the commercial's.

We continue our study of Psalm 1 and Forward by taking it a little deeper and examining who the Bible really says we are and how that compares to what you and I are bombarded with every day. Remember in Psalm 1:2 how it says the blessed man is one who delights in God's law and mediates in it? Remember how we also talked about how the definition of truth was "fidelity to the original"? This lesson is all about how truth applies to who we are in God's eyes and how we need to meditate and delight in what God thinks about us to overcome the message of the world. By sticking to the Truth, we can find out our true capabilities, our true limitations, and eliminate needless fears and concerns and move "Forward" in our pursuit of living boldly for Christ.

Do you know how agents who work for the Secret Service counterfeit division are trained to spot counterfeit currency? Believe it or not, they never study the fakes. They spend their time studying, meditating, on the real deal. They spend so much time and effort getting to know every nuance of the original, that when presented with a fake, it jumps right out to them. That's a good spiritual lesson to learn too. Let's devote ourselves to studying the original, meditating on it, and delighting in it that the Deceiver won't stand a chance because his plans will be so easily spotted.

So what are the fake messages the Deceiver is pouring into your life? Let's look at evolution first. Over the decades the Deceiver has poured lies into the world to make man believe he is little more than the next step on the evolutionary ladder with his closest cousin being the apes. Innocent enough many believe. Really? Can you believe that you are an accidental development from a primordial soup of creatures and think that you have real value? For the evolutionist to state that species evolve from one another and thier origins are not divine, is to rob creation of its verify identity - image bearers of the glory of the Creator. Not so subtle after all. Is it then any wonder that once the evolution fable was accepted instead of the truth that the abortion issue would so easily arise. It's a lot easier to kill an accidental offspring of an ape's cousin than to murder the hand-crafted reflection of God Himself. If we can boil man's existence down to something manageable in a petri dish, than there's no need to worry too much about the morality of what we're doing to a bunch of cells in a dish. This same extrapolation can be made of the debate over homosexuality and gay marriage. If man is not a product of his Creator, than it would be possible for homosexuality to be genetic and to void the laws of God. If we're not subject to the anything other than our species, then it's easy to see why gay marriage seems like a viable option. Once we begin listening to the absurdities of the Deceiver, we get all kinds of crazy ideas like harvesting stem cells from embryos created solely for their stem cells, or so called mercy killings, that marriage isn't sacred, cloning ourselves so we'll have spare parts later when we need them, it's ok to abuse our bodies and minds with substance, and on and on. Dangerous.

On a personal level, there are still more lies we'll believe. I have to behave a certain way to be liked, I'm only as good as what I do for a living, I have to meet certain measurements to be beautiftul, When I'm bad God no longer likes me. Pastor Bill Lenz used the analogy last week about a $20 bill that was yelled at, crumbled up, stepped on and stomped on, and told it was worthless. When it was picked up and unfolded, it was still what it's creator said it was - a $20 bill. The problem with many of us is that we often spend ourselves short of what our Creator designed us to be. Remember the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin? You probably don't because it came and went in one year in 1979. Why didn't it stick around? Nobody liked it because it looked too much like a quarter and everyone kept confusing it with one. You and I have "One Dollar" stamped across us, but as Tony Evans said when I first heard this analogy, "we spend like chump change".

It is this deception about self that made Eve think she wouldn't really die if she ate of the forbidden fruit. It made Adam think his sin could be covered with leaves. It made Moses think he couldn't do what God wanted because he wasn't a good speaker. It made 10 of the 12 spies checking out the Promised Land believe their ability to conquer was tied to their physical size. It made Peter believe that he was incapable of denying Christ. It made the rich young ruler go away sad when Jesus told him to sell all he had and give to the poor. He thought success was tied to financial gain. The Deceiver wants us to get hung up in the natural world and its limitations. Satan hopes we never come to realize who we really are by God's design, because when we do there is nothing we can't do through Christ who strengthens us.

Even seen those circus elephants that just kind of stand around and never take off? Amazing isn't it? Those enormous beasts could trample cars and people and just about anything they wanted to, yet they stand around docile. Why? When they are young and tiny they are shackled with huge chains anchored deep into the ground. They are so heavy the young elephant has to exert enormous energy just to move inches. Little by little this huge chain is replaced by smaller and smaller restraints, until...you guessed it...all that holds them there is a tiny rope. The elephants are conditioned to think they can't move, can't get away. They are shackled by their own deception. What lies and deceptions has Satan tried to shackle you with? What enormous efforts have you abandoned because you think that you can't?

Well, the reality is that there is one truth - Jesus Christ. He was there in the beginning and involved in our creation in a personal way, and He speaks a message directly to you and I today that can propel us forward. Let's dive into Psalm 139 and find out what the Creator really has to say about us....and get our identity back!

