The Lord SHALL Perfect That Which Concerneth Me.

Psalm 138:8 The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.

You’ve all heard of the concept of a ‘loaded statement’ before. Now, the Bible is full of loaded statements. Loaded statements are great things to build sermons on, so if you didn’t know, that’s why there are so many sermons out there.

But this statement, I believe, beats all other loaded statements. Now I’m not saying that this sermon will beat all other sermons, not by a long shot,- in fact on Wednesday morning I was up somewhere in the vicinity of 5:30, working on the outline for this message, and my quote of the day brings me this incredibly encouraging statement: 'It takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech'. Mark Twain, of course. So, I promise you, this is not a 'speech'. But – ‘The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me’ – now THAT is one loaded statement. So what I’d like to do here today is to share with you the power that this verse has had in my life, and the power that it can have in your life – every one of you.

Who here has ever wanted to be an explorer? Anyone ever intrigued by the challenges of Daniel Boone, or Lewis and Clarke, – at least in our younger days? I don’t know if I’m the only one, but I used to really think it was unfortunate that there just wasn’t anything left to discover on this earth. There wasn’t a single island, or continent, or land left to find for the first time in history. In short, there is nothing new under the sun. Modern life has its advantages and disadvantages of course, and the most aggravating misfortune is that there was nothing left for ME to discover – well, almost.

Anyone here ever thought that they knew everything? Surely, in a group this size I’m not the only one. Well, I’m going to talk today about a frontier that has never been conquered by any person. Simon Fraser didn’t map it. Not even Neil Armstrong, for the great leap of his one step, ever came close to conquering this frontier. It’s the frontier of the UNKNOWN, aka the ‘future’.

In the year A.D. 1492 Christopher Columbus set out to conquer his unknown. Problem was, he started out with the same problem some of us do. He thought he knew it all. And he was going out to prove it. After obtaining some government subsidies, which were expropriated from a privately owned shipping company, he sailed west from Spain, and he was headed for China.

It took longer than he thought, so when they sighted land, he declared that they must have missed China and gone all the way to India. That’s right, they land on this island, and Columbus says “We’re here!”, and one of the sailors says, “Ummm, where are we?”, and Columbus says, “India of course. We must have missed China.” You see, Columbus wasn’t a very good explorer in that respect. But of course, if it wasn’t for that, Spain would never have been interested in the voyage.

Whether he realized it or not, Columbus didn’t know what he was going to find when he set out from the Canary Islands. Whether he admitted it or not, he was setting out to explore the frontier of the unknown. And ultimately, to conquer the unknown is a worthy mission. It’s part of the commission of mankind – to fill the earth, and subdue it. However, through all the unknowns that have been conquered, through all the explorations that have been made, beyond all the maps that have been drawn, there remains one frontier, one unknown, that has not been conquered.

Proverbs 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

This, my friends is the frontier of the future. Tomorrow is a day that no one has seen. We have not seen it; it has not seen us. And not a single invention, or device, or machine of man, has ever been able to ‘KNOW’ this fundamental ‘UNKNOWN’.

What I’m sharing with you today is simply a portion of my own frontier of the last number of years. It isn’t an abstract study on philosophy and theology – it is a genuine path of slowly understanding the relationships of the most significant challenges of life. The Known vs. the Unknown - understanding the role of each, and most importantly, their roles in our relationship with God, and knowing Him. For a brief insight into this, I’m going to read an excerpt from something I wrote almost a year ago, in reflection of my twentieth. From this point in my life, I can look back over the fields and farms of youth, and over the lawns and gardens of childhood, even over the doldrums of toddler days, and I can also look forward over a view in which I can see that there are hills that have never been climbed, cliffs that have not been scaled, oceans that have never been navigated. I see that there are challenges no human has met before, there are battles yet to be fought, and victories that must be won. There are tragedies yet untasted, there are adversities yet unseen, dilemmas undeliberated, sacrifices that have yet to be made. There are days yet undawned, sorrows yet unknown, and joys yet to be experienced.

