I REMEMBER WHEN

Today I am feeling in a poetic mood and I would like to share, yet another poem, I wrote a while back. It was written at a time when I was reminded of my life before Christ due to a uncaring remark by someone. I had experiernced my share of those over the years as a child and as a teenager I was a recluse due to a speech impediment caused by a loss of hearing as an infant. I saw no future as a young person, no sense of direction and to me life lacked meaning, I contemplated suicide a couple of times,but, instead I tried to drown out my sorrows in alcohol. I slept most of the day because I was up all night staring out my bedroom window çhain smoking till I could no longer stay awake. However, as Charles Wesley wrote-Long lay my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature’s night, Thine eye diffused an quickning ray I woke -the dungeon flamed with light! My chains fell off and heart was free, I rose, went forth and followed Thee. The following is what I captured from being His.

I REMEMBER WHEN

I REMEMBER THOSE NIGHTS IN MY ROOM
WHEN ALL I COULD SEE IS GLOOM AND DOOM.
I REMEMBER THEM, OH, SO WELL
BUT; THEY ARE NO LONGER MY CELL

YOU SEE I WAS A MAN ALL ALONE;
UNTIL ONE DAY GOD LOOKED DOWN FROM HIS THRONE
AND FILLED MY LIFE WITH HIS LIGHT
AND NOW, I LIVE EACH DAY IN THE POWER OF HIS MIGHT.

OH I HAVE MY UPS AND DOWNS;
AND ONCE IN AWHILE I GET FROWNS.
NEVERTHELESS, I KNOW NOTHING IS THE END;
BECAUSE JESUS IS MY FRIEND.

IN HIM I NOW LIVE
AND THE GLORY TO HIM I GIVE
FOR HE LIFTED ME FROM THE MIRY CLAY
AND PLACED ME IN HIS HAND TO STAY.

WHAT HAPPENED IS NOT FOR ME ALONE.
FOR GOD WOULD HAVE YOU AS HIS OWN.
THERE’S NO REASON TO STAY IN THE DARK
WHEN CHRIST CAN GIVE YOU A BRAND NEW START.

LIFE-SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL-PSALM 139:13-16

13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

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As I launch deeper into this psalm, I find myself being overwhelmed by the majesty and personal nature of God. I refer back to the wonder of God having laid His hand upon David’s life and mine and muse over the awesomeness of such a reality. But, here, in this one little verse-13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb, has really floored me. I began to think, if every man and woman would stop and consider what is destroyed when the decision to terminate life is made, would they? There’s only One Giver of life, One Craftsman and as David points out in verse 16- there was a plan fashioned for that life. Friends, God has laid His hand upon an individual’s life, your life, long before you realized it. God sees every life as precious, as being meaningful and no matter how that life had come into form, it should have the right to live. Every one should be thinking- what kind of plan did God have for this little one? What would He have done in this life to bring Him glory? When life is terminated, so is the plan. Only heaven knows what would’ve been and those on earth have missed out. If one could see how children are supposed to come into this world, perhaps decisons would be made differently.

<>David opens a window to something strange to this culture of ours. In verse 15 he pens-15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret. I need not be lewd here by being explicit, as we all know what he is referring to. In our day and age, this type of discretionary speech is considered restrictive, old fashioned, puritanical; and to some, just plain outrageous to suggest modesty. Our society wants everyone to see what should be a private and precious between a husband and wife. TV, movies, magazines, “reality shows” and the like have cheapened a gift of God by displaying it like a KMart blue light special. Cheap stuff that has no lasting value and can be thrown away. How crass the world is when it comes to this issue. How, then, Christian can we make this a holy matter in our lives once more. No, how can I make this a holy matter in my life? Maybe, just maybe I need to learn to blush again at the crude and gross humor surrounding this matter. Maybe, just maybe I need to turn off the TV, change the channel and not watch what I know defiles the mind. Perhaps I need to make a covenant with my eyes and ears once more before God to and for His glory. I should be asking myself the hard questions- have I become like the world in that I no longer see God’s beauty and instead just a “natural act”? How can I teach my son correctly if all I do is fast forward the “bad scenes”? Being holy in this area isn’t being prudish, it’s remembering -14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

In all of this, I have pondered-”what kind of path have I beaten? Am I still in awe of God even in this? Am I still able to see the handiwork of God in what the world calls a “fetus” or “a piece of tissue” that I have the power to play “god” with? May God help me walk my Beaton Path differently and holy from this point on…

YOU ARE ON HIS MIND-PSALM 139:17-18

PS. 139:17How precious are Your thoughts towards me, O God. How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand. When I awake I am with you.

