Dr H Reflections

An invitation to radiance

They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed. – Psalms 34:5

Psalms 34:1-8

 1 I will praise the LORD at all times. I will constantly speak his praises.

 2 I will boast only in the LORD; let all who are helpless take heart.

 3 Come, let us tell of the LORD’s greatness; let us exalt his name together.

 4 I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.

 5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.

 6 In my desperation I prayed, and the LORD listened; he saved me from all my troubles.

 7 For the angel of the LORD is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

 8 Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. Her most enduring work was “Solitude.”

The inspiration for the poem came as she was traveling by train in Wisconsin. There was a young woman dressed in black sitting across the aisle from her crying. Miss Wheeler sat next to her and sought to comfort her. At the journey’s end, her emotions were mixed. She shared in the woman’s sorrow, and yet at the same time, her own face was radiant. She wrote the opening lines of “Solitude”:

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;

Weep, and you weep alone.

Life is about choices. Our life course is set by how we respond to the vicissitudes and trials we face.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox also wrote, The Set of the Sails

One ship drives east, and another west
With the self-same winds that blow;
 ‘Tis the set of the sails
 And not the gales
That decides the way to go.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,
As they voyage along through life;
 ‘Tis the will of the soul
 That decides its goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

It is easy to get tripped up by the ups and downs of life. Strife and struggle are inevitable. Our response to them determines our attitudes and emotions. In face of the difficulties we face, David invites us to break out radiant praise. He shows the way to calmness, confidence, courage, and conquest of our deepest feelings and fears.

REFLECT & PRAY

Experiencing the Father’s presence produces an excited joy that cannot be contained. David bursts out with exclamations of praise.

Father may I learn and perfect the art of praising and thanking You each day. Remove the dark shadows of shame and fear that haunt me and replace them with radiant joy.

INSIGHT

Psalms 34 is not so much a prayer, but rather an exclamation of joy over the Father’s response to prayer. David has experienced the sheer joy of the presence of the Father. It is palpable. David is radiant. His heart is thrilled and overflowing with joy. Radiant is a word found in Isaiah 60:5, where it describes a parent’s face lighting up at the sight of their children, who had given up for lost (Kidner).

Imagine what it would be like to be with David as he expresses his thoughts verbally. They would be filled with excitement and enthusiasm. He has experienced the inward touch of the divine. He is taking great delight lapping it up he cannot get enough. On the surface, his exclamation seems rather tame, prosaic, colorless, but it is anything but that.

Psalms 34:2 My soul will make its boast in the LORD.

The word Hebrew translated boast is halal. Halal is most often translated as praise, exalt, or boast. But this word is overflowing with excitement, revelry, delight, fun, and festive joy. The English word hallelujah is derived from the Hebrew word halal.

But there is more. It has the sense of madness or making a fool of yourself in a good sense (1 Corinthians 4:10). In the 21st century, it would be equivalent to the thrill of cheering for your home team when they score a touchdown or a goal in an athletic event. His soul is literally jumping up and down. He is basking in the Father (Terrien).

His joy is contagious and he cannot keep it to himself. It is bursting out of him and it must be shared. David invites us to participate with him.  Each of us can enter into the presence of the Father and the joy He provides.

How does David become so buoyant? How does he do it? It all begins with praise and thankfulness for who the Father is, what the Father does, and most importantly what the Father has done for us. He shouts of the Father’s greatness and exults in Him.

Putting it in other terms, David magnifies and blesses the Father. How can a mere mortal bless God?

“The idea behind ‘bless’ is to speak a good word about someone: when God blesses someone, he speaks a good word over that person for his well-being; when a human blesses God, he speaks a good word about God’s kindness and generosity” (ESV notes).

Paul succinctly restates the same concept in one verse. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

“Even if it’s not your practice, pick a day this week and praise God throughout the day. Praise Him when you wake up, praise Him when you eat, praise Him when you leave the house and when you return” (Stanley).

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Broken lives and wounded hearts

But I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all! – Psalms 22:6

Isaiah 48:17-22

 17 This is what the LORD says – your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow.

 18 Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.

 20 Yet even now, be free from your captivity! . . . Shout it to the ends of the earth! The LORD has redeemed his servants, the people of Israel.

 22 “But there is no peace for the wicked,” says the LORD.

Throughout the United States there are local, independent thrift stores. There are also several thrift store corporations. They specialize in reselling items that are no longer needed or desired by the owner.

In America, things that are no longer needed, broken, or even no longer in style are routinely discarded. If we determine we no longer need them, we throw them away. Damaged goods are rejected.