This, my friends, is the frontier of the future. Advance I must, retreat I cannot. It is not possible to move faster or slower, for time's relentless hands bring it on with a constant and unrelenting rate. Whether scaling a cliff or traversing a desert, it will not change pace, but will continue to test; continue to challenge. This is a frontier that has no end, except for future frontiers of eternity. No man knows, nor can know, the events that will lie ahead, but God indeed is the One Who sees, and Who knows, the terrain that I must travel.

This is a frontier that calls, as all frontiers have, and all frontiers will, for men of valour, and for women of virtue. And in doing so, it calls for that which is not common to humanity. The boldest bravery that I can muster up as a mortal man is insufficient to conquer this frontier for eternity. The most valiant of men have fainted behind us in the kaleidoscope of history, because all vigour and all valour that finds its source within the mortal man will prove to be a mortal figment of a mortal imagination.

Anyways, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here. I’m not saying the whole of life is an unknown. In this life there are Knowns, and there are Unknowns. In fact, if we can wrap our magnificent minds around this, there actually are more unknowns than there are knowns. We just don’t know what we don’t know, so in our minds, there are more knowns than unknowns, and depending on how our brain swells, sometimes we think there are no unknowns at all.

However, in the course of human endeavours against this frontier, there has been discovered the law of human knowledge. It declares: The greater the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of the unknown.

Life is fundamentally comprised of two things: the Known, and the Unknown. And these two things have an interesting relationship, as we can see. Knowledge is good. It is a virtue, not a vice. Proverbs speaks highly of Knowledge, and admonishes us to seek after it diligently. But as we can see, the Unknown is related to the Known by a factor of multiplication. I’m not going to put a number on it. It’s just a ‘factor’. Why?

And, after all, what exactly is the ‘Known’ and what is the ‘Unknown’? Brilliant question I know, but necessary for the sake of the point: The truth is that the ‘Unknown’ is an infinite expanse of a frontier, and the ‘Known’ is that island of conquered unknowns that we have built.

Ultimately, the Known cannot exist without the Unknown. The very concept of Knowledge, of seeking and getting knowledge, cannot exist without the Unknown. And here comes into play the relationship between the Known, the Unknown, and Wisdom.

The Known does not require Wisdom. The Unknown does. And it is for this specific reason that the Unknown is related to the Known by a factor of multiplication. The more Knowledge, the more Unknown. The more Unknown, the more Wisdom required. Hence a proportionate amount of Wisdom is required to maintain knowledge, and to conquer the frontier of the Unknown.

So it is obvious. Every one of us, in any generation, has a vast, unexplored, untouched frontier. It is an unknown frontier, and it is a frontier without end. This wilderness is conquered, as all frontiers have, and all frontiers will be, one day at a time. There has never been a time when a true explorer knew what he would find before he found it. Therefore it is self-evident that our island of knowledge is what we have experienced, and the expanse of unknown is what we have not experienced. In other words, the very present is known, and the past is experience, but the future remains that area yet beyond the shoreline of the unknown.

The Word of God positively identifies this as the fundamental unknown of life. Proverbs 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. This is what I call The Law of Time and Knowledge – and it is as sure as the law of gravity – the future remains the future. God has established it, and decreed it. Tomorrow is tomorrow, today is today, and yesterday is yesterday. Tomorrow is not ours to conquer, until it becomes today.

As long as that law stands, you and I stand before a frontier. And as long as there is that unknown frontier before us, that calls for valour, for virtue, and for strength, we stand in need of Wisdom, and we stand in need of the fear of the Lord.


Here I want to elaborate a little on the difference between Knowledge and Wisdom. Both are highly regarded in Proverbs, and both are given very lofty attributes. In fact, we are told that ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’, and also, in the same wording, that ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge’.

However, Knowledge and Wisdom are two different things. Knowledge of course, is the island we’ve been talking about. But Knowledge is not what conquers the unknown. In fact, knowledge, in and of itself cannot even sustain itself. Wisdom is that power by which we gain; knowledge is the gain.

