A Prayer

Two Habitations

God of glory, be exalted!

Lord Creator ‘throned on high,

Let my praise and prayers ascending

Please Thine ear inclining nigh.

Lofty is Thy habitation,

Lover of the contrite soul,

Let my heart like Thine be lowly;

O descend, possess, control!

Trusting God

“There is no other honor equal to the estimate of truthfulness and righteousness with which we honor him whom we trust. Could we ascribe to a man anything greater than truthfulness and righteousness and perfect goodness? On the other hand, there is no way we can show greater contempt for a man than to regard him as false and wicked and to be suspicious of him, as we do when we do not trust him. So when the soul firmly trusts God’s promises, it regards Him as truthful and righteous. Nothing more excellent than this can be ascribed to God. The very highest worship of God is this that we ascribe to Him truthfulness, righteousness, and whatever else should be ascribed to one who is trusted.”
- Martin Luther, On Christian Liberty

Our High Priest

“The wonder of the high priestly ministry of Christ lies not just in where He is, but in who He is. Where He is we may boldly go; He has opened the way to the sanctuary of heaven and the throne of grace. Prayer enters where God dwells. But the boldness of our approach rests on who He is. We know Him because He has first known us, and knows us still in all our helplessness and need.”

- Edmund P. Clowney, The Biblical Theology of Prayer

The Gift of the Spirit

“There has not only been an objective, public act of divine self-disclosure in the crucifixion of God’s own Son, but there must be a private work of God by His Spirit, in the mind and heart of the individual. If we should express unqualified gratitude to God for the gift of His Son, we should express no less gratitude for the gift of the Spirit who enables us to grasp the gospel of His Son…Unless the Spirit enlightens us, God’s thoughts will remain deeply alien to us.”

- D. A. Carson, quoted by C. J. Mahaney in “The Main Thing“

"Tidings of Jesus, Redemption, and Release"

CHRISTIAN:

Hello, Death, my old enemy. My old slave-master. Have you come to talk to me again? To frighten me?

I am not the person you think I am. I am not the one you used to talk to. Something has happened. Let me ask you a question, Death.

Where is your sting?

DEATH, sneeringly:

My sting is your sin.

CHRISTIAN:

I know that, Death. But that’s not what I asked you. I asked, where is your sting? I know what it is. But tell me where it is.

Why are you fidgeting, Death? Why are you looking away? Why are you turning to go? Wait, Death, you have not answered my question. Where is your sting?

Where is, my sin?

What? You have no answer? But, Death, why do you have no answer? How will you terrify me, if you have no answer?

O Death, I will tell you the answer. Where is your sting? Where is my sin? It is hanging on that tree. God made Christ to be sin—my sin. When he died, the penalty of my sin was paid. The power of it was broken. I bear it no more.

Farewell, Death. You need not show up here again to frighten me. God will tell you when to come next time. And when you come, you will be his servant. For me, you will have no sting.

O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)

- John Piper, A Conversation with Death on Good Friday

The Return of Christ

“The Mighty One, God the LORD, has spoken…God will shine forth. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people….”
Thus is God and thus His great and terrible presence! Who can stand before Him? When God comes to judge, it is so fearsome and terrible that all earth itself seeks to flee away. Look in the Minor Prophets:
Micah 1:3-4: “For, behold, the LORD comes forth out of His place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.”
Joel 2:1-2, 10-11: “…for the day of the LORD comes, for it is near at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains….The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: and the LORD shall utter His voice before His army: for His camp is very great: for He is strong that executes His Word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can endure it?”
Nahum 1:2-6: “God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; the LORD is avenging, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries and He reserves wrath for His enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked; the LORD’s way is in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the claouds are the dust of His feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers….The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at His presence, yea, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before His indignation? and who can endure the heat of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him.”
Or look in Revelation:
Revelation 6:14-17: “And the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who can stand?”

