Sunday Sermon: Judges 3:31-5, Life lessons from the Judges!

This morning we are going to hear from Judges 3:31 to chapter 5. Through the characters and their stories in today’s passage, I want us to hear what God wants us to learn.

After the account on Ehud as a judge in Israel, we are given a brief description on Shamgar son of Anath. He was known to have struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. Oxgoad was a long stick with a pointed end used for herding animals as an agricultural instrument. Philistines with the swords and shields were soundly defeated by Shamgar, a judge of minor status. Not much else is written about him.

This unconventional weapon highlights the fact that fighting the kingdom war is not won by human hands and weapons, but by God’s help alone. This reminds me of Psalm 44:4-8:

You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes. I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame. In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.

His weapon of choice reveals he was a man of deep faith. He wasn’t fazed by the fact that he didn’t have a shiny, razor sharp, ultra-tough sword forged by an expert sword smith. The fact that he had no shield to guard himself from the enemies’ weapons didn’t faze him. Facing six hundred well-equipped Philistines with an oxgoad in his hand, Shamgar didn’t run away. Shamgar’s story is like the story of David who faced giant and fearsome Goliath with a huge sword and shield with few smooth rocks and a sling. He said to the Philistine in 1 Samuel 17:45-46:

You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down…

Just like David was, Shamgar was a man of courage not because he was well equipped with the latest technologies, fads, educations, money, or whatever resource that makes a person great, but because he trusted in God who gives victory to his people.
We saw earlier in chapter 3 how Othniel was an ideal judge because he went for the best of God’s blessing; we also considered his faithful wife Acsah and his father-in-law Caleb. Like Othniel, Shamgar too was an ideal judge because he trusted God and what he can do through him rather than the choice of weapons.

1. With God a mere oxgoad is enough to win the battles; what count is knowing that God is able to give us his victory.

What follows is the story of a remarkable woman, Deborah, a general of Israel, Barak, and a foreign woman Jael. The story about them is told in Judges 4. And, chapter 5 records the song of praise to God by Deborah and Barak.

Chapter 4:1 tells us that the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD. I like how David Howard comments about the state of Israelites. He said, “Israel failed because it did what was right in its own eyes, rather than what was right in God’s eyes.[1] Verse 3 indicates this pattern went on for twenty years.

Twenty years is long time. If you are fifteen years old, twenty years would make you thirty five. If you are in your twenty, twenty years would make you forty. If you are in your thirty some like me, twenty years would make you fifty some. During their prime twenty years, instead of going for the best God had for them like Othniel did, instead of trusting in God for victories like Shamgar did, the Israelites wasted their prime time. Instead of enjoying the best God desired to give them, they trusted themselves. The result was disaster. 4:2 says that the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, by his commander Sisera.

How did they allow twenty years to pass under the oppression by Jabin and his commander Sisera? They spent their each passing day doing their own things believing that they were doing the right thing, believing that they were going after the best thing! They didn’t take Psalm 39:4 in their hearts. It says, “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.” Little compromise here and there, today and tomorrow without stopping to think and evaluate their lives according to God’s word, they got themselves into a really rotten place under the rule of the cruel king and the commander.

2. If we keep on doing what we think is right in our own eyes instead of in God’s eyes, we place ourselves in the hands of Satan instead in the hands of God; instead of God’s blessing, we placed ourselves under oppression by the enemy.

Verse 3 says, “they cried to the LORD for help.” Should God turn to the Israelites after having forsaken him for twenty years when they cried for his help? Twenty years of abandoning God… it is long time! Justice would be to let them rot under the oppression, right? Why should God turn to help them after twenty years of abandonment?

What we see in the rest of chapter 4 and 5 is that even though they had forsaken God, God didn’t forsake them. God remains faithful to his promise that he will come to aid of those who seek him for his help! Our God never turns us away when we turn to him. We see this character of God in the New Testament, in the book of Luke chapter 15. There is the story of lost son, who abandoned his father. When he returned after squandering away the family’s inheritance, the father didn’t reject the son. When the Son said to his father in Luke 15:21, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son,” the father said this to his servants. “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

3. When you turn to God, he doesn’t reject you no matter how long you’ve been away from God, how big your sins might be. When you turn and come to the heavenly Father’s house, your Father welcomes you in Jesus.

Now, turning back to Judges, how did God respond to people’s cries for help?

