For Such a Time as This

By Pastor Robby Stewart

The year 2020 has been one of the most extraordinary time for our nation. In what seemed in the beginning to be a normal year, in such a short period of time, we went from what we refer to as the normal way of life to trying to adapt to what will be a "new normal" due to the coronavirus. These times have been referred to as unprecedented times and have left many in fear, despair, skepticism, and hopelessness. It is important that the church take the lead in culture, not only seeing this as an opportunity for evangelism, but also giving direction, being like the men of Issachar, discerning the times and knowing what to do.

For Such a Time as This is one of many tools that I pray God will use to help all who read this navigate through these times. It is written to offer direction, encouragement, focus, and hope in the midst of the uncertainty and chaos in our country. God has prepared his church for this moment. Just as Esther put it all on the line to go before the king in interceding for her people, God has chosen us "for such a time as this" to intercede and see our country through this time.

These meditations and reflections are meant to inspire and challenge the believer to be patient, to focus, and to pray. May this book accomplish its purpose in our national crisis, and may it be an encouragement to one who may be going through their own personal crisis as well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098087203

Book preview

A Joyful Morning

Psalm 30:5

As I sat in meditation and devotion one morning, the Holy Spirit brought to mind Psalm 30:5: For His anger endures but for a moment; in His favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

While meditating on this, my mind went back to September of 1989 when Hurricane Hugo came through. We were in the northern right quadrant of the storm, which meant the most dangerous part of it. I remember being up all night, hearing the wind gusting to ninety miles per hour, limbs falling from trees while beating up against the house. One of my windows was even shattered! I was so afraid because it was one of those moments that I realized I had no control over the situation.

The amazing thing was that the storm moved so fast that, by the next morning, it was gone, the skies were clear, and the sun was shining bright. It was a horrible night but a beautiful day.

Right now we face a storm of a different kind. But much like Hugo, I still find myself not being able to control the situation. The difference now for me is that I am not afraid because unlike back then, I know now that God is in control. I do not fear, but I am concerned. I am concerned for all of you, my neighbors, schoolkids that may not be getting the attention and care they need, the elderly, and for all these things, I weep.

But joy will come in the morning!

On that beautiful Friday after the turbulence of Thursday night, there was quite a bit of damage. There were power outages, downed trees, and minor injuries, but there was no loss of life! That’s what we need to keep in mind in this situation. COVID-19 is going to have its effects, and they may be long-lasting, even longer than that Thursday night in September. This night may last weeks and months to a year for the economy, but as Abraham Lincoln said in Wisconsin in his Hay Wagon speech, This too shall pass!

What we learn through all this is that there may be damage but what we really find that is important for us is life, and the life we have in Christ!

It’s not a matter of whether the sun will rise, but that the Sun of Righteousness has risen, risen from the darkness of the grave, and has given us eternal life and the hope of a new day, in which there will be no more heartache, tears, pain, and no more death!

COVID-19 may take away lives, reduce people’s 401(k), and disrupt our everyday lives, causing us to be separated for a short time, but nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus!

Beautifully Situated

Psalm 48:1–2

Great is the Lord and worthy of glory. Great is the Lord and worthy of praise. Great is the Lord. Now lift up your voice. Now lift up your voice. Great is the Lord! Great is the Lord!

This is the chorus of one of the hymns we sing occasionally; it is called Great Is the Lord, and it is one of my favorites! I love to hear our congregation sing it because it is one of those hymns that really invites God’s presence into our service. We may all come in each service with different needs, different ideas, different personalities, but the one thing that we all agree on is that God is great and greatly to be praised!

I say all this because the Lord directed me this morning to Psalm 48:1–2. It says:

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness.

Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the North, the city of the great King.

These two verses are a description of two great truths—that God is Great and greatly to be praised and that the city of God is beautifully situated!

The first thing I would like for you to reflect on today is that God is greatly to be praised because he is great. You see, no matter what the situation, God is great and greatly to be praised because of who he is! Situations may change for the good or the bad, but God remains the same. He is unmovable. Of course, we praise and thank Him for all he does for us, but remember, he does for us because of who he is.

The second great truth is that the city of God (in this case, Jerusalem) is beautiful and situated in the right place. I have never been to Jerusalem but hope to go there someday. I am told that no matter what direction you come from, the view of the city is breathtaking! And it should be because God has put it in the perfect place. It is so perfectly situated that verses 4–6 tell us that the surrounding nations marveled, revered, and were astonished by it.

