April 22 The Measure of a Man

April 22

The Measure of a Man

1Sa 16:7 …Look not on his countenance,

or on the height of his stature;…

What is there about men who are good looking and tall? Many US Presidents were tall. Washington, Lincoln, and several other men who were presidents were tall. Somehow they just look more in control, and often instill confidence in those around them. And yes, of course there are bad men who are tall, and short men who are successful, but the point is tall men often get the good jobs, promotions, and success out of proportion to their numbers.  

In the Old Testament we learn that King Saul was one of those tall guys who become leaders.

1Sa 9:2 And he had a son, whose name was Saul,

a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not

among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he:

from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.

When they made Saul king one of the things that Samuel mentioned to them was Sauls height. (1 Sam 10:23-24) We know that Saul turned out to be a bad king that God later rejected.

So the next time Samuel went to identify who God had chosen to be the next king, he was reminded to not look at his countenance or height.

The opposite is also true. We should not reject someone for how the world views them. Such was the case of a preacher I read about. His message was rejected by nearly everyone who heard him. He preached on street corners, and in the marketplace, and wherever he could gather a couple people to listen to him. He was married and had some kids, but didn’t spend much time calling on people or trying to get a church building started. In fact when he finally left preaching he still didn’t have a church building.

It might have helped if he had preached on something besides prophecy. After a while Eschatology (prophecy) can become boring. He was a faithful man, even if a little eccentric, but even he finally realized he was a failure at church planting. He eventually gave up, quit preaching and went to farming. But, things went downhill from there and he started drinking. By that time his old friends were gone and even his family was having trouble. I never heard if he went back to preaching, but I don’t think so. This could be a sad story except the man I just described was Noah. Peter calls him a “…preacher of righteousness…”

I don’t know how tall he was or if he was good looking. I do know that by the standards of today he was a miserable failure. 

     Some famous preachers have built churches from almost nothing into huge buildings with thousands of members. They develop calling programs, have bus ministries and are getting people saved every Sunday. Many of them understand human nature and know what people want to hear.

    Now days the size of a preacher’s church is like a scoreboard of how successful he is. They often have more than one service; a traditional one for old people, and a less formal, contemporary one for younger minded people. Many churches make sure they keep up with the times and use the latest version of the Bible so people can read it without all the thee’s and thou’s. They certainly look like successful ministries. But only God can see the pastors heart. (You may want to consider reading the churches of Revelation 2 & 3- see previous blog entries)  

Vibrant growing churches with dynamic pastors are successful. Weird people like Noah cannot ever hope to be successful for the Lord from the worlds viewpoint. But God saw Noah as successful.

Ge 6:8  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.  

Ge 9:1  And God blessed Noah and his sons

If we apply modern day standards to Noah, he would be a failure. The people who were doing such wicked abominable things probably thought old man Noah was a nut job.  He surely didn’t match up to their idea of success.

The lesson for today is that we should not be conformed to the worlds standards. (Rom 12:1) When you make decisions based on your spiritual insights and Bible teaching, you may be judged by the standards of this wicked world.  There may be some activities that you cannot or would not attend, even though your co-workers or friends urge you to. I do not need to list all the ways the world thinks people are weird who are trying to live a Christ centered Biblical lifestyle. Just know that their standards are not God’s standards.

Do not be surprised when people do not understand or agree with you.  It is getting harder to be a faithful Christian today. Movies, Television, the Internet, advertisers, our government and even some churches are working against our Christian principles. Today’s culture wants you to more accepting and be lukewarm. We should remember Noah and the terrible time he lived, and yet the Bible says he was righteous. Noah preached until God put him in the Ark. He never let up! What an example for us.

The rest of the verse we started with is a good thought for the day.

1Sam 16:7.…for the LORD seeth not as man seeth;

for man looketh on the outward appearance,

but the LORD looketh on the heart.

