Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Feb 3 2020 - Luke 17:11-37 – Thankfulness and praise

Jesus healed ten lepers who had pleaded with him to have mercy on him, but only one returned to give him thanks. The one who previously stood at a distance ran right up to Jesus and fell at his feet in thankful worship. This incident is recorded by Luke to prompt us to continual thankfulness and praise. And we have so much for which to be thankful; we just need eyes to see it. Yet all too often we are so preoccupied with small woes that we fail to enjoy our very many real blessings and to acknowledge the one who pours them out upon us day by day.

In a striking passage in his book, Soul Survivor (pp. 46-47), Philip Yancey points out that we are surrounded daily by wonderful things for which we should praise God:

I have stood in the mist of Iguaçú Falls in Brazil as gorgeous tropical butterflies, winged bearers of abstract art, landed on my arms to lap up the moisture. I have crouched beside a bay in Alaska as a pod of feeding beluga whales made shiny crescents of silver in unison against the dark green water. I have sat under a baobab tree in Kenya as giraffes loped effortlessly under sunset clouds and a line of half a million wildebeest marched single file across the plain. Above the Arctic Circle, I have watched a herd of musk oxen gather in a circle like settlers' wagons to protect the mothers and their young (who, in winter-time, must adjust to a 130° F drop in temperature at birth). I have also sat in hot classrooms and listened to theology professors drone on about the defining qualities of the deity – omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, etc. Can the One who created this glorious world be reduced to such abstractions? Should we not start with the most obvious fact of existence, that whoever is responsible is a fierce and incomparable artist beside whom all human achievement and creativity dwindle as child's play?

We need eyes to see the wonder of the world God has given us and a sense of thankfulness for the life we possess. As Chesterton remarked, "The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank."  Why not stop for a moment and write your own list of things that you have seen that fill you with wonder and prompt you to praise God.

In this morning’s passage Jesus also speaks about the coming judgment. He reminds his listeners of God’s grace in rescuing Lot and his family from the city of Sodom. But, as fire fell from heaven upon the city and the family fled, Lot’s wife turned back and, we are told, was turned into a pillar of salt. Instead of being thankful she looked back with regret at the home and city life she believed she was losing. We are urged to “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32). We have so much for which we should offer God thanks and praise, but particularly for the salvation we have received through Jesus Christ. Why continually look back with regret on the past when we have so much for which we ought to praise God now, and so much more still to come?

Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who like thee His praise should sing?

Heavenly Father, you pour out blessings upon me day-by-day: a world of beauty and abundance; blessings of family and friends. Lord Jesus Christ, you have had mercy upon me; you have rescued and healed me. Spirit of the living God, open my eyes to see the wonder of your goodness, generosity and love that I might be filled with a spirit of thanks and praise. I praise you now.

Feb 3 2019 - Psalm 16 – No good thing apart from God

David begins this psalm of devotion with a plea that God would keep him safe. We do not know what threat David faced but he knows that God is the one who can save and protect him.

Though David takes delight in those around him who share his faith (v.3), he knows that his safety and security lies in God alone. "Apart from you", he says, "I have no good thing." He is conscious that God has blessed him and protected him in the past. It was God who enabled him to overcome the lion and the bear when he was looking after his father's sheep in the hills of Judea. It was God who protected him from Goliath whom he went out to fight armed only with a sling. It was God who protected him when Saul pursued him with his army of soldiers. David is confident that God will protect him now, unlike the idols who can neither speak nor act.

David trusts in the living God who has blessed him beyond measure: his "boundary lines have fallen … in pleasant places"; he has "a delightful inheritance." For David this is not simply, or even primarily, that he has been given an earthly kingdom with all its riches; he recognises that his true inheritance and riches are found in the Lord himself.  "Lord", he declares, "you alone are my portion and my cup."  Here is a man who knows God, and who delights in him (v.7), who keeps his eyes fixed on him and is confident that he is secure in him (v.8).

That confidence enables him not only to rejoice in all that life may bring, it assures him of God's continued blessing even in the face of death. He is confident that the one who has made known to him the path of life will not abandon him in death. Rather, the Lord will fill him with joy in his presence, with eternal pleasures at God's right hand (vv.10-11).

We have far greater reason for such confidence than did David. Acts 2 records that when Peter preached to the crowds on the day of Pentecost he quoted this psalm with David's affirmation, "You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead; you will not let your holy one see decay." Peter pointed out that David had died and was buried. David, said Peter, was speaking prophetically about his greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was crucified and his dead body was laid in a tomb not far from where Peter was preaching. But God did not leave Jesus in that tomb; his body did not see decay but was raised from the dead. Jesus is now exalted to God's right hand in the heavens.

Our confidence that God will not abandon us in death is grounded in the character of the God we have come to know in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the living God who raised Jesus from the dead. He is the loving God who gave his Son for us. Jesus is the one who has broken the power of death for us and has gone to prepare a place for us in his Father's house. We can trust God. We can be certain that nothing in life or in death will be able to separate us from the love of God in the Lord Jesus. He has made known to us the path of life and will fill us with joy in his presence, with eternal pleasures at his right hand.

Living God, we thank you for this lovely psalm expressing David's delight in you and confidence in your care in life and in death. We thank you that Jesus has secured for us a delightful inheritance and that we who have taken refuge in him can be assured of his presence, protection and care in life and in death. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on him that we may be kept from fear and that our lives may be filled with confident praise and thanksgiving.

Peter Misselbrook