Summer Highlights

The summer has been full with both joys and sorrows.  I'm grateful for God's faithfulness and for the evidences of his love that comfort my heart through the simple things he brings my way -

I was part of a committee who planned the first 2RP Women's Retreat in June.  It was a blessed time together growing in our understanding of discipleship and fellowshipping with one another.  I'm grateful for these sisters in Christ!

The dry and warm weather has brought plenty of opportunity for bike rides, and these little ones are great companions!

All the pedaling requires stopping for some sweet treats. :)

These two aren't quite up to speed on their own two wheels yet, but they are full of smiles and hugs.

One lonely sunflower can bring so much joy...

...and the American flag against the backdrop of a clear blue sky makes one grateful for the privileges they enjoy in their own country.

The evenings have been spent catching up with longtime friends who now live out-of-state...

...or getting to know someone better by walking 7 miles together!

I work with some of the best people one could ask for!  I'm blessed to serve with them for the sake of the gospel.

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

indeed I have a beautiful inheritance. 

-Psalm 16:6 - 

Psalm 4: Confidence in Distress

Psalm 4 is a cry for help (verses 1 and 2), but the prayer is dominated by the psalmist’s confidence in the Lord’s loving care of his people.  There is great distress and great confidence existing simultaneously.

“It is a Psalm that reflects the anguish of the innocent  and oppressed, or of the righteous suffer.  And thus it is a particularly important kind of psalm, for it addresses a fundamental human experience, the experience of injustice, suffering, and oppression.”  (P.C. Craigie)

God can give relief to his people when they are in distress.  The psalm begins with a brief prayer based on God’s dealings with him in the past.  (vs 1) David uses the term “God of my righteousness”, meaning that God maintained or vindicated David’s righteous cause against those who oppressed him.

The proven confidence of the people of God should be a warning to those who try to disgrace their faith.  (v 2-5)

                  -The people of God may be confident that God will answer their prayers in spite of false claims. The psalmist addresses his enemies by beginning with rhetorical questions.  These rhetorical questions are based on his confidence that God will answer his prayer and deliver him.  Verse 3 strikes the note of confidence:  they should know that God has set apart the godly (the beloved, the one who has entered into covenant with the Lord by divine love) for himself.  God will not abandon his people to the wicked.

                  -The people of God may confidently warn their antagonists to abandon their sins and put their trust in the Lord. David calls his enemies to repentance and faith.  “Be angry” is a call for them to be shaken to the core so that they will stop sinning.

-The faithful find greater joy in God’s provision of peace and security than the  joy at the time of harvest (6-8).    The antagonists are asking for something good, some evidence of divine favor (as seen in fruit from the ground)  But David asks for divine favor  ("Lift up the light of your face upon us”) and declares that God has given him greater gladness than that which comes with full granaries and vats.  

David’s confidence was in the Lord; therefore, he could lie down quietly and sleep in peace.

Encouragement for the Soul

Nathan and Kathy recently forwarded this blog post to me.  Excellent read, especially if you find yourself walking through a difficult time.

When the Lights Go Out

"My Dear Friends,

There are times in the life of faith when all the lights seem to go out. Perhaps, as yet, you have never known this experience. Perhaps you have only ever known the sweetness of the Lord’s gracious love bathing your soul and reassuring your heart that he is yours and you are his. If this is so, then be deeply thankful. For many Christians, however, the life of faith is punctuated with times of darkness, when the sense of God’s presence is covered by the acute sense of its absence.

There are no doubt many reasons why the Lord allows his precious children to “walk in the valley of the shadow of death”, bereft of the sense of his loving presence. Paul gives us one reason in 2 Corinthians 1:9, “this happened so that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” You will know that the Bible gives to such sorely pressed believers a wealth of encouragement. God’s word assures us that nothing can separate us from God’s love; that he will never leave us or forsake us; that our times are in his hands, that all things work together for the good of those who love God. All this is wonderfully true and deeply reassuring.

