Our righteous acts are like filthy rags...

In 2 Chronicles 26:20 we see that God struck Uzziah with leprosy for offering incense without a priest. Those of us whose righteous acts are like filthy rags deserve worse if we dare attempt to come face to face with a Holy God without the intercession of the spotless one - Jesus Christ.

Here's a wonderful quote by Horatius Bonar (1808 - 1889):

Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul; Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God; Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load.

Thy grace alone O God to me can pardon speak; Thy power alone O Son of God can this sore bondage break. No other work, save thine, no other blood will do; No strength, save that which is divine, can bear me safely through. 

 

Create in me a clean heart, O God...

Psalm 51:10-13 - 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from they presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. 13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

The verses above are from a Psalm written after Nathan the prophet confronted David for the adultery he committed with Bathsheba...

In verse 10 you see David's plea to have God create a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him. There is nothing so filthy, impure, or as loathsome as the human heart prior to being converted. Our hearts are so corrupted and vile that mending them will not work - they have to be made altogether new and only God himself can do so. It has been said that a clean heart has been purified from guilt and cleansed from filth and it is seen here to be David's great desire.

In verses 11 and 12 we see David pleading with God to not reject him, abandon him, leave him in sin and sorrow, nor take his Holy Spirit from him. Having once tasted the joy of his salvation, David asks for this great joy that was racked by sin to be restored again. James Smith, the predecessor to Charles Spurgeon at New Park Street (1841-1850) states:  

When the Spirit of God once takes up his residence as the Spirit of life, of love, and adoption, he never finally withdraws, or abandons the soul to ruin. But though he does not totally and finally withdraw, he withholds his influence, and leaves us pretty much to ourselves. He ceases to comfort us, or to strengthen us with might, according to his power in the inner man. He refuses to assist us in prayer, and we are left to toil alone. Then like Samson, we become weak, and are like other men; or like the church we cry out, "The Comforter that should relieve my soul, is far from me!" 

When the Spirit is withdrawn from us, all our graces wither, our evidences become obscured, our joy dies out, and our duties become a task. Then we become light and frivolous, or gloomy and morose; our hearts are hardened, our understanding is darkened, and all within us appears carnal or cold. The greatest loss we can sustain, is the presence and operation of the holy Comforter in the heart. Then very often doubts, fears, and misgivings spring up, unbelief works, and a sense of condemnation is felt in the conscience. We turn everything against ourselves, refuse to be comforted, and begin to neglect duties, because we have no enjoyment in them. Past experience looks like delusion, the hard heart refuses to weep, and the mouth is often ready to speak against God. Sad, very sad, has been the experience of many professors, when the Spirit has left them for a time; well therefore may David pray, "Take not your Holy Spirit from me." 

In verse 13 we see the desires of a grateful heart revealed. When we have had our hearts of stone turned by God to hearts of flesh and when by God's grace he renews a right spirit within us it will then be the heart's great desire to share the gospel to a lost and fallen world, to go tell it on the mountain top, and to yell it from the roof top. Sinners need to have God's truths shared with them...they need to be made aware of their sins, and they need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. There is an old British proverb that says "reclaimed poachers make the best gamekeepers." My friend if God has created in you a clean heart and if he has given you the joy of his salvation then go...go and share what God has done and point sinners to Jesus Christ.

A Crooked and Perverse Generation...

Proverbs 30:11-14 "11 There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. 12 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. 13 There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. 14 There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men."


In verse 11 we see described a generation that breaks God's 5th Commandment of honoring one's mother and father. These are a people who show no reverence to their parents, no love to them, and give no honor or obedience to them.

- Is this the generation you live in?

In verse 12 we see a people who are full of self-righteousness who think they are pure and honorable in their own eyes who live in unrepentant habitual sin.

- Is this the generation you live in?

In verse 13 we see described those who are full of vanity, pride, and insolence who look at others with scorn and contempt while thumbing their noses up in the air.

- Is this the generation you live in?

In verse 14 we see a people who are greedy, cruel, and oppressive.

- Is this the generation you live in?


If you believe these verses describe the generation you are living in, how must a Christian then conduct themselves? The answer is found in Philippians 2:15, "...be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world." In a crooked and perverse generation we are to shine as lights in the world and stand for the truth as revealed to us in God's word.

