2 Cor 4:16 NASB “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day”

This is truly a verse worth celebrating especially for vain man such as myself. The ravages of age come to all of us and sometimes we pine for our youthfulness, yet Paul gives us something to hold onto for the future, not only will we be getting new bodies at the last trump, but for the time being we are renewed day by day.
This small phrase also alludes to that much bigger theology of the age of the kingdom of heaven. Many preachers use explanation as the kingdom is “now, but not yet” indeed, if the kingdom of God had come in it’s fullness then surely we should have no decay, had the kingdom not come at all then by what method could we possibly be renewed?
This verse gives us comfort and strength when we see our Christian brothers and sisters weakening. In reading about John Whimbers last years many writers were struck by his frailty and stiffness of gait, and yet were repeatedly in awe with the power and peace of his teaching. I’m sure, if maybe if not from this verse but the many others which are like it, it is because John would have stood this promise.

“Psalm 115:12 The Lord has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron”

You would think that the house of Aaron, being the lineage of the priesthood, would be quite able to count themselves amongst the house of Israel and therefor count themselves amongst the blessed. But it’s never that straightforward. Reading in Exodus 28 we see that Aaron and his sons get given fine garments befitting the high priest, and it adds that Aarons will have a gold bells around the hem “and it’s tinkling shall be heard when he enters and leaves the place before the Lord, so that he will not die” v35
In chapter 29 you get the small matter of the sacrifices. What sacrifices the house of Aaron had made from the time of the consecration of the tabernacle to the time David penned his psalm? As the people kept sinning and returning the sacrifices would have kept being made, and the house of Aaron, I don’t doubt, would have occasionally looked on at the house of Israel and thought “how many more sacrifices must I do? How much more can they possibly sin? When is my rest?”. It was then, as I would put it, A Tough Gig.
What of today? Our house of Aaron I would argue is any Christian who sets themselves before Jesus and truly says “I am a servant to the Lord”. The sacrifices they make to the sinners in the House of Jesus seem as unending as those of the ancient priesthood, and as involved, bloody, smelly and wearisome as any animal sacrifice. But to those David singles out and sings over them a special blessing.

Psa 56:8 NASB – You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?

“Time is the greatest healer” is a phrase often used to comfort people who are suffering or have recently suffered. Although I wonder if people confuse the saying with “Forgive and Forget” the subtext seemingly “After a period the pain will be a memory and memories can be forgotten”. The suffer certainly can’t take much comfort from a statement like that. What if the memory isn’t forgotten. What if the sufferer doesn’t want to forget? In the second case the ravages of time may come and steal the memory anyway leading the sufferer cause to fear time itself.
David, however, understands suffering and knows God. He had plenty to shed tears over, chased by an army, Leading a country, personal loss, promises of God having to be worked out through trials and battles, strength and guile. But David does not turn to Time and wait for his comfort, He turns to God. Knowing every arduous step and every tear shed is shared, watched and remembered full of compassion by no less than the author of the Universe. Also for us when the time comes and the last tear is wiped away the record will be opened, the believer can point to them as being a true account of life and love and loss and certainly reap with joy knowing all is overcome.

“Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”
But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!” Isaiah 7:11 & 12

What outrageous contempt! Ahaz, King of Israel, under the threat of invasion, rejects Gods outstretched hand like a petulant child preferring to subject himself to the King of Assyria in exchange for aid against the aggressor. As far as choices go this seems singularly stubborn, obviously contrary, without equal in it’s attempt to cause maximum offence. The Lord here offers not only a promise of safety for his land with the eventual overthrow of the army, but is also prepared to back it up instantly with a demonstration of power of whatever miracle Ahaz can invent. Not many get such a blank canvas. Our minds can probably race full of ideas of what we would ask of God given such an opportunity. And yet Ahaz says “I will not ask” and he throws in some scripture for good measure as if that excuses his behaviour. A scripture, incidentally, we all know and can quote from another message concerning the misuse of scripture.

God does not endure this contempt. He does not hold back and Ahaz gets what’s coming to him.

Then he said, “Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”
“He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good.” Isiah 7:13-15

There cannot possibly be a Christian who reads that and doesn’t think along the lines of “That’s my Saviour, that’s my Lord, that’s the one who broke my chains, set me free, blessed me with every blessing, walks alongside me, my joy, my comfort, my strength, my Jesus” It shouts through heaven and history. Gods sign of his love for us, the proof of his willingness to keep us secure is that he came amongst us as Immanuel, God with us. As a man, eating real food, living a real life, knowing the choices that need to be made. Understanding humanity from the inside.

To ourselves then what can we apply? We must look at ourselves honestly. It is with gladness I can say I am not like Ahaz, for he was one of the worst, and yet I do not have to go far before I find a place where I have put my assurance in something worldly over that which God offers, Where is my security? Where is my sense of belonging? Where do I go for comfort? Where do I feel best regarded? Where do I got to fulfil my wants? Is it always to God?

Ahaz, in full possession of the facts, made his choice in 2 Kings 16:17 “So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son; come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.”

We as Christian, however, have our sign. Greater that anything Ahaz could have thought of given his opportunity. It is our assurance that we can safely put down those things we go to, thinking they will help, and find the reality of security with God.