But oftentimes, in our conquest of this frontier and in our pursuit of Knowledge and Wisdom, we find ourselves yearning to be able to press beyond the Law of Time and Knowledge. “If we could but see beyond today…” Why?

You see, in our conquest of this frontier, and in our pursuit of knowledge, our human nature wants to make this MY conquest, and MY pursuit, and really, we simply want to know what nobody else in the world knows. Just think how this could help me in my pursuit of world domination. I could cut hay at just the right time, every time, and I would KNOW that it wouldn’t rain until it was in. I could know exactly what to say in every situation. I would know exactly what do, and when to do it, and how to do it. And just think what would happen when I stroll into the Wall Street Stock Exchange…It would be incredible! And after all…doesn’t God promise to give wisdom to him who asks?

Absolutely He does. Here we are going to dig out another one of the precious promises of the word of God: James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

‘If any of you lack WISDOM, let him ask of God…and it shall be given him’. That is a promise, and the Lord is faithful concerning His promises. Unfortunately, many people who claim that verse are not looking for wisdom at all – they’re looking for knowledge. Has the Lord ever imparted specific knowledge to men? Yes He has, but the promise here and for all people, is for wisdom. You see, so many of us who stand on this frontier, knowing that God has a divine plan for us, are not eager to face this unknown. We want to see the way clear to the horizon, We want I-40 with signs to tell us all the details. We want a map to go with it. We want to know how long, how far, how many, what then, and where next.

But God is not giving us an interstate and a highway map. He’s putting before us a frontier that must be conquered. He’s giving us a route that requires the fear of the Lord, not fear of the unknown. Instead of sight, He’s giving us Faith, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. He’s giving us Wisdom to conquer the unknown, not knowledge of the unknown. He has given us The Law of Time and Knowledge – the fundamental unknown of life – THOU KNOWEST NOT WHAT A DAY MAY BRING FORTH, to keep us eternally confined to the acceptable day of salvation. TODAY, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.


Things are often not what they seem to us. Just like Columbus landing in the Caribbean and being stoutly confident that he was in India, we often think we are really getting somewhere, when in reality we’re on the other side of the world. You see, the ultimate goal of all my ponderings of the Known and the Unknown has been the quest to know God’s will for my life – Or rather to understand the relationship between the will of God and our knowledge of it.

One of the first things I learned was the vast difference between seeking the knowledge of God and His will, and seeking to know His plan for my life. These two are diametrically different things. They’re on the other side of the globe from each other. However, in our minds, they have a way of appearing the same. Just like Columbus arriving in ‘India’, and giving the Caribbean the perpetual misnomer ‘West Indies’. And I’ll tell you, you can ask God to show you His plan for your life as much as you want, and the only thing that might happen is that satan will deceive you. God is giving us a frontier, and we want an interstate with mile markers and road maps. God’s offering us wisdom, and we want knowledge.

You see, wanting to ‘know’ God’s plan for your life just doesn’t work. God considers that proprietary information. What He wants you and I to do is this: Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

He’s not asking us to find out what, and then direct our own paths. He’s asking me to trust in Him with ALL me heart, and then HE will direct my paths. So many times we want to be directing ‘His paths’ in our life, and He’s trying to direct our paths!

We want to see the plan, we want to see the path. We want to know the route. We want to see where He’s taking us, but God does not want us to be looking our own way through, He wants to look to Jesus Christ, the Author and finisher of our faith. THAT is seeking His will.

We want to know, so that WE can conquer.
He wants us to trust Him, so that we can be more than conquerors.

We want to KNOW; God asks us to COMMIT.