So regarding God is saying to us today in this psalm, I believe the same two truths apply. First, he is great and greatly to be praised in this situation that we are facing with COVID-19. He is still God and will do great things in this moment and is doing great things. He is great not just for what He does or is doing but great because of who he is! Remember, he does what he does because of who he is.

Second, what a good situation we as his church find ourselves in today! You see, just as Jerusalem is the city of God in the geographical sense, the church is the city of God in today’s world in the spiritual sense. Just as I said yesterday in my sermon, what makes a city is not buildings but people. We are the people of God, and that makes us a city. When the disciples first met Jesus, the first question they asked him was Where do you live? Jesus answered, Come and see. His home is in his church, and what makes a church? His people!

My point in all this is that just as the Jerusalem of old was in the right place, God has put you and me at Crestview in the right place at the right time. We are beautifully situated! Let us lift up our voice in declaring that God is great and that he is in control of all things or, as I said yesterday, a fixture in the midst of conflict and chaos. And because we live in him and he in us, we, too, are unshakable in time of shaking (Hebrews 12:27, 28) (1 Corinthians 15:57, 58).

I leave you with this verse from Esther 4:14: For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

We, as God’s people, are in the right place at the right time, so let us not be silent. Let us lift up our voice, lift up our voice and say, ‘Great are you, Lord!’ You never know who is listening and will marvel, be astonished, and will come to know the Lord by it.

New Mercies

Lamentations 3:18–24

The book of Lamentations is one of the darkest books in the Bible, yet it is one of my favorites. The reason why is that, in the midst of all the darkness, there is a ray of light. Jeremiah is sitting in the midst of a fallen Jerusalem. There is death, bloodshed, looting, sickness, famine, and worst of all, the temple, the place where God’s presence would abide, is destroyed. All these were done by the Babylonians, a nation that was considered by Jewish standards as a nation of heathens. This brought about a lot of confusion, despair, and most of all, hopelessness.

This event inspires Jeremiah to write Lamentations, which is considered a funeral song. He is lamenting the ruin of Jerusalem, which was the princess of all the cities of the world. It was God’s city populated by God’s people, and he is horrified that this has happened. So he writes this song, which begins dark and ends dark, but in the backdrop of all this darkness, there shines a light that the darkness cannot overtake. That light is the hope, mercy, and faithfulness of God!

When we get to the middle of the lament (Lamentations 3:18), Jeremiah hits his lowest point of despair when he says, My strength and my hope has perished from the Lord. But just as he hits that point, the Holy Spirit reaches down and lifts his hopes with this reminder: It is of the Lord’s mercies that we have not been consumed, because His compassions fail not they are knew every morning, great is thy faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22–23). Jeremiah found hope in the character of God and in the keeping of his covenant promise.

After all the recent events concerning the coronavirus, we really do not know what to expect from day to day. We wake up with a lot of uncertainties, wondering how far this thing can go. I don’t know personally what you may wake up to because we have different struggles and various needs, but I can assure you this one thing. We as God’s people are met with one common thing every morning and that is new mercies! We may have ruined situations and relationships or are struggling with sin or sickness. Whatever the situation, no matter what happened yesterday, we can meet it head on today with new mercies from God!

I want to encourage you even further. Not only is God’s mercy new every morning, but it also endures forever. Psalm 136:1–26 all end with His mercy endures forever! Mercy is God’s loving-kindness and long-suffering toward his people. Even in the midst of his divine anger, God’s divine mercy shows forth. This is beautifully illustrated in the darkest day in the history of mankind—the day Jesus died on the cross! If that was humanity’s darkest hour, then no matter what darkness we face, we can have hope. Even when we walk through the dark valley of the shadow of death, we will not need to fear because Christ, the Shepherd, is with us and goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives.

When we understand that God is merciful and faithful, we will never lack in hope. Make him your portion (inheritance) today, as Jeremiah did in Lamentations 3:24, and you will inherit a lifetime of mercy and grace that will never be exhausted.

I leave you with this poem I heard read by Ravi Zacharias in one of his sermons.

He came to my desk with a quivering lip, the lesson was done.

Have you a new sheet for me, dear teacher? I’ve spoiled this one.

