The Word of God

Scripture. The Bible. The Word of God.
How long has it been since you read these verses with a fresh perspective? These few verses, so common, have retained much of their beauty, but, I fear, have lost much of their impact and meaning. We have become accustomed to them (at least it has been so in my life). But, O their richness! Read them as if you have never read them before and as if you really believe what they have to say.

Psalm 19:7-11
The Law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The Testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
The Statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The Commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The Judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.

Now take up the Word. Take up and read. Take in and internalize and do. Let it dwell in you...richly.

Eternity

This poem was written after Tim Trometer's death by the mom of a Northland student. It is one of my favorite poems about eternity.

Looking At His Face
Avril Fries

Weep not for me, my loved ones, but for your pain and loss
For I would never wish to return to bear my cross
My burdens I've abandoned and my pain I feel no more
I am gazing at the beauty of the One that I adore.

I have not even noticed the splendor of this place
For I am still enthralled by the beauty of His face
My eyes are fixed on Jesus and the wounds He bore for me
Oh, the wonder of the price that it took to set me free!

I am not looking down on you, for here there is no pain;
No time to count the moments until we meet again.
And when you get to Glory you will not look for me
For your eyes will see just Jesus—what a wonder that will be.

How long until you join me, the Father only knows
You may be caught up in the clouds, or watch the shadows close.
The one thing I would tell you could I whisper to you there
Is, "live for Him, my loved ones, He is far beyond compare."

Weep not for me, my loved ones, I am finally complete
I am gazing at my Saviour, contented at His feet
Eternity will be too short to comprehend His grace
Not long enough to tire of the radiance of His face.

Quote by Frederick Faber found in Tozer's Pursuit of God:

"Eternity will not be long enough to learn all He is, or to praise Him for all He has done, but then, that matters not; for we shall be always with Him, and we desire nothing more."

Truly: "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him." 2 Cor. 5:1-9

The Beauty of God's Ways

Read this today from Oswald Chambers, and was thought-provoked and encouraged.

My Utmost for His Highest - August 10
The Sacrament Of The Saint (abridged)

"Let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing." 1 Peter 4:19

...The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. The people who do us good are never those who sympathize with us, they always hinder, because sympathy enervates. No one understands a saint but the saint who is nearest to the Saviour....
Notice God's unutterable waste of saints, according to the judgment of the world. God plants His saints in the most useless places. We say - God intends me to be here because I am so useful. Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use. God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where that is.

Once again: I am caused to marvel and worship at the immense mystery and beauty of God's economy and ways. What a worthy Lord!

Isaiah 55

While sitting in the passes and permissions logistical RA orientation session last hour, I began to write random verses on my handout sheet and draw little pictures to illustrate them. (I was still listening, mind you.)
Among other verses, I began to write the "Seek ye the LORD while He may be found..." passage from Isaiah 55.
Since is it such a refreshing passage, I will actually just put it in here in its entirety:

"Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD,
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."

While I was writing (and listening to the session, of course), the LORD allowed me to notice a small conjunction whose significance I had never noticed before. You have "let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts"....so there are these vile sinners leaving their sin...and turning to the Lord. The Lord then says that He will be merciful to them and will forgive them. I am accustomed to that thought (sadly enough, I often take it for granted). But the next word is what the Lord used to capture my thoughts (and yes, at that point I quit listening--briefly). "For." Why will God extend this abundant pardon (the pardon that I so frequently casually expect)? "For." Because. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways." God says, "Because I am so transcendently above you, I forgive." "Because I am absolutely and beautifully and sovereignly higher than you and your ideas and ways, the wicked and unrighteous may turn to Me for mercy." "Because the gulf between My level and your level is mirrored by the gulf between the heavens and the earth, you have hope and can place your expectation in returning to Me and finding forgiveness."
God does pardon. God does forgive. And it is because of His excellent greatness. His untouchable transcendence. His magnificent superiority.
How incredible! The LORD is so, so great and greatly to be praised. Yes, indeed: His greatness is unsearchable.

Thoughts from Tozer

From The Knowledge of the Holy:
In the chapter on the love of God this excerpt....

"God's love tells us that He is friendly and His Word assures us that He is our Friend and wants us to be His friends. No man with a trace of humility would first think that he is a friend of God; but the idea did not originate with men....Modesty may demur at so rash a thought, but audacious faith dares to believe the Word and claim friendship with God. We do God more honor by believing what He has said about Himself and having the courage to come boldly to the throne of grace than by hiding in self-conscious humility among the trees of the garden."

