by Eric Holter on November 5, 2005
“Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises.”
James 5:13
It is a well-observed spiritual truth that suffering is among the chief means for deepening communion with God. The fellowship of sharing in Jesus’ sufferings brings joy. Faith grows up in the broken soil of our pains. Hope, refined by trials, increases our longing for heaven. When I’m under the shadow of suffering, God’s promises renew my strength. Such times cause me to anticipate the weight of glory promised for my eternal future.
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by Eric Holter on August 10, 2005
“Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;’”
Genesis 1:14
I don’t look up enough. I think God wants me to look up a lot and gaze at the sun, moon and stars. God made them to be for signs and seasons, and for days and years. In order to use the stars this way requires a lot of observation. Civilizations throughout history have observed the heavens and invented systems and used them for measuring seasons, and making maps to find their way. To make use of this inherent functionality of the stars required them to look intensely, observing and recording over long periods of time. Not only did they have to observe, record, and analyze the stars in order to understand there function, once they established these systems, putting them to use required people to look at them all the time. I suspect that God has an ulterior motive in requiring us to spend so much time star gazing. That is, to make us remember Him. When I stare up at the night sky, full of stars, I cannot help but to feel my own smallness. [click to continue…]
by Eric Holter on May 5, 2005
“When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger.”
Luke 2:15-16
How incredibly blessed these unnamed shepherds were to hear the multitude of heavenly host declare the glory of God and the gospel of Christ! This majestic revelation was an unexpected explosion of grace. God interrupted their night with a glorious proclamation about a Savior. How is it that such a display should be presented to but a few unnamed shepherds? Isn’t such a wonderful announcement, made through such an unearthly testimony, worthy of a wider audience? O, but it does have a wider audience, an audience that even includes me; I observe it in the Gospel of Luke. While the testimony of a multitude of heavenly hosts is spectacular, the testimony of God’s Word is far greater. In His Word God reveals the same message to me, 2000 years later, as He did for the shepherds that Holy night.
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by Eric Holter on September 5, 2004
“And He was saying to them, ‘take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.’ ”
Mark 4:24-25
Whoever has what?
Jesus said, “Whoever has, to him more shall be given.” What’s worse, not to “have” in this verse means to lose everything. What is it that someone must “have” in order to receive more or keep from loosing everything? What an urgent puzzle to solve! Can there be anything more important to me this morning than to inquire of God concerning what this “have” could be?
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by Eric Holter on August 15, 2004
“How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
Who walks in his ways.
When you shall eat the of the fruit of your hands,
You will be happy and it will be well with you. ”
Psalms 128:1-2
God is the ultimate spice! When my ultimate intention and goal in life is to fear God and walk in His ways, His abundant blessings extend even to such simple things as increasing the enjoyment of eating food. In other words, a true engagement with the living God takes simple things like eating food and multiplies their enjoyment so that they become both richer and happier experiences in themselves – but also, and more importantly, they increase our enjoyment and deepen our delight in God Himself.
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by Eric Holter on July 5, 2004
“Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more.”
“The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”
Zephaniah 3:14-15, 17
At, first, when I read verses like these in Zephaniah, verses that extol me to shout with joy, or to rejoice and exalt with all my heart, at first my heart rises with the possibility of such an astounding and consuming joy in God. Quickly following this spark, however, sadness often comes because my heart, in fact, is not like this. Such exuberance of joy and gladness displayed in such active expressions as shouting for joy are not typical of my emotional currents. Yet the occasion that calls for such joyful, glad celebration has been more completely delivered to me than it had been for those to whom these verses were originally written. They originally promised a physical deliverance from armies of oppressors. I have been given a greater deliverance; I have been delivered from sin. All God’s judgments have been thoroughly taken away from me. He has utterly defeated my enemies. Why shouldn’t my heart rejoice and shout joyfully since I have received, in full, these promises?
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by Eric Holter on May 15, 2004
“Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it, I shall give thanks to Thee for Thou hast answered me; and Thou hast become my salvation.”
Psalms 118:19-21
The Psalmist cries out to God “open to me the gates of righteousness,” and so my soul cries out to God “me too Lord, open your gates to me.” The Psalmist seeks the gate, and God answering his plea shows him the gate. It is such a marvelous gate that the Psalmist rejoices and gives thanks to God for answering his cry to open the gates for him.
The Psalmist asked, he got an answer, and he thanked the Lord for such an awesome answer! But in these verses the answer itself is obscured to me. Once the Psalmist received his answer, as he sees the gates, he simply exclaims “this” is the gate of the Lord. No sooner than he has declared that “this” is the gate, he goes on to thank the Lord, not specifying what “this” is, leaving me only with an impersonal pronoun to describe this gate for which he stands giving thanks. But I can’t see what he’s pointing at because I’m only reading a transcript. I want to yell stop! Wait! What is the gate? Describe it to me, I want to enter too. But before I get any detail he’s already thanking God for showing him this amazing gate, and I can’t see it. My desire see this gate is obscured by the word “this.”
Obscured, that is, until I read the next verses. “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes!” This rejected stone that become a cornerstone is the gate. Jesus the stone rejected by men is the cornerstone. “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep,” John 10:7.
Now the scene is completed, the transcript is played out. The Psalmist cries out to God “Open to me the gate” and God shows him Jesus the cornerstone of salvation. The Psalmist looks at Jesus and says “this is the gate… thou hast become my salvation… the Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes!”
O my soul, cry out to God like the Psalmist, “open to me the gates of righteousness” and let Him show you Jesus. Lord you are the gate of righteousness, through you I shall enter; you are my salvation I give thanks to you. Help me to see this vision of Christ my gate, my rock, my salvation and let my spirit say with fullness “it is marvelous in my eyes.” Amen.
by Eric Holter on March 10, 2004
“…and immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’” Matthew 14:31
Peter started out well. He took a very bold step of faith when he went over the side of the boat in order to go to Jesus on the water. But when he saw the wind and waves he took his eyes of Jesus and began to sink. O how many days do I start off full of faith in my Lord trusting Him so confidently. Yet, so many times, by the end of the day, my mind and my heart falter, and my faith begins to sink. All I can do is cry out to Him like Peter, “Save me Lord!”
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by Eric Holter on November 20, 2003
“Be Thou to me a rock of habitation, to which I may continually come.” Psalm 71:3
Jesus is my rock of habitation. He is my rock – a strong, firm, dependable fortress. This strong fortress is also a place of habitation. He is my dwelling place, a place of comfort, rest, and security. My rock of refuge is never changing, always present, and never moving. Yet I come to it continually. I inhabit my home of rock, yet I also leave it and must frequently return.
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by Eric Holter on November 10, 2003
“Ascribe strength to God;” Psalm 68:34
I love to ascribe strength to God. When I underline various passages in my daily reading of the Word, the verses that ascribe strength to God are frequently marked. Similarly I tend to underline verses that declare my weakness and utter dependence on the strength of my God.
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