God has you, believer on His mind. He’s thinking about me. How does one truly contemplate on such?! Can you catch the grandeur and splendor of such a statement? How precious is this. David said God’s thoughts are precious towards His own. Does this boggle your mind or what?! Jeremiah 29:11 records God saying to Israel, even in the midst of their blatant, idolatrous, sinful rebellion, “for I know the thoughts I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give a future with a hope ” This connects with earlier verses concerning the omnipresence of God- He’s everywhere you go perfecting His plan. Is this not illustrated in the Prodigal Story in Luke? The father runs to the prodigal son as he saw him afar off. You mean to tell me this father was not thinking about his son. Wondering where he was? What was he doing, how was he doing? The father has him in mind, and you Father does also.

God has every right to not give you or me a second thought. After all He is the high and lofty one, and yet, this psalm clearly states- God thinks about you. How comforting is that? Think about it- the world has billions of people, there are wars, rumors of war, and many clamoring for His attention, and yet He has chosen to think about you as an individual. These are not spurious or off the cuff thoughts either. Verse 16 says even before you were born, He gave careful thought as to what your life would entail, how it would play out for His glory and for your good. They were all planned out, thought upon in eternity. Oh great is the sum of them! Are you getting it? Am I getting it? Do I understand the magnitude of this- God thinks about me.

I am flabberghasted by this whole thing, aren’t you? I found a poem I had written in 1989 and never shared it with anyone, other than my wife, but I think it appropiate now.

WHAT FILLED HIS DAY?
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED ABOUT THE THOUGHTS OF GOD?
AND HOW HE GOES ABOUT DOING THINGS
DID YOU EVER WONDER WHAT FILLED HIS DAY?
OR IF HE WAS LOOKING YOUR WAY?

PERHAPS YOU JUST TOO BUSY TO STOP AND THINK,
OR MAYBE YOUR ARE ABOVE THAT SORT OF THING?
COULD IT BE YOU HAD OTHER THINGS ON YOUR MIND
AND HE WAS THE LAST THING YOU WOULD THINK ABOUT?

DID YOU KNOW YOU WERE FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE?
DID THAT THOUGHT EVER CROSS YOUR MIND TODAY?
MAYBE IT WOULD BE WORTH YOUR WHILE TO CONSIDER;
JUST HOW SPECIAL YOU REALLY ARE.

HE’S EVER WATCHING YOU KNOW.
NOT TO SPY,BUT, BECAUSE HE CARES.
DID YOU EVER STOP AND THINK ABOUT THAT?
MAYBE YOU SHOULD; YOU MIGHT BE PLEASANTLY SURPRISED.

PERHAPS NO ONE TOLD YOU ABOUT HIS GREAT LOVE;
BUT IT’S NEVER TOO LATE, YOU KNOW, LET IT FILL YOUR HEART.
THEN, MAYBE, YOU WOULD WONDER ABOUT THE THOUGHTS OF GOD AND WHAT FILLED HIS DAY.

LIFE AND THEOLOGY-PT. 2 PSALM 139:7-12

7Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there . 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 12Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee

Yesterday we looked at the enouraging aspect of having a living theology and not a dead orthodoxy when it comes to our Christian experience. To know that God is ever present with His child and able to ward off anything that would separate a believer from Him by His ominpotent hand is really quite staggering when all said and done.

