John MacArthur, at the conclusion of a sermon on 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, “Night People/Day People Part 1”

Father, this is an encouraging portion of Scripture for us. We realize that we are unworthy of such unimaginable goodness that You have bestowed upon us to make us day people, children of light, children of the day, to make us the very habitation of light as the light of Christ has come to dwell within us. We are overwhelmed that we’ve been taken out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. We’re overwhelmed that we shall never walk in darkness but always have the light of life. And we have hope in our hearts that some day we’ll enter into that eternal light where none of the deeds of the night life will ever exist. Father, help us to act like children of the day, particularly as we live in the world of darkness around us, that men may see the light like a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. And, Father, we also ask for those here who are night people and have heard this message and are in the night and it’s pitch black and they’re asleep in a drunken stupor, utterly insensitive to truth and virtue and to coming judgment, may the light dawn in their hearts, may the Spirit of God enlighten them, convict them of sin, draw them to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, to turn from their sins and follow Him, to hate the darkness and love the light that they too might become day people, to look for the glorious day of heavenly joy. And these things we ask in the name of Christ. Amen.

John Piper, in a sermon, “When God Says, “Not Now”:

We must keep this simple fact before us: God is Father and we are children. The Father always keeps the right to do what is best for the children even if they don’t understand why it is best. If this were not so, then we would be saying that we should run the Father’s house. We should be the Father and he should be the child. Which in this case would mean we should rule the universe and God should learn from us how to do it.

Prayer has never meant that God should stop being God. We do not have the wisdom or the grace to run the universe. God is God. And he will continue to decide how to run the universe in the best way. If we ask him for a fish, he will not give us a snake, but he may give us Pepto Bismol or ibuprofen or grapefruit. He will give us what is good for us.

The utterly amazing thing is that he has ordained to include us in running the universe. He really does respond to our prayers. They are woven into the fabric of causes that God wills to be moved by. We do not pray in vain. He is our Father. And when he hears his children, he responds. He is not deaf or indifferent or powerless. He hears and he acts.

Just when I think I might have God ever so slightly figured out, he pulls a surprise on me that shatters and confuses and discombobulates what little understanding I have of him.

I’m a theologian by trade, so its my responsibility and calling (and joy) in life to do what I can to connect the dots of divine revelation and hope that the resultant picture at least looks vaguely similar to the God I read about in Scripture. But sadly, that picture all too often ends up looking more like me than it does God, and reflects more what I think should be true or false rather than accurately portraying what God says is true or false, good or evil. The fact is, when God and his ways are looked at from a merely human point of view, he can often appear quite strange.

Whenever I use that language I’m compelled to pause and say, “Hey, Sam, hold on. Be careful. You don’t want to be guilty of sacrilege or, worse still, blasphemy in talking about God in such terms.” But then again, God is a bit strange, in the sense that I don’t understand why he does not do things the way I would do them if I were God!

Of course, the problem isn’t that God is strange but that I am sinful. The warped perspective I have of the Almighty is due, not to his being odd or out of line, but solely to the selfish and often corrupt way in which I filter and interpret the data of human experience.

Having said that, I can’t help but think that David would have agreed with me. Having spent considerable time in many of his psalms, I’m convinced that he was occasionally (often?) just as confused about God as we are, just as befuddled and puzzled about what he does and why as we are these many centuries later.

In fact, I suspect that lingering beneath the words of Psalm 142 is David’s suspicion that God is strange. I say this not simply because of what is in the psalm itself but from what we read in the superscription: “A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.” 

What’s so unusual about that, you ask? More than unusual, it’s downright shocking. Remember, this is David speaking, David, the man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14), the man singularly selected by the Lord, out of all the men of Israel, the man anointed by Samuel the prophet to be king over God’s people. King! Anointed! But here he is sitting, and probably sulking, in a cave!

I could certainly understand this more readily if it were written by a few other odd characters in Scripture, such as Cain or Balaam or Saul or Jezebel or Judas Iscariot. We expect people like that to find themselves in caves, hiding from their enemies, fearful for their lives. But David? The man who waxed eloquently about “green pastures” and “still waters” (Psalm 23), the man who rejoiced to live in the presence of God where “fullness of joy” could be found, the man who wanted nothing more than to linger at God’s right hand where “pleasures forevermore” are experienced (Psalm 16:11) and to spend his days beholding the beauty of God (Psalm 27:4). David, in a cave? God, you’re strange.

