I will remain

The Lord is my light and my salvation —
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
…
I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.
- (Psalm 27:1,13-14 NIV)

This Scripture, and a powerful song based on this Scripture, has really blessed me these past few weeks. What does verse 13 mean, “I will remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord”? How does this play out in our lives?

The Lord brought Hebrews 11 to mind as I’ve been worshiping through this Scripture and song. Hebrews 11 is filled with men and women who are our faith heroes. They trusted in the Lord’s promises  beyond what most of us have imagined. Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, and the list goes on.

The one characteristic of these heroes that struck me is this: not one of them saw the fulfillment of the promise of God. “And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised.” Abraham and Sarah never saw their nation. Moses never entered the promised land. David never saw his everlasting kingdom that was promised (2 Samuel 7:16, 28). They never saw the full goodness of the Lord in this life. But they were probably singing a very similar song in their day. And here we are, in 2012, singing, “I will remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord.”

Here’s the truth I am learning, though Scripture and through personal experiences. We, too, may never see the goodness of the Lord in this life. We may be job-less, house-less, child-less, spouse-less, etc. You name it, we may never receive what the Lord has promised us. But the men and women in Hebrews 11 inspire me. It was because of their enduring faith that they saw the goodness of the Lord. Let me say it again: they saw the goodness of the Lord, just not in their lifetime. I believe they saw it at the instant of their death. When their souls were in the presence of the Lord, they immediately saw the fruition of their faith in what God had promised. They saw how God was good, even in the unfulfilled promise (at least up through their death; God, of course, fulfilled every promise in due time). God was able to fulfill his promise through them because they trusted Him. Imagine if Abraham would have never left his homeland. Or, even worse, he left initially, but returned because he couldn’t get Sarah pregnant. Imagine if Moses, 39 years into leading Israel through the desert, threw his hands up and said, “I’m done. Find your own way.” Thank God the Spirit was moving in their hearts to move them to faith in God’s goodness and his promises.

Let me say this here: While the promises God made to our heroes in Hebrews 11 were unfulfilled in their lifetime, He did fulfill them. Point #1) God is faithful (2 Timothy 2:13).  Secondly, while these died without receiving the promise, God was faithful in providing them with all that they needed. Today, we have the same provision available to us, and it is in Christ (“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:19). In Matthew 6, Jesus said, “ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? …  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” Point #2) You can trust God’s promise that He will provide all you need in this life. The “big” promises God made to the men and women of Old Testament were long-term promises that required multiple generations to carry out. God was faithful to these promises, but they required the faith of these men and women because none of them saw the promises fulfilled. Nonetheless, God provided all they needed in their lives, and we have that same promise. Praise God for all his promises, those for this life and for his long-term purposes. 

As Christians, we are called to be people of faith; we are called to live by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:1-10 is a great Scripture to study on this topic). The ultimate test of faith is to be brought to your death with unfulfilled promises, yet remaining confident in this: you will see the goodness of the Lord. That’s how the men and women in Hebrews 11 lived; that’s how we should strive to live, by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.

I would be very curious to know: what questions/doubts/objections come to mind as you read this? Please, if you have anything to comment (even something rhetorical), leave a comment below. I think this would be a great forum to be honest and open about how this concept of remaining confident strikes you. What areas in your life does it touch?

“Good” Friday (and Saturday and Sunday and Today)

Why did we call “Good Friday” “Good” Friday? There’s plenty of Wikipedia information if you want to know the history on that, but I’d like to suggest another reason.

In Mark 10:18, Jesus says, “No one is good except God alone.” So on “Good” Friday, I submit to you that it’s on a day as tragic as this one that believers in Christ must remember that God alone is good. On a day like the first “Good Friday” 2000 years ago, many followers of Christ were presented with an apparent reason to doubt God’s goodness. Their Rabbi, Jesus Christ, who claimed to be God himself, was seemingly helplessly killed. Their fortress, their refuge. Stripped naked. Beaten. Crucified. Was God “Good” in this? How could He be?