I took his sheet, all soiled and blotted, and gave him a new one all unspotted.

And into his tired heart I cried, Do better now, my child.

I came to the throne with a trembling heart; the day was done.

Have you a new day for me, dear Master? I’ve spoiled this one.

He took my day, all soiled and blotted, and gave me a new one all unspotted.

And into my tired heart he cried, Do better now, my child.

Get yourself a hymnbook or look up on your phone or tablet the words of the great hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness and let that be your meditation today.

Morning Prayer

Psalm 67

I have come to love Psalm 67! It is a psalm that I have started reading every morning when I get up. In fact, I do more than read it—I pray it! The reason I love it and it is so meaningful to me is that contained in it are things we need, things we need to do, and things God is going to do. It is a daily reminder of our need for God, our responsibility to him, and that he is Sovereign over all things.

First, what do we need? It tells us that we need:

Mercy

Blessing

Favor

Second, what do we need to do? It tells us we need to do the following:

Make his way known on earth

Proclaim salvation to all people

Praise him and be joyful

Sing

Third, what is God going to do? It tells us he is going to do the following:

Judge the people righteously

Govern the nations

Cause the earth to increase her yield

Bless us

Throughout its history, the church has begun its day by reciting, singing, or praying this psalm. I want to encourage you to continue this tradition in your personal devotions by praying daily and meditating on this psalm. And see if it doesn’t cause you to begin a new day focused upon and being confident in the Lord.

My Grace is Sufficient

2 Corinthians 12:1–10

All of us at one time or another has gotten a splinter. I don’t know about you, but when I get one, I immediately want to get it out. Sometimes I can remove it, but on other times, depending on its depth and location, I need some assistance. Some give constant pain, while others hurt only when pressed. Nevertheless, regardless of the size or depth, we want it removed.

So I can understand Paul’s plea in our text. His thorn is more than just a splinter; it is a stake! He describes it as the messenger of Satan to buffet him. There is no certainty as to what this stake was, but that’s not as important to us as it was Paul. It was unique to him just like our thorns or stakes are unique to us. We all have that one thing that nags at us from time to time to cause the sting of some past pain. Whether it is a particular sin, failure, disappointment, broken relationship, or sickness, just when we think we have suppressed it, we move a certain way, and there it is; the pain comes back.

Now Paul prayed three times for this stake to be removed. The pain and suffering in having to deal with it was overwhelming at times, and he felt like it was hindering him. He just couldn’t move forward without being taken back. The good news in this is that not only was God sympathetic toward him, but he heard him and answered him. Maybe it was not in the way that Paul was expecting or liked, but nevertheless, it was a better way because it was God’s way!

My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness.

After hearing those words from Christ himself, Paul went from complaining to praising. God’s grace came flowing in like Noah’s flood and drowned out all his misery and woe. He got up and went on glorying in his infirmities, weaknesses, persecution, distresses, and so forth in and through the power of God’s grace.

Grace is God’s riches at Christ’s expense. It’s not just grace to save, but it is also grace to live. It is freely given and is a free-flowing fountain that flows deep and wide. It’s like Ezekiel’s river, it’s waters to swim in! (Ezekiel 47:5)

Think about that song Deep and Wide, keeping in mind the grace of God as you do so, and see if you don’t praise God, from whom all blessings flow!

One Day I Awoke

Genesis 2:7, 15–24; 3:1–7, 15; 1 Corinthians 5:8

When I awoke, what face did I see?

It was the face of my Maker staring lovingly at me.

When I awoke, what face did I see?

The most glorious face, which radiated me.

One day when I awoke, he came walking to me.

It felt like a gentle breeze, refreshing as I heard him moving among the trees.

As he was nearing, there was a voice in the wind.

He spoke to me gently and refreshed me within.

One day I awoke, and I was alone.

I had the animals, but they were not like my own.

That day, in my loneliness and despair,

He came walking to me in the moving air.

He put me to sleep, and for what I did not know.

When I woke up, I was very sore.

But when I awoke, what face did I see?

It was the face of my bride, and her name was Eve.

Her face was radiant but not quite like he.

It was glorious and beautiful to a lesser degree.

She was so graceful and so full of charm.

I find it hard to believe that it would be her who would bring harm.

I awoke one morning, and what did I see?

The face of my bride but not so radiantly.

I asked what was wrong, and what did she