Sadly this includes people. When relationships break down in marriage, the tendency is to walk away rather than repair. Planet Earth is full of people with wounded hearts, broken spirits, and broken relationships.

To fallen humanity, broken things are despised as worthless. But marvelously the Father has a totally different perspective. He seeks people that are broken and wounded. He is in the business of recycling human souls. The in-store motto is “Redemption and Transformation Found Here.”

From the tragedy of broken lives and wounded hearts, He creates something far better. The Father takes great delight in doing so. In this line of work, He has no competition.

When our lives are broken and our hearts are dreadfully wounded, we have tremendous self-image issues. We feel inadequate and unworthy, even despicable, and riddled with shame. In the Scriptures, there is a metaphor employed to depict such difficult and despairing moments. People feel “like worms.” They are “poor in spirit.”

Psalms 22:6 I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all!

REFLECT & PRAY

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. – Psalms 34:18

Father thank You that You draw close to each child of the King who is spiritually wounded and brokenhearted. Repair my heart and allow me to experience the joy of my salvation more and more, day by day.

INSIGHT

When we reach a breaking point, many of us earnestly seek the Father. In the kingdom of God, the Father uses broken lives and wounded hearts to draw us to Himself. The Father calls to us. And yearns for us to listen and come to Him so He can make us whole. Sadly, we look inward at our brokenness and unworthiness, rather than hear His voice. We often try to keep ourselves occupied and busy to dull the ache and simply do not hear His call. Thus we doom ourselves to limp through life feeling miserable and defective. We get stuck in a cycle of self-recrimination, gloom, and darkness. We fail to grasp that we can be made whole. Inner regeneration and transformation are the deepest need of each person.

Matthew 5:3 God blesses those who are poor in spirit and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

When we reach a breaking point, many of us earnestly seek the Father. When we come to the Father with shattered lives, He alone is capable of taking broken and wounded hearts and making them whole. The Father is ready and able to break the cycle of the past and make everything new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Only when we take our eyes off ourselves and stop ruminating on the past, can this inner transformation be realized. When we recognize our utter need for the Father, we are able to focus more on Him. Our brokenness is but the end of the beginning, and the beginning of the rest lives seeking to walk with Him.

As we place the Father at the center of our lives, a unique and wonderful healing process occurs from the inside out. He conforms us more and more to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ and gradually makes us into what He wants us to be. Things begin to fall in place and come together in ways we could never have imagined. The Father never changes and His mercy never falters.

Great is Thy faithfulness

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with You;

You change not, Your compassions, they fail not as You have been You forever will be.

“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!” Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided – “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above,

Join with all nature in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endures, Your own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

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Truth and flattery with a hook

Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. – Matthew 22:16

Luke 20:20-26

 20 Watching for their opportunity, the leaders sent spies pretending to be honest men. They tried to get Jesus to say something that could be reported to the Roman governor so he would arrest Jesus.

 21 “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think. You teach the way of God truthfully.

 22 Now tell us – is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

 23 He saw through their trickery and said,

 24 “Show me a Roman coin. Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.

 25 “Well then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

 26 So they failed to trap him by what he said in front of the people. Instead, they were amazed by his answer, and they became silent.

What is entrapment? Entrapment happens when government agents, officials, or law enforcement officers coerce or induce someone into committing a crime that he or she is not previously disposed to commit. In American courtrooms, claiming entrapment is a legal defense strategy that can be used when facing criminal charges. It attempts to establish that the official/s involved originated the idea of the crime and induced the accused to engage in it.

The rationale underlying this defense strategy is to deter law enforcement officers from engaging in reprehensible conduct that results in criminal activity.

The religious leaders, who were often offended and angered by the Lord Jesus Christ, came up with the scheme to entrap Him. Their bait was flattery. They had schemed together and then attempted to elicit a response that would be construed as undermining Roman law and authority. The Scriptures are clear that flattery often is used to lay a trap for others.

Proverbs 29:5 To flatter friends is to lay a trap for their feet.

The entire episode is ironic. They flatter and praise Jesus as a bold and courageous prophet and teacher. They assert that He fearlessly proclaims the Father’s truth without compromise. Further, He refuses to defer to anyone. He is not interested in the praise of men, but only in the praise of His Father in heaven (John 12:43).

“Jesus immediately saw through their scheme. He knew that their real purpose was not to get an answer to a question, but to try to trap Him” (Wiersbe). He makes a brilliant counter move that left his inquirers dumbfounded and speechless.

