The Sword of the LORD

"This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."   (Psalm 118:24).   There is a well-known praise chorus that uses the words of Psalm 118 quoted above.   I have been reminded of this chorus on beautiful, sun-shiny mornings when it has seemed that all was right with the world, but I have never thought of it until recently in regards to the days when things just seem to fall apart.   These words are usually the last thing on my mind when I wake up late for an appointment, spill milk all over the counter and floor, and run out to my car and find it won't start.   As my wife recently quipped, it's then that a day is like a thousand years with the Lord!   Oddly enough, though, this 118th Psalm isn't about the apparent blessings of life at all.   It is about the struggles and how God is ever faithful to bring His servants through them.   Listen to some of David's words in this Psalm.   They are not words o...

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.   So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.   Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked..." (Revelations 3:15-17). These words of the Lord to the Laodicean church in Revelations Chapter 3 are most sobering, especially so when one considers their relevance to the church today.   The Laodiceans had become lukewarm in their faith, and Jesus told them that He would spit them out of His mouth.   Just like a glass or cup of liquid that has become room temperature and no longer satisfies the need that it was poured for, they had become neither cold nor hot.   They were therefore unable to satisfy the needs around them.   Jesus said He would rather they be one or the other: to get in all the way, ...