There is, however, a more basic truth to grasp and build your life upon when all the lights go out. Through the prophet Isaiah, God spoke these words to his people at a particularly dark period in their life: “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God” (Isa.50:10). Those words, “who has no light,” are awesome and fearsome. No light! Not a glimmer, not a pin-prick, just unremitting darkness. Does it seem incredible to you that such could be the experience of an authentic Christian? We would be tempted to say to a professing believer whose life was bathed in darkness, “Are you sure you have really repented and trusted alone in the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour? Has God’s Spirit really come to dwell within you?” And yet, here we find God’s own people, who “fear the Lord” and “obey the word of his servant”, being encouraged, by their Lord, in their overwhelming and all-consuming darkness, to “trust in the name of the Lord.”

These words of Isaiah are surely the Old Testament equivalent of Paul’s “we live by faith and not by sight.” Faith is not only what unites us to Christ, it is the grace that keeps us walking in the way of Christ. It is almost impossible, in fact it is impossible, to know in any way what it must be like to have no light. The sense of the absence of God’s presence can be demoralising and devastating. And yet, the Lord’s counsel to his light-less children is this, “Trust me!” In particular, “Trust who I am (the name of the Lord)”. This is the ultimate issue, it seems to me in the life of faith; when faced with a choice, will we believe the testimony of our circumstances, or will we believe the character of the God who is love and who loves his children with a love that “spared not his only Son but gave him up for us all?”

The life of faith, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, is subject, for many reasons, to difficulties, discouragements, oppositions, hardships, disappointments and much worse. It is also subject to “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” In all of faith’s highs and lows, the Lord calls us to trust him. Even behind a “frowning providence, he hides a smiling face.” In our Saviour’s darkest moment, when the darkness of the sun sacramentalised the darkness covering his soul, even then he cried, “My God, my God...?” He had no light, but in his darkness (which of course was redemptively unique darkness), he trusted in God. If any who read this know in any way what it is like to have no light, “trust in the name of the Lord.” The rest of you - be thankful that as yet you have been spared that experience, and keep trusting the Lord, resting the whole weight of your life upon the grace and love of his unchanging character.

Yours as ever in the bonds of God’s love,

Pastor Ian Hamilton

Cambridge Presbyterian Church

Psalm 121: Promise of Protection

This is the second Song of Ascent that God’s people would have sung on their way to Jerusalem.  Therefore, it is often referred to  as the “traveler’s” song, but in reality it relates to the whole of life we (the people of God ) make our pilgrimage to the New Jerusalem.

The essence of the psalm is divine protection for those who belong to the Lord.

We first see in verses 1-2 a plea for help.  The psalmist looks to the hills and then affirms that the Lord is his source of help.  The phrase, “I lift my eyes to the hills” does does not indicate the Psalmist was looking to the mountains for help. The mountains suggested Jerusalem, the city of God. Therefore this phrase meant looking to God as one’s help. And the Psalmist explicitly states in verse 2: “My help comes from the Lord.”

Charles Spurgeon states it well:  The purposes of God; the divine attributes; the immutable promises; the covenant, ordered in all things and sure; the providence, predestination, and proved faithfulness of the Lord- these are the hills to which we must lift up our eyes, and from these our help must come. 

The remainder of the Psalm (verses 3-8) shows that there is assurance in God’s protection.  Those who trust the sovereign Lord God for protection find reassurance that he protects them from harm in every way.

·       Verses 3-4: The idea of “slumber”or “sleep”is a figure for lack of attention.  God never fails to watch over his people.  He is attentive  to them every step of the way.  He will not let down his guard.

·       Verses 5-6:  God is vigilant at all times.  The phrases, “shade on your right hand, the sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night” show that God’s protection is constant and complete, covering all of everything.

·       Verses 7-8:  The Lord is able to protect from all harm.  

-“keep you from all evil”  is any kind of calamity or misfortune in life, anything that brings pain or distress.

-“going out and coming in “is all activities in the daily course of life

-“from this time forth and forevermore”  is from now on and always

Believers may confidently trust in the Lord to protect them in their spiritual journey.  The assurance of the Lord’s protective presence does not mean that life will be free of danger or difficulty.  But believers have this promise:  they will be protected within the confines of God’s will for them.  Even through the hardships, God will keep his people.  He is their Good Shepherd