As best we can tell, David twice found himself seeking safety in a cave. The first occasion was in a cave near Adullam, just west of Jerusalem. This is described in 1 Samuel 22:1. The second occasion was at En-Gedi, on the western shore of the Dead Sea, described in 1 Samuel 24:1. In both instances he was there to escape Saul who had threatened to kill him.

Psalm 142 is probably describing the first of these two incidents. What a contradiction must it have felt like to this man of God. I can almost hear him in protest: “God, this isn’t at all what I expected to happen when you anointed me king over your people. Hiding out in a cave for protection from my enemies wasn’t in the job description. I’m supposed to be honored and revered and respected. I’m supposed to be sitting on a throne with servants at my beck and call. So what am I doing here with the spiders and snakes and wolves in a cave hiding to save my life?” Strange God.

To make matters worse, we need to remember that the cave was David’s final destination, not his first. Before he ever got to the cave, he first had to jump out of the way when Saul attempted to impale him with a spear. He then had to escape a death threat by being let down from a window by his wife. After that he was forced to flee into the night to elude the soldiers who were dispatched to capture and kill him. For a time he hid out in the fields surrounding Jerusalem and eventually suffered the humiliation of being compelled to seek refuge in the city of Gath, the hometown of his old enemy Goliath! After all this, David sat down in a cave, . . . disconsolate, discouraged, possibly depressed, and no doubt confused about this God whom he loved and served.

Before you dismiss all this as speculation, allow David the freedom to be human. Don’t you think he had his doubts? Don’t you think he wondered aloud about why God did what he did, as well as when and how and to what purpose this scenario had unfolded? Could it be that even David, on occasion, might have asked himself: “If this God to be trusted with my life?” I don’t believe this is speculation, because we have the words of the psalm that largely corroborate this perspective. We’ll turn to them in the next meditation.

The bottom line, then, is that this psalm is here to tell us how to pray when God seems strange. This psalm is uniquely suited for people who need encouragement in the midst of trial and suffering, people who are wondering if God even knows where they are. It’s a psalm designed to tell us what to do when we’re in a “cave” of our own.

This “maskil” (a musical term) of David was a “prayer” he uttered while “in the cave.” May I suggest that at least part of its purpose is to tell us that God is attentive to our needs and hears us no matter where we are? Our prayers, like David’s, reach his ear and enter his heart whether we are on land, at sea, in the air, or stuck away in some desolate cave (whether literal or metaphorical). If God heard Jonah’s prayer from inside the belly of a fish and heard David’s prayer from inside a lonely cave, he will surely hear yours whether uttered in a church building or at home or in your office or car or while lying on your bed at night.

May I also suggest that David is telling us that God hears and answers not only wherever we may be but whatever we may be experiencing? In other words, although David’s cave was quite literal, it also describes spiritually what David was feeling, most likely abandoned, alone, useless, defeated, helpless, embarrassed, but still hopeful, as we’ll shortly see.

So, if God’s seems a bit strange to you at times (or a lot!), especially when you find yourself in something of a “cave”, or perhaps even on those occasions when you actually wish you could spend some time in one just to get away from life and the constant hassles it throws your way, then this psalm is for you. We’ll look carefully at its content in the next meditation.

Sam

In response to the repentance of His people, God granted the people of Judah some deliverance. God did not allow them to be completely destroyed, but he did not deliver them completely either. He allowed some consequences to come to them. This was in order to teach them the vast difference between serving Yahweh, the living LORD, the King of kings and serving the kings of the other countries around them.

Praise God for his goodness, mercy and wisdom. He hears our cries of repentance and pleas for help, but sometimes the deliverance looks different than what we expect. Sometimes there are lessons we need to learn. We can be assured that this is always for our good and his glory.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (ESV)

The Day of the Lord

5:1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, [1] you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children [2] of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Luke 11:1-13 (ESV)

The Lord’s Prayer

11:1 Now Jesus [1] was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence [3] he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for [4] a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Psalm 142 (ESV)

You Are My Refuge

A Maskil [1] of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.

142:1 With my voice I cry out to the Lord;
with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord.
2 I pour out my complaint before him;
I tell my trouble before him.

3 When my spirit faints within me,
you know my way!
In the path where I walk
they have hidden a trap for me.
4 Look to the right and see:
there is none who takes notice of me;
no refuge remains to me;
no one cares for my soul.

5 I cry to you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
6 Attend to my cry,
for I am brought very low!
Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me!
7 Bring me out of prison,
that I may give thanks to your name!
The righteous will surround me,
for you will deal bountifully with me.