Attending Upon God Without Distraction

1 Corinthians 7:35 ...that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

Paul's desire for the believers in Corinth was that they engage in their religious duties and serve God without being distracted, drawn away, or interrupted by the cares of the world.

Thomas Watson in his book "Ten Commandments" writes:

Distraction hinders devotion. The mind is tossed with vain thoughts, and diverted from the business in hand. It is hard to make a distracted heart fix. How often in hearing the Word, the thoughts dance up and down; and, when the eye is upon the minister, the mind is upon other things. Distracted hearing is far from sanctifying the Sabbath. It is very sinful to give way to vain thoughts at this time; because, when we are hearing the Word, we are in God's special presence. To do any treasonable action in the king's presence—is great impudence. "Yes, in my house have I found their wickedness." Jer 23:11. So the Lord may say, "In my house, while they are hearing my Word, I have found wickedness; they have wanton eyes, and their soul is set on vanity!" 

To approach God in worship with a distracted mind should be a cause for great concern to the believer. A distracted mind is offensive to God and reveals a heart problem that needs to be fixed. Paul's desire for the believers in Corinth as found in 1 Corinthians 7:35 needs to be our great desire for today -- that we may attend upon the Lord without distraction!

I am currently reading a wonderful little book by Nathanael Vincent (1638-1697) titled "Attending Upon God Without Distraction." This is a gem of a book and provides insight into both the cause and the treatment for the disease of distraction. If looking for a book on this subject there is no better treatise on the subject than what Nathanael Vincent offers.

 

Thoughts on Baptism...Paedo vs. Credo

Over the past year as I have studied the Bible more and more I have found myself rethinking my position on several things I have come to believe over the years. One such position I have come to rethink is on the topic of baptism and whether the Bible better supports the case for infant baptism (paedobaptism) or believer's baptism (credobaptism). I have spent the majority of my Christian life in southern baptist churches that strongly affirm believer's baptism. However, as the father of a 3 year old daughter and in about a week  the father of a son (Lord willing) I have found myself thinking through the role/position of children in the church and studying Covenant Theology with greater interest. As such I have grown interested more in understanding the biblical reasoning behind infant baptism in light of God's covenant with believers.

This past Lord's Day I visited a local Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) with my family and took home a copy of the below booklet to read over. This is a well organized little booklet that lays out a five-step explanation for infant baptism. In the booklet each step below is explained with supportive scripture passages and really presents a compelling case for infant baptism - though those who hold a dispensational view of scripture will perhaps automatically disagree.

1. The church of the O.T. and the church of the N.T. are, in essence, the same church
2. God regards the children of believers as members of this church
3. In the O.T. era, the children of believers were given the covenant sign of circumcision
4. In the N.T. era, God has taken the sign of circumcision and changed it to baptism
5. Therefore in the N.T. era, the children of believers are to be given the sign of baptism 

This booklet did a good job of piquing my interest in reading more about the biblical basis for infant baptism and I placed an order over at Reformation Heritage Books for the items below.

• Christian Baptism by John Murray
• The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism by P&R Publishing
• Infant Baptism: Scriptural and Reasonable by Samuel Miller

As I slug my way through these books perhaps I'll post a succinct review to my blog. Until then...

The Great Blessing of Affliction

At first glance the title of this post would seem to be a bit of an oxymoron. An antonym for affliction is blessing, so how could affliction possibly be characterized as that which is its opposite? To many the thought of being afflicted; as in living in a state of pain, distress, misery, or grief is a horrible thing to consider and is a cup that few, if any, would voluntarily drink from. However, there are a thousand benefits that come to God's children through their pains and griefs.

The Bible verses that this blog post is centered around is Psalm 119 verses 67, 71, and 75. These three verses have been among the most precious to me over the past year as I have been trying to deal with a serious health issue I've been afflicted with.

Psalm 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

Psalm 119:71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

Psalm 119:75 I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

We read here that at some point the psalmist went astray and that following this wandering away from God he was afflicted. By affliction God separated the sin which he hated from the soul which he loved and it can only be the fool that frowns upon afflictions that are for his/her own profit. In Job 5:17 it says happy is the man whom God corrects and if you have ever come under affliction I hope this can be the description said of you. There is a quote by the puritan Arthur Dent originally from The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven that explains this blessing most beautifully:

"God's children are no losers by their afflictions, but gainers. It is better for them to have them than to be without them; they are very good for them...For to them the cross is mercy and loss is gain. Afflictions are their schooling, and adversity their best university."