He used a remarkable woman, Deborah to help the Israelites. No where in the Bible was anything bad said about her. Only commendations are given about this woman of faith. Verse 4 says she was a prophetess, leading Israel at that time, meaning when the Israelites cried out for help. As a prophetess, she was like a spokesperson for God. In modern day, a prophetess or prophet would be like a white house press secretary who delivers the president’s words to people. She spoke with authority because God spoke through her. Verse 5 says that the Israelites came to Deborah where she lived to have their disputes settled and decided. They weren’t just coming to Deborah to settle their cases for them. Because she was a prophetess, the verdict she rendered was the verdict from God.

God spoke to Deborah his plan to deliver the Israelites. It involved the general of Israel’s army, Barak. She sent for Barak and told him in verse 6-7, “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.”

I want you to notice carefully what God was saying to Barak. His command was for Barak to take ten thousand men and lead the way to Mount Tabor to battle the army of Jabin. And, now notice what God promised to Barak. He promised to him that it would be him who lures Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army with all the chariots and the troops to the Kishon River. And, it would be him to give Sisera into Barak’s hands. Now, at this point God didn’t reveal to Barak through Deborah how he was going to give Sisera into Barak’s hands.

God’s call to Barak through Deborah was to trust in God for his plan.

How did Barak respond to God’s call through Deborah? Barak responded to Deborah in verse 8, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” Now, was Barak a wimp general to ask Deborah, a woman, to go to the battle with him?

Well, he wasn’t just asking an ordinary woman to go with him. She was after all a prophetess through whom God spoke. Barak was called to fight the army of Jabin with nine hundred iron chariots and large fighting force. At that time the iron chariots were like the modern day tanks. Israel had no chariots. To face Jabin’s army led by Sisera was like fighting an army of 900 tanks with foot soldiers with guns and rifles. To Barak, Deborah represented God. To have Deborah was like having God’s visible representation. She would be a sure sign that God was with him.

Barak was driven by fear of facing a formidable Jabin’s army led by Sisera. He had the spiritual sense to know that the key to winning the battle was for God to be with him. In this sense, he was a man of faith. But, his faith was weak in that he didn’t simply trust God’s word at face value. God called him to step up to the challenge. God was very clear on what Barak was to do. He was to summon ten thousand men and lead the way to Mount Tabor. And, there they were to wait for God to lure Sisera and Jabin’s army to Kishon River and to see how God would deal with Jabin’s army and hand Sisera into Barak’s hands.

Barak hesitated to step up to God’s challenge without a visible assurance, a sign. Barak’s faith was shaky and weak facing the formidable army. He needed spiritual encouragement.

How Deborah respond to Barak?
Deborah responded to him, “Very well… I will go with you.” She knew Barak was responding out of fear and lack of full trust in God. She wasn’t about to discourage him by saying no to him.

But she also knew there would be a consequence for his lack of full trust in God. She said, “But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman.”

4. God doesn’t like when we put conditions on how he should do things. What makes God God is it is he who tells us what we need to do, not the other way around.

Going forward, Barak now accompanied by Deborah summoned the Israel’s tribes Zebulun and Naphtali; their thousand men followed him.

Sisera was informed that Barak led the army of Israel up to Mount Tabor. Verse 13 says, “Sisera gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River. From what God said through Deborah, we know that Sisera wasn’t acting purely on his own accord, his initiation. God said, “I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River.” We don’t know exactly how God did it, but he lured Sisera and all the chariots and the troops to the Kishon River.

When Sisera came with the chariots and the troops to the Kishon River, Barak didn’t command his ten thousand men to advance for the battle. Deborah had to give him the cue. Again, Barak needed a little push, encouragement from Deborah to do what was right in God’s eyes. She said in verse 11, “Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?” Indeed, the Lord lured Sisera, the whole nine hundred chariots and the troops to the Kishon River. The LORD had gone ahead of Barak and already did this.

And, here is the crucial verse, verse 15. It says, “At Barak’s advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.”

How did God rout Sisera, all his chariots and army by the sword? Whose sword was that?

Do you remember the scene when Frodo was being pursued by the evil Black Riders and when approached the Ford of the Bruinen River beyond which is Rivendell? Frodo wounded rode on a horse across the river just in time, but there were the Black Riders on their horses beginning to cross the river. Do you remember how the horses seemed reluctant to cross the river? Do you remember how a rush of whitewater filled the river and rose up to sweep away the Black Riders?

Judges 5:20-22 says, “From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera. The river Kishon swept them away, the age-old river, the river Kishon. March on, my soul; be strong?! Then thundered the horses’s hoofts- galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.” Just like God did it with Egyptians’ chariots that pursued the Israelites into the Red Sea, God swelled the Kishon River and swept away the chariots.

5. God is trustworthy and powerful for he fulfills his promises to us.

Now turning back to chapter 4, Sisera escaped the battle scene and sought safety at the house of a woman named Jael. Her husband Heber’s clan was in friendly term with Jabin king of Hazor. Thinking that Jael would protect him at her house, he entered into her house at Jael’s invitation. She put a covering over him. Sisera thought it was to hide him. Just been in a major loosing battle, he was thirsty and asked for water. Jael gave him instead milk, more like a kind of yogurt, a room temperature sour yogurt. Taking this act as Jael’s kindness, he ordered her to stay in the doorway of the tent and if anyone would ask, “Is anyone here?” to say, “no.” Well, the rest is history. She got a tent peg and a hammer. She pegged him to the ground by his temple.

Now, Judges 4:22 says, “Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera.”
Do you remember what Deborah told Barak because of his hesitation to trust and obey God fully? She told him that Sisera would no longer be handed over to him, but to a woman. When Sisera escaped the battle scene, Barak went after Sisera. His labored hard in pursuit to capture Sisera. But, it was all in vain. As God told him it would be a woman who would get the honor of taking down the cruel Sisera.

6. When God speaks to you to step up to his challenge, don’t go around looking for excuses to turn down his challenge.



[1] David M. Howard Jr., An Introduction to The Old Testament Historical Books, Moody Press, 1993, p. 102.

Sunday Sermon: Judges 3:12-30, Life Lessons from the story of Ehud

The story of Ehud involves the same typical cycle that often characterizes what happened during the period of Judges. The Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord responded to change the course of their action by giving Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. When they cried out for help, he gave them a deliverer, in this case Ehud. Ehud single-handedly killed the king of Moab and led the Israelites to overcome Moab’s oppression.

Ehud cunningly concealed the weapon of his choice, a short sword just made for the risky mission to take down the king of Moab. He was chosen by the Israelites to lead a group to bring the tribute to Eglon. Ehud first had his encounter with the king when he brought the tribute. After leaving and sending away the rest of the people who brought the tribute with him, he went back to the king.

Ehud managed to get a private time with the king when he told the king, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” Having received a nice tribute from the group led by Ehud and Ehud showing up alone, Eglon had little reason to suspect any foul play.

Excited to hear something special, he ordered the attendants to be quite. This was perhaps a signal for the attendants and the officials to clear out the King’s upper room of his summer palace. They left the room, leaving the king alone with Ehud.

Ehud told the king, “I have a message from God for you” in verse 20. Expecting to hear a divine message, the king got up to show his respect only to meet Ehud’s dagger. The king fell to the floor dead.

How did Ehud get out? While the attendants and officials waited outside the doors, Ehud snuck out of the porch locking the doors of the upper room behind him. The king’s attendants and officials thought the king was attending to his bodily need.
They waited until they weren’t sure what was going on any more, only to find their king on the floor dead.

Ehud having successfully assassinated the enemy’s king, went back to the Hill country of Ephraim, blew a trumpet and gathered the Israelites. And, then he gave his pep talk! “Follow me… for the LORD has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” Well, the rest was history! Verse 29 says, “they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not a man escaped. That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.”

Reading the story of Ehud is like watching an action flick. It reminded me of House of Flying Daggers that I recently watch on DVD. Well, it is one thing to watch and be entertained by the movies like House of Flying Daggers, but it is another thing to read a story like this in the Bible and glean spiritual insights for our lives.

Hebrew 4:12-13 says, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any doubled-edged sword, in penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him whom we must give account.”

So, this morning, I pray that this scriptural story gets applied to us as the living and active word of God.

1. Who’s driving your life vehicle?

Judges 3:12 says that Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. It doesn’t say what they actually did. But, there are few clues. When Ehud returned back from delivering the tribute to Eglon the king of Moab, verse 19 says at the idols near Gilgal he himself turned back.”

And, verse 26 says Ehud again passed by the idols when he escaped to Seriah somewhere in the hill country of Ephraim. This again close to Gilgal.

you remember what was in Gilgal? In Gilgal were the twelve stones that the each tribe of Israel carried from the bottom of the Jordan River bed when God miraculously stopped its flow to allow the Israelites to safely cross it. The pile of these twelve stones were to be the lasting reminder to the Israelites what God had done for them.

But, what we see in verse 19 & verse 26 is that along side of the twelve stones monument in Gilgal were the idols.

God very specifically prohibited the Israelites from making idols. Deuteronomy 4:15-18 says, “You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below.” And, God gave them specific instructions as to what they should do when they came across the idols. Deuteronomy 12:3 says, “Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and bur their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.” Another word, they were to “purge the evil.” So often the Lord commanded the Israelites, “You must purge the evil from among you” (Deut. 13:5, 17:7, 12, 13, 19:13, 19, 21:9, 21, 22:22, 24, 24:7. & Judges 20:13). Another way to understand this command is to picture sweeping away.

Our dinning room area gets dirty very quickly because it is a high traffic area close to where Rocky our dog stays and our dinning table sits in it. The floor accumulates dirt, Rocky’s dog hair, food crumbs from the table very quickly. We either need to sweep away or vacuum away the unwanted elements from the floor few times each day.

God did not want the Israelites to tolerate any idol in the Promised Land. But, this is exactly what the Israelites did. They either tolerated the idols made by the native people of Canaan or they themselves built the idols with their own hands.

What are idols? Idols are anything that tries to substitute God.
Instead of relying on God for help, an idol is trying figure things out on our own.

Psalm 33:10 says, “The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.”

Proverbs 16:1 says, “To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue.”

Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”

Proverbs 16:9 says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”

Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”

God is very clear on this. His purposes, his plans, his steps will succeed. His call is for us to come to him and cooperate with him to accomplish his purposes, his plans, and his steps with his ability, his strength.

There are many things that make our hearts anxious, but one great source of anxiety must be when we think about our future. As students now, some of you think about what you will become, as working people, you think about how you might progress through the ladders at your business, out of school now, you are looking for a job, career direction, you are single and you want boyfriend, girlfriend or you want to get married.

I remember talking to Shannon’s mom when she visited our church a day before his departure to Guinea. When I asked her how she was doing, she chocked up. She tried really hard to hold her tears. I told her that it was hard for me to imagine how difficult it would be to send off my child to far away land where basic living condition is so poor.

Well, we had our moment when Abby got on that Big Yellow school bus for the first time to go to her kindergarten. Our first daughter, for about three hours each weekday she will not be with us. After Abby got on the bus, I asked Lyn how she was doing. I wanted to record a video clip on how mom felt for sending Abby off to school. She chocked up and cried! Well, you better believe we pray hard that week for our kindergarten student! Instead of giving into anxiety and fear and try to control our daughter’s destiny, what we are learning is to trust God knows what he is doing.

He says in Jeremiah 29:11: ‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD.”

So, next time you feel anxious and fearful, impatient, unhappy when you think about your life, where you think it is heading, I want you to see who is driving your life vehicle. Because the field of life is filled with rough terrains with dangerous and unexpected turns and obstacles, you want your life vehicle to be driven by the professional. You would like to think you are well capable of navigating your life vehicle, but you are just an amateur. You need to hire the big name professional! Not just any one, but the best of the best. And in the universe, there is no one with the better credentials, better track records of successes, better skills and knowledge to our life vehicle than Jesus. And, by the way, you don’t need to hire him, because he offers you his super-professional spiritual service to you at no cost. Only thing that he asks of you is for you to get off the driver seat and let him navigate for you! Another word, trust in him!

2. What do you do when you are downcast?

Let me take you back to the story of Ehud. I wasn’t sure how this rather gory account of Ehud using his sword to get the enemy’s king would apply to my and your lives. I got some help from K. Lawson Younger who wrote a commentary on Judges.

We don’t face warfare situations like Ehud as Christians. So, the question he asks is, “How are we to wage spiritual warfare against those who abuse, exploit, and persecute the church?”[1] More general question I would ask is, “How are we to wage war against Satan who wants to discourage us?”

If Satan tried to take our Lord Jesus down when Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights, you better believe Satan is out to take us down!

If it is not with the physical sword of Ehud, what is that we are to use for the spiritual warfare? K. Lawson Younger connects Ehud’s sword to the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. In Ephesians 6:7, Paul calls us to take up the arm by picking up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

This past week, I was overwhelmed with deep sense of discouragement. My wife was feeling it too. Although the weather was bright and warm, our hearts were downcast. I didn’t know how to shake off the discouragement.

That is when the Lord presented me with his sword, the word of God from Psalm 42:5-11:

Why are you so downcast with me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon- from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me- a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”

Over fifteen years ago, I was able to see Niagara Falls with my family. We took the tour boat at the bottom of the falls. Wow, the roars of the waterfalls completely drown my hearing, I could hardly hear myself. The falls from above doesn’t look so bad, but where the falls hit the water, you feel so small and powerless. The roars of waterfalls drowning all your senses, it feels chaotic. Have you felt like that in your life?

Have you felt like someone is saying to you, “Where is your God?” God feels distant and far.

God put this psalm 42 in the Bible to let us know that we will go through the times of great confusion, chaos when we feel powerless, insignificant, out of control, discouraged.

What do you do? You take up the sword of the word of God and you begin to preach to yourself, “Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”



[1] K. Lawson Younger, NIVAC on Judges, p. 126.