That Kind of Tree

The central focus of the "Forward" Bible study is worshipping God by living boldly for Him. Psalm 1:1-2 tells us how to do that plainly and simply. Are you ready to look at what happens in your life when you live it out.

Psalm 1:3 says that the blessed man who follows verse one and two will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.

Well you've had a few goals in life, but I bet none involved turning into a tree. At first glance it sounds down right boring and plain. But at a deeper look reveals much, much, much more.

In the middle east, a tree is a prized possession. Water is scarce, the soil is rough, and a tree is treasured. When Jonah was wrestling with God over Ninevah, God sent a tree for him. A tree means "life exists here". That alone is pretty convicting. Does my life consistently say "Life exists here"? Trees indicate the presence of water, a place for rest, potential for food and shelter, and a known point from which to navigate. Travelling across the desert a tree in the distance means hope and relief.

The significance of the tree resounds throughout all of the Bible from beginning to end. In the beginning, the first thing God caused to grow was the tree. In His garden He placed the Tree of Life and promptly evicted man from the garden before he could partake of its fruit. What was once planted for us, was now off limits till Christ redeems nature itself. In fact this same tree is seen again in Revelation 2:7 when Christ tells us how to be able to eat of the fruit of the tree of life in the future. Is it any wonder then that Christ died upon a tree for us?

The blessed man is like a tree because in today's world a tree is a survivor. A tree overcomes. First it overcomes because it is planted by rivers of water. The blood of a tree is water. Without it dies. With it, it can withstand nearly anything. Why must a tree be planted by rivers of water? It needs continual feeding. You and I can't survive as spiritual people with the occasional rain shower or flash flood of water. We are designed to be plugged in to the Source of Life - the Creator. We can't dabble in Christianity. We can't be Easter or Christmas Christians. We have to be plugged in.

Christ is our source of that living water. In John 4 Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well and begins telling her about Himself. He tells her she needs living water by explaining to her that whoever drinks the well water will get thirsty again, but whoever consumes Christ will never have spiritual thirst again. The water that Christ gives will be in the believer a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

When we are like the tree plugged into rivers of water, we have the indwelling Christ continually renewing us with His living water. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:16 "Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day". If you slice a tree open you can see its rings and the thickness of each ring tells whether the year was famine or properity. What do your rings say about you and how plugged into the river of life you are? Is this time a time of plenty or drought?

A tree planted by rivers of water brings forth fruit in its season. John the Baptist warned that every tree that doesn't bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. We said earlier that a tree was precious because those things needed to make it grow were precious - water, good soil. Water can't be wasted on a tree bearing bad fruit. Did you catch that John the Baptist didn't warn about unfruitful trees? We all bear fruit. The Word makes it clear what the fruits of the Spirit are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

Fruit is born in season says the Psalm. The seasons of our lives will squeeze out the fruit of what's going on inside of us. Christ within yields Godly fruit. Without Christ the pressures of life squeeze out the worst of desparate humanity - fear, selfishness, greed, lust, hate. I spent a year in Korea. It's called a hardship tour because you can't bring family and the living conditions are poor. With the hardships of the tour and the absence of family and accountability, many Soldiers resort to alcohol, prostitution and other indulgences to pass the time and null the pain of being alone in a dangerous part of the world. We used to talk about Korea being a magnigying glass - whatever you were before you came to Korea, the experience made you more of that. If you were a strong person, Korea gave you the chance to prove it and endure. If you were weak, it could destroy you. Such is true about the spiritual realm. When trials come, the fruits are the magnifying glass of what's within you...more precisely who's within you.

The blessed man has leaves that don't wither. When you're plugged into the living waters of Christ, can the heat of Satan's blows wilt you? Absolutely not. When others see you going through trials and pains, Christ within allows you to glow and reflect Him, not wilt and dry up and appear as defeated. When seasons come that are tough. Your outward appearance reflects His inner strength.

And whatever you do shall prosper. Really? Yup. If God's within, His fruit comes out. Does it come out for nothing to fall on the ground and rot. Nope. Isaiah 55:11 says, "So shall my Word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please and prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

Where do people go wrong on this whole prospering thing? The tree exists to bear fruit, provide shade, be pleasing to its Creator. It can't wander from its purpose in anyway and still prosper. Yet there are doctrines that wrongly say that you can have anything, riches, wealth, power, fame, prestige, healing, and more and claim verses like this as their base. I don't get it. We exist for God's purpose and glory. We must yield to that and when we do, He works in and through us, and that is prosperity. When the Spirit's at work in and through us, guess who isn't? Satan. And me for that matter. And that's victorious living. I am to be a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is my reasonable act of worship. Anything else is settling for medicrity and that's just not OK.