So when God comes to judge, we see this universal motion away from His descending presence. The earth itself and all the people of the earth are desperately fleeing, melting away, hiding, shrinking from the face of this God. They cannot stand before Him. They are terrified and ashamed and utterly undone. The violent, cataclysmic reactions of the whole earth show how awesome His presence is and how fierce His judgment is. Who can stand before Him?!?!?
But there is a group of people there. There is a group of people that is not running away or hiding. This group of people is facing this descending Mighty God. They do not appear frightened; in fact, the look on their face is one of joy. Their eyes seem to be riveted on His face, and gladness, not despair, radiates from their countenance. They are eager for Him to set foot on earth, and they are not at all distracted by the rest of the world rushing past them to get away from this coming King. See, this group of people has been waiting for this moment for years and years. This group of people has long loved and served this King. He is their heart’s Desire, and now He is coming to them. They have no need to dread because they know the King, and O how their hearts burst with adoration and praise as He comes down. They can stand before Him (a thought the vast majority of creation shudders at), and they can look on His face. And they do. And as they gaze, they are satisfied. This is what they have always wanted.
Who is this group of people?
They are those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb of God, those who believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For all who have faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, that group of people is us. We can stand before God at His coming, and it does not have to be a dreadful thing to us. In fact, it ought to be the culminating moment of all our hopes and desires, because we will finally see His face.
I realize that for Christians on the earth today, it will not happen quite like this, because we will be raptured (another glorious meditation: caught up to meet Christ in the air…), but I hope you get the concept and that it impacts your life.
Would you be one of those fleeing in terror or one of those gazing in adoration?
If you would be one of those fleeing, please, do not stay in that state. Come to Christ, believe Him, and learn to love Him and His glorious appearing.
If you would one of those able to stand, is your life evidencing a joy in and a passion for knowing Him and seeing His face?
Does the thought of seeing His face today bring a lump of longing anticipation to your throat or uncomfortable shame because you are not loving Him and living for Him?
Does seeing and knowing Christ really fill all in all for you here today? Because if it does not, then His coming will not thrill you the way He intends it to.
Christ is Everything! How little we/I live like that. To my shame, I chase emptiness and futile selfish imaginations! But when I am truly seeing Christ and walking with Him, there is nothing that I long for more deeply than the day that I will see His face and be with Him…the day when I will be in the midst of a group of people that stands before Him, while all the rest of the world is hiding in terror, and with that group I can begin to sing the new song…the song which I will sing forever: “Thou art worthy…”

A Thought on Confession

“I ought to confess the sins of my confessions - their imperfections, sinful aims, self-righteous tendency, etc - and to look to Christ as having confessed my sins perfectly over His own sacrifice.”

- Robert Murray M’Cheyne

"Behold, the Lamb of God..."

The Lamb of God.
Even the earliest chapters of Scripture begin to reveal truth that “without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.” When Adam and Eve sinned, God killed a lamb and made a covering for them, and from that point on—Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—we see sacrifices being offered, blood being shed, and a covering being made for sin. And yet it was a covering, not a cleansing, that these sacrifices accomplished. The question remained: What can take away my sin?
The Old Testament records the covenant of the law that God gave to His people on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses. This covenant revealed a system of feasts, ceremonies, and sacrifices to be performed in specific ways at specific times during the worship of Yahweh, the true and living God. The LORD required His people to approach Him through sacrifices so that they might come with clean hands and a pure heart. Both the sacrifice and the worshipper’s heart towards Yahweh were necessary in order to be pleasing to Yahweh. But still this system—intricate, God-designed, and significant though it was—could not effect the cleansing of sin. The question remained: What can take away my sin?
And the question hung in the air and in the hearts of true worshippers for hundreds of years. Millions of gallons of blood were shed. Rivers upon rivers of blood flowed from the Tabernacle and then the Temple. Millions of spotless lambs, bulls, and goats were sacrificed for sin, but there was no finality, no permanent sacrifice, no cleansing of sin. And the people yearned, they longed, they groaned, wrestled, cried out, mourned for a final sacrifice—a sacrifice that would effectively crush sin and its dominion. Those who loved God increasingly ached for His redemption, and they questioned in agony of soul: What can take away my sin?
Throughout this entire time, however, as the centuries dragged on, God was sending His people messages of hope—a Savior would come. God, in various times and in various ways, spoke to His worshippers and promised them salvation. Sin would not always have, as it were, the upper hand. One day there would be a sacrifice to take away sin.
And then, in the fullness of time, God sent Jesus. God provided a Lamb for Himself. Jesus came into the world. He was God’s Final Word against sin. He was the promised, long-awaited Savior. He was the Lamb of God, and He could take away the sin of the world. What rivers of blood from animal sacrifices had been incapable of washing away, Jesus Christ would conquer and take away with a once-for-all sacrifice of Himself. From the glories and exaltation of Heaven, Christ came to earth, and although in the wisdom of God, He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, yet there was a specific time on earth when God clothed Himself with the likeness of men and took upon Himself the form of a servant and came dwelt among us. Jesus came to earth. This is how God chose to answer the question: God the Son became the Lamb of God—the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

A Song to Listen to

A link given to me by a friend to a song that has been the source of some good meditation.
May it provide the same for you.

http://listeninglab.stantons.com/item.php?stno=301117

Here is the text:
"God, Thou art Love"

If I forget, yet God remembers.
If these hands of mine cease from their clinging,
Yet the hands divine hold me so firmly, I cannot fall.
And if sometimes I am too tired to call for Him to help me,
Then He reads the prayer unspoken in my heart and lifts my care.

I dare not fear since certainly I know,
That I am in God's keeping
Shielded so, from all that else would harm.
And in the hour of stern temptation,
strengthened by His power.

I tread no path in life to Him unknown.
I lift no burden, bear no pain alone;
My soul a calm, sure Hiding Place has found:
The everlasting arms my life surround,
My life surround!

God, Thou art love!
I build my faith on that.
I know Thee Who hath kept my path.
And made light for me in the darkness
Tempering sorrow so that it reached me like a solemn joy.
It were too strange that I should doubt Thy love.

Jesus Christ

“On Christ, and what he has done, my soul hangs for time and eternity. And if your soul also hangs there, it will be saved as surely as mine shall be. And if you are lost trusting in Christ, I will be lost with you and will go to hell with you. I must do so, for I have nothing else to rely upon but the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived, died, was buried, rose again, went to heaven, and still lives and pleads for sinners at the right hand of God.”

- Charles Spurgeon

I take my stand on Jesus Christ
And firmly rest in Him;
Though winds of change around me swirl,
I am secure within.

I take my stand on Jesus Christ.
I know no other place.
In joy, confusion, peace, and pain,
He satisfies with grace.

I take my stand on Jesus Christ.
He is my great Enough.
No need unmet, no good denied:
He by Himself fills up.

I take my stand on Jesus Christ.
His precious blood alone
Has paid me for to take my place
Before the Father’s throne.

I take my stand on Jesus Christ.
With gratefulness I trace
The scars from wounds He took for me.
I gaze upon His face.

I take my stand on Jesus Christ,
Because I know His love
Compels, constrains, and causes me
To live for things above.

I take my stand on Jesus Christ
For all eternity.
Both now and then, my Master will
Choose what is best for me.

I take my stand on Jesus Christ,
My Savior, God, and Friend,
To Him, the Worthy Son of God,
Be glory without end.

Are you meditating upon Him? You will find Him beyond compare.

"Search me, O God"

1/29/09—1/30/09

Romans 6—

• No obligation to sin
• The Reality of union with Christ
• Walking in newness of life
• Slave to righteousness
• Sin has no more dominion

If I sin it is a voluntary “tax” given to an illegitimate lord, an utter imposter.

If I live to myself I am ignoring my union with Christ and worshipping myself.

• Bearing fruit to righteousness
• Fleshing out holiness
• Obeying the Word
• Identifying with Christ

Psalm 84—

• “No good thing will He withhold”
• Nothing
• Nothing good that He has not given to me
• Everything in my life is good
• For my profit
• In Christ—because I have Christ

If I can imagine anything good outside of Christ, then I am only imagining it.

If I am not satisfied with what He has given into my life, I am not looking at Christ

• Trusting in His “muchness”
• Living out of His goodness
• Loving His fellowship
• Worshipping Him

2 Corinthians 5—

• “The love of Christ constraineth”
• Laboring with eternity in view
• We make it our aim to be pleasing Him
• The great transaction—my sins to Him; His righteousness to me
• In this we groan—immortality—to see His Face
• Sin’s transfer to Christ—His payment
• New creatures—in Christ

If I can live to myself, then I am not living in the reality of the love of Him Who died for me and rose again.

If I am seeing Christ truly, then my life will radically center on Him and His Person.

• Longing to be with Him
• Being His ambassador
• Being borne along by His love
• Living out my union with Him
• Identifying myself as His alone

Christ

• Do I really, genuinely, abandonedly, joyfully, uncalculatingly, purely trust Him?

• Am I accurately, passionately, determinedly, hopefully, confidently, desperately, purposefully fixing my eyes on Him—seeing Him, seeking Him, desiring Him?

• Is Christ my Life? Can I bear even the thought of life without Him?

• Do I live only for His good pleasure and approval, or do others hold illegitimate sway in their opinions and reactions?

• Am I satisfied with Christ alone? No knowledge of the future’s holdings, no boy, no ability to make plans, hard classes, little sleep, people’s demands and expectations, my sin battles, etc.? Do I live in His promised sufficiency?

• Am I thankful for all that He has chosen in love for me? Do I bless the Lord and remember all His goodness to me?

• Does my life bear out the truth that Christ is Enough—solely and fully?

• Do I love Him like He is worthy of being loved? With heart, soul, mind, and strength?

• Am I passionate—authentically, consistently passionate—about His Person, His Word, His ways, and His personal friendship with me?

• Would I settle for less than waiting for Him to act? Would I be willing to manipulate things, people, circumstances in order to bring my will to pass, rather than rest in Him and wait patiently for His good purposes to be fulfilled?

• Will I stake my life absolutely on His truth?

• Do I carefully weigh the minute implications of His Word in my life and diligently apply them—with discipline, without swerving, with meticulous attention, and with loving, willing devotion?

• Am I His in every sense of the word?

• Is He satisfied as He considers my life?

• Can He put His full good pleasure upon my life because He is the One Who is Ruling in all things—sitting upon the throne of my heart?

• Could He say the same of me as He did of Job?

• Is He most exalted? Is the preeminence His?

• Can He freely reflect Himself in me?

• Is He willing and pleased to be worshipped by me, or does He find my worship unacceptable or defiled in any way?

O that it may be Christ! Christ Alone. Christ Supreme.

Puzzles and Good Things

Last weekend, the Lord allowed many of the thoughts that have been tumbling around in my head to spill out onto paper after a conversation with Josh Scilzo. (The Lord made a spontaneous trip to Michigan possible in order for a group of us to visit Josh and Chelsea who were in from Alaska for a brief visit.) Here they are:

Puzzles

This Christmas, I made an odd puzzle which seemingly had no clear picture. It was a room that appeared to be very cluttered and confusing, neglected, with neither rhyme nor reason to all the things piled into it. Many of the individual pieces were curiously formed and colored and lent to the mass of disorganization and unknowing, and because of these things, the making of the puzzle was excessively slow and painstaking, and often was as though it were an exercise in futility.
Today, I spoke with a friend who gratefully recounted to me the workings of God in the life of him and his wife. He spoke of the gracious wisdom of a Father who chooses always in love for His own, and the Father's ways are often veiled and mysterious to His. Veiled and mysterious--but good. Not easy, but good. This friend told me of the beauty and depth of the Church, the Bride of Christ, and of how God was teaching, applying, strengthening, changing, and growing them through this marvelous Body of Christ. He spoke of warfare in the workplace--the oppression that comes when one battles not with flesh and blood but with the rulers of the darkness of this world and with spiritual wickedness in high places. He spoke of prayer. He spoke of the vision of years--to serve God as a missionary in a foreign land. He spoke of the years of waiting and unknowing between the birth of the dream and the present time and the future time of fulfillment. And it was as if it were all a puzzle, and each of the pieces were hidden by the Master's perfect understanding, and each revealed with marvelous clarity and light in its full time. Yet still there remained a stewardship of seeking--to have eyes open to see each piece in its place. And sometimes the searching seemed long and tedious, and sometimes it seemed as though it were but in vain.
For weeks, I had pondered fragments--they seemed as if they might be pieces of the pieces of a puzzle. But vague and confusing and sometime hurtful--for some of the edges were hard and cutting as I held them in my hand. And if they were puzzle pieces, then the puzzle was a dreadful mix of an old picture that the Father had removed from before my eyes and a new and unfamiliar one that I had not yet learned to clearly see. They seemed to belong to a non-existent whole, for it was as though the Master had removed even the edge pieces from what I had perceived my puzzle to be. And to look at the bare puzzle table began to be overwhelming; for the God of wisdom and grace had made all things dark and barren, and discouragement swelled for my earth-bound expectations and foolish pride now made the trajectory of my life seem as but empty strivings and the making of the Master's puzzle as an impossible thing. And thus the darkness prevailed.
But the darkness was from the Master's hand, and it was good: the Father's lovingkindness displayed in ways veiled and mysterious, but good. Piled one on top of another, but good. Not easy, but good. All the "seemings" were opportunities to walk by faith and not by sight, for the conundrum of the darkness was that it led in paths of light. As the darkness was accepted as from the hand of the Lord, the light of His countenance and presence became more than sufficient to contend with barren tables and sharp pieces and endless clutter, for the countenance of the Master is more riveting than all these things, and His presence is Light, Life, Joy, Patience, Comfort, Strength, and Peace.
This is the beauty of darkness and imcomplete puzzles: to better see the Father's face and to more wholly trust the tracings of His sometimes unseen hand. My puzzle is desolate. My life is replete.
Because I have nothing, I most have the All.