Fast forward to today in your and my circumstances. Is God Good? Maybe it doesn’t seem like it, but look to the cross 2000 years ago and remember: even in Christ’s darkest hour, God was good. Indeed, He is good in our lives too.

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. “ If you are a genuine believer and follower of Christ, there’s a wonderful truth for you: Not only is God good, but He’s working for your good too. Don’t interpret this like a typical American; God working for your good does NOT mean easy or fun or rich or comfortable. God’s “good” is like a parent not giving a plate of cookies to their child every day for dinner. To the child, not getting the cookies like death or the end of the world. But the parent knows refraining is for their good. So, as simple as it sounds, God working for your good is God working for your good, which may include any combination of joys, blessings, trials, suffering, and even death.

So, wherever you are on the spectrum of “Life is Great” to “Life Couldn’t Be Worse”, may this “Good Friday”, Saturday, and Easter Sunday remind you that it is God alone who is good, and his perfect plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11) can be fully trusted to work for your good.

It is good

    [1] It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
[2] to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
[3] to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
[4] For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
[5] How great are your works, O LORD!
Your thoughts are very deep!
(Psalm 92:1-5, esv.to/ps92)

Most Psalms are songs of various sorts. So just like any song you sing in the shower or on your way to work or at a church gathering, most of the Psalms were the songs that Israel sang. I really enjoyed the first part of Psalm 92 the other day; something about it resonated with me and made my heart “sing”.

I love the first line: “It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name…” It is good. Yeah. It is good. It is good. In my heart, I just kept agreeing with that. Praise shouldn’t be something we do out of obligation or duty, but from a heart that knows this truth to be true: it is good and it is fitting and right to sing praise to God.

So, why is it good to give thanks to the LORD? Well, that’s what the rest of the Psalm (and the Bible and our relationship with Him) is about. There’s a lot of reasons, really, but for now, let’s focus on verses 4 and 5 as reason enough to say “it is good to give thanks to the LORD”.

Verse 4-5: “For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O LORD!” Think about the works of God’s hands. I’m listening to some birds chirping outside this morning. I see the sunrise many mornings, and the sunset in the evening. I go to the park and see the trees and the flowers and streams and animals and people. And then to think: This is all the work of God’s hand! And then I think about my friendships, and these people and our friendship are the work of God. And then I think of less “physical” things like how the Lord has provided for me everything that I need, and how that is part of His work. The list goes on! And all this, the work of God’s hand, just makes me smile and want to say, “It is good to give thank to the Lord, to sing praises to His name.”

So I encourage you today, take note of the works of God in your life–everything from relationships to technology, microbiology to the cosmos, tangible to intangible. May the Lord’s handiwork spring praise and thanks from your heart today!

Fear Not

Life comes at us fast, and if we aren’t intentional about ebbing out time to reflect, we’ll miss a lot of deeper things in our lives. Self-reflection is a healthy thing to do, but I believe we all see a very tainted and distorted view of ourselves when we do so (simply because we aren’t perfect, therefore we self-reflect imperfectly). When we put our lives up against the Word of God, though, we can begin to see areas of our lives that our self-reflecting never would have revealed. The Bible stands as a straightedge to our self-made “straight” line. It sets the standard that we can truly measure ourselves against.

This morning, Isaiah 41 hit me square between the eyes, and I thought I’d share it.

    But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

For I, the LORD your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”

- Isaiah 41:8-10,13 (esv.to/isa41, also see esv.to/ps46.10)

It’s a simple message I’ve heard before: “Fear not, for I am with you.” But this morning, it was the fresh Word of God to my soul, and I pray that you, too, might find a freshness in it that you might be needing in your life. For me, I first needed to recognize that there are some areas of my life where I am not trusting in God. There are areas where I feel like it’s entirely up to me to complete a task or do things well. But then I read Isaiah 41:13: “For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I am the one who helps you.’” And I am humbled.

Today, I needed the reminder and the truth that all I am is because of God. I needed the words “you… my servant… whom I have chosen… my friend” and “fear not, for I am with you… I will strengthen you, I will help you.” What a relief and a comfort.