My Dad loves the story of three trees that were growing up on a mountain. Each would tell the other about what they wanted to be when they grew up. The first tree wanted to be made into a king's palace. The second tree wanted to be mighty sailing ship. The third tree just wanted to grow taller and taller and point to God. The day came when the first tree was to be cut down. He groaned in anticipation of his dreams of success coming true. "Now I get to become a palace for the king" the tree exclaimed, only to weep in disappointment as his only life was poured out to be made into a feeding trough for animals. It wasn't until the newborn King was laid in him that he realized his life was no waste at all, but that he'd been made a home for the King of Kings. The second tree was soon cut down as well and similarly anticipated sailing the oceans, carrying warriors to conquer lands for the king. Only to be dashed into despair as he became a stinky fishing boat reaking of sour water and spoiled fish. It wasn't until the Savior spoke from Him and slept on him and conquered the ranging sea did he realize his passenger was the King. Finally, and my Dad always tears up at this point, the third tree wept as he saw the woodcutters approaching to cut him down. "NO!! I just want to stay here and point people to God. Can't you understand that?" To no avail he was cut down and turned into a cross where his sorrow became nearly unbearable as he thought he went from glorifying God one day to a future of executing criminals and bearing their bloody corpses. Then he felt heavy as he realized the sin of the whole world was placed upon the man nailed to him and that on his cross was the King of Kings who took away the sins of the world and that the cross will forever point the way to God.

I love that story. In the story of the crucifying of Christ, there's an interesting nugget hidden within. The soldiers at the foot of the cross say in Scripture that they saw the earthquake. Saw an earthquake? The Christ on the tree could not be shaken. I want to be that kind of tree.

Should be like Christ, but I'm More Like David

Everything learned from Psalm 1:1 makes perfect sense, especially considering that David was a lying, manipulative, murdering, adulterer. But this was written before all of that, in his wordly innocence. But David's not the real author , it's God-breathed Scripture and as such was perfectly fitting for David the man who put it on paper.

I often make the mistake of reading Psalms as a book of poetry, but they are prophetic as well. To miss their prophetic meaning would be to miss their relevance to your life entirely. If I missed what the Psalms are saying to me personally then I might as well be reading a book of poems by Robert Frost.

Psalms says to me personally that a blessed life comes frist from avoiding wrong counsel, conduct, and communications. Pslams begins by telling me the key to a blessed life. Isn't it amazing that that the longest book of the Holy Scriptures begins with how we can be blessed? Psalms 1 is prophetic in summarizing all of human history and man's all - relate with God and be blessed beyond description. It's beautiful. This book doesn't begin with God's greatness, His judgment, our failures. They begin with "blessed". God was divinely unselfish when he breathed this divine work to David. Perhaps for David, God was foreshadowing how David would sacrifice the blessedness of his kingdom for the a torrid affiar. David walked in unwise counsel by taking deliberate steps to arrange his rendezvous with his lover. He stood in the path of sinners by drawing in others to help him carry out the affair. After all do you think it possible for a king to do anything unnoticed?

David's first mistake was to send his armies out to do battle and then electing to stay home, in the rear with the gear as we say in the Army. In those days every king, even the bad ones commanded their troops in battle from the battlefield. In fact, Saul, David's predecessor was famous for the thousand's he'd killed. for David to remain away from the battlefield was unconscienable. Psalm 1:1 says not to stand in path of sinners. Can one like David remove himself from accountability, be one of only a handful of fighting age men remaining, and not be tempted? 2 Samuel 11:1 practically mocks David for staying behind by saying "...at the time when kings go out to battle...but David remained at Jerusalem." No wonder his temptation hit him in the very next verse while David was on his roof and just happened to see a gorgeous woman bathing. Though Scripture doesn't say specifically, you have to wonder that this wasn't Bathsheba's first bath, nor was this probably David's first trip up to check out the view from the roof. 2 Sam 11:1 says it was spring time. I wonder if David had seen Bathsheba (or other women) the previous summer or fall, then waited till spring to arrange it where he could be on the roof alone. Now on the roof (his path) scanning around, he finds what he was looking for. He then grabs others to help bring her to him.

David knew in advance that she was married. David's advisors knew she was married, yet went and got her anyway. Sometimes the ungodly counsel we obey is the counsel that overides that which was nver spoken. Eve just told Adam to eat. She didn't tell him about that little conversation she had with the talking snake. Would have been important to me, don't you think? Of course Adam knew not to eat, but he chose instead to heed the ungodly counsel of his wife. If only Eve had spoken up. If only David's advisor's had spoken up.

David's sin began before he slept with another man's wife. It even began before he plotted to have her brought to his home. Nor did it begin when he lusted after her on his roof. It began when he arose out of his comfy bed in his comfy house while his men were on the battlefield. Had he been where he was supposed to be, where it was his duty to be, he'd been incapable of performing that series of kingdom altering events.

