Weapons of the Righteous – Delighting in the Lord

When I started doing ministry in Downtown Kingston, I was introduced to a food spot where I tried their chicken back, and after that, there was no turning back (no pun intended).  I loved it.  I would be home and suddenly realize that my mind had drifted off into dreaming about chicken back, whether curried or brown stewed, it didn’t matter.  I delighted in this delectable delicacy. Okay, so maybe chicken back is not a delicacy as it is one of the cheapest meals in Jamaica, and some folks may not want to say they eat it because there may be some shame associated with it. But, to the chagrin of those with refined palates, I must state that I have no shame, because it sure was delicious.  When I think about how much I have loved chicken back and dreamt about it, it brings me to a Psalm of David that says, taste and see that the Lord is good.  Please excuse me if you feel that I have somehow gone astray to draw an analogy of delighting in the Lord to chicken back, because there is seriously no comparison. Yet, how many of us delight in what seems inconsequential instead of our Lord? 

 

Psalm 37:4 has been one of my favorite verses as it says, delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Actually, this has also been a popular verse amongst some of the spiritually nefarious who have twisted this passage to make it seem that God will give us any and all of our desires, missing that our desires will be met after we delight in the Lord and when we are in His will.  It is conditional.  If I were to cook up some chicken back and do it my way, it would not have tasted as good as the Downtown Kingston chicken back.  Similarly, if we are to live our lives our way, then we may not be in the Lord’s will and are not truly delighting in Him.  Look at how we are supposed to delight in the Lord.

Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done righteousness
And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight in the nearness of God. Isaiah 58:2

When we delight in the Lord, we seek Him first above anything else in order to have a deeper relationship with Him and to know His ways.  We will do what is right and it will be our joy to follow His commands because we love Him, even though what He tells us to do may be difficult and the circumstances we face may be challenging.  We will endure hardship to please God and to give Him the glory, and His joy will be our strength (Nehemiah 8:10).  Like Paul, we will rejoice in suffering for the sake of His people.  Praying His will comes automatically for us when we delight in Him and we will trust Him in whatever He does, while we bask in His presence and savor His word.

Your words were found and I ate them,
And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;
For I have been called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts. Jeremiah 15:16

The word of God will always be in our hearts and out of the abundance of our hearts our mouths will speak His words.  We will also delight in what delights Him – His Word, which we will meditate on day and night, so that we will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, yielding fruit in due season with leaves that do not wither, and whatever we do for the Lord will prosper (Psalm 1:2-3).  And, let us not forget that the Word is Jesus, and the streams of water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit flowing out of us to refresh others.  

I looked up the word delight on Blue Letter Bible and it comes from the Hebrew word ʻânag, which also means to be soft or pliable.  We are to be like putty in the Master Potter’s hands as He shapes us into the vessel He purposes us to be.  Sometimes He may have to pound us into shape because we are not surrendering to His will in certain areas of our lives, but He has a beautiful plan for us in all this pain. He wants us to understand that our desires are to come from Him and when our desires are aligned with His, He will give us the desires of our heart.  Nothing is supposed to come between us and our Lord.  Our desires should not become our idols that keep us away from the Father, for in Him there is fullness of joy and in His right hand there are pleasures forever (Psalm 16:11). 

When we delight in the Lord we can’t help but tell of His goodness to all who we encounter.  We praise Him knowing that He inhabits the praises of His people, not focusing on His benefits, but on Him. The shortest chapter in the Bible expresses the benevolent nature of our God.

Praise the Lord, all nations;
Laud Him, all peoples!
For His lovingkindness is great toward us,
And the truth of the Lord is everlasting.
Praise the Lord! Psalm 117

We praise Him for who He is – love, truth, the way, light and life itself.  This is why we should without reservation, praise the Lord and delight in Him, no matter how crazy we may look to others, we should leap and dance like David, even though it drew the contempt of His wife Michal.  Are you willing to become undignified and foolish for the Lord, and even humiliated in your own eyes?  That is truly delighting in the Lord.  How could we not delight in our God, who when we praise Him, sets up an ambush that makes our enemies flee?

We should delight in the Almighty and lift up or faces to God, longing to do His will, and our steps will be established by Him as He delights in our ways, because they are His ways.   The Lord should be magnified as He brings us into a spacious place and rescues us from our enemies because He delights in us. We love because God loved us first, and we delight in Him because He delighted in us first when He created man and said His creation was very good.  Also, Jesus chose us to go and bear fruit, so that the Father will give us whatever we ask using His name.  Why then do we spend money on things that do not sustain our souls and labor for what does not satisfy?  Let us feast in the abundance of God’s house, and drink from His river of delights for when we feed on His word, we will delight in His abundance, which is so much better than what the world could ever offer us.  Praise the Lord!!!  

