The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

Because I am such a procrastinator, the decision yesterday to do “zoom church” sent me scrambling out in the rain at 6 o’clock last night in search of an HDMI cable to hook my tablet up to the living room TV. As you can perhaps tell, my scheme fell through. Now, my plan was to get to Lowes, move as quickly as possible to aisle 12 bay 6, (which is where their website said I would find the needed cable), proceed to the checkout, and go home. Lowes closed at 7, so I would be cutting it close, but no problem.

Lowes and behold, Lowes did not have the cable I needed. But, about 30 seconds into my search, which I suspected was going to end fruitless, I began devising a back up plan. Across Veterans Pkwy sat Walmart, Chinese junk Mecca. Viruses aren’t the only thing China exports. Don’t judge me.

So, I dove back out into the pouring rain, got in my van, and drove across the street. After spending several minutes driving around their parking lot I find a space and make my way into the Walmart. First thing I noticed was that the entryway was roped off and barricaded in a fashion that would make Donald Trump proud. As I wove my way through the ropes, I noticed cute little blue arrows on the ground telling me which way to walk.

People are everywhere. Masks on. Generally ignoring all of the social distancing guidelines.

So I step in, through the automatic turnstile, and look straight to the back and see plastered on the wall “Entertainment”. This was shaping up to be anything but entertaining. My plan was to move to the back of the store, get the cable I need, and exit as fast as possible. From the outside my demeanor probably looked as it usually does, a happy go lucky scowl and furrowed brow, but on the inside I was beginning to get ticked that my simple little plan was not going the way I wanted it to.

I follow the little blue arrows to the back and am confronted with the realization that there are 3 different sections in their entertainment department which have HDMI cables. Guess what? Walmart let me down. The cable I needed was nowhere to be found. Oh sure, they had plenty of micro hdmi to standard hdmi, USB-C to Hdmi, and a dozen other variants, but not the one I needed.

My plans were thwarted. By this time my right eye was probably twitching, so I left the entertainment center by exiting out of an aisle going the wrong way according to their precious little arrows, then crossed over a roped off register in violation of some rule and got stuck behind a slow moving masked woman as I attempted to exit the building.

That’s when I glanced to my right and saw sitting on the ground between a claw machine and a pile of vomit, a cute little 12 or 13 year old brace-faced girl shaking, looking very confused and embarrassed.

I almost kept walking because I had to get home and do family worship and nothing was going to thwart my plans the rest of this day so help me. I don’t have time for this, and what the heck can I do anyway. But then I saw everyone else glance over, and keep walking, and I remembered a verse of scripture that I had just read a few hours before:

The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.

So I stopped a few feet short of the exit, broke the “one way only protocol” because there is no law against love, and walked back to where she was. I asked if she was Ok and she quietly said she was. I asked if I could help her by getting some paper towels so she could clean up a bit, and she said that would be nice.

So I totally broke the rules, went back into the store down the one way path, found a clerk, broke social distancing guidelines asking for some paper towels, and made my way back to the young lady. When I rounded the corner with the towels she smiled ear to ear, and it was then that I realized that this whole failed trip for some HDMI cables had been worth it.

Brothers and sisters, our Church has seen plans we made a mere 3 months ago get turned on their head by Covid-19. We had ministry work, outreaches, and fellowship meals planned out for the whole year. Our calendar was full, yet now we find ourselves unable to even meet face to face. Will we respond as I did last night, frustrated by the fact that everything we planned on doing has been suspended, and perhaps cancelled altogether? Will we miss opportunities to minister in this new season of life because we are so blinded by the anger of having had our plans thwarted?

Sovereign King Church, our Father loves to give His children good gifts, and for those who love God and are called according to His purpose, this pandemic can rightly be viewed as a gift from God. Rather than looking at this time in the life of the Church through the lense of  “O woe is me”, we ought repent of our grumbling and attempts to usurp the will of God, and look for how God is working now and embrace the plans that He has for us.

Maybe it isn’t the ‘rona which has thwarted your plans so much. Perhaps it is some circumstance with your job. Quite possibly you have plans within your family which are being undermined by your spouse or children, and rather than view this as an opportunity to show mercy, and be patient, you grow angry, bitter, and selfish. Maybe your life is not shaping up the way you envisioned it years ago, and now you find yourself frustrated, grumbling, and maybe even raging against the ever kind ordaining hand of God. Repent lest you likewise perish.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, as men, women, boys, and girls of dust created in Your image, we have an innate desire to plan and shape our future. The unknown is a fearful thing to us, so we attempt to control it through plots and schemes. Frequently we fail to see Your designs, Your plans at work. We forget that it is You that ordains all things which come to pass, not us. We pray Your will be done, but live our lives as if it is “Our will be done”.

Father, please help us to recognize this season of our lives as a blessing from You. Please forgive us for grumbling and complaining, and enable us through the power of Your Spirit to trust and obey. It’s in Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

 Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

Psalm 103:8-14 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth. So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.

 To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 4/26/2020 liturgy of Sovereign King Church, written by Aaron Sabie.)

