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Great Is Thy Faithfulness

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him" (Lamentations 3:22-24 KJV).

Probably no preacher or prophet has been given such a heart-rending job as the prophet Jeremiah, who after warning his people to repent had to watch his beloved city Jerusalem destroyed and his unrepentant people carried away in chains. The artist Michelangelo attempted to capture Jeremiah's suffering in his rendering on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (photo left).

In the midst of Jeremiah's weeping and grief he penned the five acrostic poems that became the five chapters of the book of Lamentations. It has been said that there is no other writing in human history like Lamentations that so expresses the depth of human sorrow and suffering. Dr. J. Vernon McGee has said of Lamentations:

"It is a paean of pain, a poem of pity, a proverb of pathos. It is a hymn of heartbreak, a psalm of sadness, a symphony of sorrow, and a story of sifting. Lamentations is the wailing wall of the Bible" (Thru the Bible, V.III).

The Bible is not afraid to meet us in our deepest place of sorrow. It does not avoid the issue of suffering and sadness. Instead of giving us shallow platitudes and cliches, It points us to the only One who is faithful in times of deep sorrow. Lamentations turns our weeping into singing as we hear Jeremiah's soul cry out to God, saying "Great is Thy faithfulness!"

After everything was stripped away, Jeremiah realized that God was enough. He recognized that his "portion" was the Lord Himself and that the Lord was more than enough. Sometimes we have to go through a season of suffering to really get this... God Himself is our reward!

Our church celebrated its 18th anniversary this past January. We've been through nothing like Jeremiah, but we've had many ups and downs. One of the areas that we've struggled is with believing that God would provide a home for our church. We have been meeting in rented facilities for nearly 19 years. During that time we have tried many times to obtain a property of our own. Every time we came up short. The finances or some other detail would not work out.

Finally, after a particularly difficult failure to own and remodel a shopping center for our church, we hit a low point... I hit a low point. I thought about quitting. I suffered headaches and severe back pain. I wondered whether I was even called to pastor. Perhaps WCC should find a better leader, I thought.

Then, we began to heal. We focused on God's faithfulness. We decided to celebrate the fact that we were the "church without walls," the "portable church," the church that's the "people, not the steeple!" We started to see God Himself as our "portion." We began to focus on where God was moving and not worry about the past.

That's when it happened. When we stopped looking for anything beyond what God would provide, an opportunity to purchase a property that had been offered for $1.8 million dollars was opened to us for only $285,000. But there was a problem. If we wanted the property, time was of the essence. The seller would only give us 30 days to close. We didn't even have a building fund. Where would we get the 20% down that the lender required? We would need to raise $65,000.00 in cash in a matter of weeks!

Praise God! This past Sunday we exceeded our goal! God has faithfully provided the $65,000 and the money is still coming in. This whole thing has been a miracle. It's like God held the building for us for five years, so that the property would come down in price, then made the time to buy it so short, as to be impossible without Him.

I believe that God is orchestrating the story of our church so that He gets the most glory. He has taught us to sing "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" while we were struggling, in order that we could really sing it loud when He brought us into this new season of blessing.

Next Thursday, we are scheduled to close on the property that our church will remodel for our new home. God has faithfully provided all that we need. But let us not forget what we have learned in the valley. God is more than enough. He is our portion and our reward. Let us never stop singing of His great faithfulness!

Ever heard of "cardio-sclerosis?"

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebrews 3:15).

The Greek word for "harden" is skleros. This word is found in the name used for a condition commonly called "hardening of the arteries," or arteriosclerosis.

Arteriosclerosis is a condition where arteries become thick, blocked and inelastic as a result of a film of fat forming on their walls. The disease hinders effective blood circulation depriving the body's organs oxygenated blood. Left untreated, the disease is progressive and may lead to heart attack or stroke resulting in paralysis or memory loss. It may also impair and damage the eyes, kidneys, uterus or legs.

I remember my grandfather Combs had this disease. He first complained of pain in his legs and started getting blood clots there. Later in life, one of those clots went to his brain and caused a stroke. He lived into his eighties, but he didn't know any of us. He could recount distant memories of his time in WWI, but he couldn't recall what happened that morning.

Arteriosclerosis is a serious disease of the body, but there is another "hardening" condition that is even more deadly. This is a spiritual condition that the Bible calls the "hardening of the heart." Like the former, "cardio-sclerosis" is progressive and ultimately fatal. Left unchecked, it will lead to a rebellious and prideful state of mind that is distant from God.

As the apostle Paul said, "They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts" (Ephesians 4:18).

But thank God, this spiritual condition is curable. We can humble ourselves before a holy and sovereign God and say, "Have thine own way, Lord." We can ask Him to soften our hearts of stone and refashion them according to his will.

Don't put this off. When God's Spirit speaks to you, answer. Otherwise, the condition will continue to worsen and your ability to hear and respond may progressively diminish.

Amazing Grace

"That in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7 NIV).

It is said that the most recognized song in the English speaking world is John Newton's "Amazing Grace." First published in 1779, it has been a standard for not only sacred but secular performers as well. It is estimated that the song is still sung over 10 million times a year in churches around the world.

This song is amazing because of its author. Newton was a former slave ship captain before his Christian conversion. He later became a pastor and wrote this song to go along with his testimony. Newton was a man who wondered whether God could ever forgive one as sinful as he. This song expresses the wonder he felt at God's free gift of life through Jesus.

It's lyrics and tune are amazing too. Newton originally wrote six verses in 8.6.8.6. meter, a standard for poetry and hymns of that time. This common meter led to the song being sung to dozens of tunes over the years (Like the tune to "House of the Rising Sun" which has the same meter).

It wasn't until 1835 when the tune "New Britain" was written to accompany it, that a tune finally stuck. This is the well known tune that we know today. A South Carolinian named William Walker wrote it using the pentatonic scale. This 5-note scale has been called the native tonality of every child and is common in folk tunes around the world, especially in the spirituals of African-Americans. It is known as the scale of improvisation because you can't really play a bad note using it. Even the scale is full of grace.

Another amazing fact about this song is the origin of the seventh verse, which begins: "When we've been there ten thousand years..." This verse was first published in Harriet Beecher Stowe's book, Uncle Tom's Cabin. In her book, uncle Tom sings all six verses of "Amazing Grace" and then adds this seventh verse. Apparently, this verse had been written and passed on orally in the slave community of America for years.

What grace that a former slave captain would have his salvation song, sung and added to, by the very ones he had helped enslave!

The author, the message, the meter, and the tune all come together to make this an amazing song. But the thing that makes it most amazing to me is the face that I see nearly everytime I hear it. I see the face of my mother, Wilda Combs.

Wilda Dillon Combs was the lead singer for a gospel group called the Willow Branch Quartet. Both my mother and grandmother were in the group. My mother's sister, Sharon, played the piano sometimes for them. My uncle Ralph Bays played guitar on their later recordings.

They were well known in the Southeast, especially in the 1950s and 60s when they sang regularly on the radio at WFHG Bristol, Virgina. They made many recordings on 78s, 45s, and LP albums. It was said that Wilda's clear, bell-like voice is what gave their four part harmonies a distinctive sound.

For me, it was the combination of my mother's voice and the look on her face when she sang. She looked as if she could see into heaven. This was especially true when she sang "Amazing Grace." It was like God's grace was showering down on her as she sang.

Amazing Grace - Wilda Combs

Today, I'm thankful for the "incomparable riches" of God's amazing grace.