"The unfolding of your words gives light ..." (Psalm 119:130a)

Category: death

Final Prayer

I stand condemned by all I’ve done

My every sin demands its due

And I am guilty, it is true

But my final prayer is “Jesus”

 

Jesus, only Jesus

His sweet name

Undoes the blame

Jesus, only Jesus

No other name can do the same

 

My accusers have risen up

All their tales they have told

Yet not one has gained a hold

For my final prayer is “Jesus”

 

Jesus, only Jesus

His sweet name

Undoes my shame

Jesus, only Jesus

No other name can do the same

 

All my enemies gather ‘round

They surround my sorry soul

They demand I pay their toll

But my final prayer is “Jesus”

 

Jesus, only Jesus

His sweet name

Breaks their claim

Jesus, only Jesus

No other name can do the same

 

Earthly life now quickly fades

My final breaths flee away

I must let go, come what may

My final prayer is “Jesus”

 

Jesus, only Jesus

His sweet name

I whisper low

Jesus, only Jesus

My last plea as on I go

 

Jesus, only Jesus

His sweet name

None is the same

Jesus, only Jesus

All other names are said in vain

 

Jesus, only Jesus …

 

A Faithful Servant

Today the world learned of the passing of Warren W. Wiersbe—man of God, student of the Bible, devoted family man, prolific author, and gifted Bible teacher.

I first became aware of Warren Wiersbe as I was trimming azalea bushes just outside Columbia, South Carolina in the early 1980’s. I worked on the grounds crew at a large condominium complex while working my way through seminary. While I worked I listened to Dr. Wiersbe teach the Bible on the Back to the Bible broadcast. I was amazed. He fed me and made me more hungry. He opened the Scriptures in a way I had scarcely heard before, and he did so day after day. The depth of his Bible knowledge was impressive; the depth of his heart commitment to the Lord was infectious.

After graduation from seminary a couple of years later I became a pastor and began teaching and preaching the Bible myself. Dr. Wiersbe’s books were an enormous help to me.

In the early 1990’s I had the privilege of sitting under Dr. Wiersbe’s instruction in a Doctor of Ministry class he taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. His insights on the role of imagination in preaching lit up my mind and heart and sent me out with fresh desire to be faithful to the Scriptures and powerful in the Spirit.

But one day during class Dr. Wiersbe gave us all a fright. As we regathered after a lunch break Dr. Wiersbe, standing at the front of the class, suddenly fell strangely silent and his eyes glazed over. Very quickly we realized something was wrong. Those closest to him in the front row rushed to his side and helped him land gently as he collapsed to the floor. Paramedics soon arrived and they wheeled Dr. Wiersbe out, strapped on a gurney. We prayed fervently for him. And we worried that perhaps the entire Bible-believing world would lay upon us the death of the beloved Dr.!

We were relieved when he returned to the classroom within a couple of days reporting that a drop in his blood sugar had been the culprit. We breathed a sigh of relief and lifted a prayer of thanks to the Lord our healer. Dr. Wiersbe completed a wonderful week of learning for us all.

Then in the early 2000’s God began to open a publishing ministry for me. My publishers wanted me to get endorsements from famous authors who could recommend my books. I’m not famous. I don’t know anyone famous. But I asked myself whom would I most desire to offer an endorsement for my book(s) if it were possible. Warren Wiersbe was the immediate response within my heart. But he didn’t know me. I was just one of hundreds of students he had instructed over the years in various seminaries. But I ventured a letter and Dr. Wiersbe graciously responded with an offer to consider my book. He wrote the following for my book Song of the Satisfied Soul:

There is always room on the shelf for another exposition of Psalm 23, especially when it is as balanced and practical as this one. The author allows the text to speak for itself as he reveals the richness of the believer’s relationship to Jesus Christ. The ideal book for a pastor or other care-giver to share with those needing encouragement.

Later he offered another endorsement for my commentary The Pastoral Epistles for Pastors:

I heartily welcome and endorse this encyclopedic study of Paul’s Pastoral Epistles. For years we have had Eugene Stock’s Practical Truths from the Pastoral Epistles and W. Edward Chadwick’s The Pastoral Teaching of St. Paul: His Ministerial Ideals, but this volume goes beyond them in exposition and application. The beginning pastor and the seasoned minister will both discover in these pages enlightenment, encouragement and a new sense of wonder and privilege of being a servant of God. You can live in this book for the rest of your life and have a more fruitful and rewarding ministry!

