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I know that the Psalmist was right when he wrote,

Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. Psalm 37:1 (NKJV)

However, I have to admit that I struggle with this at times.  And one of those times is now.  It is hard not to become frustrated when you see the evil that is taking place all around you and it seems like those committing it not only get away with it but almost flaunt it.

Some of the things that can be frustrating are:

• Being told that churches can’t meet but casinos, liquor stores and abortion clinics keep right on operating as usual.
• Seeing people physically assault others, burn down private businesses and destroy public property and no one ever seems to be held accountable.
• Seeing “famous” individuals commit crimes, be given sentences as short as 2 months and then being let out early so they don’t have to be away from home for Christmas while the ordinary person is given much longer sentences with no early release.

It can appear that when you try to live a godly life, you get attacked.  But those who don’t even attempt to hide their wrongdoing seem to get let “off the hook” without any consequences.  How can we live out Psalm 37:1 in today’s crazy world?

When trying to make sense of what is going on around me, I find it helpful to realize my feelings of frustration aren’t something that Christians are just now facing.  God’s people have had these frustrations throughout human history.  It is encouraging to read the Bible and see others struggle with the same things that I struggle with.

One of my Bible heroes is a man named Asaph.  Asaph was a Levite who headed the service of music under the reigns of David and Solomon.  He wrote several Psalms.  In one Psalm, Asaph expressed how he struggled with some of the same things that I wrestle with.

…as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped.  For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.  Psalm 73:2-3 (NKJV)

What did Asaph mean by the “boastful” person and the “prosperity of the wicked?”  He explains exactly what he meant by these phrases when he wrote that these people were ones who,

• were strong and not in trouble like other men (vs 4-5)
• were not plagued or held accountable (vs 5)
• were proud (vs 6)
• wore violence like one would but on a garment (vs 6)
• were blessed with abundance to the point that they had more than their hearts could desire (vs 7)
• talked in boastful ways that even mocked God (vs 8,9,11)
• were always at ease and growing in material possessions (vs 12)

This is what I find myself struggling with more and more as the days wax evil.  In fact, Asaph was so discouraged that he even thought that he was wasting his time trying to live a godly life.  It seemed useless to do so.

Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence.  For all day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning.  Psalm 73:13-14 (NKJV)

Let’s be honest with each other and God.  Do you sometimes feel this way?   Is Asaph possibly speaking for you?  I am thankful that everyone wrestles with the same things that I face on a daily basis while I am living in this fallen world.

But, let’s get back to my original question.  Even though I see the prosperity of the wicked all around me and it seems like they are prospering more and more each day, how do I stop fretting about them?   It is one thing to say I am battling what Asaph did in his life.  But it is another thing to not let it overtake you with worry (fretting) and envy.

I am thankful that Asaph didn’t stop at verse 14.  Even though he was having a hard time trying to understand all of this, he knew that living a godly life was not in vain.  The key to seeing the prosperity of the wicked  but not giving up was found in Asaph’s daily habit that is explained starting in verse 16 of this Psalm.

When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me—until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end.  Psalm 73:16-17 (NKJV)

When Asaph spent time alone with God, he saw the big eternal picture and not just the temporal happenings that were causing him so much heartache.  It is the same thing that David understood when he wrote Psalm 37.

I finished by plan to read the Bible through this year earlier than expected.  So, I began reading back through the Psalms.  Last week I was reading Psalm 34 and saw something that I had not seen before.  Verses 8-11 seemed to jump off the page.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!  Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints!  There is no want to those who fear Him.  The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.  Psalm 34:8-10 (NKJV)

There is so much truth in these three verses but what caught my attention was what the Psalmist wrote in verse 9.  The Psalmist urged the saints (Christians) to fear the Lord.  Then the writer declared that those who do fear God lack nothing.  This is quite a promise.

I stopped what I was doing and did a word search on my Bible software about the benefits of fearing the Lord.  Three times in the Psalms, I found that God will bless one who fears Him.  As I continued searching the Scriptures, I learned  how God blesses those who fear Him.  Here are some of the jewels that I found.

• God’s eye is on those who fear Him (Psalm 33:18)
• When we fear God, we are given mercy (Luke 1:50; Psalm 103:11,17)
• God takes pleasure with us when we fear Him (Psalm 147:7)
• God has pity on people who fear Him (Psalm 103:13)
• God’s angels protect and deliver us when we fear Him (Psalm 34:7)
• He honors those who fear Him (Psalm 15:4)
• God shares His secrets with those who fear Him (Psalm 25:14)
• God is our help and shield when we fear Him (Psalm 115:11)

There were more blessings than I have time to share what God does for those who fear Him.  As I pondered all of this, I asked myself this question.  What does it really mean to fear God?  One explanation of the fear of the Lord helps bring meaning to this phrase.

The fear of the Lord is the continual awareness that I am in the presence of a holy, just and almighty God and that every motive, thought, word, and action is open before Him and will be judged by Him.

Another person put it this way.  The fear of the Lord involves:

• a hatred of sin
• an understanding of who God is
• developing a reverential fear of Him
• being led to develop true wisdom

When one fears the Lord, he/she lives with the awareness of both God’s presence and His coming judgement.  As a child of God, we do not have to fear His judgement as our sins have been forgiven.  However, an unsaved person has every right to fear God’s coming judgement.

Since fearing God promises to fully satisfy, this should lead us to have the same desire that the Psalmist had.  Consider what the Psalmist wanted to do once he understood the importance of fearing God.

Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Psalm 34:11 (NKJV)

This must be our desire when we taste the goodness of God, are blessed by trusting Him and are satisfied when we fear Him.  We must do everything we can to have the next generation listen to us.  And what do we want them to know?  We want to teach them the fear of the Lord.  This must be the highest priority for parents, church leaders and educators as they educate the next generation.

 

The more we experience (taste) the goodness of God and fear Him, the more we should beg the next generation to come and listen to us.  When they come, we can’t try to impress them with high sounding words or inundate them with endless bits of knowledge.  We must teach them the fear of the Lord.  Why?  Because God promises that if they fear Him, He will completely satisfy them.  Are you and I teaching the next generation about the fear of the Lord?  If not, we need to start to do so without delay!

I am often asked what I believe is the ONE thing that is needed to solve the terrible condition we find ourselves in today.  My answer to this question identifies both the problem and the solution for everything we are currently facing in society.  In fact, my answer is not just for our country but for the entire world.

D. Martin Lloyd-Jones summed up my answer in one sentence.

The problem with the world is we don’t know God!

That’s it in a nutshell.  We don’t know God!  This isn’t only true for society in general but, unfortunately, it is also true for today’s church.  Of course, this isn’t anything new.  God identified this problem when He described the condition of Israel.

Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: there is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land.  Hosea 4:1 (NKJV)

When God says that there is no knowledge of God in the land, the land refers to the nation of Israel — His people.  I am convinced that this is the problem in today’s church as well.  God’s people do not know Him!

God’s Word tells us the consequences that His people will face when they don’t know God.  In verse 6 of this same chapter of Hosea, we see that His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  The lack of knowledge that God is referring to is knowledge of God.

The prophet Isaiah records another consequence that will result from God’s people not knowing Him.

Therefore, My people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge.  Isaiah 5:13 (NKJV)

Here, again, we find that the lack of knowledge is related to knowing God.  What type of captivity results from not knowing God?  Paul warns us about this in his letter to the church in Colossae.

Beware lest anyone cheats (takes captive) you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8 (NKJV)

The captivity that God’s people find themselves in because they do not know God is one of false beliefs and ideas. By being taken captive by false worldviews, people think and act in ways that go against God’s Word.  This is where the church finds itself today.  Christians have been taken captive by a secular, man-centered worldview and, therefore, have lost their influence in the world.

If not knowing God is the problem, what is the solution?  It is simple — we must know God!  I am not talking about simply knowing about God.  This takes place by merely accumulating head knowledge about Him.  What is needed is for God’s people to know Him.  The difference is like night and day.

One of  the best pictures of this has to do with dating and being married.  While I dated my wife, I learned a lot about her.  When we became husband and wife, I knew her — we became one flesh.  I wouldn’t trade years of only knowing about her for one day of knowing her.

Here are four reasons why I am convicted more and more about the importance of knowing God as the true measure of living the Christian life.

Knowing God was His motive behind creation

God didn’t need any aspect of creation to become more God.  However, He created the world as an expression of who He is and did it for His glory.  God wanted to be known (see Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:20)!

Man was created in God’s image in order to know Him

Once the created world was in place, God created man in His image.  Man is the only created being that has the capacity to know, love and worship God.  Jonathan Edwards once wrote, God’s last end in creating the world is the creature’s [man’s] knowledge of Him.  For this is the end of all other knowledge.

God redeemed fallen man so that man can, once again, know Him

We know that Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection paid our sin debt and gave us the gift of eternal life.  However, eternal life is regaining the capacity to know God and, thereby, give Him glory (see John 17:3).

God desires our knowing Him more than religious sacrifices

This theme of knowing God is found in all of Paul’s prayers for the churches he started.  He continually prayed for Christians to increase in their knowledge of God (see Ephesians 1:15-17; Colossians 1:9-10).  God’s highest priority for His children is that they know Him (see Hosea 6:6).

J. I. Packer understood the importance of knowing God to every individual when he stated,

Once you become aware that the main business you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall in place of their own accord.

Jonathan Edwards emphasized the need to know God by writing,

Of all the knowledge the two can ever obtain, the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of ourselves, are the most important…He who does not know Him [God], knows nothing else as it truly is. 

If the root to all of the problems that this world finds itself in is not knowing God, then knowing God is the only solution to these problems.  This also means that the most important knowledge that we must give our children through their education is the knowledge of God.  If our children and youth learn great amounts of other knowledge but do not know God, their education is in vain.

Finally, let me share with you some results that would take place in our lives if we were to know God more each day.  J. I. Packer notes these results in his book, Knowing God.

1. Those who know God have great energy for God.  (see Daniel 11:32)
2. Those who know God have great thoughts of God. (see Daniel 4:6; 9:4,7,9,14)
3. Those who know God show great boldness for God. (see Acts 5:29; 20:24)
4. Those who know God have great contentment in God. (see Romans 5:1; 8; Daniel 3:16-18)

As you start a new week, how will you answer these questions?

1. How well do you know God?
2. What priority have you placed in your life of knowing God better each day?
3. How does knowing God impact your life when it comes to marriage, parenting, work, government, voting, etc?
4. What priority does knowing God have in the education of your children/students at home, church and school?

We need the body of Christ to have the same attitude that Paul had.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ…  Philippians 3:7-8

I end with the words by Dr. S. M. Lockridge.

That’s My King! Do You KNOW HIM?

Is this quote really true?  Can we understand everything so we can explain it?  Last week I shared how there continues to be a battle for the Bible.  However, today’s battle is not simply over the inerrancy of Scripture but also the sufficiency of Scripture.  It seems like every time I see someone say that the Bible is sufficient, there will be someone who will ask this question.

If the Bible is sufficient for everything that pertains to life, then how do you explain __________?

It is true that there are some things in the Bible that I don’t understand and can’t explain.  I don’t understand how this complex universe could be spoken into existence out of nothing (ex nihilo).  Nor can I explain how God’s Spirit can come and indwell every person who is born again.  However, this does not mean that I must look outside of the Bible to be able to explain or understand certain realities of life.

If I could completely understand and explain everything that is in God’s Word, it would mean that I would be equal to God.  Only God is all wise and He needs no one to instruct Him.  Man, on the other hand, is not omniscient and has limited understanding because he has a finite mind.

No matter how many advancements are made in science, it can never be an absolute source of truth.  This is because science can only tell us what makes up God’s creation and the creation ordinances God put into place for it to operate.  The same is true for anything that man develops in an effort to explain any aspect of life.

Job asked God why he was going through such pain and suffering.  After all, Job knew that he tried to live a life of integrity.  If he loved God and served Him, why did God allow all this torment to come into his life?

It is interesting to read the account of Job and realize that God never directly answered Job’s questions.  Instead, God asked Job a series of questions.  I would encourage you to read the exchange between God and Job in Job 38-39.  After Job’s friends tried to explain why Job was going through all of his suffering and Job had given his answers to their attacks, God spoke.  He said to Job,

Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Job 38:1-2 (NKJV)

God asked who is trying to “darken His counsel”.  What God said to Job was who is man that he would try to damage the integrity of His wisdom?  How was Job doing this?  Job was questioning the integrity of God’s wisdom with words that showed no knowledge.  The term “knowledge” means discernment or understanding.  In other words, God was letting Job know that mere mortal men can never fully understand God and His ways.  Whenever someone tries to do this, their words have no knowledge!

To prove His point, God asked Job some probing questions that no man, even a righteous man like Job, could answer.  God’s first question was enough to silence not only Job but also his friends.

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know!  Job 38:4-5 (NKJV)

God continued to bombard Job with questions.

Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place?  Job 38:12 (NKJV)

Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. Job 38:16-18 (NKJV)

Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young?…Have you given the horse strength?…Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, and spread its wings toward the south?…Does the eagle mount up at your command, and make its nest on high? Job 39:1,19,26-27 (NKJV)

You and I can study creation and we can see how it works.  However, we cannot answer the question, why does everything work the way it does?  That is because we are not God.  Only God can answer the questions that He asked Job.

After God questioned Job about his understanding of the created world, God gets to the heart of man’s inability to completely understand all of life.  Again, I encourage you to read Job 40-41.  God begins with this question,

Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? Job 40:1

God then confronts Job with this piercing question.

Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God?  Job 40:8-9 (NKJV)

There are other passages of the Bible where one can find God letting man know that He is God and we can never fully comprehend His majesty, power and glory.  Isaiah 40-41 come to my mind.  As I read these chapters, I am overwhelmed by the wisdom and power of Almighty God.  Isaiah sums all of this up with these words from God.

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)

What am I trying to say in all of this?  It is simply this.  God’s Word is true, inerrant and sufficient for all matters of life!  The fact that we cannot fully understand and explain everything that is in the Bible does not negate its authority.  It simply means that He is God and we are not!

I very seldom deal with topics outside of education in my blog posts.  However, I have become very burdened about something over the past couple of months.  So, I am taking a break from discussing education and addressing an extremely controversial topic this week — politics.

 

I have been preaching a four-part series at my church called Mind Blown: Finding God’s Purpose in a Fallen World.  It has been an extremely challenging time for me as I have spent hours in God’s Word in preparation for this series.  In doing so, I have found myself very broken about what is happening in our country.  I want to share several truths with you that God has reminded me of over the past few weeks.

Truth #1

There is no sphere of my life that is outside the Lordship of Christ.  For years I have taught how devastating it is to divide life up into two compartments — the secular and the sacred.  However, God convicted me that I was doing this very thing when I look at government/politics and think that I don’t have to be involved in it.  Politics is a reality of life here on earth and, therefore, God wants to rule in this area of my life as King.

Truth #2

All human life is sacred as every person has been created in God’s image.  Every person has intrinsic value and inherent worth because they are image bearers of God, imago dei.  I was reminded of how God creates each person distinctively different from every other individual.  This truth doesn’t simply apply to a person after he/she is born.  It also is true for every unborn child.  God makes this clear when the Holy Spirit led David to write,

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.  My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 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.  Psalm 139:13-16 (NKJV)

Another example of the fact that life begins at conception is found when God explained His plan for the prophet Jeremiah’s life.

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”  Jeremiah 1:4-5 (NKJV)

We even find that John the Baptist did something amazing while still in his mother’s womb.

Now Mary arose in those days and… entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.  And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb… Luke 1:39-41 (NKJV)

When Mary was pregnant with Jesus and visited Elizabeth, John the Baptist, who was in his mother’s womb, leaped when he realized he was in the presence of the Messiah.  This is amazing!

The sanctity of human life is not a political position.  Nor is it a personal choice.  It is fundamental to the Gospel.  This is because Jesus became a man, lived a sinless life, laid His life down on a cruel cross and rose from the grave to defeat death and sin for every person that bears God’s image.

When one ponders this wondrous truth, one sees the evil of abortion.  Again, I must emphasize that the issue of abortion is not a political one but an essential spiritual issue.  Since 1973, over 62 million babies have been killed by abortion in our country.  This averages out to more than 2,000 deaths by abortion every single day.

Truth #3

I am accountable to God for how I protect or don’t protect human life.  Most Christians who believe the Bible to be God’s Word will say that they believe in the sanctity of all human life.  However, we sometimes fail to see how much each person’s life means to God.  In my personal study this past month, God convicted me of not doing all I can to protect every human life.

In the Old Testament, we find that God’s people, Israel, were committing an abomination to God.  What was this abomination?  It was the fact that some of them were sacrificing their children to Molech.

The Canaanites had a pagan practice of offering a new born baby to their god, Molech.  This false god was usually formed in an image of a man with the head of a bull.  The idol would have outstretched arms and hands in which the people would place their little baby.  The ritual included burning hot fires around the statue that would heat the statue to a temperature that would cause the baby to actually sizzle to death.  While this sacrifice was taking place, the people would play flutes and pound drums in an attempt to drown out the shrieks and cries of the babies burning to death.

This act was so horrific in God’s eyes that he required any person who practiced this was to be put to death.  But God didn’t stop with just judging those who were practicing child sacrifice.  He also held all of Israel accountable for this horrific sin.

And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him, then I will set My face against that man and against his family…  Leviticus 20:4-5  (NKJV)

So what does all of this have to do with politics.  As Christians, we must participate in the political process. It is true that government is not the answer to our problems but God did ordain this institution.  I have also held the conviction that no one really votes for a person or a party.  When we vote, we are approving the ideas/platform that a person and his/her party stands on.

This means that I must vote in accordance with whose platform/beliefs best reflects God’s standards, especially when it comes to the sanctity of human life.  I know that this is a controversial statement but I cannot vote for anyone at any level of government who is in favor of the murder of unborn babies!

As I prepared to deliver these messages over the past three weeks, I came to realize that we are under God’s judgement for not doing more to protect the life of the unborn.  We must understand that God is immutable.  That means His ways, purposes and statues do not change.  He will set His face against us if we continue to hide our eyes to this horrific practice of abortion.

 

I am praying that Christians all across the country will not allow the loud sounds of political discourse, COVID-19, and social unrest drown out the cries of the unborn.  We must seek God’s face, repent of our sin of apathy and actually be His salt and light in a dark, wicked world.  The unborn are depending on us!

 

God established the home as the fundamental building block of society.  It is my conviction that parents were intended, by God, to be the primary influencers on a child’s life.  As God gave KEM a fresh mission, it became clear that there must be a greater effort to EMPOWER the home.

Empowerment is a hot topic in today’s world.  You hear about efforts to empower women, employees and/or even the individual.  The dictionary defines the term empower this way.

It is to give power or authority to do something.

If there is one group of people that needs to be empowered today, it is parents.  But who can EMPOWER parents?  The only one that can EMPOWER the home is the One who ordained the home from the beginning of time — God.  God has specifically given parents the authority to do certain things.  The most important task that He has authorized parents to do is to bring them [children] up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).

There are many passages of Scriptures that prove that God has empowered parents for this task.  Some of the most familiar passages are Deuteronomy 6:4-7, Psalm 78:1-7, Psalm 127:3-5.  God has empowered parents for the all-important task of raising their children biblically.

Not only has God given parents the legal and moral authority to raise their children, He also enables them to do this.  God would not merely tell parents that they are the ones who are to raise their children in Lord and then leave it up to parents to figure out how to do it. He also empowers them by telling them how they should do this.  Parents are empowered to fulfill this God-given mandate by knowing and understanding key biblical principles found in the Bible.

God has laid upon my heart the conviction and desire to EMPOWER the home through kingdom education.  KEM will do this by helping parents understand their God-given mandate to provide their children with a biblical worldview education.  Parents must understand that they are primarily responsible for the education of their children.

However, too many parents believe that it is the church’s, school’s or state’s responsibility to educate children.  If that were true, then God would have given children to the church, school or government.  God didn’t do that He gave children to parents.

It is also important that every effort is made to make sure that the home understands the biblical principles that can guide parents in completing this vital task.  I have found 14 biblical principles that tell us how God wants us to educate future generations.  It is critical that every effort is made to make these principles known to parents.

When parents know that God has given them the authority to educate their children and the principles by which they are to do so, then the church and school must be ready to partner with and assist the home in fulfilling this mandate.  Each individual must be RESTORED to think biblically about all of life, especially the education of future generations.   When this occurs, individuals will understand how important it is to EMPOWER  the home.

As parents we must accept our responsibility to educate our children biblically and embrace the biblical principles that will show us how to fulfill this assignment from the Lord.  God wants to EMPOWER the home to educate future generations so that they will become disciples of Jesus Christ.