When’s the last time you got discouraged? Living in this sinful world it can happen pretty quickly ! Maybe your reading this now and you’re struggling with it.  Maybe tomorrow or the next day you might.  Or you know someone right now who is. Well, we’re not alone. Scan the pages of Scripture and many of the saints struggled as well.   What to do, what to do?

David had his share of discouraging times. Remember how for no good reason he was threatened by his own king, jealous old Saul? So David left for the land of the Philistines (the Israelites enemy !). He took up residence in Ziklag but he left on a military mission for a short time only to come back and find Ziklag pillaged by an enemy.  His family was seized, the townspeople’s families were  captured, and the town burned. Seemed like everything he was doing was crumbling around him bit by bit. So easy to be discouraged !

So he did what we all need to do in such low points. He sought to simply reverse the spiral of spiritual and emotional decline by encouraging himself in the Lord ! How?  Well, one, he started to react right unlike previously.  In 1Sam.30:4 he didn’t suffer in silence, “Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept. . .” Sometimes we’ll bottle things up when maybe its not the best play and then we shut ourselves off from what God could do through other’s helping us and encouraging us. Gal.6:2 suggests this that we’re to “bear one another’s burdens and so FULFILL the LAW of CHRIST” !   I’m not saying we should become a cry baby but we shouldn’t be so proud to think we can handle it all at all times either.

1Sam.30:6 also shows us when we get down to not lash out at others, “And David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved every man for his sons and for his daughters”.   David was taking hits from all sides but unlike his neighbors he wasn’t taking it out on them !   So David proceeded to what he knew was beneficial, ” but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” (vs6)  The word “encouraged” speaks of resetting a broken bone, to mend or heal.  His reaction was the counterproductive one to his fellow townsmen’s !  He found strength in the truth and Person of God which partly meant to not lash back for he KNEW vengeance was God’s, He would make things right in His time and David would rest in that and just do right. When your down there’s nothing quite as uplifting as the timeless truths of the Word of God to correct and comfort us !

But did he stop there? Nada – he started to react right, now he had a firm resolve to keep doing right so he sought God’s counsel: “And David enquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And He answered him, ‘Pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” (vs8)  The Amalekites had done this vicious act and David was a great military man.  But he still sought God’s permission to mete out justice and rescue the captives of his town and his own family.  Sometimes when we’re down we don’t think very straight, our emotions run amok and of all times its then we need the clear directives of the Word to guide us correctly through troubled waters.

Last, David not only sought God’s counsel but he submitted to it.  We’re prone to go by what we like and what’s convenient rather than hard and frankly, what’s right !  But David didn’t remain sitting and weeping for long he got up and went after the enemy !  Most Christians want to hear what God says to get out of discouragement  until it means hearing what is needed to DO ! Yet if we make the judgment that what God says to do is too hard, we forfeit spiritual maturity, joy, and peace that God could otherwise bring through the down time !    The end result for David was he SUCCEEDED, “And David RECOVERED ALL . . .”  (vs18).  So can YOU when you follow the same formula David did !

My Dad can come up with some witty and funny sayings all of a sudden just like his mother did. I was standing outside the doors of a funeral home about to do his mother’s (my grandmother’s) funeral and two very somber funeral home employees who both knew my father opened the door for us.  One of them said, “Hi Bill, how are you?” to which he immediately responded, “Oh, pretty good, I’m still this side of the dirt !”    Though it was a serious occasion I watched these guys quickly turn from very serious faces to sudden smiles then as I then joined in, a pretty good dose of laughter. 

I think God has given us a wonderful gift in humor to help us through life’s twists and turns. And as it’s been said many times if you don’t think God laughs and has a sense of humor just walk over to the closest mirror and take a look ! Can you imagine how  the Lord must’ve chuckled just at Peter alone sometimes?   Well a good joke is fine and a hilarious story might ease one’s troubles for a moment but God has given us all something that works better than a temporary easement. How about His Word? 

