Author Archives: reveds

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About reveds

Occupation: Pastor, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Lennox, SD Education: BS - Christian Education, Sterling College; MDiv. - Princeton Theological Seminary Family: Married, with Four children. Hobbies: Running (will someday run a marathon), Sci-Fi (especially Doctor Who and Sherlock), Theater, and anything else my kids will let me do.

Thoughts from the frozen tundra

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It’s cold.

If you put your computer close enough to your ear, you can probably hear the chattering of my teeth. It may sound like the clicking of my keyboard, but its really my teeth – I promise.

Because of the cold, I’ve been spending most of my time rearranging church activities so that we don’t have people coming out in these extreme temperatures (as I write it is currently 2°, with the windchill somewhere near -25°).

Instead of my usual ponderings here on the blog, I’ll drop off some deep thoughts on winter for your warmth and enjoyment.

It is said that in some countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit, because there is no winter there. The Lord bless all seasons to his people, and help them rightly to behave themselves, under all the times that go over them.

JOHN BUNYAN

Not only does true grace grow best in winter, but winter is the best season for planting grace.… It is not a speculation, it is a personal experience that hundreds here can testify to, that the Bible, the Sabbath, the Supper, all became so many means of grace to them after some great affliction greatly sanctified.

SAMUEL RUTHERFORD

“Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

His Presence/My Strength

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Matthew 28:20 [widescreen]

Have you ever had that experience when you keep seeing the same thing over again, and wonder if maybe someone is trying to tell you something?

For some reason, everything I’ve been reading lately has been coming back around to the fact of God’s presence with His people.

Last weekend I led a Bible study on the life of Gideon. If you’ll remember when the Lord called Gideon to service, God said, “Go in the strength that you have.”  Gideon quickly replies that he is not a mighty man, nor does he come from a strong family; how could he possibly deliver Israel? Then the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man” (Judges 6:16). It was the presence of the Lord that was Gideon’s strength in service.

Again, tonight I led a study on the story of Joshua at the battle of Jericho. Not much of a battle. All Israel was called to do was march around the city for 6 days, and on the 7 day, march around the city 7 times; blowing their trumpets as they marched.  I’m not sure that this tactic has been repeated in battle since.

What then was the source of victory of Israel. It was the presence of the Lord.  As they marched around the city, the ark of the covenant was carried in the midst of the people, reminding them that the Lord was with them with every step. Joshua 6:27 reminds us, “So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land” (Joshua 6:27).

Then I was reading with a church member the passage from Ephesians 6 on the armor of God.  Having already been thinking about the importance of God’s presence, this verse at the beginning of the reading jumped out at me: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10).

It is in the presence of God in our lives that our strength lies. This is the wonder of Jesus’ promise, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Finally, I’ll leave you with this from A.W. Tozer that I came across today:

The spiritual giants of old were those who at some time became acutely conscious of the presence of God. They maintained that consciousness for the rest of their lives. How otherwise can the saints and prophets be explained? How otherwise can we account for the amazing power for good they have exercised over countless generations? Is it not that indeed they had become friends of God? Is it not that they walked in conscious communion with the real Presence and addressed their prayers to God with the artless conviction that they were truly addressing Someone actually there? Let me say it again, for certainly it is no secret: we do God more honor in believing what He has said about Himself and coming boldly to His throne of grace than by hiding in a self-conscious humility! Those unlikely men chosen by our Lord as His closest disciples might well have hesitated to claim friendship with Christ. But Jesus said to them, “You are my friends!”

He concluded with the verse: “Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence” (Psalm 140:13).

SDG