November 19, 2006
Scripture:
Prayer
EG Hymn 201 – When we walk with the Lord, Prayer Luke 5:1–11 • Here we have the Lord Jesus on the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret (also, the Sea of Galilee). The people came to Him to hear what he had to say, so Jesus got into one of the boats, pushed it out a little way, and began to teach the people the ways God wanted them to live in order to have a relationship with Him. Now, whose boat was it? It was Simon’s. Simon was a fisherman, but at this time he was cleaning his nets. When Jesus had finished speaking, he asked Simon to launch out and let his net down for a draught of fish. Simon had been a fisherman all his life; he knew that it was best to fish at night and where the best spots on the lake were. He told the Lord that they had fished last night and caught nothing—there wouldn’t be anything out right now. But then he said, “Nevertheless, at Thy word we will let down the net.” So they went out, the same fishermen on the same lake; everything was the same, except that this time, they had the Lord. And it turned out that they caught so much that they needed to call their partners for help. What can we learn from this story? First of all, we can see how Simon was willing to lend the Lord his boat. Then, he obeyed the Lord’s suggestion to go fishing. He was blessed for this. I’m sure we have all had times where we needed help in something, and after praying, it went much better: the Lord made all the difference. So what was Simon’s response to this miracle? He was so taken up with what happened that he asked the Lord to leave him. He realized that the Lord was holy and that he was a sinner, not fit to be in the presence of the Lord. Yet the Lord wanted to use Simon to be a fisher of men. So when they had reached shore, Simon, James, and John forsook everything to follow the Lord. This is a good lesson in learning to “trust and obey.”
Hebrews 12:3–8 • As we go on with our chapter, we are still looking at the Christian pathway as a race. We started out finding that this race requires us to lay aside weights and sin; we must have our eyes focused on Jesus. We also noticed that the word endured comes in quite a few times: v.1—“run with endurance” (Darby); v.2—“enduring crucifixion” (Kelly); v.3—“endured such contradiction of sinners.” Now we come to v. 4: “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Resisting sin is a part of considering the Lord, but the Lord never had to resist sin in Himself. He had to contend with sin in those around Him and bore our sin and sins in His body on the cross. We must resist sin; He did not have to because He did not have a sin nature. Now, while we are considering Jesus, we have a “lest” in the middle of v. 3 that does not involve the Lord. He did not get weary. Now we know that in John 4, the Lord, “being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well.” But He was never weary of his life. But one of the things Satan especially loves to do is wear us down with difficulties, trials, problems, criticism. Batteries can wear out; but some can be charged. How do you recharge? We are so blessed to have the Bible, ministry, each other, and the Holy Spirit. Now, there are many saints who have resisted unto blood, standing by the truth until martyrdom. We saw some of these in chapter 11, “of whom the world was not worthy.” So if the Lord is on our side, how come we have trials and difficulties? Although the enemy is always ready to oppress us, these things may be from the Lord. When they come upon us, it may feel like the Lord is angry with us; that’s not what this is saying. God loves us and we should accept it from him. In his book, Sky Edge, Philip Kellar gives an analogy of this. In the mountains, it is very sparse above the timber line, but there are a few trees. These trees have gone higher than the rest, but they are pelted with hail, crushed by the snow, torn by the wind, the rain, and the elements. They are closer to the sky, but they have much more adversity than other trees. Interestingly, being exposed to this harsh weather creates more resin in the wood of the tree and carpenters use this wood especially to make fine violins, because it gives the music a sweeter sound. By its appearance, it is a very decrepit tree, but inside is that which alone could make the pure harmony. We may have faith, lay aside weights, consider the Lord, and so on, but that alone will not do it. It takes the Lord’s hands in trials to make us special material for Him. Some of these trials may be chastening, but it is all the work of a loving Lord making something of value. It is not until “God unrolls the canvas and explains the reason why” that our trials here will make sense. John 15 tells us, “every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” It is precious when we are drawn closer to the Lord because of our trials; his motive is always love and his purpose is always blessing. This chapter gives us three ways to respond to a trial: 1) despise it, v.5; 2) faint under it, v.5; or 3) be exercised by it, v.11. Job is one who endured many trials. In James 5:11, we read about the “patience [or, endurance] or Job.” The word chasten (v. 5–8) has the connotation of a loving Father training his children. The Lord instructs, or trains, us through trials. V.6—we all have trials; if you don’t you aren’t part of the family. And the more faithful you are, the more trials we will have; it is God’s way of fine- tuning. EG Hymn 257 – Our times are in Thy hands, Prayer