 I wonder how many times believers down through the centuries have had worries alleviated by the simple yet powerful words of “Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you” (1Pt.5:7).  I told a recent new convert my joke supporting that truth of the man who worried about everything but one day his friend saw his whole face changed, no longer affected by worry. He asked what happened to which the man told him he’d hired someone to do all his worrying for him.  When his friend asked him how much that cost he told him $1,000 a day.  The friend asked him how he’d ever pay for that to which his reply came back, “I don’t know, thats his worry !”    I’ve always loved that joke !!    But if we really believe that verse our fears and worries WILL be conquered ! And thats better relief than the best belly laugh can give.

And what about another favorite in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”   Paul stood solidly on that platform of assurance that no matter what befell him as long as he loved God and was obedient to Him (the two go hand in hand) things would come out just fine. Remember how that played out for Joseph in Egypt, Ruth in Bethlehem, and Daniel in Babylon?  So when things seem to be going a bit awry in your corner of the world just keep plugging along doing what God says, things will pan out and that simple yet powerful faith in what He’s said will be more enduring and helpful than the best of one liners !

Still, don’t get me wrong I love a good joke and the Lord can even use them to help us but the greater help will always be His Word ! Read it and BELIEVE it !!!

Not that many years ago I recall my grandfather driving all around near his farm delivering his homegrown sweet corn to his neighbors. He wasn’t selling it though, he was giving it away. He did that every year I can remember, he loved to share that with them.  And every year, without fail, he’d say it was “Sweet as honey”. The family always got a chuckle out of that.  But he modelled to us a love of giving. 

As I look at our church folks I often see the same spirit. People there do many things to make sure things run smoothly and when there’s a need they do what they can to meet it.  Yet I don’t think a strong desire to give is something we’re born with its something thats nurtured and especially so as we grow closer in our walk with Christ.   We naturally want to hang on to what we have and are slow to let go and give thinking if we do that we’ll be the loser in the end.  But the ironic thing about giving for God is that the very opposite occurs !

Another man who had a great influence upon me for giving used to say “You can’t outgive the Lord !” He was so right.  You reap what you sow (Gal.6:7) and that applies to how we give.  But some time back I came across a wonderful verse and started to meditate upon it:  “He that hath pity upon the poor lends UNTO THE LORD; and that which he hath given will He pay him again” !    (Prov.19:17) – when you give to someone in genuine need you’re not just giving to them, but Him !  And even if that person to whom you share your resources has no means presently to pay you back or if its given with the intention of no pay back, a true gift, then God is going to take care of your needs !!  Its a win-win !

Now we aren’t to give to get but when we give out of compassion (pity) God NOTICES and He takes care of YOU. Giving is really a matter of faith, do you believe when you see a need and by choosing to give you will give up some time, money, energy that you’ll end up just fine? Or do you refrain to give because of the cost and thinking you’ll lose somehow?  Trust God, pure and simple  and sit back and enjoy God’s loving and giving response back !   

A young man who was at Penn State told me a story from his church about giving once. He said the church was in desperate need of fixing their parking lot as it was causing some water issues so they wanted it paved. A man had started to come to the church who had a paving business but he was having great difficulty and was close to losing his business.  The pastor approached him asking him to do it in faith for the Lord either free or at a low cost. He chose to totally donate his time and the material for God’s house and shortly thereafter his business took off dramatically !   That great offering from this man must’ve been “sweet as honey” to God !  What will yours be this week?

Yesterday Nancy and I took a day off for a trip I’ve wanted to do for  a while now, we went to Shanksville.  Ten years ago as you know, Flight 93 crashed near that town and 40 dear American souls slipped off into eternity on board that day along with their four hijackers.  As we arrived, the traffic into the site was at a standstill because the Secretary of the Interior, we were told, was just finishing a press conference there. And three presidents will later visit the site this weekend.

But once we got to the actual place where we could see where the crash happened, it was understandably so a place of reverent calm. A college football team stood silently listening to a guide explain the tragedy, others milled about quietly and somberly reading the placard of where the plane was observed over the hill to our left and plunged into the field below.  A woman was reading the note by flowers left behind in memory of those heroes a decade ago.  There isn’t much there yet, an open field where Flight 93 finally rested, a wall of the names of the fallen and a large metal shack converted as a temporary museum which tells the story of that fateful day.   It’s hard to come and go there without leaving some of your own tears.