April 21 Where can I sleep

April 21

Where Can I Sleep

Ge 28:11 ….and he took of the stones of that place,

and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

While Jacob rested his head on a stone, he had the vision of a great ladder. But that is not the focus of our devotional comments today. When we catch up with Jacob we find the previous days had been filled with trickery, deceit, lies, and deception. Rebekah, Isaac’s wife must have been some lady. She helped the younger son, Jacob, fool Isaac into giving him the blessing instead of Esau. When Esau found out he decided to kill his brother, Jacob. Rebekah learned what Esau planned to do and she again used deception to convince Isaac to tell his son to go a long journey away. The supposed purpose was to find a wife, but the actual reason was to avoid Esau killing him. Rebekah would never see her son again. He would be gone 20 years.

     Genesis 27 and 28 give us the details of the events leading up to Jacob  sleeping out in the open, with neither pillow nor blanket. Jacob    had a lot to think about as he walked toward the east. He either had underestimated how far it was to the next town or for some other reason found himself out in the open countryside when the sun was going down. There was little use in continuing to travel in the dark. Even if he had continued to Luz they would not open the city gates to him after dark.

      The Bible says he came to a certain place, a spot that he saw as best suited for spending the night. Then he arranged stones for pillows, and used the ground for his bed.

     I can relate somewhat to Jacob. As I write this I am sitting in the Dallas Fort Worth airport at 2:20 AM! Do to severe thunderstorms many flights were cancelled and filled the local motels before I could get a room. That meant a night in the airport terminal where I did not find even a rock for a pillow.

     Jacob had traveled nearly 60 miles by the time he came to Luz. Most of us are familiar with the story of his vision, if for no other reason than the song “We are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder”.

A side note about the song. Many songs have lyrics which contain things that are not Biblical or they advocate unscriptural doctrine. Such is the case here. The Bible clearly states that angels were going up and down the ladder (or staircase) but Jacob did not climb on it. Heaven is not gained by “climbing” our way up to it.  

In his vision Jacob saw God at the top of the ladder. There were no words of rebuke for Jacob, but only a further blessing on him and his posterity. Jacob was so in awe of his vision he named the area “House of God” (Beth-El). Then he took the stones he had used for pillows and made a pillar, which he poured oil on. It was not exactly an alter, as he did no sacrifice or offerings there. But the pillar was a reminder, a marker, a means of designating the place where God spoke to him and blessed him. Jacob said it was to be the house of God because surely God was in that place.

The devotion for us to meditate on for today is two-fold.  First we should remember that when we are in the most desolate place, where we find the least comfortable surroundings, and a place we had not intended to ever spend time, God is there.  When Jacob selected the place to spend the night it was because he was out in the open at sundown. He had not selected the place with any thought of God. It was just a temporary stop on his journey, and offered little more than a rocky bed with stones for pillows. But God was there.

Secondly, the spot that Jacob selected was of no significance when he arrived. It was only a place for him to stop for a few hours. The Scripture does say he arose early. I think even I might have gotten up early if I was sleeping on rocks and stones.

But before Jacob left that spot it had become very significant. He recognized that God was there and built a pillar which he anointed with oil and called the place Beth-El, House of God. The city of Bethel would become an important place in the history of Israel. Jacob would not return for 20 years. But I can imagine he revisited the place where God had spoken to him. The lesson being that God may do very significant things in our lives in the most improbable places. We do not need to travel to any of the great shrines of the world for God to do a work with and for us. It may be when we are in some desolate condition, alone, and seemingly in the midst of boredom, in a place with few creature comforts, and nothing exceptional happening. That may be the place where God comes to speak to us.

Will our hearts be tuned to hear his voice, to recognize His leading, even in the midst of insignificant surroundings or will we be too busy trying to get to a more comfortable place.  The Bible lists some unlikely places where great things took place.  It was a burning bush for Moses, the Damascus road for Saul (Paul), a fishing boat for some disciples, and Matthew as he collected Roman taxes. Notice they were all busy at work or traveling.

May we hear God when he speaks and walk in the way He directs. That is all the great men of the Bible did.  

Ps 46:7 The LORD of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah