January 14 2020 -- Psalm 119:93 -- The Precepts of the LORD and the Fear of the LORD

I will never forget your precepts,

for by them you have given me life.

Psalm 119:93 English Standard Version

According to Deuteronomy 17:18-19 when a king is raised up in Israel, this man must write out a copy of the book of the law and read it all the days of his life. so that he may learn the fear of the LORD. King David is declaring he will not forget the precepts of the LORD—having recorded God’s law, he will read it each day. What a glorious practice this is for kings.

What are you doing so that the precepts and laws of God guide you every day? What keeps your heart in line with the will of God? When we are faithful in reading the Word of God the Spirit of God takes this Word and applies it to our hearts, to our minds and to our souls. We understand exactly what Jesus taught us: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent'“ (John 6:29). Whereas the kings of old and the prophets and priests searched out the Old Testament; we are given the glorious completion—the Old and the New Testaments which together point to Jesus Christ and in Whom we have new life.

It is important that we understand this key concept, found in Deuteronomy 17: “the fear of the LORD”. The fear of the LORD motivated the King to write such a Psalm. The Fear of the LORD inspired the king to walk in the precepts and laws, rules and judgments of God. The following quotation comes from Ligonier Ministries:

Yet the fear of the Lord described in Proverbs 1:7 is the fear of a converted person, a reverent love that understands God’s grace toward the sinner who trusts Christ and who wants to do what is pleasing to the Lord. This kind of fear recognizes the Lord’s character and His holy love. C.S. Lewis’ illustration of this love in The Problem of Pain helps us understand the kind of fear we should have toward our God. His love is not “a senile benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way, nor the cold philanthropy of a conscientious magistrate, nor the care of a host who feels responsible for the comfort of his guests.” Instead, it is “the consuming Fire Himself, the Love that made the worlds, persistent as the artist’s love for his work and despotic as a man’s love for a dog, provident and venerable as a father’s love for a child, jealous, inexorable, exacting as love between the sexes.” This description of God’s love is thoroughly biblical and moves us to see ourselves for who we are, to look for cleansing, and to worship Him in His purity and grace (see Isa. 6:1–5; John 20:24–28).

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/fear-lord/

Ah, fellow sojourner, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, may our souls be stirred to such a vision of the majestic holiness and power of God so that our lives are lived in the whole-hearted reverence of and wonder-filled fear of the LORD. In Him alone do we have life that is rich and full now because of the cross. In the strength of the Spirit we have life that will reach through all the ages long.

Sovereign LORD, let Your precepts be our guide. Let the glorious work of Jesus Christ be our delight and song, our devotion and prayer. Spirit of God, help us to believe and so overcome the stubborn resistance of our hearts and fleshly desires. Spirit of God teach us to lean into the new, full, resurrection life that is ours in Jesus Christ—Amen.

January 12, 2020 - - Psalm 119:92 - - Guided in delight by the Law of God

If your law had not been my delight,

I would have perished in my affliction.

Psalm 119:92 English Standard Version

What a concept—the law of God as the delight of one’s heart! Yes, that is the testimony of the psalm-writer. The law of God, His Savior, so filled and sustained this man that he could withstand any affliction and trial. There is a fine and careful note that needs to be made here. The Scripture is not filled with heroes. The more you read, the more you realize all those whom we’d call the heroes of the various stories have failed at one time or another.

Gideon conquered the enemy army and afterwards fashioned an idol for the people to praise. King David, who was named as a man after God’s own heart, sinned grievously. He took another man’s wife. He had her husband put to death. He did not govern his sons or discipline them. On and on it goes. No matter the story you read in the Bible the men and women fail to keep their hearts completely devoted to their God and King. How does this relate to what we read today?

God is our rescue story. In each and every case, He answered the cry of His poor and wayward children. He called to them in His faithfulness and raised up priests and prophets, teachers and mentors so that His people could be called back to Himself. The law of God establishes such a high standard that no man, no woman, no child could ever keep it. Rather than fall into despair, we also understand the LORD does not leave us in our sin and misery.

Religion is spelled with two letters—D-O.

Religion is a list of things people think they have to do

in order to be accepted by God—go to church, give

money, keep the Ten Commandments, be baptized,

pray every day, and do good works. The list is endless.

It’s always Do…Do…Do. If you want to go to heaven,

you’re going to do something and keep on doing it

until the day you die.

Christianity is spelled with four letters—D-O-N-E.

Christianity is not based on what we do but upon

what Jesus Christ has already done. If you want to

go to heaven, you don’t have to do anything; you just

have to trust in what Jesus Christ has already done for you.

R. Pritchard An Anchor for the Soul. Chicago: Moody Publishers. page 116

This is the Word of God that is forever fixed in the heavens. Jesus Christ is seated there. He is the Lamb of God Who has taken away our sin. He is our representative Who lived the law of God perfectly and then stood in our place to receive the punishment we deserved. No wonder He is our joy and our song! The Spirit of God convinces us, sinful and weak though we are, of this glorious truth.

Blessed are You, O God, Faithful and Loving toward all You have made. Thank You for the fullness of life we have in Jesus Christ. Thank You that You would not leave us in our sin and misery but have captured us by Your Spirit through the power of the Word. This Sunday may our hearts praise You and our lives show devoted thanksgiving to You. Amen.

January 11, 2020 -- Psalm 119:91 -- Glorious God: All things are Your servants

By your appointment they stand to this day,

for all things are your servants.

Psalm 119:91 English Standard Version

The word “appointment” is a translation of the Hebrew word which in other places in this psalm has been translated as “judgment”. The word has a richness to it. One sense that word can carry is: something binding, put together according to a building plan. Think of it—the heavens and the earth, the starry hosts and the creatures of the earth, the generations of man past and the generations of man to come—all stand as God’s servants. He has the blueprint and determines their purposes. He knows why each is made. All things, from the smallest as-yet-undiscovered particle to the grandest configuration of stars, from the tiniest virus to the largest blue whale, from the poorest person who thinks he is forgotten to the richest, most feted person—all things and all creatures and all people in all they are and all they do show they are servants of God.

Matthew Henry puts it this way:

All the creatures answer the ends of their creation;

shall man, who alone is endued with reason,

be the only unprofitable burden of the earth?

M. Henry Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Nashville: Thomas Nelson, page 556

A good war general anticipates the moves of his enemies. A master chess player will anticipate the moves of his opponents and will plan moves and counter moves five and ten steps ahead of where the game is. An enemy army is free to act however it will, even if their opponents have anticipated their attacks. A chess player matching himself against a chess master will be free to move his chess pieces as he sees fit, even if the master has already anticipated his moves. Knowing this, is it not true that the King of Glory, Who made all things, will have perfect knowledge as to how His free-thinking creatures will act? He will never be surprised. He will never be thwarted in His plans for the creation and the final purposes of His putting all things together.

Christians are the willing servants of the Most High God. In Jesus Christ we have seen the love of God declared to all generations. Our hearts are bound to Jesus by the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit. We live in fear of the LORD—Proverbs describes the fear of the LORD as the beginning of wisdom. A king, who sees a huge army approaching, would be wise to calculate his own strength and realizing he is out-matched hastens to make peace with the general of the opposing army. We see the infinite power of God. We know our feeble rebellion will not even have the least impact against Him. The right response is this: we are to fall in worship before Him. We accept the peace He offers us through the blood of the cross. Failing that know all who oppose Him will be crushed and their punishment will last through all the ages of eternity in hell. The reason for such punishment is they have refused the cross of Jesus Christ.

Is God unjust? Not at all. He has the rescue ladder high against the burning building of this age. Those who, even though they are feeling the tongues of intense fire and are about to be consumed, refuse His help are fully culpable for their own unwillingness to be rescued. Jesus is described, in Galatians, as the One Who rescued us from this present evil age, giving Himself for our sins. In Jesus Christ we are rescued from the consequences of our sins and we bring glory and honour, praise and delight to God the Father by this rescue and by our thankfulness to Him. The Spirit of God makes us deeply aware of the treasure that is ours in Christ. The Spirit takes the Word of God and feeds our souls with an ever greater awareness of the terrible majesty of God—The God of Vengeance Who is also the Source of every good gift.

Praise is Your right, God Most High! You alone live in unapproachable light. Blessed are You, God our Father, for the great gift of Jesus Christ—by Whom we have been rescued and because of Him our sins are fully, forever paid for! Lord Jesus, Captain of Salvation, direct our lives by Your Word and Holy Spirit. Make us aware how to live and fight as Your servants in this age which is so clouded with the dark schemes of the devil and flooded with godlessness. Remind us, Jesus our Good Shepherd, that You have brought us into the care of our Father in heaven and therefore nothing, no one, and no power, can ever snatch us out of His Hand. Enable us to live as Light-bears and ambassadors for Your great Name. Amen.

January 9, 2020 -- Psalm 119:90 -- God's Generation to Generation Faithfulness

Your faithfulness endures to all generations,

you have established the earth and it stands fast.

Psalm 119:90 English Standard Version

The Hebrew language reads: “to generation after generation your faithfulness endures”. There is an emphasis on the fact that each generation will perceive the blessedness of the Living God Who established the earth.

“One generation shall commend your works to another,

and shall declare your mighty acts.” Psalm 145:4 English Standard Version

This is the work of each generation—to declare to the next the glory of God. The most important work we have is to make sure our children know God. There is an intimacy to this. It is not a matter of knowing God intellectually. It is not a matter of knowing God as the One my parents worshipped. Those of us who know God have a sacred trust to communicate what we know of God to the next generation. One generation declares the goodness of God and the next takes hold of this faith and as it grows and develops in them they in turn speak the glory and goodness of God to the next generation.

Too many of our generation have the wrong focus with regards to their children. They desire that their children have it easier than they did financially so much of life is focused on teaching financial security. The children learn money is most important. Others desire that their children be connected with all the family—family is most important. So every Christmas and Easter, birthday and anniversary becomes a time when the family gathers and this gathering trumps church attendance, taking precedence over worship and meditating on the Living God. What have you been making your life’s great focus? Is it sports? Hunting? Fashion? Friendship? Ask yourself this, when I die, will it be said of me at my funeral: “He loved the LORD wholeheartedly”? At your eulogy, will your friend rise up and say, “The praise of the LORD was ever on her lips, if you really wanted to know her, you would need to know her deep and abiding love for her Savior.”

Those who regularly read these devotions will know of my dedication to declaring the glory of God as it is revealed in creation. The LORD created the heavens and the earth in six, 24-hour days. The beauty of creation declares her Maker’s glory. Evolution cannot do this. There is not syncretism possible between the creation of God and billions of years. These are mutually exclusive. The more one examines the creation the more one sees the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit at work. Evolutionists’ religion requires that there is no god, that nothing created itself. That is the core belief of that faith.

In sharp contrast, Christians know the faithfulness of the Living God. In the depths of eternity past, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit determined to create the heavens and the earth. The Father declared that He would be the Source of every good gift. Christ prepared to be the sacrifice that would take away the sins of the world. The Spirit would take the deep and mysterious things of the Father and the Son and make these known to all who believe.

Fellow believer, meditate on the things of God. Let the glory of God be your joy and your song. Determine now that you will share your faith with the next generation. Parents to your children, friends to your dear friends, teaching the faithfulness of God. In the act of teaching, our joy-filled believing is deepened. As we speak, we confirm our steadfast confidence in God. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ—earnestly pray that the word of God will live richly in the thought-life of your children and in the life of those around you. Married or single, our greatest legacy is knowing we have communicated the great and glorious truth of the Triune God’s faithfulness to the next generation.

Thank You, faithful Father in heaven, for those who shared with us the glory of knowing You. Thank You, Spirit of God, for those—teachers, parents, grandparents, friends and sometimes even near strangers—whom You placed in our lives who so diligently and devotedly shared their love for Jesus Christ. Thank You, Living God, for the faith You stirred to life in our generation. With the writer of this psalm we rejoice in knowing You and long for the joy of all true believing to be communicated to our children and their children. It is our fervent prayer that our friends and nieces and nephews will bless You. Forgive us for the times we have neglected our life’s most important mission of making You known. Rekindle in us a holy zeal to share—with everyone in every place—the truth that You are faithful, glorious and worthy. Amen.

January 7, 2020 -- Psalm 119:89 -- Celebrating God's Word firmly fixed in heaven

Forever, O LORD, your word

is firmly fixed in the heavens.

Psalm 119:89 English Standard Version

If you have been reading the recent blogs, the ones based on the previous octet—the Kaph stanza—then likely you noticed a huge shift in tone in our verse today. The Kaph stanza ended with the urgent prayer for God’s revival. Reading this, the first verse of the twelfth stanza of the Lamedh octet, you sense exuberance in these words. He is fully alive and with the breath in his lungs and steadfast love of God filling his heart and mind he makes the declaration which is our verse today.

The word is firmly fixed in heaven—where Satan cannot defeat it. Where governments, for all their policies and laws contrary to the word can never undo what the LORD has so beautifully declared.

The word is firmly fixed in heaven—John 1 describes Jesus Himself as the Word of God. So, by the holy inspiration of the Spirit of God, this verse anticipates the day when Jesus will be seated in heaven at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus, Who was the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus, Who lived the law perfectly and fulfilled it completely, now is seated in majestic splendor in heaven.

The word is firmly fixed in heaven—those who cry out to the Spirit of God will read the written word and by faith behold the Living Word seated in glory. And the Spirit of the Living God, Who is the Author of the Bible, inspiring men to write it as He gave them utterance, is the same Spirit Who show the heavenly word to be living, relevant and powerful for us today.

The word is firmly fixed in heaven and by it we begin to understand that He, Who alone lives in unapproachable Light, has stooped to our human weakness and frailty and revealed Himself. Without His Self-revelation we would not know Him, could not grasp the glories that have become ours in Christ. His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8).

Father in heaven, increase our capacity to receive all You choose to reveal. Let Your glorious word take hold of our thoughts and imaginations, our hearts and hands so that by it we may spend our lives for You. King Jesus, seated in majesty at the right hand of our Father, blessed are You and worthy of praise. Thank You for Your incarnation. Thank You for all You endured so that lost sinners, now washed and redeemed, could be drawn in love to our Father in heaven. Thank You Father and Son, for the powerful gift of the Holy Spirit. Thank You, Spirit of God for taking the word and by it lighting up our minds and hearts with true faith. O God of All-knowledge and wisdom, thank You for stooping to our weaknesses and frailties, and making Yourself known. May our loved ones, family members and friends, know You this year and offer their lives in wonder and praise to You. Let Your glory shine across nations and kingdoms so that all those appointed to salvation will rise up and praise You. Amen.

January 6, 2020 -- Psalm 119:88 -- What are the red letter words of the Living God?

In your steadfast love give me life,

that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.

Psalm 119:88 English Standard Version

Have you ever seen the way in which a young child learns language? The child will imitate mom and dad. Trying out words. Touching mom’s mouth as mom speaks. Marveling at how this language flows from her. His little voice box, tongue, and lips trying to form new vowel sounds and the sharp pronunciation required to aid the listener’s comprehension.

Here the psalm writer is praying a vow to the Living God: according to Your great love revive me. The previous seven verses have indicated how much the writer has wrestled against enemies within and outside himself. Now he is praying for renewed strength, the life of God’s Spirit energizing every part of his being. As this happens he will be able to face the Living God. He will look to the mouth of God and observe and listen, seeking to understand the richness of God’s testimonies so that he will be able to imitate what God requires, speaking God’s word after Him, putting into practice what God declares to be the right path of living.

Several times over the last week or so people have brought up the issue of red letter bibles. These are bibles which print Jesus’ words in red letters. I was challenged and asked: “Do you not think these words, printed in red, are particularly important?” My response is: “No, I do not.” Please note, you are reading a response that can easily be interpreted by any reader as shrill or defensive. It is not. Imagine we are chatting over a cup of coffee (or other appropriate liquid libation) and I am comfortably seated next to you answering this question a mutual friend has just asked.

Here’s why I don’t think “red-letter” sections of the bible are particularly important—the whole bible is the testimony from God’s mouth. If you are going to use “red letters” then the whole bible is useful for teaching, correction and training in righteousness. The whole bible is the testimony from God’s mouth—so says the psalmist in verse 88 of Psalm 119. This means, by the logic used of the printers of red letter bibles, that the whole Bible, being the testimony of God, should actually be printed in red letters. There is a temptation among contemporary Christians to neglect the Old Testament. This is to our detriment. In the Old Testament we learn of God. We realize His will and His ways. We understand why Jesus had to be fully obedient—in all things and in every way—so that He could be the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. The work of the Spirit is made known to us; how the Holy Spirit moved in men and women so that they were able to keep the testimony of God. So when we read in Acts 2 the Spirit of God descended on the believers and was like a tongue of fire on their heads, we realize the significance of this—how Old Testament prophecies, testimonies of God, have been fulfilled.

Thank You, Faithful Father, for the gift of the Bible. Thank You for Your testimonies, recorded by men as they were carried along by Your Spirit. Thank You for the glory we read on each and every page. Thank You that the rich teaching of the Old Testament fully informs us Who Jesus Is, so that the New Testament is beautifully off-set and Jesus Himself is proved to be greater than all the prophets and teachers, kings and priests who came before Him. In fact, the Old Testament shows us Jesus is the Prophet, the Priest and the King longed for by Your people Israel, and in fact, the Desire of all Nations. Triune God, thank You for your testimonies. Revive us according to Your Word that we may keep the testimonies of Your mouth. Amen.

January 4, 2020 -- Psalm 119:87 -- Facing spiritual battles, rousing obedience within

They have almost made an end of me on earth,

but I have not forsaken your precepts.

Psalm 119:87 English Standard Version

“They” refers to the persecutors, the insolent, and the ones who by opposing the laws, statutes and precepts of God are making life very difficult for the writer of this psalm. Why do we, as Christians, endure this kind of hardship? Why is there push-back?

Ephesians 6 reminds us that we are facing spiritual warfare all the time: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness” (Ephesians 6:12). Satan hates believers. Satan is enraged against all who follow the LORD of Glory. Anyone who has vowed to follow Jesus Christ and serve Him only will be faced with tremendous hardships in this life. Since the devil cannot touch Jesus, he goes after all who love Jesus and devote themselves to Him.

Despite this onslaught, the psalmist vows to God and reminds himself: but I have not forsaken your precepts. The precepts of God are the rules by which He sets the direction for our lives. They are the boundary markers helping us to know right from wrong and they are dispassionate. Just think how easily Satan baits the hook of temptation with things we want. He appears disguised as an angel of light. Whispering with breath hot from hell “Why would God deny you this pleasure?”

The precepts of God give clarity. The precepts of God found in His Word point us to Jesus Christ, Who for the joy set before Him, endured suffering and the cross and did not succumb to the temptations of the devil. Jesus is both our example and He is our Teacher in every crisis. In great love the Father and the Son give to Christians the Holy Spirit, Who lives in us so that we by the Scripture and prayer we can discern what is truth and what is a lure from hell. More even that this, by His precepts He stamps us as beloved sons and daughters.

Not that long ago I saw a movie where a family had a slogan. One of the sons struggled with belonging to this family. He rebelled against his father. He caused his mother no end of grief. When he was faced with a particularly difficult trial he suddenly remembered the family slogan. He spoke it out-loud thus pushing back the forces that opposed him outwardly and inwardly calling on his own heart and mind to cast out the rebellion that had almost consumed him.

So it is with the psalm writer of our passage today. He is calling out “I have not forsaken Your precepts!” He is shouting this against the physical enemies of God. He is declaring this against the spiritual forces of darkness that are threatening him. He is calling forth from within himself obedience and faithfulness, rousing himself to stand up for the glory of the triune God. He is reminding himself of verses 1 & 2
Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart…

The day is just beginning for us, O LORD of Hosts, and we do not know what we will face. Some of us have battled strong enemies in the last hours or days. Others of us may find themselves taken by surprise; attacked when we least expected it. But God, You are the strength of our lives. Christ we profess You to be the anchor of our souls. Spirit of the Living God, You are the forger of all true believing within us. Using every hammer blow of difficulty to shape us; by the red hot fires of trials You make us malleable for Your work within us. Therefore we cry out to You, triune God, thereby stirring up our souls to faithfulness in the midst of the battles ahead: “I have not, I will not, forsake Your precepts!” In our lives, God our King, be glorified! Amen.

January 2, 2020 -- Psalm 119:86 -- God's help when Persecutors attack

All your commandments are sure;

they persecute me with falsehood: help me!

Psalm 119:86 English Standard Version

Recently I was listening to a podcast where the preacher declared: “All the laws of God are done away with because Jesus Christ has come.” Hmm. Does that mean I can murder now because the Old Testament prohibition against murder is done away with? I don’t think so. The preacher had in mind the New Testament words of Jesus. Now we have the new commandment that we should love one another as I [Jesus] have loved you (John 13:34). Great. What is the shape of that love? What defines whether or not whatever it is I am doing is in conformity with my Father’s good pleasure?

In preaching the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7) Jesus proved the worth of the Ten Commandments. These commandments remain for us the teacher of sin, the pointer to Jesus Himself as the sacrifice of God Who takes away the sin of the world, the rule of thankful living and the just foundation for civil law. All the commandments of God are sure. There is great consistency in the law of God. There is the wonderful way in which it applies to the pauper and to the prince alike. It is justice that is applied to all in every level of society.

All who believe in the Living God will be persecuted for righteousness sake. The fact we trust in God for our life’s direction means we will immediately be at odds with all the non-believers who surround us. Yet, such persecution is refining. The psalmist asks for God’s urgent help. While the persecutors are wrong and will be accountable for their actions, here is the evidence of God’s help in the attack.

• The confirmation of right versus wrong. The lovers-of-all-things-false persecuting the righteous serve as a stark reminder that God’s ways are true. Yet His ways are hated by the ungodly. There are clear standards of right and wrong.

• The attack of the ungodly helps the righteous man become discerning of his own mixed motives. In the attacks of the rebellious the righteous man will examine his ways and seek to be more purely dedicated to the Living God.

• God does help His people in their distress. Ultimately the cry of the psalmist has been answered in Jesus Christ—He is our Helper. He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, from slavery to sin and the even from the power of the grave.

• The help the LORD of Glory provides may be to bring the believers to their knees, praying for the salvation of such attackers. Perhaps the response of the godly man under sustained attack will bring a persecutor to acknowledge his errors, repent and cling to Jesus. It happened with Saul, who used to imprison the followers of Jesus, even approving their death. Yet the Jesus took hold of that man’s heart and made him to be a powerful evangelist.

God of our Salvation, help us when the persecutors attack. By Your Word and Spirit enable us to withstand such assaults and by them become even more sure of our faith, stronger in our confidence in Christ’s atoning work. Bring us to our knees, so that our attackers and persecutors will, one day, join us in praising You as the God Whose mercy and compassion are lavishly given to undeserving people. Spirit of God discipline us and train us in the ways of holiness—ways that still can seem, even after many decades, foreign to us and against our first impulsive reactions. Govern us, Spirit of Holiness by the commandments of God that are sure and faithful. Amen.

January 1, 2020 -- Psalm 119:85 -- When the Insolent are filled with amazing grace

The insolent have dug pitfalls for me;

they do not live according to your law.

Psalm 119:85 English Standard Version

Ever notice that when you sin, no lights and sirens go off?! It is not as if you sin and immediately there is a sharp shock, as if from a divine cattle prod, that brings you back into line. The insolent dig pitfalls for the believers because they are sinning without any awareness of the consequences of their actions. The insolent prepare evil for those who are obedient to the Living God because they cannot see the Living God of Vengeance seated on His throne, the very One Who will rise up to judge the living and the dead.

What a simple statement the psalmist makes about the insolent: “they do not live according to your law.” That statement seems almost banal and cliché. What is the significance of it? In making this statement, the psalmist realizes that he too was once insolent. He was working against the glory of God. But now has recognized the law of God is a tremendous gift from his Father in heaven.

The law of God shows him the error of his own ways. When no lights, sirens, or buzzers go off when one sins, then how can one be sure what sin really is? In Romans 7 the apostle Paul noted he would not know what sin was unless he had been instructed by the law.

The law of God proves to me what my own intellect and conscience are unable to prove or admit. There is a divine standard: the law of God. It is an impartial standard applied to all people. I am so ready to confess someone else’s sins…but my own are harder to name or define. Ray Pritchard wrote quite piercingly how this works in our lives:

You lose your temper; I have righteous anger.

You’re a jerk; I’m having a bad day.

You curse and swear; I let off steam.

You’re pushy; I’m intensely goal oriented.

You’re greedy; I’m simply taking care of business.

Ray Pritchard An Anchor for the Soul. Chicago: Moody Press, 2011. page 49

When the law of God leads me to see myself as I truly am, then I confess my own insolence. Then I confess my sins and name them before God. Then I know, in light of my own great sinfulness, I need the Savior, Jesus Christ. There no way in which anyone could ever say “God lucky to have a good guy like me”. The stark truth is: I am a wretched sinner—exactly as the Bible says I am; exactly like “Amazing Grace” names it: Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”

That is exactly why salvation is so glorious and merciful. God, full of compassion and mercy, stooped down to seek and save lost sinners. God the Father sent the Son so that there would be a way of salvation. The Father and the Son give to believers the Holy Spirit. We need the Spirit of God so that we will see our sin for exactly what it is: sin. Then, by faith, we will see our need for Jesus and then in grateful humility we will see He is God’s greatest gift given is Jesus. We will reach out and cry: Jesus rule in all our hearts alone!

How glorious You are, Father in heaven. How great and extravagant is Your grace, shown us so perfectly in Jesus Christ. Father, may Your Holy Spirit stir up in us an ever greater understanding of Your law, our sinfulness, and the tremendous mercy that is given to us who believe in Jesus Christ. As 2020 unfolds, may our life and actions, thoughts and words show we have given up our insolent ways and desire to walk in humble, joy-filled obedience to You, no matter our circumstances. Blessed are You, O God. Amen.

If you have an extra minute or two, watch this rendition of “Amazing Grace”

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=amazing+grace&docid=607986116575167551&mid=EF88CFD508ADD88E29F0EF88CFD508ADD88E29F0&view=detail&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dlyrics%2bto%2bamazing%2bgrace%26form%3dEDGNTT%26qs%3dPF%26cvid%3d8a63f52bbb7b46288de9d217dcc71d04%26refig%3dce2b8d2601654cf2ef0e12303b4ceae9%26cc%3dCA%26setlang%3den-US%26plvar%3d0%26PC%3dASTS

December 31, 2019 -- Psalm 119:84 -- Can Persecution be used by God?

How long must your servant endure?

When will you judge those who persecute me?

Psalm 119:84 English Standard Version

There is such urgency in this brief text that the original language has no verb in the first phrase. Literally it is: “What days Your slave?” Notice it is the slave or the servant of the LORD Who is crying out. He realizes he has no rights. He realizes he is defenseless. He has no power. He has no tools or mechanisms at his disposal to make things right. And he no ability to defend himself. The Master of the Slave has the right, the ability, the power and legal right to judge the actions of His slave and the one who persecutes the slave.

Perhaps the slave is persecuted at the Master’s pleasure, for the purification of the slave.

Perhaps the slave is persecuted in order to learn greater dependence on the Master.

Notice that the slave knows it is the right of the Master to judge. He judges either to sin or righteousness. The LORD of Heaven and Earth will judge the actions sinful and therefore give consequences; or the LORD will judge actions righteous and the slave will learn from this and therefore grow in righteousness.

It is a question that the slave brings to his Master. He wonders is this an instance of persecution for purification in which case I will need Your help, O God Who sustains us? Or is this an instance where one is judged unto sin and therefore the persecution will soon stop? In either instance, the slave is aware that he would be inclined to consider his own actions in a favourable light while considering the actions or motives of others in unfavourable shades.

How true it is: I hate the sins of others. My own sins I consider to be trivial. John Calvin noted: “Unless men are struck forcefully they have no sense of divine judgment.” Perhaps the LORD of God needed to have His slave forcefully struck so that his own sins would be revealed to him and his utter dependence on and need for God would be fully revealed to him.

Spirit of God, keep me from somnambulating. Whatever trial I am enduring, whatever great trouble is afflicting me, use it to rouse my soul and mind to wakefulness and watchfulness so that I will guard myself in the holiness given to me in Christ. Holy Spirit lead me in the path of forgiveness—offering and receiving forgiveness—so that I will walk blamelessly in communion with the Father in heaven. Amen.

December 30, 2019 -- Psalm 119:83 - - Wineskins in the smoky trials

For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke,

yet I have not forgotten your statutes.

Psalm 119:83 English Standard Version

There are very many interpretations of this enigmatic text. Since those of us living in West generally don’t use wineskins to hold wine this verse took some digging to figure out. Wineskins are “bottles made of animal skin” made by sewing such skins together. If the wineskin is new and filled, then it is placed over the smoke so that in moderate heat the wine inside ages and matures properly. Alternatively, if the wineskin is empty, then it shrivels if it is over the smoky fire.

The interpretative key is in the next line: “Yet I have not forgotten your statutes”. The writer of this Psalm, while expressing feelings of emptiness and longing, has make a conscious decision to fill his heart and mind with the statutes of God. Without such statutes—which are the laws of God that have been tested and proved to be valid—the psalmist is empty and shriveled. Without the statutes of God he has no defense against the chaos of the world around him. When he is filled with the knowledge of God’s statutes, he compares that to a wineskin filled with new wine, which, when set over a smoking fire becomes properly aged and perfected. He is, through the circumstances of his life, maturing for the glory of God.

The patterns of our sinfulness have already been well-established in our lives. If we are honest with ourselves we must admit we run to our sins at the least little hiccup in our lives. We want to be soothed, we seek to please ourselves. Yet, ultimately, such strategies fail. In sharp contrast, the psalmist has realized the only way to live when the smoky trials rise against him, is to be filled with the knowledge of God. By studying them and learning them he is allowing God’s statutes and His promises to flow into every part of his life. As we are filling ourselves and filled with the Word of God, the trials and sufferings of our life will serve to age and mature us well in His holy service.

A whole new year is nearly upon us. May 2020 be a year of clarity for you—one in which you make the resolution to keep the word of God clearly in view and by living it out every day so prove it to be true. And seeing the truth of God’s word and how by it you stand firm in every trial, you then will see—in ever greater measure—the glory of God. May you know Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the Word.

May the Spirit of God direct you to the spout

where the blessings of God are poured out

and the Kingdom of Christ is rises all about.

Spirit of the Living God, we confess to turning away from trials and struggles which You have appointed for us to endure so that we would be matured and perfected. We pray, Holy Spirit, open our hearts and minds so that in all humility we will be filled with the statutes of God our Father, delighting in the Word of God, which brings us to Jesus Christ. May it be our resolution in 2020 to be filled with Your Word, Mighty God, so by Your Word and the Spirit’s work of sealing it in us, You will be our Guide and Savior, King and Counselor in all things. Amen.

December 26, 2019 -- Psalm 119:82 -- Delayed gratification

My eyes long for your promise;

I ask, “When will you comfort me?”

Psalm 119:82 English Standard Version

The word in Hebrew for eyes in other contexts is translated fountains of water. That seems so appropriate, our eyes are fountains of tears when we are longing for something denied us. Why would the LORD our God delay in answering us? Why does the psalmist have to wait?

God delays His comfort when we are asking only half-heartedly.

God delays His comfort when we are asking for things not according to His promise, rather, we are seeking things that would be destructive to us.

God delays His comfort when we are cherishing sin in our hearts and therefore are not sincere in our desire to truly long for Him. We want God and we want to serve our own longings.

God delays His comfort when we are used to instant gratification. We want something. We get it. We acquire it. We order it.no.matter.the.cost: credit, hurting others, going into debt, acquiring something we already have in order to get the latest model and so on.

Our Father does not give in to our lust for instant gratification, He works in us by His Spirit to train our longings. His delays refine us. We begin to see that our desires can only be truly satisfied in knowing Jesus Christ. He is the Promise of God. The original language names Jesus not as the promise but as the Word of God—that is in keeping with the Gospel of John and the letters of John.

This passage reminds us God is in charge. He is the Master. He is the Source of every good in our lives. We are His slaves. We are His people dependent on Him for every good thing. We do not approach demanding. We approach Him aware of His mercy shown us in Jesus Christ. We cry out to Him with tears because the Spirit Who lives in us, knows the deep things of our heart and brings our very selves to our Master Craftsman. We see the standard He has set for us and in our times of waiting for His comfort we realize how much we fall short of such standards. Even so, we are His workmanship and He will refine us, plane us, chisel us, and mold us accomplishing His purposes in us, and through us and through the community He has placed us in until His glory shines out most clearly.

Gracious Lord, yourself impart, Light of light from God proceeding;

open lips and ears and heart; help us by your Spirit’s leading.

Hear the cry your church now raises; Lord, accept our prayers and praises. Amen.

Text: Tobias Clausnitzer, 1663 tr. Catherine Winkworth

Tune: Johann R. Ahle, 1664

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhbTXFHv5Uc

December 25, 2019 -- Psalm 119:81 -- Do you know it's Christmas?

My soul longs for your salvation;

I hope in your word.

Psalm 119:81 English Standard Version

Christmas Day—and our text today read: “My soul longs for your salvation”. On the way home from a prison visit I was listening to the radio. Stations would fade in and out of range, so I was listening to a variety of stations. The country station had Garth Brooks and his wife singing a Christmas song. The rock station had “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” 1984 Band Aid. Everyone it seems, from garish rocks stars to classical musicians, including those who through the rest of the year would only use the Name of our Saviour as a curse word now earnestly sing songs of His salvation. Why is that?

Our souls are formed and created for relationship with God. At Christmas and Easter particularly even our secular culture knows there is a something significant celebrated by those who by the grace of God have been drawn by His Spirit into a life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ. Though they mimic it and try to copy it, their souls are not satisfied.

Thirty years later you can read the biographies of those who participated in Band Aid. One went on to have multiple drug arrests. On Christmas Day 2016, at 53 years of age, he died at home of “natural causes”. You can go down the list and read the various biographies of those involved and see the drama and trauma left in their wake. Another one has a long history of drug abuse, holding someone against their will and beating this person. The real and piercing question could be asked of each of the Band Aid participants: do they know it’s Christmas? Do they know the significance of Christ—born a child and yet a king? Born to save His people from death and the grave.

All of us need a hope and a standard that is outside of ourselves. The psalm-writer knows his only hope is in the Word of God. The written word drives him with the eyes of faith to see the Living Word—Jesus Christ. From our vantage point in history we have the privilege of reading the completed Bible: Jesus has come. He bore the punishment of God against our sin. He rose victorious conquering death, the grave and hell. The longing of our souls can only be satisfied in knowing Jesus Christ.

If you do not yet know Jesus in this way I have just described: pray to the Spirit of God and ask Him to reveal Jesus to you in a rich way. Read the Scripture and pray until the knowledge of Jesus Christ is for you such sweetness and life that your soul’s longing is sated and filled. Call a Christian friend, whose walk you admire and ask about his (or her) faith. Dear Christian friends, as you rejoice, I urge you be sensitive to the Spirit and prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you about the rich hope that lives in you.

LORD of Christmas glory and daily splendours so magnificent and triumphant blessed be Your Name! Father in heaven, thank You for Your love and justice so rich and full that You have given us Jesus the Savior. Blessed Spirit of the Living God, thank You for taking the truth of Scripture and filling our hearts and longing souls with the refreshment which can only be found in Jesus Christ. Thank You, Jesus, hope of all the world, Desired One of all nations. May Your Name be praised in ever growing choruses until You return with Your saints and holy ones! Today especially, mighty Savior, we pray for our friends and family members who don’t yet know you. We pray that the Christmas story will awaken the longing of their souls and Your Spirit will bring them to the knowledge of Who You Are. We pray for those who are cultural icons—may they truly know it is Christmas and know the significance of that wonderful statement. Amen.

December 23, 2019 -- Psalm 119:80 -- Shameless service to our King

May my heart be blameless in your statutes,

that I may not be put to shame.

Psalm 119:80 English Standard Version

This is the final verse of this stanza. This stanza is considered by some to be a prayer uttered while in fiery trial. As such it makes sense that the final sentence of the prayer is asking for a blameless heart—that is a direct reference to verse 1 where the blessedness of God is found among the blameless.

Without the Spirit of God to direct us, we are likely to pull back from the statutes of the Living God. We have our own standards of morality and conduct, right and wrong. However, our view of right and wrong is affected by our sinful affections, and our strong inclination to view our own sinfulness with indulgence while judging others with harshness. Here the Psalmist is asking that his heart will lean into the statutes of God—the laws of God which are tested and proved to be right and True and altogether excellent as the pathway for the people of God—and to lean into these statutes without any hesitation.

Whatever we do or say is closely observed by the people around us. In church, in our family, in the workplace, in the coffee shop—people who know we are Christians will carefully watch us to see whether or not we are consistent. Our name and reputation is linked to the King of Glory. What we say and do among our peers either brings His reputation to honour or shame.

When we are shamed, His reputation is marred. Let me be clear—the Glory of God is great. He is Perfect. He is Just. He is loving. He cannot be tarnished by our words or deeds. We are discredited. We are guilty. We are dishonourable. However, sinners who watch us link our actions to the account of our God—they do so wrongly—but it is a sharp warning that we as Christians must strive to be above reproach. We are called to live for His honour. When we fail, when our words and actions are out of step, we must be prepared to confess this completely.

Little wonder then, that the Psalmist urgently prays that he not be put to shame—his desire is that the excellencies of the Majestic High King of Heaven be openly viewed and blessed by others. Ah, fellow Christian, may this prayer be answered. Let the blessings of God’s statutes, and the mighty perfections of His laws be the joyful course of your life that leads you to rejoice in the blessedness of God our Father, God our Savior and God the Comforter of all true believers.

You, Creator God, have made us and You know the purposes for which You give us breath and life. By Your Spirit keep our feet in the paths of righteousness for Your Name’s sake. For Your honour and glory, help us to keep short accounts—quickly aware of our sins, equally quick to confess them and seeking to repair community with You, Jesus our Savior, and restore community with our peers. Thank You for the extravagant patience You show us, Triune God. Thank You for working out our impurities and imperfections on the anvil of affliction and bringing us to exhilaration which is found where there is freedom from sin and freedom to live holy service to You. Amen.

December 21, 2019 -- Psalm 119:79 -- Exulting in the Fear of the LORD

Let those who fear you turn to me

that they may know your testimonies.

Psalm 119:79 English Standard Version

This is the second time in this stanza we encounter the expression: “fear you”. It is shorthand for the fuller expression “the fear of the LORD”. The fear of the LORD is an expression used dozens of times in the Bible:

It can be defined as a continual awareness that you are in the presence of

a holy, just, and almighty God, and that every motive, thought, word and action

is open before Him and will be judged by Him.

Definition from: Institute in Basic Life Principles

Those who fear the LORD recognize such in the lives of others when they meet them. You might meet someone who seems more alive, charismatic, someone to whom you are drawn and want to know better. For the Christian this happens when you meet another Christian. The Spirit of Jesus residing in you, recognizes another believer who walks in Jesus’ healing work and therefore knows and lives in the Fear of the LORD.

The writer of the Psalm is noting when one’s life shines for the glory of God, others are drawn to that person. When we are in the fire of His refining work, other Christians become for us, dearer and more precious. As their lives bear witness to the King of Glory, they remind us to hold fast to God—even more importantly than that—to know and believe that nothing and no one can snatch us out of His Fatherly hand.

One of the great mysteries for those outside the faith looking in is this: Where sins abound, where there are lots of sins, the grace and forgiveness of God abounds and increases even more. So, the cynic and the non-Christian ask: well then, sin away and let God’s super abundant grace flow over everything. Since God’s rich, wide, abundant, and healing, mercies are poured out on those who are in Jesus Christ, so nothing can take them from their Father. Why not sin away knowing God won’t cast them out? Ah, such a questioner has missed the point.

When the believer is griped by the grace and love of God—the Father Who would not let the devil have us and torment us; the Son Who willingly becomes the sacrifice that takes away our sin and paid the penalty in full for the sins we had committed; and the Spirit Who takes the great Truth of the Bible and shows us we are no longer enslaved to sins and addictions and ways that can only lead to death and hell—then our hearts soar. We long for the testimonies of the Living God—our very souls cry out: help me to know how to walk, how to live, how to serve You alone. We have already crunched between our teeth the pebbles of sin and crunched down on the banquet of sand that is sin and misery which is all the devil can offer and found it to be wanting—uselessness and death.

Now, fellow believer, now that we have tasted grace and walked in expansive love, we realize there is nothing like it. We cannot get enough of Him. We walk in the ways of God our Father because our souls find delight in Him. All other vices and all our former sins are exposed as death by a thousand cuts.

No wonder the Apostle Paul, writing to the Romans, going through doctrine and careful theological study breaks forth into praise and exclaims the glory of God:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
     or who has been his counselor?”

 “Or who has given a gift to him
     that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be glory forever. Amen

Romans 11:33-36 ESV

Glorious God, Father of All Mercies, thank You for the rich love You have shown us in Jesus Christ. King Jesus, rule in all our hearts alone. Spirit of Truth, lead us in the testimonies of the LORD. Spirit of God, let the fear of the LORD direct us into the ever wider, richer, more excellent life in Christ. As the writer of this psalm so aptly states it: “we will run in Your commandments when You enlarge our hearts!” Triune God: enlarge our capacity to delight in You, live for You and love You. Amen.

December 20, 2019 -- Psalm 119:78 -- What are you rehearsing?

Let the insolent be put to shame,

because they have wronged me with falsehood;

as for me I will meditate on your precepts.

Psalm 119:78 English Standard Version

This reading gives me a sense that the LORD has answered the psalm-writer’s prayer of the previous verse: “Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight”. He is now experiencing the mercy he prayed for in the previous verse. The compassion of God has changed his attitude and behavior. Though the writer has been shamed by the insolent, and they have wronged him with falsehood, because of the rich mercy of God he has chosen not to meditate on their wrong-doing, instead, he will meditate on the precepts of the LORD.

The precepts of the LORD are those things He has appointed for us to do. A high calibre athlete will think through the course of the marathon he is to run. He will study the course. Mentally preparing for the tough hills. He will repeatedly visualize himself being consistent, keeping his pace and being successful. Those times of meditation will help him when he faces those challenges on the actual race day. He will have fought them in his mind and now his mind and body will be prepared to fight in the race itself.

The Psalmist is meditating on the precepts of God—Who has laid out the boundary lines of his life so that they fall in pleasant places. He is musing on the commandments of His King. He sings them as songs of praise. In sighs of deep inner commitment he dedicates himself to the right paths the LORD has appointed for him. Instead of rehearsing all the wrongs of the insolent, those proud men who oppose him and try to trip him up, he is focused on the glories of the LORD his God. The commandments of God are those practical ways in which a believer’s life is lived, showing forth the splendour of God. What a beautiful instruction for us today. Are the precious precepts and the wonderful commandments of the LORD your meditation this day? Will you rehearse them and know them so instinctively that the moment adversity comes upon you your reflex will be to honour the Living God?

You have promised us, King of Kings: “Blessed are those who way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!” Give us this day the gift of Your Holy Spirit so that we will emboldened to confess our sins—the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His blood having been applied to us—help us therefore not to get re-entangled in old sins. May Your Spirit direct our thoughts and actions so that they are in step with Your righteous rules. In times of quiet and peace let the rules of Your mouth be our meditation and song. Open our eyes and expand our faith so that in pondering Your way we will see wondrous things in Your law. Amen.

December 19, 2019 -- Psalm 119:77 -- Unsought Mercy, Great Delight

Let your tender mercy come to me, that I may live,

for your law is my delight.

Psalm 119:77 English Standard Version

The word “tender mercies” is also the Hebrew word “womb”. You get the sense that tender mercies are safety, warmth, blessing and protection given to us from the LORD. The Psalmist is hungry for such mercies. The Hebrew is quite explicit—Let Your tender mercies enter into me. It would not be enough for the Mighty and Merciful God of Heaven and Earth to bring His tender mercies near to me, I would not even have the strength, or the wisdom, to drag myself near to these mercies. Inspired by the Spirit of God, the writer of psalm understands that the One Who is Mercy and Compassion, brings His tender mercy right into the chambers of our love-starved hearts.

Such tender mercies are life for the psalm-writer. The expression that I may live is the verb which the LORD uses for His Name: I AM THAT I AM. When the tender mercies of the LORD enter into us we live in Him. It is exactly what happens when the Spirit of God takes hold of us. The life of Jesus and His death and His resurrection take hold of us, are applied to us and we live. There is no other life. There is no other place of hope. We have no other plea but the life of Jesus.

Notice the link between the tender mercies of God entering us and then finding His law to be our delight. If the Spirit of God is not within us we cannot find delight in the law of God. Without God directly governing our hearts and showing us His tender mercies we would find Him a tyrant. In fact, we would borrow the breath He gives us for our lungs and the tongue He fashioned and gave us in order to curse Him and accuse Him. Unthinking, unwise and ungrateful creatures that we are, such actions would not even strike us as ironic.

However, when the tender mercies of God are formed in us, and we realize we live and move and have our being in Him, then His laws are our delight. We realize He has given these to us as boundary markers for joy and protection. We see each one as His glorious protection surrounding us—external evidences of His love which the Spirit confirms to our hearts and minds as we experience His mercy.

You have fashioned and made us, Father in heaven, Faithful Creator. You know our capacity for evil. By Your Spirit You restrain us from rushing headlong to our own destruction. Who is a God like You?! You pour into us the tender mercy You have shown so extravagantly in Jesus. Teach us the glory of confessing our sins, emptying ourselves in order to receive the riches prepared for us. Even in this, Spirit of God, we need You to hold up the Word of God as a mirror, showing us our sin and instructing us in the way of righteousness. The way of life and hope and fullest delight. Thank You for Your steadfast, patient love and wondrous salvation. Amen.

December 17, 2019 -- Psalm 119:76 -- From slaves to friends of God

Let your steadfast love comfort me,

according to your promise to your servant.

Psalm 119:76 English Standard Version

The Ten Commandments use the word “steadfast love” in the second commandment.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness

of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,

or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them

or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the

iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth

generation of those who hate me,  but showing steadfast love to

thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:4-6 ESV

The English expression steadfast love translates one Hebrew word. It is a covenant word—that is, the LORD God made a binding promise to His people to be their God and they would be His people. In the context of the Ten Commandments we read of the steadfast love of God—His continuing faithfulness, love and mercy to His people. In Exodus 34:6 the expression “steadfast love” is actually part of the character of God which He revealed to Moses. Steadfast love is the refrain used repeatedly in Psalm 136.

When his heart has been particularly battered and bruised by the afflictions he has endured (cf devotion of Dec. 16th) he calls on the Name of the LORD, Who promises that He is full of steadfast love and compassion. It is His Name; it is how He promised He will act towards to His people. David knew the Scripture so well, he could bring up God’s promises and ask God to act according to these promises, according to the very word He Himself had uttered.

In the New Testament Jesus promised: “I will ask the Father and He will send you another Helper [literally Comforter]” (John 14:16). Jesus Himself is our great Comforter. By His sacrifice we are set free from the punishment which our sins deserve. Jesus stood in our place. As our Ascended King, He has sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Who makes the promises of God living and stirringly real to our hearts.

Such is given to the servants of God—those who are His slaves. Formerly we were slaves to sin—addicted to sin and willingly giving ourselves over to them. Now we are slaves to God, we have turned our will and our lives over to Him. This is why the Second Commandment is so critical—nothing must ever take the place of God in our hearts. He has set us free from our sinful, wicked idolatries—all of which are nothing but shafts leading straight to the caverns of hell.

Strikingly, Jesus said: “I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me” (John 15:15 NLT). What extravagant blessing is ours, what great comfort. We are not slaves anymore, but friends of God—what glorious comfort! The author of this Psalm, no doubt, longed to look into such things and understand them as fully as we, New Testament Christians, do now.

Who is a god like You, Faithful King of Heaven and Earth?! You have set Your people free from our slavery to sin and released the chains binding us to the punishments our rebellious acts against You so richly deserved. In Your steadfast love You have given us the first Comforter, Jesus, by Whom we are set free. Oh Father and Jesus, our Comforter—You have sent the second Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to take up residence in our hearts. Great are You LORD God, and worthy of glory. Great are You Merciful God and Savior. Spirit of Comfort help us to live fully and faithfully dedicated to God Who made us, and bring us to our eternal home in the glorious presence of the Triune God. Amen.

December 16, 2019 -- Psalm 119:75 -- Lessons in the school of affliction

I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,

and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Psalm 119:75 English Standard Version

One of the challenges of reading Psalm 119, one verse at a time, is losing the sense of the overarching theme an entire octet of verses and therefore not seeing how they hang together. As I prepare these devotions I listen to podcasts of sermons by various preachers. Last night I was listening to the Rev. Steven Lawson’s fine sermon on this, the Yodh stanza. He calls it “How to Pray When In the Fire”. Interesting. He takes the entire stanza as a prayer offered by the psalm writer when he is in fiery affliction. And he sees it as the prayer of a mature and faithful believer.

Through-out this Psalm the writer is sorely tried and troubled, mocked and afflicted. Notice this, the author sees these afflictions as coming from the fountainhead of faithfulness—from the LORD Himself. Afflictions are rumble strips on the road that jar the driver to wakefulness and cause him to reorient himself squarely between the lines of good pavement. Hardships refine the soul and show the various ways in which a believer who claims to follow God is actually self-seeking or trying to do all things in his own strength.

Sure, we can claim obedience and devotion to our Great King when all things are going well, the bigger question—and the times the world around us pays closer attention—is whether or not we will follow Him with equal devotion and obedience when trials rise up in our lives? Job’s wife called out to Job: “Are you still faithful? Curse God and die!” What a common refrain that is! Yet the true picture of the believer’s mettle and the Father’s faithfulness is that God is revealed when we struggle.

The school of affliction teaches us the depths of Jesus’ magnificent devotion to our Father in heaven: He suffered all things and did not waver or fail in His obedience.

The school of affliction teaches us how much we actually try to carry out our duties in our own strength rather than seeking Him Whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

The school of affliction teaches us to cry out to the Spirit of the Living God Who resides deep within us. The Spirit hearing each sigh and marking each tear and brings the deepest woes and struggles of our heart to our Prayer Warrior King Jesus, Who is seated at the Right Hand of the Father. There Jesus speaks urgently and patiently in our behalf, bringing our needs to the Father.

The school of affliction reminds us Jesus was tempted and suffered in ways beyond our imagining. He was rejected by His family—they called Him crazy and wanted to take Him home. He was betrayed by one of His own group of twelve, His closest companions. Peter, the spokesmen for the disciples, denied Jesus several hours after claiming even if everyone else fell away, Peter would stand with Jesus! Jesus, Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, when He walked on the earth had no place to lay His head—no home, no bank account, no retirement account. On and on it goes. Why did He endure this all? So that our every affliction, pain, grief and suffering would be redeemed. He is the King Who knows our sorrows intimately. And He takes the punishment in our place so that we can be presented to God the Holy without any spot of sin or stain of wickedness. All of it is purged and cleansed.

The school of affliction shows us the tremendous power of the Spirit of God to hold us in the place of blessing and keep us from waywardness.

The school of affliction brings up the waves of sin and bitterness and anger and rebellion that lurk in the recesses of our hearts and minds and as each arises the Spirit conquers such anew so that we will be made holy. It is because we belong to God—Father, Son and Spirit, that we will endure such struggles. Those who hate God will not face temptations and trials such as we have because they are not warring to bring their flesh and will, mind and lives into faithful obedience to righteous rules of the LORD.

Do not let the fact you are suffering lead you conclude God has forgotten you. Know this, you are being refined and purified for HIs Holy Presence. Do not doubt you are His workmanship, beautiful and precious to Him and His glory is being revealed in all you endure.

Spirit of God, strength of the believer in the days of affliction, help us in the ways we don’t even know how to pray for as we suffer. Jesus, how great is the love You demonstrated as You walked on this earth. In our own afflictions we begin to grasp just the smallest splinter of all You endured so that we would be brought to glory. Father, faithful source of every good, in the struggles of this day remind us that we cannot fall from the grip of Your grace. Blessed are You, Triune God. Great are Your ways and blessed is the road You give us to travel. With the psalmist we pray: “Give us understanding that we may learn Your commandments.” Amen.

December 15, 2019 -- Psalm 119:74 -- Learning the Fear of the LORD

Those who fear you shall see me rejoice,

because I have hoped in your word.

Psalm 119:74 English Standard Version

The expression “the fear of the LORD” is used dozens of times in the Bible. (Examples include: II Chronicles 14:14; Psalm 19:19; Proverbs 1:7 & 29; Isaiah 11:2; Acts 9:31 and II Corinthians 5:11.) In the translation of the Bible I like to use, the English Standard Version, the exact phrase the fear of the LORD is used 27 times. There are, of course, many variants, like our verse today those who fear You.

The fear of the LORD restrains us from doing evil.

The fear of the LORD brings others to rejoicing when in fellowship we see our Covenant King obeyed.

The fear of the LORD moves us to honour the saving work of Jesus Christ, without Whom we would be punished to the full extent of all our sins.

The fear of the LORD is wrought in us by the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit Who, shows us all Jesus has done to free us from the wrath of God and bring us as beloved sons and daughters to eternity. Therefore the Spirit directs our hearts in loving obedience to God our Father.

The fear of the LORD reminds us the He Is HOLY. What is evil and sinful cannot be in His presence. Isaiah spoke of this when he said: “Woe is me! I am undone (disintegrating, lost) because I am a man of unclean lips” Isaiah 6:5. Even a prophet, mightily used of God, was made keenly aware of his need for God’s cleansing work else he would be ruined. Thanks be to God for our Lord Jesus Christ in Whom we have the complete forgiveness of all our sins! Blessed be His Name.

Thanks be to the Spirit of God! Blessing and honour and praise and glory be unto the Spirit for His work in us. It is the Spirit of God Who works in us both to will and to work God’s good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). More even than this (as if that wasn’t treasure and wonder, blessing and victory enough!!) the Spirit Who knows how we are made, what we love and what we are good at, brings us to places and people where we can exercise our gifts and so live in joy-filled obedience to the King of Glory.

What wondrous love You have shown us, O God our Father. Teach us the fear of the LORD. Teach us by Your Word and Spirit so that Jesus Christ is honoured and adored in us and because of us. Amen.

If you have 4 extra minutes, watch this oldie but goodie. It is the Newsboys, from 2010. Build us Back. And it includes the lyrics. Shalom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgsWYcVpsLw&list=RDQgsWYcVpsLw&start_radio=1