Delighting in the LORD

Though God has graciously revealed Himself to people, there is infinitely more to God than we know.  The almighty God who is unapproachable in glory has spoken to us in His word, by voice booming from the heavens, in person by Jesus Christ and to our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  God's personal revelation to those who trust Him is as uniquely tailored by God as each person He has created.

Have you noticed when people have an amazing experience they not only desire others to share that experience but to enjoy it as much as they did?  While this can sometimes happen, other times these desires are unfulfilled by both parties.  I had a friend who loved roller coasters, and I wasn't so sure.  As a young teen I would be fine to go on less "extreme" rides on offer, by my friend wasn't having it.  "You're going on every single ride in this park," my friend said.  And I did.  I don't know if I enjoyed them as much as he did from the start, but by the end I was the one saying to the uninitiated, "You have to try this one.  You'll love it."  We do the same with quality restaurants, books and travel destinations.  If we enjoy exceptional customer service, value and results, we are the ones urging others to experience it too.  When our expectations are built up by others, later comparing our experiences with them can lead to feeling let down.

I have observed a similar thing among followers of Jesus Christ.  We have had personal experiences with God Who has changed our lives and perspective, and we want others to also know and receive as we have.  The one who is miraculously healed desires others would miraculously be healed too.  If we have been given a clear directive from God in response to prayer and fasting, we share our testimony of God's faithfulness to exhort others to do the same.  When we have been gifted to teach, speak in tongues and interpret after we asked God, we desire the same for others.  Moses and Paul both said they wished all would prophesy (Num. 11:29; 1 Cor. 13:5), and I can identify with their desire God's people would desire all gifts He has for them.  At the same time, I have come to realise God is not limited or governed by our desires for others, for His plans are greater than my plans and dreams.  He chooses to reveal Himself and gift believers according to His will, and His ways indeed are past finding out.

This fervent desire for others to experience God, His presence and guidance can ironically lead to divisions apart from love and maturity.  The one who heard God speak in an audible voice can be puffed up with pride, and the one who has never heard God speak with an audible voice can feel slighted and left out.  This one might even question the validity of the claim and become suspicious or bitter.  Paul asked rhetorically in 1 Corinthians 12:29-30:  "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?"  The answer is clearly no.  The context is the church, the body of Christ, is comprised of different members with various roles with unique gifts and experiences.  Christians are united with Christ as one yet this does not mean we will share the same gifts or personal revelations of our glorious God.

How many have shipwrecked on the rock of differing personal experiences, questioning their own salvation or the experiences of others because they were not identical!  How many believers have sought particular gifts or manifestations of the Holy Spirit as the badge of their own spiritual authenticity rather than the edification of the church and the glory of the God Who gifts people according to His will!  How often spiritual exercises and ceremony become more about the honour of men than to honour God who has redeemed and reconciled us unto Himself.  Paul wrote we ought to covet the best spiritual gifts and showed how walking in faith, hope and love trumps all these temporal manifestations that will one day fade away.  All God gives is good, and we ought to value the Giver over all gifts.  Seek the LORD instead of an experience; make your requests known to God and rejoice in Him rather than lamenting what is not.

God is most gracious to reveal Himself to us and also reveal our growing need for God to be spiritually fruitful and faithful.  Delight in the experience of knowing God and consider how He has revealed Himself to you in a unique, meaningful way.  Comparing your experiences with others can take the focus off God who we ought to delight in and leads to arrogance and disappointment.  Praise the LORD He is faithful and generous with Himself with all people, and what more can God give than all?

Guided With God's Eye

The Bible is an awesome revelation of the living God so man might know and worship Him.  I was blessed beyond measure to read this passage today where David, in the midst of expressing faith in God, received first-person guidance from God he trusted in Psalm 32:7-10:  "You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah ⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. ⁹ Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you. ¹⁰ Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him."

David found God to be a refuge and help in time of trouble, the God who surrounded him with songs of deliverance.  The Psalms are packed with songs that begin in the midst of conflict and trouble resolved with deliverance and thanksgiving to the God who faithfully preserves His people.  God promised to instruct and teach David (and by extension those who seek the LORD) in the way He should go.  God employed the illustration of a horse and mule that must be fitted with bit and bridle so the rider could direct the animal in battle, for use in transport or as a beast of burden.  In contrast to a rider tugging on reins God promised, "I will guide you with My eye."  This is an amazing promise indeed.  We would be happy with an audible voice from heaven, even with physical restraints to remind and direct us to seek God and walk in His ways.