I was reading some of the notes people had left in the shack and they were pretty touching. The great majority of them talked in spiritual tones.  “God bless” was a common expression in them yet how uncommon in our culture !    Some of you may know that Todd Beamer, who was heard to say “Let’s roll” as they were about to overtake their hijackers, was a believer who’d met his wife at the Christian college they’d attended.  We rightly lift him up as a hero, he had the right stuff at the right time but would we?  Would we be willing to fight the GOOD fight when it all came down to it? 

Perhaps that can best be answered with “what are you ‘risking’ right now?”  We go through our daily paces, sure, but what are we really laying on the line for the Lord?    Paul encouraged Timothy in his “swan song” of the book of 2 Timothy (his final epistle) knowing he was soon to die by the hand of an executioner, “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” (4:5).  He pressed Timothy to be faithful, despite hardships that would result from standing true, he urged his friend and protege to be resolved to tell others about how to get to heaven for that is KEY for folks in a state where their plane is hurtling towards eternity too. 

But then Paul wound down his remarks by confidently admitting, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”    Read just Acts and you know he did war well for the Lord.  The scars in his body he must’ve had by this time !!   So what can you resolve to put on the line for Christ after we pass the ten year anniversary of 9/11?  Be a better evangelist?  More Christlike in your afflictions instead of whining?  Less time engaged in hobbies or things you like to do and more in making full proof of your ministry? In other words, finding a niche for God to use the talents He’s given you and utilizing them well in His church?   

How do we help to avoid another 9/11?  Fight the GOOD fight !  YOUR Christian testimony and ministry may just reach some soul in time that would’ve otherwise been reached by a godless terrorist !  So, what do you say?  Let’s Roll !!!!

The morning of October 2, 2006 Charles Carl Roberts barricaded himself inside of West Nickle Mines Amish School. He then proceeded to murder five young girls and wounded six others  before taking his own life.  You probably remember the news of this tragic event.  I have spoken with Amish people in that area since and there is still a very detectable and understandably sad reaction to the horrific events of that sad fall day.  But it was also a hard day for Marie Roberts, wife of the gunman, and her two young children.

The next Saturday, Marie went to her husband’s funeral and it was there she and her children witnessed an amazing display of forgiveness and love as Amish families (about half of the 75 mourners there) came alongside to encourage them and extend their heartfelt compassion despite their losses.   Bruce Porter, a fire department chaplain, who had also attended the service was deeply moved saying, “It’s the love, the heartfelt forgiveness they have toward the family. I broke down and cried seeing it displayed.” And he noted Marie was also deeply moved by their love.

As 9/11’s tenth anniversary approaches, I wonder, how do you feel about Muslims now?  How about someone who has said or done something very wrong towards you? Maybe it’s something a long time ago now that you have tried to bury but every now and then it seems to resurface.  Well, such ill feelings are not abnormal for us nor for folks in Scripture. Remember how Jonah responded to God’s call to go to Nineveh”  “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa. . .” (Jonah 1:3).  Duh, trying to flee from the presence of an omnipresent God was STOOOOPID !  But in Jonah’s mind he was disgusted at what those Ninevites had done to his fellow Israelites.   And when we get angry and seethe and forgiveness has not been chosen it is easy to think STOOOOPID, is it not?

Remember also Jonah’s reaction after his preaching touched off the greatest revival ever, “But it DISPLEASED Jonah EXCEEDINGLY, and he was VERY angry. And he prayed unto the Lord (bet it wasnt his best prayer either !) and said, I pray Thee,O Lord, was not this my saying when i was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil.” (4:1,2). Well at least his theology was correct, huh? 

He knew all about God, he just refused to apply it to himself !!  Hmm, maybe that’s where we go wrong too when we are offended by someone and we stew and pout and refuse to choose to forgive them.   But like the Amish connected with that great tragedy, when we do choose love and forgiveness what Christlikeness and great good can be accomplished ! “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”  (Rom.12:21).   God can give you the grace to rise above the hurt and help you and others to heal if you choose that. What a memorial to 9/11 as God fearing Americans when we do and to Christ’s ultimate sacrifice !!