I encourage you, take time today to look at your life–all your striving, all your activities, all that you put energy toward–and put it up against these verses. Do you see a heart that is trusting in the LORD and that is submitting to his provision for you? Or are you trying to achieve things on your own? For me, I simply pray, Lord, help me to submit these areas of my life to you. Help me to trust in your provision for me, and help me to fear not, knowing that you are with me 100%. Thank you, Lord.

Twitter

Yes, it happened: I’m on Twitter. Each of my posts will go through both my Facebook and Twitter account, so if you’re into this Twitter world, feel free to follow me. I’ll occasionally post a few short thoughts, as well. There’s a link on the right column to follow me. Hopefully this will be another mechanism to Silence the Stones.

@silent_stones

“In Christ” from John Piper

 

 

Being “in Christ Jesus” is a stupendous reality. It is breathtaking what it means to be in Christ. United to Christ. Bound to Christ. If you are “in Christ” listen to what it means for you:

1. In Christ Jesus you were given grace before the world was created. 2 Timothy 1:9, “He gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”
2. In Christ Jesus you were chosen by God before creation. Ephesians 1:4, “God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.”
3. In Christ Jesus you are loved by God with an inseparable love. Romans 8:38–39, “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
4. In Christ Jesus you were redeemed and forgiven for all your sins. Ephesians 1:7, “In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”
5. In Christ Jesus you are justified before God and the righteousness of God in Christ is imputed to you. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
6. In Christ Jesus you have become a new creation and a son of God. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Galatians 3:26, “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
7. In Christ Jesus you have been seated in the heavenly places even while he lived on earth. Ephesians 2:6, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
8. In Christ Jesus all the promises of God are Yes for you. 2 Corinthians 1:20, “All the promises of God find their Yes in Christ.”
9. In Christ Jesus you are being sanctified and made holy. 1 Corinthians 1:2, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus.”
10. In Christ Jesus everything you really needed will be supplied. Philippians 4:19, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
11. In Christ Jesus the peace of God will guard your heart and mind. Philippians 4:7, “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
12. In Christ Jesus you have eternal life. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
13. And in Christ Jesus you will be raised from the dead at the coming of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” All those united to Adam in the first humanity die. All those united to Christ in the new humanity rise to live again

How do we get into Christ?

At the unconscious and decisive level it is God’s sovereign work: “From God are you in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

But at the conscious level of our own action, it is through faith. Christ dwells in our hearts “through faith” (Ephesians 3:17). The life we live in union with his death and life “we live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). We are united in his death and resurrection “through faith” (Colossians 2:12).

This is a wonderful truth. Union with Christ is the ground of everlasting joy, and it is free.

From http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-stupendous-reality-of-being-in-christ-jesus

When my soul is THERE

I recently commented on the first portion of Psalm 63 in “Take my soul THERE“. I was left with the thought, the question: What does it look like to have my soul THERE? (If you didn’t catch it, you might check out the previous post. In summary, “THERE” refers to a place where your soul, and all your being, thirsts and yearns for God. “THERE” is where David’s heart’s desires were, and where I found my heart’s desires are not often enough.) The idea here is this: it’s one thing to say and ask that you want your soul to be THERE, but it’s another to be THERE. So what might it look like?

Psalm 63  lends good insight into what reality looks like when our soul is THERE, in that place of dependence on and yearning for God. We’ll just step through the verses and make a few comments as we go.

When my soul is THERE:

Verse 2: “So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.” When your soul is THERE, you will be overwhelmingly aware of God’s power (his ability to DO anything) and His glory (sheer awesomeness because of who He is). Don’t undervalue this trait. This is what I think eternity in heaven will be like–knowing more and more of God’s awesomeness and being continually amazed at who He is, leading us to continual worship of our magnificent Creator. So the more we can do this now, the better.

