The Goodness of the Lord is Our Shield Against Discouragement

by Joe R. Price

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13). Discouragement is a tool our adversary, the devil, uses against us. The encroachment of spiritual foes wears us down unless our faith remains focused on the Lord Jesus (Heb. 12:1-2; 2 Cor. 4:16-18). Worldliness in the church, false doctrine threatening and deceiving hearts, apathetic negligence of spiritual duties, derelict fathers, careless mothers, disobedient children, and the moral decline of our nation are just some of the things that cause Christians to lose heart.

David faced enemies who sought his life, yet he was confident in the Lord’s strength and salvation (Ps. 27:1-3). He waited on the Lord with faith, and the Lord delivered him from his foes (Ps. 27:4-5, 14).

Likewise, we face spiritual enemies intent on destroying our souls, but the Lord’s strength sustains us in our spiritual struggles (Eph. 6:10-13). We refuse to be discouraged because we believe the Lord’s goodness blesses us in “the land of the living” even as we anticipate eternal glory (Phil. 4:4-7).

Encouraged by the faithfulness of the Lord, “let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Gal. 6:9). So with David, let us “Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord” (Ps. 27:14)!

There is No Substitute for God

by Jon W. Quinn

     “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalm 42:1-2).

     I read the following statement some time ago. I thought about it. “God may well be taken as a substitute for everything; but nothing can be taken as a substitute for God.”

     That’s true. It took me a bit to see the truth in it, but finally the light came on.

With God there is always hope for the faithful. There is always prospect and assurance and peace. There is confidence that, at last, all will be well… more than well… perfect. We can suffer the loss of anything, even life itself, and still have this assurance. As long as we have God, then ultimately all will become as it ought to be because God is more powerful than death. That is why nothing can be a substitute for God. Nothing else does that.

     But, on the other hand, without God we are destined to lose everything worthwhile and there is no hope of even a glimmer of good. This is why we ought not spend our lives chasing after futile things and neglect God. Nothing can take the place of God. Not really. We can put other things in God’s place, but they will fail to do what God does. Nothing can take His place in our lives.

The Lord told His people, “You must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which cannot profit or deliver, because they are futile” (1 Samuel 12:21).

     Jesus once asked His apostles if they were giving up and going away. The answer came back, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

     Jesus identifies Himself as “The Bread of Life” because He sustains us through our deepest needs. Just as candy can spoil our appetite and cause us to pass up needed nourishment, the love of things of the world can rob us of our hunger for righteousness and leave us growing ever sicker and ultimately dying a spiritual death. Things of this creation can never do for us what God can do. There is no substitute. People need to stop looking for one.

Attitudes Toward Learning

By Jeff Curtis

Jesus took His disciples and apostles to a private place so that He could have an opportunity to talk personally with them. After they arrived, they began to ask Him about the parable of the sower that He had just told them in Mark 4.

In His explanation of the parable, Jesus went back tot eh concepts of the heart. He was giving His followers a broad view of how people listen to the truth and how they personally interact with it. The parable of the sower, it has been said, was really a parable about soils (or hearts). It could be called “The Parable of Attitudes Toward the Word of God.” The many listeners that were gathered to hear Jesus had come to Him with different types attitudes toward learning the gospel; they had different reactions to the seed that was sown in their hearts.

It is evident from what Jesus continued to tell the disciples who were gathered around Him that not everyone would receive His message. Some would, but many, for unholy reasons, would not hear His Word.

1. Jesus spoke first about those who were ignorant but desired to learn. He put His disciples into this group. He trusted these men and described them as those who had been given the mystery of the kingdom of God. This mystery was something that was concealed; it was the divine revelation that was given through Jesus’ teaching and ministry. Jesus later said those who wanted to get the message would be able to get it, and they would continue to gain more and more of it as they kept seeking the message He had brought. According to Matthew, He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted” (Matt. 13:11).
2. By implication, Jesus also revealed some truths about those who were ignorant but were uninterested in learning. He shifted His focus to those who were “outside” (Mark 4:11 and were not listening to Him. These outsiders fell into two classes. The first group had uninterested hearts, though they were not specifically mentioned in this passage. They were in between the apostles and those who opposed Christ. They were in the crowd as people who were halfway or almost listening.

These people didn’t have eager hearts that drove them to listen carefully, understand the truth of God, and obey it. Though they were not dead, they were not dedicated; they were, for one reason or another, occupied with other passions.

3. Jesus specifically spoke of those who were ignorant yet were refusing to learn. These people had passed from having disinterested hearts to having dead hearts. They are described here in a very pointed way, as moving rapidly toward bring beyond hope. These are the people Jesus actually referred to as being “outside.” He said, “Those who are outside get everything in parables” (Mark 4:11), but they would never get the truth about Jesus’ ministry.

Our thinking determines what kind of hearts we will eventually have. Our big business in this life is to cultivate the right kind of heart. When God made each of us, He gave us ownership of our hearts. As He did so, He empowered us to say, “No!” to Him. We were allowed to close the door on Jesus and prevent Him from entering into our hearts. This is the awesome power of free moral agency.

In Mark 4:10-12, Jesus focused on our hearts. He always did. He did this because He had to. If He gets our hearts, He gets all of us. Only when we consent to give ourselves completely to Him can He take us into His kingdom and into eternal life.

Whether or not we are granted eternal life depends on what kind of hearts we have. Jesus, though His ministry, teaching, death, and resurrection, always surfaces the kind of heart that person has. The question is this, “What will our heart do with the evidence that Jesus is the Son of God?” Will we allow our heart to be dead toward this great truth? Will we be disinterested in it? Will we be dedicated to it?