And here we have another great and exceeding precious promise: Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. I’m going to bring us all back to reality here for a little bit. If we really stop to think about it, most of the unknowns of life that perplex us, most of the complexities that confound us, are inherently tied to the desires of our heart. The fact that we don’t know everything, or that there could possibly be something we don’t know isn’t really a big deal. Unknowns just do not obsess us or haunt us when they are of no interest to us. The truth is that the unknowns that are important to us, are important to us because they are important to something that is important to us. And believe me, when you’re my age, there’s a whole lot of things that are important to us. There are so many important things to take care of, and that’s why there are so many unknowns that perplex us. Desires of the heart are not a vice – if we delight our self in the Lord, He delights in giving us the desires of our heart. But He requires one thing:
Psalm 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Delight in the Lord. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Commit ALL thy way unto the Lord. Commit the knowns. Commit the unknowns. Commit the perplexities and complexities. Commit the desires of your heart. Trust also in Him, and HE shall bring it to pass. And when we have commited our way unto Him, we have this great and precious promise: For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.(2Timothy 1:12)

Herein lies the relationship of the known to the unknown: For I KNOW whom I have believed. And for the unknown – ‘He is able to keep that which is committed unto him’.

I’d like to ask one question about this verse. What is ‘that day’? Is it a special day? A dangerous day? A far-off day? Is it the day we die? Is it the day of His coming? Perhaps the Judgement day?

The single most blessed part of my own experience with God is that ‘that day’ is today. That day is tomorrow, and that day is the day after that, and He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against all eternity.

I’m going to ask everyone a question here today. What have you committed, to him Who is able to keep, against today? How would your day look today, if you had committed the desires of your heart, and the petitions of your soul; all your knowns and unknowns, all your perplexities and complexities, to Him Who is able to keep you from falling, against today?

I’ll tell you what it would look like, for in this commitment we have the most profound blessing, the most precious promise: The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.

The Lord will perfect all that which concerneth me. Surely, this, is a miracle of God’s grace. God is not only promising to perfect us, but all that concerns us! That’s right – every one of those unknowns, every desire of the heart, every perplexity and complexity, all those variables, all the obstacles, even all the people involved, will be perfected according to God’s promise and according to His will. And let me tell you, if God can perfect me, if He is able to keep that I have committed to Him, then I assure you that He can perfect you, and He is able to keep anything that you can commit to Him. If He can perfect that which concerneth me, He can perfect that which concerneth every one of you. And if He can give me the desires of my heart, He can do the same for any one of you. But there’s one thing that God will not perfect, and that is whatever has not been committed to him.

In the quiet of each morning, when you kneel to pray, instead of asking God to show you ‘what’ to do, commit yourself, your problems, your unknowns, your desires – whatever it may be, to the keeping of God against that day. Instead of trying to discover the paths He has for you, discover God Himself. Commit yourself, as it were, captive to His Providence, and He shall direct your paths.

How do I ‘know’ God’s plan for my life? My friend, God’s plan for my life, and for your life, is that you commit yourself – body, soul, and spirit, to His keeping. His will is not that we should ‘know’ the future, but that you trust in Him with all your heart, and all your mind, and all your soul; that you lean not on your own understanding, so that HE can direct your paths, and order your steps. So that He can instruct you and teach you in the way. So that He can restore your soul. So that HE can give you the desires of your heart. So that HE can bring it to pass. So that HE can perfect that which concerneth you.

The frontier lies before us. We can shirk it. We can strike off on our own course. We can try to conquer it in our own strength. We can try to perfect it according to our own knowledge. We can torment ourselves with unknowns and perplexities and complexities. But as for me, I will commit my way to the Lord. I will trust in Him with all my heart, and He is the One who orders my steps. He is the One who directs my paths, He is the One who restoreth my soul, and I can face adversity and peace, tragedy and triumph, sorrow and joy, poverty and wealth, life or death, known and unknown, knowing, that in this frontier, I am more than conqueror, for He is able to keep that which I’ve committed to Him. And I know that though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, for according to His will, and through His Providence, the Lord has perfected that which concerneth me.


So help me God.





(Audience question: “Isaac, why are you leaving us with a cliff-hanger with all these general revelations? Tell us some of these important specific things that you’ve committed to the Lord, that you’re trusting Him to bring to pass!”

