Growing Up is Hard to Do

Tidbits of Truth: Growing Up Is Hard To Do
Sometimes it is “so difficult” for us to accept the Promises of God that He has specifically set aside for each of our lives. And most of us especially struggle when (by all apparent appearances) those promises end up delayed, or even worse, the fulfillment of those promises seem to be denied altogether. We certainly are not the first to struggle with these kinds of issues, and I’m sure we won’t be the last. Just look at the life of David.
God sends Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint a new king for Israel. The prophet sends word to Jesse to bring all his sons down to the worship service because God has told the prophet that the new king would be from the house of Jesse. But David, who is the youngest, who is considered so insignificant by his father, isn’t even brought.
As the first 7 sons are brought forward, God informs Samuel that none of these are His choice. When David is finally summoned, God say’s to His prophet, “this is the one that I choose.” So David is anointed as king…and then what happens? His father sends him right back out to the fields to tend to those sheep.
Literally years pass by before anything in David’s life ever changes. Not until David takes food to his 3 eldest brothers who are now soldiers in the army of Israel, when the army had squared off against the Philistines, does David begin to realize that God’s promises are true.
David slays Goliath, and instantly the shepherd boy becomes a national hero. It appears that God has, at long last, positioned David to become the recipient of all those earlier promises that Samuel had made to him years before.
David instantly gains the favor of the people as well as the respect of the army. The king elevates him to the position of commander-in-chief. He’s even given the king’s daughter to marry.
Now he’s got the princess, he’s got the position, and he’s got the favor of the people, and it looks like everything is on the fast track to placing him on the throne … But not so fast, for God knows that He needs to mature young David before he will ever be capable of fulfilling his calling.
***Only maturity doesn’t come from mountain top experiences, maturity comes at a price… And those things that make all of us “grow up”…they only happen when we go through the struggles and hardships of this life!***
There are times that it may seem like our whole world is caving in and instead of us moving closer to receiving the promises of God in our lives; life instead give us all the appearance that we are getting farther and farther away from them. Nevertheless, it is how we conduct ourselves in those difficult and challenging times that reveal just how far we have come in that “Growing Up Process” with God!
Unfortunately, it is also in those times of great duress and trials that some of us have experienced our greatest failures in our relationships with God. (But not to worry, for if we don’t pass the test today, God will let us take the test all over again tomorrow Because God doesn’t give up on people like “we” give up on people!)
As fast as David had rose to superstardom in his nation, at an even faster pace, so also came his downfall. King Saul began to see David as the greatest threat to his throne, so he sets his sights on destroying him. Literally overnight, David went from this highly respected military leader with national celebrity status to public enemy #1—with a bounty on his head, to be brought in “DEAD or ALIVE.”
And what does this David do? He runs for his life. The devil has so adversely affected his thought processes until David succumbed to a SPIRIT OF FEAR! And as long as David was in that state of mind, he could not remember (nor could he believe) in any of those “Promises” that God had made to him concerning his life and his future!” Fear will always disconnect our minds from receiving the Promises of God. But finally, like a man who was awaking from some lethargic slumber, David began to come regain his trust in God.
In all fairness, we are not much different than David are we? For hasn’t there been times in all our lives that we too, ended up in places that God never intended for us to go, doing things that God never intended for us to do, and then trying to get out of the messes that we got ourselves in—all because we had gotten out of the will of God with our own lives?
Somehow David began again to remember the promises of God to him. The next time we find David, he’s over at the cave of Adullam—(Adullam literally means refuge). It was located in the Land of Judah—(Judah means the Place of Praise). DAVID FINDS REFUGE IN THE PLACE OF PRAISE! And there, God also brings 400 others to join up with him.
And these men that join him, they will eventually become the "mightiest of the mightiest" of all the warriors that will ever be found in Israel—all men who will later prove themselves loyal to the king for the entire 40 years that he rules the nation.
The fact of the matter in David’s life was this: It wasn’t that God had forgotten about him during all those trying years, it was just that God needed to mature him to become the man that God needed him to be!
Just a Thought,
Pastor Ken Jones