Verses 3-4: “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you… I will bless you… I will lift up my hands.” When your soul is THERE, God’s steadfast love will stop you in your tracks, daily, hourly. It’s an amazing verse that shouldn’t be overlooked: “Because your steadfast love is better than life…” Wow. Because God’s love is constant, strong, overwhelming, and personal, you consider his love better than being alive. It’s better and more worthwhile than your marriage, your family, your career. It is SO GOOD. And because of this, your lips cannot contain praises to Him. Your life cannot cease to bless Him. You cannot resist lifting your hands in praise to Him.

Verse 5-8: “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” When your soul is THERE, you will remember and meditate on what God has done. In these verses, David is remember all that God has done for him: God has been David’s help; David has been “in the shadow of your wings” indicating God has been his protection, shelter, and refuge. God has upheld David in some really tough times. So, when your soul is THERE, you’ll do two things: you will remember all God has been to you and done for you, but you will also experience God’s provision as you continue to go through life’s difficulties. That is, you’ll remember what God has done (see The Rock), but you’ll also experience what God can do. And as a result, you’ll say with David, “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food… my soul clings to you.”

I close with this: we won’t always be THERE. Our faith in Christ is about a journey of living and learning. I pray I am THERE more often as  grow in my relationship with Christ. If you’re like me and you are somewhat disappointed more often than not with where you ARE, I have two suggestions:

1) Pray, “Take my soul THERE, Lord!” Only God can take you there, and heart-felt prayer makes a difference.

2) Put yourself in the right position and take steps of faith as possible. Study the Word to learn more about God’s faithfulness. Study the lives of men and women in the Bible who have been THERE to find encouragement. It’s a slow process a lot of times, but you will see breakthrough in time. Press in. It’s worth having your soul THERE. You will find your greatest joy and contentment THERE, all to His glory.

Take My Soul THERE

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

- A Psalm of David, Psalm 63:1

“Lord, take my soul and my flesh to this place. I pray that my soul would thirst for you as a man stranded in the desert for days thirsts for water. I pray my flesh would faint if it went without you. Be my soul’s sole sufficiency. Be to me what water is to the driest of mouths: life, vitality, necessity.”

David really captured this imagery well. Close your eyes and imagine a large desert, and put yourself in the dead-center of it. You have days of walking before you get to a watering hole. It reminds me of the movie 127 Hours. If you’re not familiar, it’s a movie, based on a true story, about an adventurous guy, Aron Ralston, who was having a blast in Utah’s Canyon Land National Park, mountain biking, rock climbing, exploring. As he was scurrying over some boulders, somehow one slipped and ended up pinning his arm between itself and the wall. He was stuck. Not just his shirt. His arm. As the account goes, he really had one HUGE problem: lack of water. After over 5 days of rationing water supplies, he was out. No more water to survive. His only option for survival was to liberate himself from the rock to get water. So he did. Desperate for water–desperate for life–he freed himself. What did he first run to after his excruciating 127 hours stuck under a rock? Water. He was undeniably in need of nothing else but water. It was LIFE to him.

And now David is saying, “THIS is how much my soul craves you, God. This is how much my soul needs you, God.“

I have to be honest with myself: I’m not always THERE. I don’t always crave God like David does here. So I’m left with nothing else to do other than to ask God: “LORD, take my soul THERE. ‘Earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.’ Oh LORD, would you please take me THERE, to this state-of-soul, for it is THERE that the righteous are fully satisfied.”

In the next post, we’ll use the rest of Psalm 63 to take a stab at what it looks like when our souls are THERE, in a place that God is truly our all-satisfying water in a dry place.

The Rock, Part II

Psalm 62

For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
² He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

³ How long will all of you attack a man
to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
⁴ They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse.
Selah

⁵ For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
⁶ He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
⁷ On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Selah

While the Psalms aren’t necessarily written in chronological order, Psalm 62 is a great follow up to the message from The Rock, based on Psalm 61. Its content reveals more about The Rock.

I want to note a few things that will hopefully bless you and give you some deeper appreciation for Psalm 62.

First, note the structure. Verses 1-4, 5-8, and then 9-12. The way I see it, vs. 1-4 are general wisdom about who God is to us (vs. 1-2) and what the world will try to do to us (vs. 3-4). Verses 5-8, then, is seemingly a mirror of vs. 1-4 at first glance, but end up revealing more of a soul-commanding tone. The final verses of the Psalm finish with some insights, perhaps after due time has passed and David can see more clearly all that has happened in vs. 1-8.