The Weapons of the Righteous – Trust in the Lord and Cultivate Faithfulness

Before becoming a Christian, I learned never to trust any man who told me, “Trust me.”  This mistrust translated into my Christianity when I encountered many scriptures saying, “Trust in the Lord.”  Now, this was the same Lord who inspired these very words.  In essence, God was telling me to trust Him.  Frankly, that was very hard, especially after being let down by those close to me who were supposed to have been there for me through good and bad times.  Trusting God has been a slow and sometimes painful process.  But, our all-knowing God knew this beforehand and that’s why the last part of Psalm 37:3 in the NASB version tells us to cultivate faithfulness. Cultivating takes time because the land has to be prepared to promote growth.  This has to take place in our sometimes stony hearts, which have to be plowed to soften the ground and anything that would impede growth has to be removed so that when seeds of faithfulness are planted they will flourish.  The Lord wants us not only to trust Him, but also to be loyal and steadfast in our love for Him.  However, we have to be able to trust God first, in order to be faithful to Him.  It would be hard for me to be faithful to someone I couldn’t trust.  Therefore, a part of cultivating faithfulness is learning to trust God, remembering that even if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.  2 Timothy 2:13.  That’s just who He is – Faithful.

Earlier this year, God kept on telling me to trust Him through Bible verses, devotionals and friends.  I really wanted to, but I still struggled with the trust issue and then “it” happened.  No, the “it” that happened was not a sudden feeling of total trust of the Lord, but rather “it” was a bombardment of difficulties that left me in a quandary.  There was nothing else I could do but to give each and every adversity to God and let Him fix all that was overwhelming me, whether it was the uncertainty of continuing the ministry because funds were very low, or a monstrous mouse that somehow made its way into the house.  Only God could work it out, and He did.  He solved the problems of money, mouse and what seemed like a mountain of muddles.   And, just when I thought I was out of the quagmire, “it” happened again.  This time “it” was a spate of illnesses, including extreme exhaustion and unexplainable rashes by my shoulders. I wasted no time to give these maladies over to God, knowing that if I cast my burdens on Him, He would sustain me.  I regained energy and the rashes disappeared.  I still have other ailments, but like Job, I say, “Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him.”  Now, I don’t believe that God has caused any of my predicaments, but I know that none of what I have encountered has caught Him off guard.  He has allowed all these mini or major crises for a reason.  And, one such reason is to draw me closer to Him.  My pain and discomfort are not being wasted, and out of the mess will come a message about the great God who I serve.

 

If we are truthful to ourselves, we will admit that we have not trusted God in the way He would want us to.  How many of us truly trust in the Lord without leaning on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5)?  Some of us trust in our symbolic horses and chariots (Psalm 20:7), others trust in themselves and are fools (Proverbs 28:26), while others trust in riches and fall (Proverbs 11:28), and still there are those who trust in deceptive words that are worthless (Jeremiah 7:8).  Too many of us fail to realize that if we trust in the God of hope, He fills us with joy and peace so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans15:13). 

Far too often, we have misplaced our trust, putting our confidence in man, but Jesus knew better (John 2:24-25).  Shouldn’t we trust the One who knows what is in the heart of man, while still showing us His loving kindness?  Shouldn’t our confidence be in the One who cannot be deceived?

Our God commands us to be strong and courageous and not to be afraid, or discouraged for He is with us wherever we go.  (Joshua 1:9)

But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel,
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine!
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flame burn you.

Isaiah 43:1-2

I always want to shout, “Hallelujah!!!” when I read these verses.  How can I not trust a God who is with me through all of these?  I know that many will ask why didn’t He prevent these terrible things instead of let us go through them?  Well, we need to know that we need Him.  If everything went well in our lives, we would think that we could make it in this life on our own, and may miss out on life everlasting with Him.  God loves us too much to let us go to hell that easy.   Know that good can be very far from being Godly. But, how will we know this unless we have a deep relationship with the Father?  We tend to draw closer to Him during the hard times, and then we will know without a doubt that He is our refuge and strength, and an ever present help in times of trouble.  He proved Himself faithful to an adulterous people in the Bible, He has been faithful to the rebellious throughout history, and He continues to be faithful in these days when we are lovers of self.  As we are enveloped by God’s faithfulness and love, the harsh seasons we go through make us more like Him.  We are being crushed to be wine to quench the spiritual thirst of those around us and we are broken bread in Jesus’ hands to nourish His body.  And when we go through our desert place, God is taking us to a Promised Land that we are prepared for because our hearts are renewed to reflect His love and His faithfulness. Our story will be for His glory.  Therefore, I will choose to trust my Lord, my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2   I trust Him, because He is who He is, and I can say like Habakkuk:

Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

Habakkuk 3:17-18

Yes, we will have rough times, when all seems lost, but don’t give up the fight, because the battle is the Lord’s.  We don’t have to be discouraged when a vast army comes against us.  Trust in the Lord’s character.  He is faithful to us, even to the very end of the age and lovingly watches over us as we cultivate faithfulness in the dry dark times in our lives.  Let us trust Him to do a mighty work within us, for when we are weak, He is strong; when we cry alone, He is our Comforter; when we feel like our lives are in ruin, He is our Restorer; when the battalion of hell attacks us, He is our Deliverer; and when we are held in the bondage of sin, He is our Redeemer. Trust Him!

The Weapons of the Righteous – Do Not Fret

First, let me start off this post with a confession – I am a recovering fretter.  I looked up the word fret and it gave me some anxiety as it means to eat or gnaw into and to wear away. What vivid descriptions of how fretting can adversely affect the depths of our souls and our bodies.  Can you imagine that these are the effects of fretting? It should make us want to stop fretting for the rest of our lives.  To fret also means to worry, so I will use these words interchangeably throughout this post.   This post may also be a bit lengthy, but don’t worry, read it when you can and how you can.

Do Not fret About Suffering

Growing up with my grandmother, who was also a worrier, I would see her put her hand on her jaw and ask God out loud, “Why do we have to suffer so much?” This is indelibly etched in my memory.  She was a churchgoing woman, but may not have understood that she served a Savior who suffered.   Jesus had asked the Father to let the cup of suffering pass Him as He knew the torture that awaited Him on His journey to the cross on Calvary. But, it was the Father’s will, so, He did what He had come to earth to do and because of His tribulations we are now triumphant. In the NASB version, the title for Isaiah 53 is The Suffering Servant.  And verse 10 says this:

But the Lord was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

 

It sounds so cruel that the Father was pleased to crush the Son.  But, it was for a great purpose and because Jesus took our sins to the cross, we now have eternal life and no more shackles of sin.  We are free!!!

 

As followers of Jesus, we too must obediently take up our own cup of suffering and carry our cross.  Before you think I am being fatalistic and pessimistic, please let us go to the scriptures. 

But He knows the way I take;
When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job 23:10

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4

We need not worry when suffering even though it can be quite painful, since God knows what we are going through and is using the trial to take out impurities from us to make us come out as pure gold.  Now, I am not there yet with James to count it all joy when I encounter trials of many kinds, nonetheless, I know God is working things out of me and in me, so that I lack nothing in Him.   We can have peace in the midst of turmoil knowing that Jesus is with us whether in a small disturbance or a major storm.  We just have to be courageous and focus on Him, not shifting our gaze.  But, if we do take our eyes off Him and start to sink, He is ready to pick us up with His mighty hands. Moreover, we are more than conquerors in Christ because He has overcome the world. So, why worry when Jesus Himself tells us not to worry?

Do Not Fret Just Obey Jesus

For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:25-34

Three times in this passage Jesus tells us not to worry because the Father is taking care of our needs.  Then, why do we worry?  I believe it is because we are a rebellious generation.  If we do not obey God, then we are rebelling against Him and not trusting Him.  Remember, I am speaking to myself here too.  I know not worrying when all goes wrong may not be natural to us as it comes easily and it may seem a bit odd if we are not fretting in times of intense trials.  But, Jesus often calls us to go counterculture and even against our accepted beliefs.  When He told Peter and His fellow fishermen to go back out after a night of hard work, which had yielded no results, it did not make sense, but Peter wisely responded, “I will do as You say.” Luke 5:5.  It is time do what Jesus says and not worry, even though we are prone to do so.  He has given us this command because He loves us and understands the ill-effects of fretting.

Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Psalm 37:8-9

Yikes!!! I seriously am making a decision not to fret.  Not only can it lead to evil coming out of our anger, but it can be physically debilitating.   WebMD highights some of the ailments we can have from stress resulting from worry – heart problems, high blood pressure, asthma, obesity, diabetes, headaches, depression, gastrointestinal problems, alzheimer’s, accelerated aging, and even premature death.   Jesus is all about life.  It is the enemy who comes to steal, kill and destroy.  Therefore, why are we giving him an open door to cause havoc in our lives by worrying? God has told us not to worry, so just do it.