A rider guides a horse knowing the destination and the way to go; a mule is guided  to labour profitably.  God is able to see what horse, mule and rider cannot see, for He wears no blinders, knows the secret thoughts and motives of man, and has infinitely greater plans and purposes beyond what we can imagine.  The New Testament fleshes out by the Gospel how the child of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, is empowered and led by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.  How wondrous, that the pure Holy Spirit who knows and sees all would take up residence within us and help us be spiritually fruitful, to guide us according to God's love!  Jesus promised His disciples the Holy Spirit in their hour of need would lead them in what to say, for the Holy Spirit would speak through them (Mark 13:11).  It is an interesting thing to be guided by God's eye, for He is able to provide clear signals even without an audible voice to those who look to Him in faith.

In verse 7 David said the one who seeks refuge in God will be surrounded with songs of deliverance, and in verse 10 wrote mercy surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.  When we come to God He does not saddle us with keeping the Law of Moses, nor is the bit and bridle of religious tradition forced between our teeth pulled by the fear of man:  God guides us with His eye.  Like a sheep that responds obediently to come to the shepherd at his call, so we are to heed and obey Jesus Christ who is the Way.  We are called to love one another as Jesus loves us, and the God who knows all guides us with His eye.  Those whom come to Christ in faith will be instructed and taught in the way of righteousness, for Jesus is righteousness for us.

God's Favour Is For Life

"Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. ⁵ For His anger is but for a moment, His favour is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."

Psalm 30:4-5

One attribute of God I find comforting is His immutability, the fact He does not change.  This means God is glorious and good now and forever, and He will always stay true to His word.  What security and rest we have by faith in our Creator who always loves us without fail.  His grace, mercy and goodness have no end.  David urged all to sing praise to the LORD and to give thanks, and He is our sole source of joy and life.

Though God is eternal and all His attributes infinite, His "anger is but for a moment."  The God who is infinite in power has set divine limits upon His anger.  The redeemed of the LORD praise God for this!  Those who die in their sins will face His wrath forever and ever, yet for those who trust in Jesus Christ God's anger has an end.  Our lives on earth are compared to a breath or a vapour that quickly disappears, and God's anger is temporal and quickly passes away as well.  No matter how long or dark the night seems, children of God by the power of the Gospel are assured of a joyous day approaching where there shall no longer be death, tears or night:  only light, love and joy in God's presence.

Imagine if God's anger burned forever!  Imagine if His love, forgiveness, life and joy were only for a moment!  If this was the case, it would be good never having been born.  For all who have been born again by faith in Jesus, His anger is but for a moment.  When God judged Israel for their sin when David numbered the people, in a matter of days God said to the angel who destroyed, "It is enough.  Put your sword back in the sheath."  Not once has God said this concerning freely giving His love and grace towards sinful flesh.  Grief and sorrow that accompany this life are temporary, but His favour is for an abundant life through Jesus that goes on and on without intermission.

It is a rare thing to sing songs to someone except on their birthday, yet it is always fitting to direct songs of praise to God who puts new life and joy into our hearts by His everlasting grace and love.  Give thanks at the memory of God's holy name, for He is good and His mercy endures forever.

Enter With Thanksgiving

The best celebrations are ones fit for every day, and Thanksgiving is one of them.  I appreciate how the term "thanksgiving" remains in the present tense because there are always reasons to presently praise and thank God for the wondrous things He does.  Since God is good and always was, is and is to come, all He has done, is doing and will do is absolutely worthy of thanksgiving.

In light of God and His grace to all, Psalm 100:1-5 is a glorious exhortation God's people ought take to heart and practice:  "Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! ² Serve the LORD with gladness; come before His presence with singing. ³ Know that the LORD, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. ⁴ Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. ⁵ For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations."

Nehemiah as cupbearer took care not to be sad in the presence of his king as cupbearer, and we ought to approach God with thanksgiving and praise.  But the Bible also reveals the Messiah to be a man "of sorrows, acquainted with grief."  He is not disgusted by the sorrowing heart nor repulsed by people who are overcome with grief.  All who come to God by faith in Christ He will not cast out, even though we mourn.  It was Jesus who said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." (Matthew 5:4)  Even in the depths of pain and grief we can rejoice in the LORD with thanksgiving, for we have the promise of comfort found nowhere else.  Our Saviour Jesus who drank the cup of wrath and death sinners deserved gives us forgiveness, salvation and eternal life we are ever thankful for.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, for Jesus Christ is the Door through whom we enter into the kingdom of God as He said in John 10:9:  "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."  Thanks be to God for the salvation He has given us and the abundant life provided by faith in Jesus.  Come to God with thanksgiving and praise for He has made us His people and the sheep of His pasture.  Enter in and abide with thanksgiving "for the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations."