Devotions

“Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head” (Psalm 21:3, KJV). At first glance, this verse by David is a bit puzzling. The word “prevent” is usually associated with a hindrance, but the modern translation here would be, “You meet him with the blessings of goodness” (NKJV).

The biblical word for “prevent” meant “to anticipate, to precede, to foresee and fulfill in advance, to pay a debt before it is due.” Furthermore, in almost every instance, it implied something of pleasure.

Isaiah gives us a glimpse of this kind of pleasure. It comes from God anticipating a need and fulfilling it ahead of time. “It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24, NKJV).

This verse provides us with an incredible picture of our Lord’s love for us. Evidently, he is so anxious to bless us, so ready to fulfill his lovingkindness in our lives, that he can’t even wait for us to tell him our needs. He jumps in and performs acts of mercy, grace and love toward us; and that is a supreme pleasure to him.

That is just what David was saying in Psalm 21. “Lord, you pour out blessings and lovingkindness on me before I can even ask. You offer more than I could even conceive of asking.”

David was referring to some awesome work that God performed for him both in the natural world and in the spiritual realm. God gave David victory over his enemies, answers to prayer, overcoming power and unspeakable joy; and he did much of it before David could even go to prayer, unburden his heart or present his request. Once David finally did pour out his heart, he discovered that God had already made provision to defeat his enemies. David’s victory was assured before he could even get near the battlefield.

As Christians in Paul’s day sensed the destruction of Jerusalem drawing near, they wanted to know more about prophetic events. They were fearful about rumors concerning the ruthlessness of invading armies who took multitudes captive into slavery. It caused these believers to sense that perilous times were close at hand. They asked Paul to tell them more about what was to come and how to read the times.

Paul responded with these words of assurance: “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2, NKJV).

Rather than focus on trying to predict the future, Paul urged them to be encouraged by what would take place when Christ returned. “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

Paul was essentially saying, “There’s no need for you to be overly concerned about all the fearful signs and calamities. You well know what this is about. It’s all signaling the coming of the Lord Jesus to take away his people.”

The truth is that history is going somewhere. We can be sure that the swift current of unfolding events today is carrying us toward God’s eternal purpose. The world is not adrift; the Lord hasn’t abandoned the earth, no matter how wicked and faithless humankind has become. Rather, God has simply picked up the pace. What we are seeing now is a swift movement of events toward the “one divine event” ahead: the re-creation of a new heaven and earth where Christ will reign supreme for all eternity.

As followers of Christ, our focus is not to be on daily news reports. We are not to dwell on wars and rumors of war. When Jesus said, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28), he tells us where our focus should be.

After scripture tells us about Job’s horrific losses, we’re told that God comes to him and says, “Look now at the behemoth [the hippopotamus], which I made along with you” (Job 40:15, NKJV) and a little later, “Can you draw out Leviathan [the crocodile] with a hook? Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?” (Job 41:1).

Why would God include these two massive monsters in his revelation to Job? Why would God have Job look into the faces of a hippopotamus and a crocodile?

First, the Lord posed this problem to his servant: “Look, Job. Here comes the hippopotamus after you. What are you going to do? Can you wrestle him down with your physical strength? No? Maybe you can try to sweet-talk him. Now, behold the crocodile that’s threatening you. How will you handle him? This creature has a heart of stone. He has no concept of mercy.”

This was more than a simple lecture about the animal kingdom. God was telling Job something about life’s “monsters.” He was showing his servant that these two awesome, ferocious, overpowering creatures represented the monstrous problems raging in Job’s life.

“Consider the hippo. He tramples down everything in sight. He’s simply too big a problem for you to handle, Job. You are no match for him whatsoever. Nothing you can do will tame him. Only I, the Lord, know how to stop such a monstrous creature. And what about the crocodile, Job? No human can do battle with such a creature. Nobody in his own strength can strip the crocodile of his thick armor. The same is true of your spiritual enemy, the devil. Only I can win the battle with him.”

Do you hear what God is saying in his speech in Job 41:1-11? He’s speaking not just to Job but to all believers. He’s declaring, “Face the truth about the monsters in your life. You can’t handle them. I’m the only one who can.”

In the days when Eli was ministering to the Lord, scripture says, “The word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision” (1 Samuel 3:1, ESV). Often, when this happens in our lives, we surround that flickering flame with lots of smoke and mirrors to make it look better than it is. Our agendas become focused on all of these outside things because the fire at the center is so small and can hardly bring light or warmth anymore.

Eli was a spiritual leader of his nation at that time. Eli could have had an amazing move of God in his time. He had the Ark of the Covenant, which was the sign of God choosing to make a habitation among his people in the Old Testament. They had worship and sacrifices, and they had the Torah and the teaching of the Word.

They had everything they could possibly have to help them, but there were only occasional visitations from the Lord.

Eli was choosing to ignore or even indulge his sons’ sinful lifestyles. I picture him a little like King Saul who would come along a bit later. Saul would have these fits and experience these moves of God, but they would only last for a little while. The Holy Spirit would fall upon him, and he would prophesy, but the next day he would be back to his old ways!

Both men had divided desires. It was “I want God’s presence, but when I’m back to my normal life, I want to compromise a little bit and sin here or there.”

This way of living has serious consequences for us. “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:9-10).

When we ignore the sin in our own lives and it no longer grieves us, this starts to affect us in serious ways. Habitual patterns of sin in ourselves and our family that we choose to overlook are what most often hinders God’s presence.

I ministered in Detroit for 30 years. While preaching on the streets, I’ve been cursed at. I've been spit on. I've had bottles thrown at me. I've had bullets fly by. None of that ever bothered me, though. I wasn't offended. I didn't know the person; they didn’t know me.

My wife looks at me the wrong way, though, and Lord have mercy. That's worse than a bottle. That's worse than a gunshot.

Hurt is proportional to intimacy. The closer you are to someone, the deeper they can hurt you. Even David said this, “For it is not an enemy who taunts me — then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me — then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend” (Psalm 55:12, ESV).  

Words really matter. They carry weight. In fact, Solomon says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21), and even James says, “It [the tongue] is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:8-10).

He speaks to all of us, and this is so important because any hurt that is not dealt with will turn into bitterness. When you're dealing with a bitter person, it's because they didn't take care of that hurtful situation. All of us have been hurt, will be hurt again and will hurt others; so what are we supposed to do?

Let me tell you, I’ve been on both ends. I've been the offender, and I have been offended. There have been moments that we took communion, and I sat in a chair waiting for my turn, and the Holy Spirit said, "Don’t touch that until you stand up and go ask forgiveness of that staff member." I would look at the band and say, "Keep playing until I get this right." Then I'd have to walk out and make things right. It's so difficult when the Holy Spirit says, "You have not only been offended, but you have been the offender.”

It starts with an apology, first to God and then to others. There's one relationship that you always have to deal with right away, and that’s your relationship with God; then you make it right with others. As John says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

^{After pastoring an inner-city congregation in Detroit for thirty years, Pastor Tim served at Brooklyn Tabernacle in NYC for five years and pastored in Lafayette, Louisiana, for five years. He became Senior Pastor of Times Square Church in May of 2020.}