I also like the commentary provided by Albert Barnes who says: 

Among those things for which good men have most occasion for thankfulness are afflictions; and when we lie down on the bed of death, and look over life and the divine dealings with us through life, as the glories of heaven are about to open upon us, we shall feel that among the chiefest mercies of God are those dealings of his holy hand, trying at the time, which kept us from going astray, or which recalled us when we had wandered from him - and that in our life, now closing, there has not been one trial too much."

This past year I have had the opportunity to be reminded daily of the affliction the Lord has dealt me. Before I was afflicted I also went astray, but God who knows every heart and the best way to reach any heart has dealt with me wisely and has corrected me. Perhaps you have been afflicted at some point recently and can relate to the great blessing of affliction. 

For a good read on sanctified affliction I recommend the sermon by John Angell James found here on Grace Gems!

They cried unto the Lord...were saved from their troubles...and praised Him

Last night I resumed my reading of the Psalms and picked back up at Psalm 107. With pen in hand I read slowly over the Psalm and as I was underlining some of the verses a noticeable pattern emerged. No fewer than four times we see God's people crying out in trouble and being delivered (verses 6, 13, 19, 28) and then a verse or two later we see God's people being urged to praise the Lord for his goodness and wonderful works (verses 8, 15, 21, 31). Below are the verses described...  

Psalm 107:6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses

Psalm 107:8 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

 

Psalm 107:13 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses

Psalm 107:15 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Psalm 107:19 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses 

Psalm 107:21 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Psalm 107:28 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses 

Psalm 107:31 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

As I read over the entire Psalm a few times I found myself feeling encouraged, comforted, and convicted...I felt encouraged by the example of God's people crying to the Lord in prayer when troubled and afflicted. God's people are a praying people and we need to cry out to the Lord in times of need. I was also comforted by seeing that after God's people cried out to him he saved them out of their troubles. God hears the prayers of his children and we can take comfort in knowing that he will deliver us from our afflictions in due time. Lastly, I also felt convicted in my conscience when reading this Psalm, specifically by the verses calling God's people to praise the Lord for his goodness and wonderful works. Praise to God should be overflowing out of our lips at all times. He has been oh so good to us and too often we take for granted the many blessings he has showered upon us.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 34:6 which reads "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." If you are reading this now and feel as if life's troubles are an army laying siege against you I urge you to fall on your face and cry out to God. God will save you from all your troubles, that is a promise, and when he does you need to fall back on your face...this time singing praise to God and thanking him for his goodness and enduring mercy!

The one whom God hears...

John 9:31b ...if any man be a worshipper of God, and does his will, him he hears.

Yesterday I was cleaning up some paperwork on my desk at home and I came across a piece of paper where I had written in the corner John 9:31. I do not recall the original circumstances that had made me write this verse down; however, I opened up the Bible to this verse and upon reading and thinking about it some more I felt compelled to write some thoughts down...

I think the meaning of this scripture becomes clearer when asking yourself the question "whose prayers does God listen and respond to?" The answer here clearly states that God listens and responds to the one who worships God and who does the will of God. We see in Psalm 34:15 that "the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry" and in Proverbs 15:29 it is written "the Lord is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the rightous."

A consistent theme in the Bible is God's refusal to hear the prayers/cries of the unbeliever who is unrepentant and living in habitual sin against God (see Isaiah 59:1-2; Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 1:15; Jeremiah 11:11; Ezekiel 8:18; Amos 5:23; 1 Peter 3:12). However, God does hear the prayers/cries of any man who by the grace of God fears, loves, and adores him sincerely and who does his will.

So there is no confusion, this verse is not suggesting that God does not listen to the cries of the sinner for salvation. It does however suggest that the promises of God to his children (the elect) are not reserved for unbelievers who deny Jesus Christ. While this is probably accepted by most, it is unfortunately not all that uncommon to hear Christians giving advice to non-Christians that they should pray to God when faced with tough life circumstances. While the intention of the Christian, though misguided as it is, may be good, the Bible is clear that God will not hear the prayers of those who do not worship and obey him. The first piece of advice we need give to those who are not Christians is that they turn from their sin and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Man, by the grace of God, must hear and respond to God's word before God is going to hear and respond to Man's word!