Do Not Worry About Loved Ones

Many of us worry about loved ones going astray, but we must not forget that God loves them more than we ever could and we need to leave them to Him.  Sometimes our helping could be hindering and we become enablers, therefore, we need to keep on looking to Jesus and not their issues.

Recently, while babysitting four of the children I work with, the three year old was going through her rebellious stage with me and I wasn’t having it.  She did exactly what I told her not to do and she fell.  I didn’t budge.  I stayed seated as she cried, while her seven year old sister went over and brushed her off gently as I gave a watchful eye.  She brought her to sit on her lap as she comforted her.  It was quite a touching scene, but I still didn’t say anything.  Soon, my little repentant three year old came closer to me and said, “Aunty Nicky, I going to behave.”  She was welcomed into my lap where she fell asleep peacefully.

Now, before you go saying I am a mean ogre, I never let her out of my sight.  I saw that she had no cuts or bruises, and all her limbs were in place.  Well maybe her ego was bruised, but she had to learn a lesson that she must face consequences for disobedience.  God does the same with us.  Sometimes we feel that He is much too silent in our misery.  Yet, He is always near.  We want Him to fix things right away as we lean on our own understanding, failing to realize that His ways are not our ways, and that through our trials He is redirecting our paths back to Him, the safest place we could be.  If we are not being disciplined by God, then that would be a cause for concern as God is a good Father who disciplines the ones He loves and who He accepts as His children. 

 

Stop worrying and desperately trying to get your loved ones out of their mess.  Instead, through prayer, bring them to the throne room and leave them at the Father’s feet.  In addition, let it sink in that persistent prayers and anxious prayers are at opposite ends of the spectrum.  Persistent prayers focus on God, while anxious prayers focus on the problem. 

 

Do Not Worry About Evil People

I know this can be a tough one, because sometimes we feel that we are bombarded by mean rude aggressive people who slander us and gossip about us.  But, there is no need to worry.  Psalm 37: 1 tells us Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers.  For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb.  If anyone should worry it should be the evildoers, so we need to make sure we are not doing evil.

Persons who do wrong to us can leave deep wounds, but we need to forgive and seek healing from Jesus, for by His stripes we are healed and He has come to heal the brokenhearted.  Back in high school, there were girls who would laugh at me and say my hair looked like a wig.  You may think, “Well its only hair, what’s the problem, move on?”  However, to a teenage girl who lacked the cool gene that was another point of hurt and it was not until I was around forty that a former classmate told me many girls wanted to have hair like mine.  All that time I took worrying about my hair looking like a wig and trying to figure out what to do to make it look “normal” was pointless.  I should have just walked proudly in who God created me to be, whether I looked like I wore a wig or not.  Lesson learned.  Don’t worry about what people are saying, or trying to please others.  That is a tactic used by the enemy to destroy our identity in Christ and to get us out of God’s will.

Some may be going through much worse than what I did and may have to face bullies at school or even on the job.  Many folks are mistreated in their place of employment and even in their own homes, and may feel that they have many adversaries coming against them. But, when King David faced a similar situation he was not worried, as he confidently stated,

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me round about.

Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!
For You have smitten all my enemies on the cheek;
You have shattered the teeth of the wicked. Psalm 3:7-8

David had no worries, as His confidence was in his God, who could shatter the teeth of the wicked.  We don’t need to worry either when we put our confidence in the Lord.  Plus, many of our antagonists’ bark is bigger than their bite.  It is difficult to have a good bite when toothless.  God has already done it.   We don’t have to worry.

Do Not Fret Because Nothing Is Stronger Than God

Here in Jamaica, I often hear people say, “The devil strong, eh?”  Seriously?!! No devil, demon, or problem is ever stronger that the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit.  We unintentionally exalt the devil above God by being great publicists when we give exposure to his diabolic deeds.  Let’s change our perspective and put our focus back where it belongs, on Jesus, who is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the great Miracle Worker, who makes a way where there seems to be no way.  Now, He is Someone worth talking about.  

God allows us to go through tribulations so that He can draw us closer to Himself.  He uses whatever trials the enemy throws at us as a tool to smooth off our rough edges and to make us into His image.  The Master Potter has got us in His hands.  The Lord knows when it is pruning season as He is the Expert Gardener, who knows pruning is painful for us now, but in the future as a result of it, we will bear much fruit. Consequently, we don’t have to worry because God is in charge.  Through Him we are not defeated victims, but vibrant victors radiating His glory.