REFLECT & PRAY

“The money belongs to Caesar, and you belong to God. Let the world have its coins, but let God have His creatures” (MacDonald).

Father thank You that You have provided a reliable source of information regarding true Truth. Encourage me to stand tall, not to be entrapped, and to proclaim Your Truth accurately and without bias.

INSIGHT

In their attempts to entrap the Lord Jesus Christ, the religious leaders actually expressed great insight into His character and teaching.

Luke 20:21 You speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God.

This exchange provided a teachable moment. The Lord Jesus Christ took the opportunity to teach the crowds who were listening to several important spiritual truths. His answer was succinct and sagacious.

Some important background information helps ferret out the meaning of His explanation. It provides a greater understanding of what the Lord Jesus Christ said. “Each ruler minted his own coins and put his own image on them. The ‘penny’ (denarius) had Caesar’s image on it, so it belonged to Caesar. ‘Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,’ was His reply. ‘And give back to God what belongs to God” (Wiersbe).

The point is simple and yet profound. There is a clear separation between the Father and Caesar. Ultimately, the coins belong to Caesar. Give him what is due to him. But at the same time, give to the Father God what is His. People belong to the Father, those who claim to follow Him are to give Him what is due to Him.

But there is more.

The phrase “you tell the truth,” could be rendered “you are an honest man,” “you are a man of integrity,” or “you are a truthful man” (UBS).

The phrase “truly teach the way of God,” could be translated “you tell each person clearly and plainly how he must live according to God’s will,” “you really do teach the life that God wishes us to live,” “you teach the truth about God’s will for man,” or “what you teach about God’s laws (or, will) is the truth (or, correct)” (UBS).

The enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ recognize that He spoke true truth. How ironic, that they themselves did not.

The phrase “you show no partiality” or “you are not partial to any,” is literally “you care for no man” in Greek. To express the idea more clearly, it can be translated

“you do not allow yourself to be influenced by people,” “you are not swayed by men’s opinion of you,” or “You don’t care what people think” (UBS).

The Lord Jesus Christ stood tall and boldly proclaimed what the Father desires people to know and do. He is a person of character and integrity and always spoke the Truth regardless of what people thought of Him. He can be relied upon to say what is right and truthful about the things of God. In summary, “he was sincere, faithful to the truth, fearless, and no respecter of persons.” (Morris).

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The healing power of life

Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?” – Mark 5:30

Mark 5:25-34

 25 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding.

 26 She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse.

 27 She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe.

 28 For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”

 29 Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.

 30 Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him . . ..

 32 But he kept on looking around to see who had done it.

 33 Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done.

 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

The modern electric battery transforms chemical energy into electricity. Batteries are devices which are used to supply electric power. There used to energize electrical devices such as flashlights, mobile phones, and electric cars. A battery is a collection of one or more cells whose chemical reactions create a flow of electrons in a circuit. All batteries are made up of three basic components: an anode (the ‘-’ side), a cathode (the ‘+’ side), and some kind of electrolyte (a substance that chemically reacts with the anode and cathode).

In 1748, Benjamin Franklin first coined the term “battery” to describe an array of charged glass plates. The first true battery was invented by the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta in 1800. The first commercially successful dry cell battery (zinc-carbon cell) was invented in 1881 by Carl Gassner. In 1901, Thomas Edison invented the alkaline storage battery.

The Lord Jesus Christ is both perfect humanity and undiminished deity. He has all of the characteristics and attributes of deity. Life as a creative and sustaining force is one of them. That same life force which was used to create all that is resides within the Lord Jesus Christ.

John 1:3-4

 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

In the Gospels, the Lord Jesus Christ performed a myriad of signs and wonders. Frequently, He did so with the few spoken words, a prayer, or touch. What was the source of his healing power? The Lord Jesus Christ was a living battery of sorts. Within Him, was the energy of life itself. The same life force that was used to create all that exists is within Him. We get a slight glimpse of this from the story of the woman suffering from a discharge of blood. As she reached out and touched His garment, His life force flowed from Him to her and she was immediately healed.

Imagine what it was like for this poor, hopeless woman to suffer from an incurable disease. She already spent all the money she had, employing all of the medical cures available at the time. They only made the situation worse. After hearing about Jesus, she sought Him out. She thought to herself, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” She approached in the crowd from behind and touched His cloak. And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

REFLECT & PRAY

The healing that comes from the Father is purposeful and often selective. The miracle-working power of the Lord Jesus Christ confirmed His identity as the Messiah of Israel. The miracle of Mark 5:25-34 is an exception to the general rule.  In this case, the woman’s faith was the key to her miraculous restoration.