The Lord is God...he is creator of all...we are his people

Psalm 100:3 Know that the Lord is God: it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

I was reading the Psalms yesterday afternoon and this verse stood out to me as I was meditating upon Psalm 100. If one was looking for a single verse of scripture that called out for the universal adoration of the Lord this would certainly be a worthy contender to consider. This is an amazing verse to spend some time thinking about.

Know that the Lord is God and he is creator of the heavens and the earth. As such he has made us...each and every one of us. It is not we who created ourselves. We see in Colossians 1:15-16 and in Proverbs 16:4 that God made all for himself. We are his people and he is our shepherd. As sheep we are to look up to him for all things for he is the true and living God. The shepherd cares for his sheep and will not stand to lose a single one. We are wonderfully made and can take comfort in knowing we were known of God before he formed us in our mother's womb...we belong to him.

As you give praise to God and rejoice in him today read Psalm 100 out loud. The Lord is God, he is creator of all, and we are his people...so praise and rejoice in him today for this is the day that the Lord has made.

The When and How of Prayer...

Luke 18:1 ...men ought always to pray, and not to faint.

This week I received the Fall 2012 issue of Free Grace Broadcaster and the subject for this quarter is titled "Vital Prayer." If you are unfamiliar with these quarterly booklets I highly recommend getting on the mail list to receive them. They are real gems!

This verse is a favorite of mine on prayer because it provides so much instruction and insight on when and how to pray in such a short little verse.

We see in Luke 18:1 that men ought always to pray. God's people are a praying people and we should offer up prayers to God at all times and in all seasons. We should go to the throne of grace at every opportunity whether it be for repenting, offering thanks and praise, for prayer requests, or any combination thereof. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul writes to pray without ceasing. Even if our prayers to God appear to go through long droughts without an apparent answer we see in Luke 18:1 that we are not to faint and grow weary from praying, but instead we are to persevere and continue. Though we may be heavily afflicted and suffering mightily we are not to become discouraged, but we should remain steadfast in offering up our prayers to God.

The first article in the "Vital Prayer" Free Grace Broadcaster this quarter is titled "The Most Important Subject" by J.C. Ryle (1816-1900). As I read over this article earlier in the week there were several passages on prayer that I highlighted that are worth writing here. It is my understanding that the excerpts that follow were originally included in Ryle's book "Practical Religion."

• To be prayerless is to be without God -- without Christ -- without grace -- without hope  -- and without heaven.

• Just as the first sign of life in an infant when born into the world is the act of breathing, so the first act of men and women when they are born again is praying.

• Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to life. How a man can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a man can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too.

As I look inward and analyze my Christian walk one of the areas I know I need to improve upon is my prayerlife. How about you? Do you find yourself praying without ceasing? If not let us work to cultivate this area of our life. We are dependent upon God for our every good and without him we can do nothing - let us offer up prayers always and without growing weary.

Thy way...Thy truth...Thy name, O Lord!

Psalm 86:11 Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

In this verse offered up by David in Psalm 86 we have three deep desires revealed by David that should occupy the heart and mind of every Christian. 1) We should desire that God would reveal his will to us and instruct us; 2) we should be committed to walking according to God's will revealed to us in his truth; and 3) we should desire that our hearts be not divided in its affections, but united in its purpose of revering and honoring God.

Teach me thy way, O Lord...

Oh how important it is to be taught the things of God by God for God's glory. I mention God consecutively like this to stress who is doing the teaching here and for what purpose. If you are not a student of God you will become a student of the world and will be led deeper and deeper into darkness and deceit. The ways of the world around us are foolishness, but the ways of God are all that is true.

I will walk in thy truth...

Once taught by God we are to walk daily in God's truth, as revealed to us in the Bible. There is a quote below that I like from the puritan Thomas Watson that describes this walk beautifully:

Conform to Scripture. Let us lead Scripture lives. Oh that the Bible might be seen to be printed in our lives! Do what the Word commands. Obedience is an excellent way of commenting upon the Bible. Let the Word be the sun-dial by which you set your life. What are we the better for having the Scriptures, if we do not direct all our speeches and actions according to it....and regulate our lives by it?