Danger Ahead

Tidbits of Truth: Danger Ahead!
What is it that America needs to fear? Is it radical Islam? Is it a nuclear Iran? Is it complete government control of every aspect of our lives? Or is it cancer or some other incurable dreaded disease that is about to break out in some widespread epidemic?
Perhaps all of these things are concerns of ours, but “to me” nothing is more concerning than to imagine living in a nation that becomes one that is no longer is a recipient of the blessings of God!
In II Samuel 21, God literally cut off the rain to the entire nation of Israel. So, for 3 years running, Israel experienced famine throughout the land. When David sought God as to why these natural calamities had befallen his kingdom, God informed King David, “This is because of Saul (Israel’s former king), and his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.”
Joshua had made a deal that the Gibeonites (although not true Hebrews) would have the right to live in the Promised Land. Saul, because of his own personal prejudices, attempted to massacre the very same people that had received that promise…and he almost succeeded.
His wicked actions in murdering those innocent people were the direct cause of God releasing the natural disasters that now plagued the nation during David’s reign.
And more especially, because no one was willing to stand up to defend those innocent people… and because no one was willing to demand righteousness and integrity of their national leaders… this made these sins not just the personal sins of the national leadership, but they also became national sins for the entire nation. Sins ignored, and sins “swept under the rug” were now the root cause of God shutting off the rain!
***If national sins, which were sanctioned by national leaders, and ignored by the populace, brought about the judgment of God upon the nation of Israel, what does this imply that is soon coming to America?***
I’m sure that most of you saw at least some portion of the news reports this last week, as it highlighted the anarchy that literally ran rampant over much of an American city. What began as a peaceful protest of thousands of citizens over the controversial death of Freddie Gray (while he was in police custody) soon turned into absolute mayhem.
In a single night, almost 150 vehicles were torched, more than 200 homes and businesses were either looted or burned to the ground, and more than 100 law enforcement officers (while serving in the line of duty) were grievously assaulted and injured while rioters pelted them with bricks and stones.
I could hardly believe my ears when I saw the city’s own mayor make a public announcement made that, “Room had to be made so that the rioters could have the right to destroy.” While at the same time, she gave the order for law enforcement to “Stand Down” an order that gave free reign for the hoodlums and thugs of that city to pillage, steal, burn, and destroy at will.
Now I do not know all the details of that situation. I do not know the guilt or innocence of those charged in the Freddie Gray case. But I do know this: That since the passing of Roe V. Wade in 1973 that the more than 55 million babies lives have been destroyed right here in America (and continue to be destroyed at a rate of more than 3,000+ a day), and I know that none of those babies have ever cheated anyone, ever stole anything, and none of them ever committed any crime of any kind! I can assure you that “THEIR” innocent blood continues to cry out to God daily.
America, as a nation, we now have leaders that seemingly want to endorse every type of sin humanly imaginable. We make pornography available to our children (What kid do you know who doesn’t now have a cell phone that’s connected to the internet?)…our nation now openly sanctions same sex marriage, we encourage our youth to be sexually permissive, we have entire states where the use of narcotics have been legalized, and we encourage adults to steal food out of the mouths of their own children by convincing them they can win it big on the lottery.
If God sent judgment on the nation of Israel because her leaders put their seal of approval on sin…and because her people refused to speak out against those sins…WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE AMERICA TODAY?
America be warned, God’s blessings made us what we are, and where will be if God chooses to pour our His wrath upon us instead?
Maybe you are saying, “But Pastor, what can we do?” So here it is: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turning from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land.” AMERICA BE WARNED! Willful sinning and the shedding of innocent blood still requires God’s justice and releases His judgment!
Just a Thought,
Pastor Ken Jones