Thanks for God

Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be held in awe above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. 1 Chronicles 16:23-26

The ark of God had finally made it to Jerusalem. Great care had been taken this time to move it according to God’s proscribed methods and by those appointed to the task. (It had been mishandled previously with grievous results.) After situating the ark properly in a tent and offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, the trumpets blew and King David gave a long song of thanksgiving. The thanksgiving song of David actually runs from verses 8-36, but you can get the gist from our verses today. It was Thanksgiving Day for Israel.

Tomorrow, it will be Thanksgiving Day in the United States. And many, though not all, will give thanks to the God of the Bible. Certainly, we have many things to be thankful for. We can be thankful that we were born in a country of abundance. We can be thankful for the gift of the day. Many will offer thanks for health. No doubt many will ask God’s blessing on a family gathering and a traditional feast. We will remember our soldiers who have fought and those who are still fighting to protect our freedoms; and rightfully so. We will be thankful for our families. We will be thankful for what God’s done for us.

But before the final amen, knives and forks will be set on ready and thoughts of thankfulness will give way to gorging, visiting, TV surfing and napping. Yet perhaps for one brief moment we will have paused and given thanks to God for blessing us. Doesn’t that ring just a little bit hollow to you? Don’t misunderstand, we should pause and thank God for his blessings; for what he’s done for us. But, somehow I think we miss a bigger reason for thanksgiving. Would it not be more glorifying to God if we were thankful for God instead of only thankful for his blessings?

Notice how David offered thanks and gave directions on being thankful. He instructs a nation to sing to the boss of all the earth; the Lord. He instructs a nation to tell of God’s wonderful works of salvation each and every day; to declare God’s glory. David lets the people know that God is great and God is greatly to be praised! He points out that God is greater than any idol; greater than our blessings; greater than anything to be found in all the earth. You see, David is thankful that God is God; he’s thankful for God. And David offers thanks in a way that glorifies God for being God.

Tomorrow, pause and give thanks to God for the many, many blessings you enjoy. But please don’t forget to also give thanks for God; for His majesty; for His power; for His greatness. God is great and greatly to be praised!

-Ken Askew

Wisdom, Faith, Courage, Peace and God’s Will

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
ESV Hebrews 11:8

This past week during our Sunday morning Bible study hour we spent some time discussing difficult decisions. Particularly, we discussed what it must be like to be a minister (and/or a minister’s wife) when it seems God is calling you to a new location. All kinds of thoughts flowed in our discussion. Where will we live? What will the people be like? We like it fine where we are; does God really want us to go? What is God’s will? We ended up with a pretty impressive list.

Next, we discussed how we might pray for someone as they faced difficult decisions. As we thought through how we might pray, we tried to think of Biblical examples. While we used several examples, there’s probably nobody in the Bible that better personifies our conclusion than Abraham. Abraham displayed wisdom in his decisions, faith in his obedience, courage in times of difficulty, peace at all times and I can’t recall him ever desiring anything to the intentional opposition of God’s revealed will. We finally decided that we should pray as follows:

Wisdom: That God may grant wisdom in much the same way he granted Solomon wisdom as a young leader. Of course godly wisdom is the product of knowledge multiplied by prayerful meditation. And in this sense, true knowledge is found only in God’s word.

Faith: That God would provide faith like Abraham had. You’ll recall that Abraham displayed faith by obediently answering God’s call and leaving his homeland for lands yet unknown to him based solely on the promise God made to him. He also displayed immeasurable faith when he was faced with the prospect of sacrificing his only son.

Courage: That God would grant the strength and courage to “do all things through Christ.”

Peace: That God would grant the peace that “surpasses all understanding;” a peace that is found only in Christ.

God’s will: And finally, thinking of how Jesus taught his disciples to pray and how he himself prayed; that God’s “will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Indeed, this should be the mark of all Christians; that they should desire that God’s will be done in all things, in all situations, and in all places.

Now, many people wrestle with this last one (God’s will) intensely at times while others are much too nonchalant about the matter. What is God’s will and can I know it? Is God’s will for our lives very narrow and focused like an ink dot on the center of a page or is it broader? Is it possible that it’s more like a wide circle with definite boundaries but encompassing all within? Just some food for thought for future discussion...

But for now let’s follow Paul’s charge to the Corinthians: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” And let’s not neglect a most powerful tool for decision making—prayer. God bless.

Ken Askew

Work with Integrity

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his way crooked will be found out. ESV Proverbs 10:9

This past week I’ve heard at least two sermons where physical labor was referred to as God honoring. Each time the speaker went on to say that God honoring work should be a joy rather than a burden. One speaker even said that if a young man came calling on his daughter that the question of work would be the second question he’d ask; coming in right behind questions of faith. And the wrong answer to either would eliminate the suitor!

When you think of it, God has ordained that man work. Adam tended to the Garden even before he fell into sin. So it should follow that man is capable of obedience to what God has commanded with a cheerful heart even though since the fall it has been tiresome.

Many verses come to mind when I think about work. One proverb in the King James Version says that a sluggard doesn’t plow because of the cold and as a result of his slack he “shall beg in harvest and have nothing.” In the book of Colossians we are admonished to honor our employers and to “work as unto the Lord.” As you read the letters of Paul you’ll note that he worked with his hands throughout his ministry so as not to be a burden to his hosts. And how can you ignore the industrious Proverbs 31 woman who is referred to as being “…far more precious than jewels?” So again, work is most certainly a biblically ordained part of our lives both inside and outside the home.