 Unite my heart to fear thy name...

Our hearts should be united with a single desire to have our will subjected to the will of God and we need to  properly reverence and honor God. In Proverbs 1:7 we read "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." If  you are to be taught the things of God and walk according to his will you must revere and honor God with an undivided heart. On this verse, C.H. Spurgeon comments "to fear God is both the beginning, the growth, and the maturity of wisdom, therefore should we be undividedly given up to it, heart and soul."

Psalm 86:11 is a beautiful verse for us and we see that where holiness is taught (Teach me thy way, O Lord), where truth is practiced (I will walk in thy truth), and where God is adored (Unite my heart to fear thy name) we find the life lived for God and his glory...and thus the life perfected.

What is it you treasure most?

Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal...for where your treasure is there will your heart be also.

Dear friend, what is it you treasure most in life? Think upon this question for a while...think about how you spend your time; how you spend your money; what your thoughts are consumed by...and what matters most to you this hour. The answer to this question is undoubtedly what your heart desires most in life. Now take this exercise one step further and ask yourself based on your responses whether your heart's desires are earthly/worldly or whether they are heavenly/eternal. Do your answers show yourself to be a lover of the things of this world (i.e. material possessions) or a lover of the things of God?

If what you treasure most in life is of earthly/worldly importance you are selling your heart into bondage to things that do not benefit the soul and that will never bring you lasting joy and happiness! Instead, lay up for yourself treasures in heaven. As Albert Barnes remarks..."do not exhaust your strength and spend your days in providing for the life here, but let your chief anxiety be to be prepared for eternity. If you are a Christian then you are an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that does not fade away."

If God truly be the desire of our souls then our hearts will reflect this by treasuring up things of eternal value. Only you and the Lord know where your heart truly is this hour, but I earnestly plead with you that if you do not treasure God the most in your life...if there are things in this world that have replaced God as most important to you....you need to repent, pray for the renewal of your mind, and redirect your heart upwards.

Cast Your Burden upon the Lord

Psalm 55:22 Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.


My travels this week through the book of Psalms has taken me now to Psalm 55 and to a great verse of comfort that is found in verse 22. What a wonderful verse this is! The instruction here is to give your burden over to God and he will lift you up and preserve you and never allow you to fall from the weight of what you are going through. Similar instruction is also found in 1 Peter 5:7.

Do you feel burdened this hour by the cares, afflictions, fears, and trials that have been heaped upon your shoulders? Has the weight of carrying around this dreary load caused you to tire and become exhausted? If so, I urge you to give it all over to the Lord. Our great God will not only carry your burdens for you, but he will also carry you in his arms as well.

In Matthew 11:28-30 we find Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, offering this:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden (burdened), and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Dear friend be anxious and worried over nothing...if God's providence has placed a burden upon your shoulders this week then follow what the psalmist has to say here in Psalm 55:22.

Stop carrying life's burdensome load all by yourself and turn to Jesus Christ for rest.



 

Your Soul's Desire...are You Thirsty?

Psalm 42:1-2 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

I am continuing to work my way through the Psalms as of late and today's post covers a pair of verses that includes figurative language that is quite beautiful. For those who may not be accustomed to the King James rendering of these scriptures, it is important to note that "hart" here is an old word used to describe a "full mature stag" or deer. So what we have here described is the the soul and its desire for God being compared to the deer that is longing and looking for the quenching water found in water brooks (streams that run in valleys).

Next we read of the thirst the soul has for the living God and a desire to be with God and to see his face. God is often described as being "the living God" and the reason is to distinguish God from the false Gods that people worship. Friends our God is a living God and unlike the idols people have carved out of wood and stone that have neither eyes to see nor ears to hear. Our greatest longing should be to come face to face before our God in heaven.

In the Treasury of David, C.H. Spurgeon writes:

O to have the most intense craving after the highest good! this is no questionable mark of grace. Not merely for the temple and the ordinances, but for fellowship with God himself....because he lives, and gives to men the living water; therefore we, with greater eagerness, desire him. The ever-living God, the perennial fountain of life and light and love, is our soul's desire....to see the face of God - this is worth thirsting after!