I found Dr. Warren Wiersbe to be a gracious, kind man. He was a man of great conviction and strength. He was a ravenous student of the Scriptures and he lived out a lifetime of faithful ministry for the Lord. I am just one of a vast multitude who has been profoundly blessed by this godly man. I give praise to the Lord for the grace He has poured into my life through him.

And, oddly enough, I discovered today that Warren Wiersbe was the same age as my father. They were both born in 1929, just months apart from one another. My father passed away nine days before Dr. Wiersbe did. I just conducted my father’s funeral three days ago.

It reminds me that a faithful generation is passing off the scene and the responsibility to live wisely and well for the honor of the Lord is upon me and my generation in a new and unique way. May the God who empowered these two faithful men also empower me to faithfully serve and honor Him for however long I have left on this earth.

In the Land of the Living

My father died yesterday.

When someone close to us dies it scrambles our thoughts and emotions. We have, of course, the hope of Jesus Christ. If they shared that hope we rejoice for their home-going. But we remain here and must deal with the void left because of their departure and the trauma of soul that is ours in the grief we endure. And it is a real void and a genuine trauma. So how do we go forward “in the land of the living”?

That phrase (“in the land of the living”) came to mind as we walked through my father’s final days here on earth. I recalled the phrase from a couple of Bible verses which I’d tucked away in my heart over the years. But today I went searching out that phrase and discovered it is found three times in the Psalms. Those three occurrences are instructive to me as I seek the way forward after the loss of my dad. Perhaps you’ll find some help here too, whatever your current challenges.

“I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” (Psalm 116:9)

That’s an important perspective for me. Dad is gone. I miss him. But I must “walk” through this life—which, because of his death, involves a mountainous pile of new decisions, actions and responsibilities. But I must “walk” each day – moving forward, dealing with stuff. And I must do so consciously “before the Lord.” He is my orientation, my loss need not be. I don’t deny the loss, but I am not defined by the loss. I am defined by “the LORD” who is my life. I am aware of being under His gaze. His face is turned toward me for good (Numb. 6:25-26). I am accountable to Him (Heb. 4:13). In the midst of all this I need both: His grace for me and His authority over me. I’m not in this alone. I am walking “before the Lord,” right here “in the land of the living.” What a grace!

“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!” (Psalm 27:13)

I have hope! Yes, for eternal life. Yes, for reunion with my Dad who died with his faith in Jesus Christ. But I have hope for here and now as well—“in the land of the living.” As I “walk before the LORD” I have every confidence that He is providentially arranging my life and all the affairs that make it up so that “I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD” right here “in the land of the living.” Real time. Real world. Tangible. Identifiable. He will do me good as I walk through all this. His promises to me in the Bible are true. He is good to every one of them. They are given to me so I can affirm that in Christ I am in present possession of all I need to do His will (2 Peter 1:3-4). I will be able to say as Joshua did, “Not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD [my] God promised concerning [me]. All have come to pass for [me]; not one of them has failed.” (Josh. 23:14) What a grace!

“I cry to you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’” (Psalm 142:5)

As I sit here—emotions riding up and down depending on the moment—I am already in possession of my greatest treasure! The Lord Himself is “my portion.” That is to say, the Lord is “my inheritance.” Think on that: You’ve come into your inheritance “in the land of the living”! When someone dies we sometimes hear that they’ve “gone to their reward.” I get it, but I already have mine! He has given Himself to me as the best gift an infinite God could ever bestow on anyone. He has enriched me by the gift of His fellowship, favor, love, and presence. I’ve already come into infinite wealth! I sit here the wealthiest man I know—or ever will know. David was right, “I shall not want.” How could I when He is “my portion”? And if in a difficult moment I lose this perspective, the Lord is “my refuge” and keeps me with the promise of restored perspective again down the road. What a grace!

This three-fold perspective, of course, is applicable at all times, not just in times of grief. Would it help if you took a few minutes before the Lord and thanked Him for His presence and promises in your life, right now, right here “in the land of the living”?

And as you do, say a prayer for me and my family. Thanks.

PS —  a picture from July 19, 1998 when I had the privilege of baptizing my father as a testimony of his faith in Jesus Christ.

The God of Our Pain

anguish_stone

“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as ‘God on the cross.’ In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in the imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouths dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross that symbolizes divine suffering. ‘The cross of Christ . . . is God’s only self-justification in such a world’ as ours.” –John R.W. Stott (The Cross of Christ, pp.326-327)

Premature Death?

grief

“I must not think it strange if God takes in youth those whom I would have kept on earth till they were older. God is peopling Eternity, and I must not restrict Him to old men and women.” –Jim Elliott (Shadow of the Almighty, p.249)

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