A Different Tactic...

Greetings after such a long time....
This is a simple posting to say that since I fail so miserably to actually keep this updated with personal postings, I am going to endeavor to at least post verses and quotes/thoughts from the books and so forth that I am reading, so that perhaps you all can share in what the Lord is causing to filter through and challenge my thinkings. As always, the desire is that we might know Him and provoke each other to further diligent pursuit of that high calling.

Here is an excerpt from today's perusal of the writings of missionary Lilias Trotter:

Trained Faith
"As an eagle...fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings--so the Lord alone did lead him."
Fluttereth over--the early stages of faith are reaching upward, like the eaglets for their food when the mother-bird is overhead. it is an older faith that learns to swing out into nothingness and drop down full weight on God--the broken-up nest of former "experiences" left behind--nothing between us and the abyss by God Himself. Trained faith is a triumphant gladness in having nothing but God--not rest, no foothold--nothing but Himself. A triumphant gladness in swinging out into that abyss, rejoicing in every emergency that is going to prove Him true. "The Lord alone"--that is trained faith.

The Glory of God

The writing of this post was somewhat difficult because I had/have no words to truly define to working of the Lord in my heart throughout the semester, but my prayer is that what the Lord has begun to teach me will resonate with you and will cause you to worship our glorious Lord as it has caused me to. I repeat again the verses of my previous post.

Jeremiah 9:23-24,
“Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.”

These have been the unofficial theme verses of this semester. As Dr. Olson challenged us in our last chapel of the semester to share which attribute of God we have learned this semester and I thought back over the course of the sixteen weeks, the attribute of my Lord which I have seen most clearly could, perhaps, be best summed up as The Glory of God.
God is a God of glory. He is inherently glorious, and His glory is full and complete in itself. There is nothing that I can do to add to or detract from His glory. (Yes, there are ramifications and factors on the human level which I do not understand in their horizontal outworkings, but in the big picture, God’s glory is wholly separate from me.) That being said, I cannot “glorify God.” But God can manifest His glory through me (which may perhaps be perceived by others as my “glorifying God).” In words this may be confusing, but a definitive difference lies between the two concepts.
The God of all glory began teaching me of His glory throughout the semester through revealing the weakness, the impotence, of my own mind and heart. I struggled with focus more than I ever had before. It was not that I was sidetracked onto any other issue in particular, it was simply that my mind and my spirit were not continually seeking His face—my “default” setting was not Christ alone. This was a source of frustration to be throughout the semester, for I was arriving at the end of day after day frustrated and confused, deploring the fact that I had not worshipped my God worthily nor glorified Him by my life that day. Yet just as often as I sought His face, pouring out my grief at my failure and my frustration at not “glorifying Him,” He would give me to know that His glory did not depend on me and on what I thought glorified Him or not. His glory IS. What I think glorifies Him may not glorify Him at all, and what I do not think glorifies Him may be the very thing that He has ordained to bring Himself great glory. He is God. Whether I walk worthy, whether I seek, whether I am focused or not, whether I am in fellowship, God’s glory will be untouched. Therefore, the only possible response is to praise Him, to worship Him. Simply the fact that He is God demands that I worship Him. He is so great that I have no recourse but to worship. He will bring glory to Himself. He will work. He will do all things to the praise of His glory. Let me but worship. Because He is my God, my King, and my Friend. Because He is the only One for me.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

Jer. 9:23-24 "Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD."

These two verses sum up this semester for me. How the resident pride in me has fought for its life this semester--rearing its abominable head in facet after facet of my life. But the Lord was continually gracious to keep pointing out its root and its manifestations. These two verses have rung in my head as the standard of truth and right. At times, it seemed to be the only truth that remained in my mind. But what a glorious truth it is. He is the LORD. He is the God of lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness. He allows Himself to be known by even me. In Him alone I may glory.

So this is my testimony of praise to my God who has shown me His grace and has not cast away His servant, His child, due to struggle and sin, but has chosen to sanctify and mold and purge until--glorious thought--Christ is formed in me. "But we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." O how I long to stand at last before my Lord and to be like Him! O for my Heavenly Home! With Amy Carmichael I say, "Of all our prayers, this is the sum, 'O come, Lord Jesus, come'."