My friend does your soul long and thirst for the one true and living God? Can it be said of your soul that it desires God as the deer desires to drink from the water brook?

Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, says in John 7:37-38 "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

The living water that Jesus gives those who thirst is the only thing that satisfies the longings of the soul. If today you are thirsty and tired I urge you to fall to your knees at the foot of the cross and drink.

Let Us Rejoice and be Glad...We who are in God's Thoughts

Psalm 40:16-17 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified. But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

This morning while sipping a cup of coffee I read through and meditated upon Psalm 40. I have been in the habit lately of using Pigma Micron pens to underline verses of scripture in my bible and among the half dozen or so verses I underlined in this Psalm were the two highlighted above. What an awesome close to the fortieth Psalm!

In verse 16 we read that all those that seek the Lord shall rejoice and be glad and that we should continually praise the Lord and lift up his name. God should be praised continually as it is he that continually pours down blessings upon our heads. If we are not willing to magnify the Lord in all that we do while on earth what makes us think we will want any part of heaven where we are to magnify the Lord for eternity?

Verse 17 contains one of the most amazing truths in all of scripture where it reads "...yet the Lord thinketh upon me" Stop for a second and think about the magnitude of what is written here. The Lord, who is infinitely big and the creator of all that is in existence, actually thinks about us who are so finite and small. We are but specks of dust in the sea of creation yet the Lord thinks upon us! Awesome. Another Psalm that speaks to the thoughts the Lord has towards us is found in Psalm 139:17-18.

Psalm 139:17-18 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. 

I particularly like Albert Barnes' commentary on Psalm 40:17 where he writes: "to be an object of the thoughts of God; to be had in his mind; to be constantly in his remembrance; to be certain that he will not forsake us in our trouble; to be assured in our own minds that one so great as God will never cease to think on us, may well sustain us in all the trials of life."

Let us rejoice and be glad in the Lord and magnify his name always! We who are so poor and needy are in God's thoughts always.

The Brevity of Life

Psalm 39:4-5 Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere hand-breadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath. 

I was reading Psalm 39 earlier this afternoon and found verses 4-5 to include a wonderful prayer and an important acknowledgement. One of the many regular prayers we should offer up to God is for the grace to realize how fleeting our lives are. The Lord could call us home at any moment yet all too often we go about our lives as if we are going to dwell in these earthly tabernacles forever. O the foolishness! We need to be reminded daily of the brevity of life. We are here one day and gone the next. In the bible, man is often compared to withering grass to illustrate just how fleeting this life on earth is (Psalm 90, Psalm 103; Isaiah 40, Isaiah 51; 1 Peter 1:24).

So what are we to think of these scripture verses? Well, for the Christian we know that if our earthly house (body) were destroyed we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1). The shortness of life on earth should not cause us to despair! But like the Apostle Paul we should recognize that to live is Christ and to die is gain...that while in the body we will live fruitful lives...but we should desire to depart and be with Christ (Philippians 1:21, 23).

To read a great sermon on Philippians 1:23 given by C. H. Spurgeon on September 11, 1859 check out the Spurgeon Archive here.

The Knowledge of God and of Ourselves...

This evening I pulled out volume one of John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion and read over chapter one of book one on "The Knowledge of God the Creator." I have always enjoyed reading Institutes of the Christian Religion and I am not sure why this classic is not pulled down from my book shelf with more regularity, as it has been a good while since I last buried my nose in it. The rich nuggets that one is able to extract from this classic is nearly unrivaled as far as Christian literature goes in my opinion!

In writing about the knowledge of God and of ourselves, John Calvin states:

It is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God's face and becomes convinced of his own unrighteousness, foulness, folly, and impurity...thus from the feeling of our own ignorance, vanity, poverty, infirmity, and - what is more - depravity and corruption, we recognize that the true light of wisdom, sound virtue, full abundance of every good, and purity of righteousness rest in the Lord alone. To this extent we are prompted by our own ills to contemplate the good things of God. Accordingly, the knowledge of ourselves not only arouses us to seek God, but also, as it were, leads us by the hand to find him.

The knowledge of God should serve to humble our pride and reveal to us our complete and utter need of Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ we can do nothing (John 15:5).