CHRISTIAN FIRE DRILLS Remember back in your school days when you had fire drills? The alarm would sound and everyone was instructed to stand up and orderly file out of the room to a designated exit and gather at a specific spot outside where the teacher would account for everyone. Time and time again they put us through that same process. If you were about to take a test you dreaded, a fire drill could be a very welcome interruption, but at other times it was an annoyance. It all depended on the situation at the time. Why fire drills? Why did they do this over and over again? Well, they wanted to build an automatic response in you so if there was ever a real danger you would be ‘trained’ to respond in a way that might save your life with the least chance of injury. In Christianity, from the day you get saved, we hear the message that we should pray and read the Word of God. Other things are also important, but prayer and Bible study are supposed to be a daily event, but why? Sometimes it is exciting and welcomed, and other times it is drudgery or boring. Year after year we read the Bible and year after year we pray. Why? Often it just seems repetitive and unfruitful. I was just reading Psalm 42. Many of you remember the song “As the deer panteth after the water”. It is a beautiful worship song, but I doubt if it really catches the picture of Psalm 42 and 43. Psalm 42 begins with the picture of a deer seeking the water, but the rest of the Psalm along with Psalm 43 really tells the story. It is not just a thirsty deer seeking a drink, it is a frightened, hunted, panicked deer with its heart pounding and eyes wide open, running for its life. The Psalmist writes of how he longs for those days past when he worshipped God in His sanctuary with others, but now he has been driven away and he is depressed and he is losing hope. He reminds himself that he will again praise God even though right now he cannot see that help and refuge. He doesn’t understand why this is happening and why God would allow this, but because he has been through ‘the fire drill’, he can go back to the thought that God will once again be his refuge and protection. Before he found himself like a deer on the run he has ‘practiced’ worshipping and serving God. He had a foundation and experience on which he could rely in times like this. Is it easy? No! But if we have practiced and practiced the drill, we will respond the right way in times of trouble. Will we be discouraged, dismayed, frightened, disappointed, and tempted to quit? Yes, but because we have prepared ourselves somewhere in the midst of it all we will begin to ask ourselves “why are you so troubled and why are you so depressed”? We will tell ourselves and remind ourselves to once again hope in God. Sometimes there is no one else to do it. We begin to encourage OURSELVES in the Lord. When we are caught like deer in the headlights, frozen in fear so we cannot move, with danger speeding toward us, he will lead us beside still waters and restore our souls. These are promises that must be ‘drilled’ into us over and over again. It is necessary to ‘get it’ in times of peace and comfort so that when the danger comes we will survive. We cannot live by feelings, but we must live according to the promises and truth of our Lord and Savior. The alarm sounds daily and we need the drill. As the deer pants for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and stand before him? Day and night, I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, Where is this God of yours? My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks -- it was the sound of a great celebration! Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again -- my Savior and my God! Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember your kindness -- from Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar. I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me. Through each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. O God my rock, I cry, Why have you forsaken me? Why must I wander in darkness, oppressed by my enemies? Their taunts pierce me like a fatal wound. They scoff, Where is this God of yours? Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again -- my Savior and my God! O God, take up my cause! Defend me against these ungodly people. Rescue me from these unjust liars. For you are God, my only safe haven. Why have you tossed me aside? Why must I wander around in darkness, oppressed by my enemies? Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live. There I will go to the altar of God, to God -- the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God! Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again -- my Savior and my God!
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 20:49:39 +0000
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