Cornerstone Mission Church -www.cmclife.org- updated

Our church web site www.cmclife.org has been updated.
Here are some new updates:

1. cmclife.family.blogs link at http://www.cmclife.org/blogs
2. pastor's blog link at www.cmclife.org/pastorsteve
3. sermon link www.cmclife.org/sermons
4. cmclife calendar- all of our upcoming church events on Google-based calendar.
5. cmclife email account Our church is using Google domain beta service... what does it mean? Our church people can now have their own yourname@cmclife.org email based on gmail. You get 2gb, you get calendar, and other Google services all available on the web (also pop/smtp able... which means if you use email programs like outlook, outlook express, eudora... you can set up your own yourname@cmclife.org with them). In college and other big organizations, people have their own organizational email accounts. Now, through Google, CMC can now offer an excellent church email option. I use my cmclife.org email as my primary email account. It creates opportunities for people to check out our church www.cmclife.org web site when they get emails from me. So, think of it as getting excellent gmail like email account with yourownname@cmclife.org that helps to promote our church... And you don't need to have extra numbers or letters at the end of your name just to create one. Have you seen emails that start with john2120343343@... or jane019gettinglong019@... :) Another word, whatever you would like for your name, you will get it... unless it is too crazy :)

What do you need to do?

1. Email me to let me know you want your own cmclife.org email (make sure you tell me who you are so I know you are from CMC)
2. Let me know what your name before @cmclife.org to be, like my pstevekim before @cmclife.org
3. When I get your email, I will send you an email link to set up your own email.
4. When you are done setting it up, next time just go to our www.cmclife.org and click cmclife.org email link from the left column to log-in and check your email.
5. Enjoy!
   

Psalm 46:1, "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."

Yesterday, I had it! As I was putting one of my daughters into her car seat, she began yelling really loud. What was she yelling about? Well, I don't remember. What I remember was this unsettled feeling in me, "I don't like the way she is talking to me." Her yelling began with, "I WANT THIS...", "I NEED THIS..." After I got her to calm down, I had a little talk with her. I told her that when she yelled and demanded me to meet her need and want, I didn't feel like listening to her! I told her that the right way, the better way to talk to me would be to simply ask for what she wanted or needed. Why? I told her that I wanted to bless her, do what was good for her, and to help her if I can. I was asking her to trust me that I wanted to genuinely help her. I wanted her to know that she didn't need to yell, demand, grumble to get what she wanted or needed from me. All she had to do was to simply trust me and ask me.

When I read Psalm 46 this morning, I began to think about how I am a lot like my little child. I don't yell at God much, but in little troubles that I face, I sure do grumble a lot and carry this attitude that I deserve better. "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." I easily forget that God's heart is to help, genuinely be my aid, my protection, my provider, my strength, not just yesterday, but right now in ever-present moments. I don't need to fuss, yell, grumble, manipulate God to help me when I am in trouble. Verse 7 says, "The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." Ever-present, God Immanuel, God with us... to help us to live the best life he has for us.

It is a humbling experience trying to train my children in God's way. So often, what I try to teach them are the very things God wants me to learn... Lord, train me to trust you deeper that you are God, ever-present help in trouble!

Psalm 45:11, "The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord."

This morning's scriptural reflection led me to Psalm 45. I was drawn to the verse 11, "The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord."

C. S. Lewis said about this psalm in Reflections on the Psalms,

"The birth of Christ is the arrival of the great warrior and the great king. Also of the Lover, the Bridegroom, whose beauty surpasses that of man. But not only the Bridegroom as the lover, the desired; the Bridegroom also who makes fruitful, the Father of children still to be begotten and born" (Reflections on the Psalms, p. 130).

Last Saturday, I attended Sam's wedding. He and his bride Youngshin both radiated the glow of happiness and joy. You should have seen them on the dancing floor for their first dance as a married couple. They danced as though there was nobody around them. They were in the moment. Their eyes never left each other. Youngshin, the bride's radiating smile gave it away; Sam's devotion gave it away... they were in love. The bride knew she was beautiful. Sam was enthralled by her beauty. My wife and I looked at each other and smiled remembering our moments!

I am constantly surrounded by my beautiful wife and our three beautiful daughters. I too am enthralled by their beauty, not just when they are adorned with pretty clothes, or anything else. But, like now seeing my wife and my children with their messy hair just woken up from sleep. They are beautiful. My appreciation of their beauty is driven by my deep love for them.

To think that Jesus loves his church, us in this way is beyond me...

Well, my reflection needs to stop for now... my beloved and beautiful wife and children are up.. it is time to make some pancakes.