Had he just followed the directions of Psalm 1:2 he'd been protected. Psalm 1:2 says that the blessed man has his delight in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night.

Since David wasn't on the field of battle with his men, what was his action saying to God? To find out, let's look at an almost exact example.

After the Israelites were freed and it was time for them to go in and capture the land God prepared for them, the people got cozy and comfortable with the status quo. Well we know what happened. Moses sent 12 spies to check it out and only two came back saying it could be captured. The Bible says this aroused the anger of God and resulted in 40 years of aimless wandering until all the generation except for Caleb and Joshua had died.

Well the time again came for them to seize what God had prepared for them and this time two of the twelve tribes wanted to stay on the east side of the Jordan river while the armies of the other 10 tribes readied for war. What was Moses' response about staying in the rear during the battle? "Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here?" (Num 32:6)

Moses knew the dangers of this unwillingness to wholly follow God. Moses called them a brood of sinful men that were about to increase still more teh fierce anger of God.

Chosing not to follow God is not just a lack of faith, nor is it mere cowardice. It's a slap in the face to God. It's spiritual conceit. It's saying "I've seen You orchestrate the thousands of events that have led to theis moment. I've clearly heard you say this is Your best plan for me, but I don't want it. Following You isn't worth leaving my scornful seat to grab what you've prepared for me.' No wonder God gets angry when we do that. The effects are a spritual double whammy too - we miss God's incredible blessing and then incur His anger on top of it. That's what David's decision to stay comfy did to him too. Only God knows who David would have married or what Israel could have been like had it not recevied the wrath of God on it.

The son David and Bathsheba bore was sentenced to die because of their sin. In fact, Scripture is huge about names and their significance and the meaning ascribed to one's name. What was David and Bathsheba's child's name? We don't know. Scripture doesn't even say. David missed the blessing entirely. Then God brought punishment by starting a bloody rift within his family and brought adultery into his family.

How did all this happen? By not delighting in the Law of the Lord and meditating in it day and night. Instead of starting his day with prayer and worship, David went on the roof to satisfy his eys. We can't avoud even as Psalm 1:1 says if we're not delighting in God's perfect law. The mind and soul always dwell on something and Scripture makes it clear that "As a man thinks, so is he."

So how do we delight in the law of the Lord? Psalm 119 is all about the excellence of God's Word and Law. The first action in it for us to do is to praise God. Shortly after that is memorizing Scripture; not rote memorization but hiding it in your heart. One of the most productive times of spiritual growth in my life was my most challenging. I was consumed by the problem at hand. It was eating me up. I couldn't sleep. Didn't want to eat. I was wasting away. I had to do something to distract my mind and began dedicating time to hiding God's Word in my heart by memorizing a verse here and there, until I had pages and pages of Scripture memorized. The ancient words began echo in my mind all the time. Instead of my problem floating up to my conscience, it was God's promises. I began to see life through the lense of these Scriptures and life began changing. I was soon able to advise people in similar circumstances using the counsel of these memorized words that aided me through my problem. It was a joy to meditate in His Word day and night because it transformed me through the renewing of my mind.

To meditate on God's Word you ponder it by talking about it to yourself. We can't naturally delight in God's Word. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to delight in it and understand it. When I tead the Bible and I'm just scanning words, absorning nothing, mind wandering, living unchanged, it's those times that I just pick up the Bible and read. I should always ask God to help me. Psalm 119:18 is a great verse to pray, "Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from your Law." By delighting in His Law and asking for divine help, we can fulfill Psalm 1:1. Psalm 119:24 says that when we delight in His Word, it becomes our counselors, replacing the ungodly counsel of verse one.

Delighting in God's Word brings indescribable peace and contentment. For every event of life and every emotion there is Scriptural guidance. There is no topic for which the Word is silent. Though we will all experience pain and suffering, we will never be forsaken from God's love. Need a boost? Go to the Word. Need assurance? Consult your Maker. Feel alone and desparate? Delight in His Word and in His love.

One of the most stirring examples of one delighting in God's love is the song "The Love of God". The story says the poem was discovered upon it's author's death. He was confined to an insane asylum and had inscribed these words on the wall of his personal prison. Here's how he delighted in God's love:

"Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade.
To write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure,
How measureless and strong.
It shall endure forevermore
The Saints' and angels' song."

This man knew how to delight in God's Word!!

So there it is - how to be a blessed man. Basic and simple. Many books for sale about self help are titled "9 Secrets to Happiness" or "12 Steps to Whatever You Want". Christ's way is perfect. He is the way, the truth, and the life. One Savior. One way. Christ says "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle, and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."