There is a flip side to this as well for the unbeliever . This blessed truth, of God’s omnipresence and omnipotence, should drive the believer’s thinking and theology in evangelism. The unsaved think they can run and hide or that their lives are lived in a vacuum. They think their sinful rebellion is not noticed by any one- including God. They also think that death and the grave is the end of their misery or their suffering and that they will be “safe from God”. They see it as the end. Is this true, though, Christian? You know it not to be so. Recall this once more to mind-7Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there God is EVERYWHERE and His Power extends to EVERYWHERE. The very same truth that gives the believer blessed hope, leaves the pagan in peril. Some jokingly kid-”At least I will be in hell with my friends.” Oh no my friend. If you are not saved please understand this to be true- even in hell you cannot escape God. Even in death, you cannot run from His presence or His hand. With tears I bring this reality from the book of Revelation 14:9And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. 12Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Oh my!! Christian, this should drive your evangelism. Unbeliever, I pray this drives you God’s mercy. Run to Him, I pray.
Evangelism without theology, you see, is weak and inept. It is not based in reality of life now and what is to come, as you can plainly see. The fact that God is everywhere should remind me as a believer, His Spirit is ever with me to convey the truth of the gospel with His power. His omipotence should drive me to be bold in my witnessing to others because His Spirit is able to dethrone sin and the devil’s hold on those who are not yet Christians. Jesus told His disciples that He has bound and tied up Satan and through His power all believers can rest in the gospel of Christ to rip another captive of sin out of the devil’s grasp. If the church truly believes this, then, it is time for it to move forward into fray of lost souls with the gospel. If the church truly believes this to be true, what is holding it back? Life and theology go hand in hand, they are inseparable in a believer’s life. What you know of Christ, give to someone else. Let your theology change someone else. Let His hand touch someone else’s life by yours. May it start with me….

THEOLOGY AND LIFE-PT. 1 – PS. 139:7-12

7Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there . 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 12Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee

When I read this today, I was taken back to Bible School days in E Providence, R.I.  With those memories came the remembrance of having to memorize these passages verbatim, word for word, commas, the whole nine yards  for two different classes- Personal Evangelism and Systematic Theology 101.  At the time I did not see the link between these two classes having the same marquee scriptures.  They were two different lectures dealing with two separate issues.  However; it’s clear that if one does not have a clear grasp of theology, he will not be able to evangelize the gospel clearly.  Why? Both have to do with Him.  If theology does not drive your passion for souls, then, all you have is one more philosophical view in the plethora of your life.

In the previous verses; David extolled and exalted how great it was to know God had His hand on his life.  These verses today take you one step deeper into the pool of that reality.   David wants his readers to know God is omnipresent.  This is a theological word meaning everywhere at the same time.  God is just that- everywhere at the same time.  For the Christian this is good news.  You are never out His sight, He can never lose you in the midst of a crowd or the sea of the world.  He is ever present.  God is a very present help.  How is this possible? Because God is also omnipotent. Meaning, He is all powerful.  Nothing can keep Him from doing anything He desires to do.

David gives you hope in your darkness hour.  He is with you in your highest highs and your deepest lows.  Everything is seen by Him because He is light and in Him there is not darkness at all.  James says He is the Father of lights.  You know what light does to darkness- it disperses it. There is some hint that David tried, like Jonah, to run from His presence.  There is no where to run, He is everywhere.  He has all the bases covered.  Maybe you are trying to run from God and are finding Him at every turn. Stop running, stop trying to hide, return to Him and let drive the darkness away from your soul.

One more thing, before I let you go, Christian.  There is one very practical thing you can rejoice in God’s omnipresence and omnipotence-death has no power over you either.  He is with you even there.  One day you and I will die(unless He returns) like billions others, but, even there, He is with you.   if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there . 10Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.  The word hell here is sheol, meaning the grave.  The world sees death as a scary, uncertain thing awaiting them.  They are trying to put it off as long as possible- new medications, botox, face lifts, anything to defy the inevitable- death and the grave.  For you, Christian, death is but a stepping stone into the everlasting rest of Your God.  Even there, as Psalm 23 says, Thy rod and Thy staff shall comfort me.  How could David be so sure? How can I echo it so confidently?  Jesus is alive! The tomb is empty, He conquered the grave and death.  Can you see how theology is such  of vital importance and doctrine no dry stale bread, but manna- living bread?!  No, no never let go,  through the storm and through the night,  No, no never let go.  His eye is on the sparrow and He watches over you and me, beloved.

