The Traveler's Advisory

Dear Travelers,

Today’s post comes from Hebrews 4.14-16:

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The big idea of Hebrews is, “Listen to Jesus.” We must listen to Jesus because He is able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses. We can listen to Jesus because He has been tempted in every respect as we are. We can listen to Jesus because He was tempted to doubt God’s mercy and grace. He was tempted to question God’s will and His love. He was tempted to take vengeance on His enemies. He was tempted to disobey God. And yet in all these temptations Jesus did not sin. He learned obedience in the same way we must learn obedience – through the experience of suffering including having to endure temptation.

A trusted mentor is fond of saying, “When you got life, you got troubles.” Listen to Jesus because when you got life, you got troubles. Listen to Jesus because He knows life and He knows troubles. He knows the pain. He knows the loneliness. He knows. Just as importantly, He knows the way to the throne of grace. He has opened the way for us to follow Him to that throne so that through Him we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

If you know Jesus then hold fast to your confession. Go boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace.

If you do not know Jesus, now is the time for you to give your life to the great high priest so He may usher you to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace in time of need.

You think about that.

Dear Travelers,

Today we celebrate the compassion and intimacy God as our heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus Christ as our great and glorious Savior and the Holy Spirit, as our Comforter, Teacher and Guide. As we worship the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as the God of compassion and intimacy, the following verses from 1 Peter 5 come to mind:

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5.6-11)

Contained within every command of God is a promise of future grace. Focus your attention on verse 10: “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” Note what Peter says God Himself will do “after you have suffered a little while.” He Himself will “restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”

God is our everlasting Father. In truth He is the everlasting Father under whose mighty hand we must humble ourselves. Placed prominently within this text is His promise that if we obey the command to humble ourselves, He Himself will exalt us. His promise is that as we obey His command He will, by means of His future grace, “restore, confirm, strengthen and establish” you and me. Every command of God is a promise in disguise. The command to humble ourselves carries in it God’s promise of future grace. His well-timed help will come to exalt us at the proper time in order to “restore, confirm, strengthen and establish” us.

Now here’s the hard part. We must humble ourselves by casting all our anxieties upon Him in the context of suffering for Jesus’ sake and the gospel. This means we must humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God in the presence of our enemies! We must cast our all anxieties upon Him even as we seek the good of those responsible for inflicting upon us all manner of persecution (see Psalm 23.5). The supreme example of how and why this is both necessary and possible is the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2.21-24; see also the gospel accounts of Jesus before His accusers). It is not retaliation but humility that honors God and achieves His righteousness. It is not anger leading to vengeance, nor is it the demand for our rights that follows Christ’s example.

On the contrary, it is the wholehearted, self-denying, full-souled trust/obedience in the future grace of the God who owns everything and to whom has been entrusted all authority in heaven and on earth. It is trust in the One who has promised to put all things to right and has demonstrated that He has begun to do so by means of the cross upon which humanity crucified Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

Humility of this sort requires further mediation and prayer for the Holy Spirit’s continued instruction. Humility of this sort is possible only by means of trust/obedience in God’s future-grace to provide, sustain and inspire faith, hope and love. The command is difficult but not impossible to keep.

And within it is God’s promise to exalt us and when He has, the promise will also come true that “. . . .after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace. . . .will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

You think about that.

Dear Travelers,

Today is Thursday, a day to celebrate the LORD who provides what we need according to His lovingkindness. I have recently begun reading through the letter of James in the Greek NT and have been both encouraged by how much I remember while being challenged to learn afresh the vocabulary and grammar of this wonderful, descriptive language.

Oh, and the letter of James isn’t bad either. 

Here’s my point: by reading James in Greek, the Lord is teaching me the blessing of faithfulness. I am reading Greek again in order to keep my mind sharp, my heart tender and my spirit keen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. I am reading James in Greek because doing so helps me stay alert.

Now my reading through James in Greek could be your daily reading of Scripture, or a familiar devotional such as My Utmost for His Highest (Chambers), Morning and Evening (Spurgeon), Solid Joys (Piper). It could be your time of daily prayer or writing in your journal. Whatever it is that keeps your mind sharp, your heart tender and your spirit keen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, then be faithful to that discipline. Such things help the Spirit till the soil of our soul, turning it over so that truth once planted can reap a harvest of worship, trust/obedience and service to the glory of God.

So let us strive to be faithful as God is faithful. Today is a day of provision and we praise God for His great grace and lavish lovingkindness.

You think about that.