MONDAY, 1 March, 2021 “New Perspective”

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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

I have a question for us...does life sometimes seem unfair as you follow social media or watch the moral revolution or listen to the conversation of people all around you? Does it sometimes appear that evil people prosper and people trying to live God honoring lives struggle? Is there significant change happening in your part of the world, and are you very concerned the change is NOT for the better?

Did you know this same fairness issue has troubled people of all generations in all societies, even back in Bible times? Would you join me again in Malachi 3:13 as Malachi was challenging the people of his day, in Jerusalem in about 420bc, to consider what they were feeling and saying about this issue of fairness?

“You have spoken arrogantly against Me,’ says the LORD.

Yet you ask, ‘what have we said against you O God?’

You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God.What do we gain by carrying out His requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? (Mal. 3:13-14)

All around the world the year 2020 brought lots of unfairness, injustice, inequality to millions of people. Government officials and other ‘powerful people’ made decisions which had profound effect on the day to day living of hundreds of millions of us. ‘They’ closed schools and forced children to stay home, which forced some parents to stop working, to care for their kids. In many parts of the world the reopening of public schools is a huge battle and very, very expensive.

‘They’ closed businesses and churches and public entertainment and sporting events. The economic loss is incalculable. The number of small businesses which will never reopen is beyond belief, the number of weddings postponed or held privately, or funerals without family and friends, or lost athletic seasons or the amount of enjoyment lost, is beyond calculation and will leave profound pain in people for a long time. And then of course how do we measure the pain in the panic around the world as people isolated in fear? And now the moral foundations of America and other nations are crumbling so fast. Yet in the midst of it all some seemed to profit, some seemed untouched by it all.

And so these words in Malachi seem very relevant don’t they: “But now, we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.” (Mal. 3:15) So my ‘walking with Jesus’ friends, what does the Holy Spirit say into your heart and mind in response to this? What is the proper way to think, to express ourselves, to act in such a world?

I believe Psalm 73 could be especially helpful in this quandary. Here are some excerpts: “As for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked… Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in vain I have washed my hands in innocence. All day along I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning…when I tried to understand all this it was oppressive to me TILL I entered the sanctuary of God, then I understood their final destiny…”

Have you discovered this wonderful secret to peace for your soul my friends? When you find yourself dismayed, discouraged, perhaps nearly overwhelmed by all the wrong all around you, have you found that a few moments of quiet contemplation alone with God, in a place where you are surrounded by the evidence of God’s almighty power, can change your perspective on everything?

For me the power of the pre-dawn darkness being pushed back by the rising sun and the blinding light of the sun, the heat of the rays of the morning sun, the brilliance of a cloudless sky at sunrise… all is a magnificent evidence of God’s unlimited power and complete control of the rotation of our planet, and climate and temperature. I worship easily when watching a sunrise like that. And I find great hope in the sunrise evidence of God’s supreme, sovereign power when I feel the darkness of society encroaching all around me. What is it for you my friends which gives you great hope as the darkness closes in?

Listen to Psalm 73:21,22 “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You O God.” Oh that’s a reality isn’t it my friends? When we allow the darkness all around us to overwhelm us, our grief can be so profound that our spirit does become bitter, and then we stop thinking wisely and we say and do things that seem like a ‘brute beast’ has welled up inside of us!

But listen to this good word of resilience and assurance in verses 23,24: “Yet, I am always with You and You, O God hold me by my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel and afterward You will take me into glory…”

Is this how you and I are facing the challenges of this day, this week, this year of 2021 my friends? I call our journey ‘walking with Jesus’ because I urge us to do as the disciples did and walk through life step by step with Jesus right there beside you. Hold on to Him, listen for His counsel and follow His leading of you and live life today with the assurance that if this is your last day on earth, the glorious presence of God awaits you in heaven, because you’ve trusted Jesus!

And finally these words from Psalm 73:26,28: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever…As for me, it is good to be near God; I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all Your great deeds.” Do you hear confidence, determination, assurance, resolve in these words?

Mr. Asaph is the author of this Psalm, and he was one of the key leaders of the worshipers in the time of king David. His role was important as you’ll see in 1 Chronicles 15,16 when the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem and the entire city rose up in celebration of the great God of Israel. Asaph’s enthusiastic confidence in God was contagious and rallied all the people to praise and victorious living at an important time in Israel’s history.

Through the years this Psalm has been spoken and sung many times at strategic times when discouragement and doubt were beginning to overwhelm God’s people as evil all around them seemed to be winning.

So today, wherever you are my friends, I urge you to first read Malachi 3:13-15, only three short verses, but so very honest and real. Then Psalm 73, and watch the sunrise, or look at the stars on a cloudless night or hold a newborn baby, or stand by a powerful waterfall… find some place to worship surrounded by the mighty fingerprint of God and His Sovereign power, and let Jesus refresh your perspective on how to live a God honoring life in a crazy, broken, dark world!

Here’s a song to help you worship. . .

Today’s Scripture is Malachi 3.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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