Me: “You see, there’s another reason why we ought to commit the deep things of the heart to God, because He is able to keep it, and that’s something that just doesn’t happen when we share those things with other people – they can’t keep it – at least, not for long. Nor can they do anything toward perfecting it – they can only complicate it. But if you want to know what it is ‘that concerneth me’, if you want to know the desires of my heart, if you want to know what things, what unknowns I’ve committed to the Lord, then you just wait, for He is able to keep that which I’ve committed to Him, and He is able to keep me from falling, and He will bring it to pass, for the Lord SHALL perfect that which concerneth me!”)

Redeeming the Time

I've discovered something sublimely satirical about this month.

You see, every time I'm dashing off a date line - which is at least every day for me, for the last two weeks, for a split second my mind thinks, "August 2008".

It must be the /08/ for the month, of course, that's doing it to me. And there's something defiantly satisfying to be able to firmly write "2007" down.

We are NOT THERE YET!

I think August is trying to teach me a lesson.

You see, it's getting me back for something I'd done to it. It used to be a standing humor line for me, that when someone - you know the kind - came up to me and asked me, "So Isaac, when are you getting married?" that I'd answer smugly, "August 8th, 2008. When are you getting married?"

I made it up on the fly once, and it was reused on several occasions. I stopped though, ummm, a while back. But now August is retaliating by using that split-second brain glitch to treat me to a split-second panic sequence. And not only once, but it seems to be able to pull this off every time, until full confession has been made.

So, I smugly write down, "August 2007".


And back there in my mind, August is saying, "But not for long..."

While the evil days come not.

I thought I knew on Friday what my next post was going to be about. But to make a short story long, that all changed yesterday after a 'conversation' with a surprise visitor.

Last I knew her, when I was about ten and she around twelve or thirteen, she was actually a very simple, attractive young lady. Yesterday, well, I won't pick on her appearance, except to say that it was the epitome of the foolishness of modern fashion. Twenty-two, someone said. Already with one degree to her name, and working on three more.

Anyways, I sat across from her father at the picnic table, and started catching up on the family, children, education, employment, etc.

My sister joined me shortly and her father left for a second helping. We ate for a moment, and then she asked "So...what do you guys do for... fun - out here?" Her horizontally compressed sunglasses swept the landscape, taking in the cornfields, the horses and sheep in our neighbour's pasture, and the recently cut alfalfa field across the road. "I just don't see...like, anything".

I smiled. "We have fun - plenty of it. BUT, since you asked the question, and since you don't see the potential for what you're looking for, I'm going to have to ask you to define your version of 'fun things', before I can answer."

"Oh", she said, shifting slightly on the bench as her mother sat down beside her, "Like, shopping... going to the movies, that kind of stuff."

I almost choked on my egg salad sandwich. "Shopping you're looking for? Of course we have that out here - my mom goes grocery shopping every week. I used to go with her on occasion - to push the cart you know. That was a fun job I tell you, my sister can confirm, because she used to ride on the front bumper. Oh yes, those were the days.." The table started shaking with laughter.

"Nooo, not that kind of shopping!", she protested, "I mean, like, malls, and-".

"Elizabeth" I interrupted, "You're talking to a guy here. Not even city guys go shopping 'for fun'. But yes, if we need to we can go to malls - the less often the better of course, but on our way back from Cincinnati last week we stopped at a JC Penney, and guess what, I got four shirts - one of them I'm wearing right now, and another one is on David. And as for movies-"

"You can just sit out here and watch things 'move'," Her mother laughed, watching the younger girls running around, each carrying a puppy, some wrapped in blankets.

"Like that was even remotely funny, mom," the girl frowned, picking annoyedly at an unwelcome picnic beetle.

"I'm sorry dear, it is to me." She replied, still smiling.

"We do lots of things for fun", My sister interjected, "We get together and help Isaac put his hay in. Before he had the farm we always helped our neighbours and friends too. Last week we went to the Creation Museum, and yesterday we went to the lake for the evening. We're going canoing with some friends next week. In the winter we go sledding or skating - or have some snowball fights. We're never bored around here."

"OK. Whatever." She said, "I guess you do way different things out here than in the city."