Father the power of life abides in You. I believe, help my unbelief.

INSIGHT

Under the Law of Moses, on account of her condition, she was in ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 15:25-28). As such any physical contact with her would render other people unclean. Therefore, she was not permitted to be in public without making people aware that she is unclean. By touching Jesus’ garment, she technically renders Him ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 15:19-23).

But the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Law. He is greater than any purity laws. Rather than becoming unclean by contact, He makes her clean through the power of life bursting out from within Him.

The Lord Jesus was well aware of the power within Him and would discharge it as needed. He could feel it pulsating within and going out from Him. In this case, the flow of power was automatic without His conscious control.

He searched for the woman of faith. The woman was fearful and awed. The Greek word rendered fear is phobeomai which means fear, awe, or reverence. She came forth and identified herself. She fell down before Him and told the Lord Jesus Christ the whole truth. She was a woman of great faith and now sincere gratitude.

The Lord Jesus Christ said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease” (Mark 5:34).

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Undefiled religion

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. – James 1:27

Isaiah 1:17-18

 17 Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.

 18 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.

The coronavirus wreaked havoc on planet Earth. It has been a tragedy for all Americans. But there’s also been a crisis within the crisis in America’s nursing homes as a result of COVID-19. About 100,000 residents and workers in long-term care facilities died in 2020 in just 9 months. Many families lost their parents and other older loved ones. Due to quickly established regulations, such as shelter-in-place, those who died, died alone without the care, company, and comfort of their loved ones. Those that longed to be with them in their final days and moments were also devastated. Their grief was compounded by the lack of physical proximity, solace, and closure.

One statistic stands out. Residents of long-term care facilities constitute less than 1% of the U.S. population, yet 43% of all COVID-19 deaths through June occurred in those places (AARP Bulletin, December 2020). This catastrophe exposed fundamental flaws in how we care for our oldest loved ones.

Helping the needy is close to the Father’s heart. It expresses His nature and character. The Father longs for every child of the King to have a heart like His own. Caring for the needy is the essence of undefiled worship.

REFLECT & PRAY

Each child of the King has a God-given responsibility to those in need.  “Do a little more than you’re paid to. Give a little more than you have to. Try a little harder than you want to. Aim a little higher than you think possible, and give a lot of thanks to God for health, family, and friends” (Art Linkletter).

Father give me a heart that truly wants to look out for and care for those in need.

INSIGHT

Each child of the King is to demonstrate the reality of their undefiled religion by putting spiritual truth into action. True religion, the inward transformation of the human heart by faith in the Lord Jesus, is characterized by love for others, particularly those most in need: orphans and widows. Why are orphans and widows mentioned? “‘Orphans and widows’ were the most helpless people in Jewish society, their ‘distress’ (literally ‘pressure’) coming from their desperate need of food and clothing” (Hughes). The neediest are in a helpless state and are representative of those who are truly poor and vulnerable. Caring for the poor and those in need is the crux of undefiled religion.

This was the clearly stated mission of the Lord Jesus Christ

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

We are never more like the Lord Jesus Christ than when we do what He has done!  “Genuine religion is a life-changing force. One’s religion, then, should be more than external; it must spring from an inner spiritual reality that expresses itself in love to others and holiness before God” (Burdick).

The apostle John expounds the same principle in unforgettable potent, piercing words.

1 John 3:17-18 

 17 If someone has the world’s goods to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion – how can God’s love be in that person?

 18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unspotted by the world.

The Greek term translated visit is episkeptesthai. Episkeptesthai is derived from epí – upon and skeptomai – to look. It expresses the sense to look after, take care of, tend, comfort, be concerned about, or nurse the sick (Matthew 25:36, 43). The noun form of this term is episkopos. It is translated guardian, overseer, or elder. It refers to one who watches over and cares for the welfare of others (1 Peter 2:25).

The word visiting means “look in on; to go see.” It does not mean to pay a social call but to meet physical needs. It is the old Jewish usage that means to visit to care for and supply the needs of those visited (Fruchtenbaum).

The Greek term translated trouble or distress is thlipsis. Thlipsiscomes from the Greek verb thlibo – to crush, press, compress, or squeeze. In several languages “trouble and suffering” may be expressed as “that which causes pain” (UBS).

What James is asking us to do is not merely care about the poor or give to the poor. It involves much more than that. It transcends empathy. We are not to merely “feel their pain.” We are to “meet their needs.” Simply being tenderhearted does not work unless we take action to alleviate them.

How tragic it is when we cannot meet the needs and care for those we love.

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