2 Chronicles 10-12 (ESV)

The Revolt Against Rehoboam

10:1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2 And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3 And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” 5 He said to them, “Come to me again in three days.” So the people went away.

6 Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, [1] who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” 7 And they said to him, “If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” 8 But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. 9 And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” 10 And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us’; thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs.11 And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” 13 And the king answered them harshly; and forsaking the counsel of the old men, 14 King Rehoboam spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the Lord might fulfill his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

16 And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each of you to your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So all Israel went to their tents. 17 But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. 18 Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, [2] who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and the people of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Rehoboam Secures His Kingdom

11:1 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. 2 But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God: 3 “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, 4 ‘Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the Lord and returned and did not go against Jeroboam.

5 Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built cities for defense in Judah. 6 He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7 Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam,8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, 9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, fortified cities that are in Judah and in Benjamin. 11 He made the fortresses strong, and put commanders in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. 12 And he put shields and spears in all the cities and made them very strong. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

Priests and Levites Come to Jerusalem

13 And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel presented themselves to him from all places where they lived. 14 For the Levites left their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord, 15 and he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for the calves that he had made. 16 And those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers. 17 They strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years they made Rehoboam the son of Solomon secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.

Rehoboam’s Family

18 Rehoboam took as wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse, 19 and she bore him sons, Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. 20 After her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 21 Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and concubines (he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters). 22 And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as chief prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. 23 And he dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities, and he gave them abundant provisions and procured wives for them. [3]

Egypt Plunders Jerusalem

12:1 When the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. 2 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem 3 with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt—Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. 4 And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. 5 Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’” 6 Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is righteous.” 7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8 Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”

9 So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made, 10 and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. 11 And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard came and carried them and brought them back to the guardroom. 12 And when he humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, conditions were good [4] in Judah.

13 So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. 14 And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

15 Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the chronicles of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer? [5] There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 16 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and Abijah [6]his son reigned in his place.

Charles H. Spurgeon on 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18, in our Bible reading plan today:

Even the sweetest visits from Christ, how short they are—and how transitory! One moment our eyes see him, and we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, but again a little time and we do not see him, for our beloved withdraws himself from us; like a roe or a young hart he leaps over the mountains of division; he is gone to the land of spices, and feeds no more among the lilies.

“If today he deigns to bless usWith a sense of pardoned sin,He to-morrow may distress us,Make us feel the plague within.”

Oh, how sweet the prospect of the time when we shall not behold him at a distance, but see him face to face: when he shall not be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night, but shall eternally enfold us in the bosom of his glory. We shall not see him for a little season, but

“Millions of years our wondering eyes, Shall o’er our Saviour’s beauties rove; And myriad ages we’ll adore, The wonders of his love.”

In heaven there shall be no interruptions from care or sin; no weeping shall dim our eyes; no earthly business shall distract our happy thoughts; we shall have nothing to hinder us from gazing forever on the Sun of Righteousness with unwearied eyes. Oh, if it be so sweet to see him now and then, how sweet to gaze on that blessed face for aye, and never have a cloud rolling between, and never have to turn one’s eyes away to look on a world of weariness and woe! Blest day, when wilt thou dawn? Rise, O unsetting sun! The joys of sense may leave us as soon as they will, for this shall make glorious amends. If to die is but to enter into uninterrupted communion with Jesus, then death is indeed gain, and the black drop is swallowed up in a sea of victory.

Here are comments from Coty Pinckney, in a sermon, “Service in His Name by His Power”:

She is distracted from “the one necessary thing.” What does Jesus mean? I think He means this: “Martha, you’re thinking about lots of things. And I’m not saying they are unimportant. But you’ve forgotten what is most important. You’re trying to serve a meal of food. Mary has chosen to eat a meal of the Word of God. That’s the best portion of food she could ever eat. And I’m not going to take that from her!”

As one commentator says, “This is Luke’s message to [all] disciples: sit at Jesus’ feet and devour his teaching, since there is no more important meal.”

So what is the “one necessary thing”? Coming to know and love God with all your heart.

Jesus says Mary has chosen “the good portion.” The picture here is of God Himself as our portion of food, or our portion of the family’s inheritance. This is a frequent image in the Old Testament. Here are a couple of examples:

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:25-26

The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words. Psalm 119:57

The psalmist is saying, “I will be satisfied with You; I will long for nothing else. I will feed on you.” God is His portion. He is satisfied in Him.