"So what did you do for fun when you were growing up"? I addressed the mother.

"Oh" she said, her eyes drifting over the fields "We used to have chickens too, of course. My father would carry the eggs in every day to the market. And I had a pet hen all my own...she sat on twelve eggs, and nine of them hatched. She would come to me when I called, and when I had some food for her, she would just fly for it, and all those nine little chicks would be fluttering after her... they would jump up on her back, and sometimes they'd climb up on my back too, when I bent down. That was just beautiful, I enjoyed watching them so much."

I was watching Elizabeth out of the corner of my eye as her mother talked. Her head was ducking a little lower over her plate and the tips of her ears were turning redder.

"But the thing I enjoyed most" Her mother continued, "Was going to church on the Sabbath. We worked hard all week, but then we'd go to church all fresh, every one of us. We used to spend hours singing afterwards. That was really the highlight of my week, I would never have missed it, not for anything."


"You see, Elizabeth", I said, warming up to the topic, "With the right attitude, everything is fun. We enjoy all our work, as well as some play, and there really isn't any reason why we shouldn't. We were made to enjoy life, -in fact, it is our duty to do so, and we ought to enjoy that duty to the fullest. But there's one thing that no one has ever enjoyed, or will ever be able to enjoy - and that's idleness. And THAT is why city people have to go pay for 'entertainment'!"

Elizabeth straightened up a bit. "Of course you can't enjoy idleness", she said, "It's just plain boring!"

"That's right", I answered, "So therefore, since we are never idle, we are always having fun. I can get up at 5:30 AM and work until ten at night and enjoy every bit of it. It isn't boring in the least. I can also run around and play games with these children half my age, and enjoy every bit of it. In fact, I can still even go to the MALL with my MOM and enjoy it - well, for a little while, anyways. Entertainment might be able to give you a blast for a few hours, and sure, it might be fun, but it can, and often does, strip very respectable people of the capability and opportunity of enjoying the whole of their days, and not only just the 'fun things'."

She shrugged, "Whatever".

I had more to say, but it seemed that she had heard about as much as was going to be worthwhile. We went on to other topics, with similar results. But here's the fundamental of this issue - one which I brought out in a sermon a few weeks ago:


Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

'The days of our youth' - I don't need to elaborate upon that, 'While the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them' - Why should the 'evil days' ever come?.

The years will draw nigh - that is certain. Old age will overtake us - we can't avoid it. But what if, when we reach those years, we could look back on the days of our youth, and say 'I HAVE pleasure in them'? What if we can enjoy the days of our youth now, in the full vigor of it, and also in the days 'when the grasshopper shall be a burden'?

It IS possible. We can 'rejoice in our youth', now and in later years, under one condition: Remember now thy Creator.

There's a counterfeit, and Elizabeth is suffering from it. God says, 'Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth', and satan says, 'You're young, have fun'.

They are two different paths, with two different destinations. Of one, we can reach old age, and look back at our youth and say, 'I HAVE pleasure in them'. The other, when the evil days come, then we can only look back on our adolescence, spent in frivolous vanity, and say, 'I have NO pleasure in them'.

You see, God means for us to truly enjoy our whole life, and ultimately, the only way that is possible, is for us to truly ENJOY GOD. This world offers vanity, entertainment, and every form of 'fun' - for a fee of course - and corruption, sorrow, and vanity to follow.

To remember our Creator, to fear God from our youth, to enter now into the joy of our Lord - this is the course of eternal joy, of profound pleasure, indeed, of eternal youth. This, my friend, is what I call a 'fun time'. REJOICE, O young man (and young women), in thy youth.




Or of course, you can always go shopping.

Things unseen

I'm missing something.

I really haven't written anything in the last few months. Oh, well I did script a rather clumsy sermon, but I'm starting to feel slightly listless and disoriented...maybe the heat has something to do with it, but yeah, I know what I need to do. Time to buckle up and nail down something constructive.

No, I don't have writer's block. -That is, not yet anyway.

Coming soon, coming soon...