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

Proverbs 15:1-10 A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, But the mouth of fools spouts folly. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Watching the evil and the good. A soothing tongue is a tree of life, But perversion in it crushes the spirit. A fool rejects his father’s discipline, But he who regards reproof is sensible. Great wealth is in the house of the righteous, But trouble is in the income of the wicked. The lips of the wise spread knowledge, But the hearts of fools are not so. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, But the prayer of the upright is His delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, But He loves one who pursues righteousness. Grievous punishment is for him who forsakes the way; He who hates reproof will die.

There were times as a small child that my father disciplined me through the application of a spanking. Though I did not realize it at the time, the correction was meant for my good. I can remember attempting to talk my way out of the spanking “please daddy, don’t spank me, it will hurt”. Other times, anticipating the blow, I may shift my rear end this way or that or tense up in an attempt to lessen its effect. Have you ever been tasked with picking out your own switch? I have heard of this practice and been told that you better never come back with a small twig to receive your spanking.

Sometimes, because earthly fathers are sinful men, discipline is applied in such a way that it winds up provoking the child to anger, and resentment. Fathers sometimes appear hypocritical, disciplining their children for laziness, or disobedience, or the disrespect of their mother, while having learned these things from their father. The child, rather than being understanding of their father’s weaknesses, recognizing that he is a sinner in need of God’s grace, becomes resentful of their hypocrite dad, and winds up rejecting ALL of his discipline. Instead of remembering that their father, though a sinner, loves them and means the discipline for their good, he chooses to instead think the worst of him and winds up rejecting all of his father’s discipline.

A fool rejects his father’s discipline, But he who regards reproof is sensible.
 Pro 15:5

Matthew Henry said:
“Let inferiors be admonished, not only to submit to instruction and reproof (even hardships must be submitted to), but to value them as favours and not despise them, to make use of them for their direction, and always to have a regard to them; this will be an evidence that they are wise and a means of making them so; whereas he that slights his good education is a fool and is likely to live and die one.”

FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Heb 12:6-11)
 
Brothers and sisters, the fact that we have been reduced to coming together via zoom, should serve as a clear message to us that God is doing some mighty work in our world right now. The heathen are raging, scrambling around attempting to gobble up as much stuff as possible, hoping to soften the blow of discipline from a God they hate and say does not exist. Isaiah 45:7 “The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.” The reprobates are looking for a “cure”, with suggestions that aborted baby cells hold the keys to freedom from these scourgings from a God in which they do not believe. Rather than considering that it is their bloodlust which has brought this upon our heads, they are in the process of doubling down. The government, whose job it is from God Almighty to punish evil and reward good, has done what this one trick pony has shown it will always do, and that is to throw money we don’t have, at a problem we can not fix. Rather than mourning over our sin and calling upon the name of the LORD, the government appears to be content to scramble around looking for the little twig that won’t hurt so bad when the blow falls.

We in the church are hardly different. Rather than view this season as an act of God’s grace towards us, that perhaps God in His wisdom may be using the evil intents of wicked men to discipline us by not allowing us to meet, not allowing us to fellowship in our old ways, protecting us from taking the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner, we cry “O woe is me”, and look for someone to blame, out there, rather than first looking within our own hearts and crying “Be merciful towards me a sinner!”

Brothers and sisters, these afflictions are light and momentary, and if we look close, are full of blessings. God’s discipline towards us right now is chock full of goodness, mercy, and grace towards us. Look how much more time you are getting to spend with your family. Look at how many more opportunities you have to share the gospel. Think of how your productivity and time management in the home will improve, learning to focus on things which are truly important, things which have eternal value. Just recently we began talking about needing a new place of worship because we were outgrowing the old one. Well, now we can’t even meet there. My friends, we are being disciplined right now. It is light, momentary, and for those who love God and are called according to His purposes, it is meant for their good. Will we learn from it? Will we be thankful for it? Will we choose to make the best use of our time, knowing the days are evil, or will we squander it all away with worry and strife?

If you are able, please join me in kneeling as we cry out to our Heavenly Father in the Name of His Son, Who is full of mercy and grace.

SOVEREIGN COMMANDER OF THE UNIVERSE,
I am sadly harassed by doubts, fears, unbelief, in a felt spiritual darkness. My heart is full of evil surmisings and disquietude, and I cannot act faith at all. My heavenly Pilot has disappeared, and I have lost my hold on the Rock of Ages; I sink in deep mire beneath storms and waves, in horror and distress unutterable.

Help me, O Lord, to throw myself absolutely and wholly on thee, for better, for worse, without comfort, and all but hopeless. Give me peace of soul, confidence, enlargement of mind, morning joy that comes after night heaviness; Water my soul richly with divine blessings; Grant that I may welcome thy humbling in private so that I might enjoy thee in public; Give me a mountain top as high as the valley is low.

Thy grace can melt the worst sinner, and I am as vile as he; Yet thou hast made me a monument of mercy, a trophy of redeeming power; In my distress let me not forget this. All-wise God, Thy never-failing providence orders every event, sweetens every fear, reveals evil’s presence lurking in seeming good, brings real good out of seeming evil, makes unsatisfactory what I set my heart upon, to show me what a short-sighted creature I am, and to teach me to live by faith upon thy blessed self.

Out of my sorrow and night give me the name Naphtali — ‘satisfied with favour’ — help me to love thee as thy child, and to walk worthy of my heavenly pedigree.
 
Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 4/5/2020 liturgy of Sovereign King Church written by Aaron Sabie.)