We can now delve into the text to gain some insight.

Verses 1-4 seem to be David’s general knowledge of God and the world. He knows that his soul waits in silence “for God alone”, and that “[God] alone is my rock and my salvation.” Then, verses 3-4 show the reality and the brutality of life: he has people attacking him, loving his demise, wanting the worst for him, rejoicing in his destruction. The events we see in vs. 3-4 might cause us to question what we first read about God’s goodness in vs. 1-2. If we’re honest with ourselves, we know that if events like vs. 3-4 were happening to us, it would put our trust in God at jeopardy. I’ve been there. When things don’t go as I had planned or hoped; when God’s promises don’t seem to be coming through; when I’m beat up, dejected, alone, and seemingly hopeless; statements like “He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken” seem like a false pretense, a hoping in the wind.

But then we read on to the second stanza, vs. 5-8. Note the contrast between Verse 1 and Verse 5. Verse 1: “For God alone my soul waits in silence.” Verse 5: “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence.” We go from a ‘general principle’ in verse 1, to David commanding his soul to wait in silence in verse 5. We’re not always going to feel like it: we won’t feel like worshiping, we won’t feel like trusting, we won’t feel like God is our Rock all the time. But our feelings are deceiving. We change. God remains the same. If He has been our Rock, He will be our Rock. And if you haven’t put your faith in Him yet, He will be your Rock, if you trust Him.

Verses 5-8 are all about David commanding himself (vs. 5-7) and his people (vs. 8) to trust in the Lord. He’s commanding not out of religious duty or forcing “religion” on people, but rather because he knows God is the only Rock on which we can stand. He knows the tried and true principle: God’s people have to press into Him when it hurts the most. David had found it to be true–when he was most desperate, most dejected, most attacked–that pressing into God was the only sure-fire way to get through it all. He knew that if he pressed into God during the hardest times, “I shall not be greatly shaken.” Wow. Can you say that with confidence? Have you done that?

I admit I am a man of feeble faith at times, but as I read these texts, and I read about David’s understanding of who God is, I am encouraged. I am cheered on to put more of my faith in God, especially during the hard times. I see now that at least one man (David… and many others, really) have gone before me and have found these things to be true.

I leave you with this: a challenge. Hebrews 13:7 says, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” From Psalm 62 (and MANY other Scriptures), consider the outcome of David’s life. If the outcome of his life is something that you see as desirable, then start to imitate his faith, even in the smallest of ways. Next time you have your back against the wall, go to Psalm 62 and preach to your soul just like David did. Remember what God has been to you like he did in Psalm 61 (The Rock).

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

When darkness seems to hide His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Good News!

Good News. It’s Christmas time, and it’s a wonderful time of the year. Hopefully, it’s a time to remember the true reason for the season: the birth of Jesus Christ. We take time to remember his birth, and the sheer significance of that precipitious event. In the sermon I shared, Behold the Lamb, the teaching pastor at my church shared a wonderful glimpse of the significance and meaning of Jesus’ birth. I’d highly recommend it.

Today, on the day before we celebrate the birth of Jesus, I want to take a moment to remember this Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Good News is that we–all men and women brutally stained with sin and transgression against our perfect God–have a pathway to forgiveness of sin through the death of Jesus Christ. No amount of good works or charitable acts will attain us forgiveness from out sins (see Ephesians 2:8-9, for example). “…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). The death and resurrection (shedding of blood and conquering of death, respectively) of Christ Jesus provides a way for forgiveness, and this forgiveness is now offered to all who believe on Him. This is Good News. If it weren’t for this one God-man, Jesus Christ, we would have no hope for our forgiveness. But the Good News is that He did come, and we can have forgiveness, if we believe.

So this Christmas (and beyond), my prayer for each of you is that you know Him. He is the only way to heaven. He came to this world to save you and me from our sin. This is Good News.

 Grace and peace to you.