I sat in on a Bible study Tuesday morning where the question was raised, how do we teach these biblical principles of God honoring work to our children? As tough as that question is in our generation, I submit to you that there is one even more difficult. How do we teach our children to work with integrity?

Work is one thing. But God honoring work has to be done with integrity. God honoring work is done with honesty; honesty to clients, honesty to employers and honesty to fellow employees—God honoring work has to be done with integrity. Everyone involved gets a fair shake.

When you work with integrity, you never have to look over your shoulder. You never have to be ashamed or embarrassed by your actions, and you never have to wonder if or when your misdeed might be uncovered to your chagrin.

But watch TV for just a few minutes and you’ll be inundated with examples of crooked deeds in the workplace. Read the headlines on almost any day and you’ll have real life examples of corruption in the workplace.

Let me challenge you consciously work with integrity this week; work as unto the Lord. And don’t be shy about passing on the benefits of working with integrity to the next generation.

-Ken Askew

Election Day in Perspective

“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,” ESV Acts 17:26-27

As I write this article on Monday evening, the world is anxiously awaiting Election Day 2008 in the United States. Who will be our next President? How will the House or Representatives and the Senate be changed? What will the election mean for our economy?

Yet as you read this on Wednesday, the anticipation is gone. The votes have been cast and counted. What lies ahead now is most likely either a sense of dread or a sense of gleeful expectation; depending on how you voted. But let me offer an alternative perspective for you.

Ken Askew

Rather than face tomorrow with a sense of dread because your candidate did not win or gleeful expectation because he did, let me encourage you to face tomorrow humbly, prayerfully and confident in God.

In perhaps his greatest recorded sermon, Paul points out to the Athenians that God created all mankind. Every man, woman, and child ever to grace the earth is a descendent of Adam. And from Adam, God has caused every nation upon the earth to exist. So like it or not, Obama, McCain, Biden and Palin are all a little more closely related than you might have cared to imagine!

And far from being inactive and passive in the livelihood of nations, Paul points out that it is God who determines their allotted times, their boundaries, and their dwelling place on the earth. Theologians have a name for this activity of God in our lives; they call it providence.

It’s God’s providence that causes me to have hope for our future. While God exercises His providence in a manner that does not offend my sense of choice, relieve me of moral responsibility, or remove the consequences of my actions, He also really does ‘have the whole world in his hands,’ and that my friend is why I can face tomorrow with confidence. But why would God desire to be active in our lives? He certainly doesn’t need anything the world has to offer.

I a convinced that God’s activity in our lives is ultimately for His own glory. Paul told the Athenians that God’s activity is designed to cause us to seek after Him. Yet while we seek Him, as if we were groping in the dark, God is very near to each of us. As a matter of fact, He’s so close we can touch Him through something amazingly simple; prayer.

So, let me encourage you to confidently look towards the future by humbly seeking God today through payer. Thank Him for loving us enough to be active in our lives. Beg his forgiveness for the times and seasons we’ve ignored him individually and as a nation. And finally, ask Him to guide our newly elected President and other leaders so that He might be glorified.

Every Day is a Gift

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. ESV Psalm 118:24

I still remember turning thirty. Something about it bothered me, but I don’t know exactly what it was. Maybe that’s when I came to the realization that I wasn’t a kid anymore and the realities of adulthood began to sink in. I had responsibilities at home; responsibilities at work; responsibilities that others were counting on me to carry out. At any rate, I wasn’t quite sure that I was happy with the leap to unrestrained adulthood.

Now, fast-forward ten years...turning forty didn’t bother me at all. At forty, I hardly slowed down to notice the date. Still mentally alert, I did the math in my head—forty is the midpoint between twenty and sixty. Then it hit me: Hey, I remember when my mom, dad and in-law’s were forty. No time for musing...gotta keep moving!

I turned forty five earlier this week and things, well, they’re changing. I’m a lot sharper in the morning than I used to be, but I’m not nearly as alert in the evening. Somewhere along about 9:00 PM my eyes start to fade. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with being physically tired but along about 9:00 PM, reading time is over. My knees hurt when I ride my bike more than fifty miles in a day. The doctor, being just a little sarcastic, says I might want to consider riding thirty instead. I could go on.

But there are many positives to getting older. I’ve been married for over half my life, which, while not always easy, is infinitely better than dating. I got my first unsolicited senior discount on coffee this past year. Folks don’t seem to mind as much that my hearing is less than perfect. I can sleep anywhere—couch, chair, bed, plane—it matters not. My wife swears I can sleep while holding a book in reading position. My son says I can fade off in mid-sentence. He thinks it’s a gift.

It’s difficult to admit, but sometimes I wonder what I might have done differently to have accomplished more by this age. I mean Meriwether Lewis had explored the West from St. Louis to the Pacific by the time he was thirty three. But then I remember that Moses was eighty or so when God called him to lead His people out of Egypt. So, I don’t fret over it. And I’m truly a man without regrets.

If anything, I think I’m learning to enjoy the simpler things of life more with each passing year. I’m not nearly as uptight as I once was. I don’t get riled nearly so easily either. I’m choosy about my battles. And I really do believe that ‘every day is a good day.’ Admittedly, some days are filled with difficulties, strife and even grief, but each and every day is a gift from God and that alone makes them “good.”

Who knows, if God grants me the time, strength, and knees, I might just ride my bike coast-to-coast one day. If for no other reason, just to smell the roses and enjoy the day the Lord has made. God bless.

Ken Askew