More tomorrow…

AND CAN IT BE? PSALM 139:1-6

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me . 2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.  4For there is not a word in my tongue, but , lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. 5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Most of us look for someone to understand us. Wives wish their husbands would understand them, husbands wish their wives understood them. Of course, teenagers are always hunting for that one person who can appreciate what they are going through. How many millions of dollars are spent by people, pagan and Christian alike, on trained listening specialists- aka psychiarists and pyschologists?  What are they looking for? What does the human heart hunger for ultimately? Is there any one who really cares about me? Is there any one who will truly listen to what I have to say? Is there any one who knows me? I mean really knows me? Who loves me through thick and thin? I can remember the many sleepless, hopeless nights before I became a Christian.  I remember how I searched for someone who would take me as I was and for who I was and not walk away once they knew me.  That search ended on September 27th, 1980.   5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.  That night the hand of God touch my life and nothing has been the same since.

Like the psalmist in verse 6, it was something I could not comprehend- it was too wonderful for the mind to grasp. In today’s lingo- it was awesome man, it blew my mind.  David was referring to encountering God, of course.   Think about it,  Here the Creator, the Almighty God, the One who created the universe had just touched his life.  God- you know the One who keeps the planets spinning, the universe humming and making sure all is running like clockwork had the time to be personally involved in his life and mine?! Consider with me just a moment, would you, verse 1- He (God) has searched me and know me- after this He still moves on to verses 2-4- 2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.  4For there is not a word in my tongue, but , lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.-God had taken the time to get to know me, David says.  He knew everything about David.  He knew his thought life, what he would do before he would do it, what he was going to say and sometimes he would not say it right.  He knew he would fall and fail miserably.  The Lord knows all these things about me and yes, even you, It was hard to grasp  that in spite of this intricate, imitate knowledge of me, He would still hang around me. Look at verse 5- 5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me-He involves Himself with every detail of my life and He leads me all along the path.  Proverbs says there is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother.  Isn’t this the attention you are looking for?  Doesn’t your heart jump within you to know that such a Person exists?  One who will be with you thick and thin, no matter what.  Who won’t abandon you in your worse of days? No fairweather friend here, my freind.

David said God laid His hand upon him. Can you get more personal attention than this?  Does this sound like a distant God, One who is not involved with His creation and could care less what your puny little life is like!?  No. A thousand times no! This is the God who Incarnated and dwelt amongst us.  He’s the One who said- “Come unto me you who are heavy and ladened and I will give you rest.”  He’s the One who has promised that anyone who came to Him, He would not cast aside like an old rag doll.  Can this be? Go to Him and find out for yourself-He’s waiting.

ARE YOU A WORRY WART? PSALM 127:2

Are you a worry wart? One who worries over not being able to be worried over something? The Bible addresses this you know- in Psalm 127:2. The writer of this psalm says, “It is vain to rise up early to eat bread of sorrows and to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrows.” Since this is my “Beaton Path”,  let me lead you down my path of learning and struggles.

We all know people like this; don’t we? Maybe you are one, I do not know. There are people who go to bed worried, wake up worried, and wonder why they are tired. The word vain is  connected with words such as empty and useless. The accomplish little or nothing.  However; to rest in the Lord is to be plentifiul and fruitful; not bent out of shape. It is to understand just Who it is that’s in charge and building “the house”.

The question is this though, what is the bread of sorrows? It could be hanging on to bitterness or wishing for things that cannot be or fretting about things that may never happen. It could be regret over a sin committed long ago, a debt, family crisis, loss of a job or even dissatisfaction with a present job. It may be that you want more of earthly goods and you plan and strive and connive for more but never attaining. These can keep you peace of heart and mind and from the only pursuit worthwhile- the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Overly myopic concentration of such can make the mind anxious off of Christ and on to one’s self too greatly. The psalmist says this is an empty useless pursuit. It is vanity and will will only give you sorrow and leave you utterly exhausted.

The solution?  I found the counsel of Isaiah 26:2 says, “He who keeps his mind on You, Lord, You shall grant peace of mind” to the only avenue to solace.  Beloved cast your cares upon Him. Give over your troubles, heartaches unto the One who can control all things and and is able to give you rest. Are you a worry wart? Are you captive to anxiety? Follow the counsel of the psalmist and you will find He gives His beloved sleep. Don’t the words of this beloved hymn ring true here- “What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief to bear, what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. “