“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” Psalm 27:1
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” Psalm 27:1
“When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.” John 10:4
When David asked, “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place?” (Psalm 24:3), there is a very good chance that he was reflecting upon the passage of the Torah , which he had surely memorized, where Moses had climbed Horeb, “the mountain of God”, and encountered God in the “burning bush”. It was here that Moses talked to God. It was here that God spoke to Moses. It was here on the holy mountain where God’s voice spoke to Moses and said,
3500 years later and halfway around the world, we can hardly get our minds around the magnitude of this moment when God spoke to Moses and proclaimed, “I AM WHO I AM” .
So, God asks you and I today through this Psalm of David, “Who can approach God and converse today? Who can hear from God clearly? Who can communicate with God and hear His voice without static and interruption?” No sooner did David ask this gravitas question than he had answered it himself… “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully” (Psalm 24:4).
“This is holy ground.” Come to God in reverence and awe. Keep your hands clean. Keep your mind clean. Keep your heart clean. Keep your vocabulary clean. The Shepherd who gave you His sacrificial blood to make you clean also gave you His Holy Spirit to empower you to follow Him and live that way. The closer a lamb is to his shepherd, the easier it is to follow him.
“The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble; and those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You” (Psalm 9:9 & 10).
I hired the defensive coordinator of my college football team to come to Missouri to help me run our summer sports camp just after I graduated. I was so young and inexperienced. I knew he could bring some much needed wisdom and discipline to our staff. Coach Utley was the toughest coach I’d ever met, but he was loved by our team for his contagious personality and his caring heart for the players on his defensive front.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1).
One cold and rainy night, a dear friend found a two-or-three-day-old fawn lost, and probably dying, in a drainage ditch. My friend knew of my heart for wounded and orphaned animals and came to me with the wet, shivering, helpless spotted doe. I warmed a bottle of goat milk and tried to place it into the terrified baby deer’s mouth. The fawn let out a deafening cry of horror as, drop-by-drop, I forced the healing formula in her system.
Three days later, the little, spotted girl was following me like a puppy dog and downing bottles of life-giving milk like a hungry child. Four months later, I set her free to join the wild herd that lives in the woods near my house.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1).
As it is in football, so it is in life. The adversary of our soul is in relentless pursuit of our demise in life and eternity. His attacks are repeated endlessly through the lust of our eyes and the bitterness, fear and anxiety of our heart. Our only sure defense is The Great Defender Of Our Soul – Jesus, our Shepherd and Warrior for our eternal salvation.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.”
Maybe you have loved ones you’ve been praying for and have been trying to show the love of Christ for years. And maybe their continual rejection of Him has you discouraged and wondering if you should even try to interest them in the gospel story again this year.
If that’s your situation—and I believe it is for many of you reading this—I have a two-word message for you: Perseverance pays.
For the Kanakuk Christmas Party last week, I wrote a “last minute” poem that I think will perhaps make you chuckle a bit and maybe even shed a tear. Feel free to watch the video below and read it with your family. I think the family discussion could bring some focus back to the CHRIST of Christmas.
The Heart of A Mom is a free online resource destination created to encourage and inspire Moms of all ages as they pursue the most important role in their life—being a Mom. Created by Dr. Joe White, President of Kanakuk Ministries, Heart of A Mom hosts dozens of Gathering events across the United States each year, welcoming women from all walks of life to an event created especially to thank Moms for all they do.