Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart

The “also” in this quote from Psalm 37:4, indicates that there are a number of other instructions that need to be heeded, before the desires of our heart can be claimed. The context explains and amplifies both the instructions and the desired result. In terms of instructions, we are told three times not to fret (verses 1, 7, 8); to cease from anger (verse 8); to trust in the LORD; to do good; to dwell in the land, and to feed on His faithfulness (verse 3); to commit to the Lord; to trust in him (verse 5); to rest in him and to wait patiently for him (verse 7). Concerning the results, in addition to receiving the desires of our heart, we are assured that he will bring it to pass (verse 5) and that he will vindicate us (verse 6).

There is a strong connection between our emotional state, the things that we do, and the desires of our hearts. If we are involved in destructive habits, it will be difficult to trust in Him, we will not find rest, and though we may have no choice but to wait, it is unlikely to be patient waiting. I speak from experience! There is much that can be said about these things, but I want to mention this morning a connection between dwelling in the land, feeding on his faithfulness and delighting in Him. In this age of instant gratification, it is far too easy to be focused on what we do not have. When we do this, we miss what the Lord is doing outside of this focus!

There is a saying that rather than ask the Lord to bless what we are doing, we should cooperate with the Lord in what He is blessing. Similarly, we can get so caught up in all the ongoing evil that surrounds us, and be so stymied by it, that we fail to see the good things He is doing, and to fail to do the things that He is calling us to do. This is what He means by dwelling in the land. Perhaps the main point, is that when we obey the instructions given in this Psalm, then our desires will be right. We will have gotten out of the Lord’s way. In this way He can deal with the situation at hand, rather than having to deal with us and our anger and our fretting!

Father, Your Word shows us that peace, rest, stability, delight and hope, these things are both the fruit of the Spirit and commands to obey. Part of our obedience is our total surrender to You, and as much as it within us to do the things commanded in this Psalm. The words of the hymn come to mind: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look for in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and Grace.” Help me to do my part this morning Lord, because I know that when I do my part, You are at work in me both to give me the desires and the wherewithal to do it (Philippians 2:12, 13). And I praise and bless You again this morning Lord in Jesus Name Amen

His anger is but for a moment, His favour is for life

We don’t seem to want to talk about the wrath of God anymore, and I suppose in times past, we spoke about it too much! But if we are to take the whole counsel of God, we should not forget that we all needed to flee to God for refuge (Hebrews 6:18). And for the believer, the contrast between the momentary nature of His anger, and the eternal duration of His favour is more clearly brought out in John 3:36, where we are told “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.” The rest of the verse tells me “He who does not believe the Son shall not see life.” And I am reminded this morning, of the need to pray for my unsaved loved ones!

But it was concerning His favour, to which the Lord brought my attention this morning from Psalm 30:5a. I am fond of saying that I am His favourite son! But then so are you (favourite daughter if you are female). But how can we all be favourites? Well I explain it by using a false etymology (derivation) of the word favourite. I see favourite as “favour – right.” In other words the believer is given the right to His favour! So what does His favour look like? Well it’s all over the Word. First and foremost we are given the right to be called the sons of God (John 1:12). He daily loads is down with benefits (Psalms 68:19), He calls us His friends (John 15:15), He tells us that if we abide in Him, and His words abide in us, we will ask what we desire, and it will be given (John 15:7) etc., etc.

I suspect that most of us don’t really believe this! I am reminded of a prophetic word that was given to Kris Vallotton and was followed by another which said “History will tell us if you believed me.” This slowness to believe was characteristic even of the first disciples (Luke 24:25). I cannot condemn them, because after having seen literally hundreds of miracles on a short-term mission trip with Randy Clark (see the testimonies in on the Global Awakening webpage), I still had far from fully entered into faith to believe for more. But I knew and know what to do! In particular, the Scriptures tell me “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17), and since “Man does not live by bread alone every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4), then I need to daily feed on His Word.

Father, the prayer “I believe, help my unbelief” comes to mind again this morning. Your word tells us Lord, that faith is not of ourselves, even this is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). So Lord please increase my faith this morning, and help me to do my part by being consistent in reading and meditating on Your Word. I thank You this morning Lord for Your many favours, I thank You for Your patience with me, and I thank You that You who have begun a good work in me, will keep right on working until You come (Philippians 1:6). And I pray these things in Jesus Name Amen

Sorrow may last for a night, But joy comes in the morning

The Scriptures tell us that rain falls on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45), and whether that is rain on your parade, or the necessary rain on your crops, we all get a share of good and evil. The context of this morning’s verse from Psalm 30: 5b is of course, sorrow and difficulty and pain. The Lord underlined the truth of this verse for me at a dark time in my life. In fact it would get even darker, and at the very darkest time He connected this verse for me with the line from the ancient hymn “Oh joy that seeks me through the pain, I cannot ask to hide from thee, I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not in vain, that morn will tearless be!”

There are at least three advantages the Christian has, over the unbeliever. They are the principles and promises of His Word, and His Presence in our lives. All three of these give those who trust in Him, a sure hope. This is not a vague hope, as in “I hope it doesn’t rain!” Such a hope may or may not have a positive outcome. But the hope all which we speak is a certain hope, a living hope, the hope of an inheritance that does not fade away. This hope anchors our soul, and connects us, in a tangible way, to His presence. (Hebrews 6:19; 1 Peter 1:3, 4). The surety of this hope, enables us to stand in the face of what, without it, would surely devastate us. But as we stand by faith, and push through the pain knowing, as in the above hymn, that pain is a barrier, the other side of which is joy, then our anchor holds, and we obtain the grace to stand and having done all to stand.

No one is saying this is easy, but we grow stronger by overcoming. It is in the testing and the trials and the temptation that we know whether our faith is real or not. Do we really believe that joy will come in the morning? Or do we listen to the voice of the enemy that can come, even through those who love us. Was it not Job’s wife who told him to curse God and die (Job 2:9)? Will we believe and with Job reply “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity” (verse 10)? Remember that through all the pain, and the trials and the betrayals, Job could eventually say “I had only heard about You before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes” (Job 42:5). In other words through it all he had been drawn into the Presence behind the veil!

Father, it is by grace that we have been saved (Ephesians 2:8), is by grace that we stand (Romans 5:2), and it is by grace that we endure (Hebrews 4:16). So I want to thank You this morning Lord, for Your amazing Grace. Thank You too for your principles, your promises and Your Presence. I give you all the honour and glory and praise again this morning Lord, in Jesus Name Amen

Though the fig tree does not blossom …. yet I will rejoice in the Lord

The context of this quote from Habakkuk 3:17,18 is of devastation following the spiritual decline of God’s people. Habakkuk had been questioning the Lord, he could not seem to understand why people were able to get away with what they were getting away with. There was such injustice, such depravity, and people were seemingly living at ease (Chapter 1). However the nation stood under the discipline of God, and was starting to reap the consequences of having turned its back on Him. Under the law, God would actually send pestilence and famine, and would even bring down armies on Israel and send them into exile. In the midst of this Habakkuk wrestles through his pain, his questions and his angst, and in spite of it all declares “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” He can do this, for he knows that the Lord is in His holy temple (Habakkuk 2:20). In other words he knows that God is still on the throne, that He is still in control.

It is my understanding, that in the new covenant God does not actually send calamity, He does however allow for the law of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6:7), and when we as a nation turn our backs upon Him, then He withdraws His hand of protection. And we do need to remember that we have an enemy who seeks to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10a). Nevertheless it remains true that the Lord is in His holy temple, that He is in control, and that He has plans for our good (Jeremiah this 29:11). In particular He is working in ways we cannot see, and so with the eyes of faith we set our eyes on Jesus who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross despising the shame (Hebrews 12:2). And in doing so, we can choose with Habakkuk, to rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of our salvation (Habakkuk 3:18).

In my own experience, Joy is one of the first things to go when I take my eyes off Jesus. And by drawing my attention to this verse again this morning, the Lord is reminding me that I need to choose to rejoice over and over. I mean Habakkuk’s struggle seems so strangely current, with the spiritual bankruptcy of his time paralleling the spiritual bankruptcy of our own! But if we exhibit joy in the midst of it all, then together with the other fruit of the Spirit, it becomes a strong testimony to the world that there is a deeper reality than the temporal reality of the here and now. So if I am fully convinced that we have not believed cunningly devised fables, and I am, then with Habakkuk I choose this morning to rejoice in the Lord, and to joy in the God of my salvation.

Father, in the verse following the one just quoted, Habakkuk declares “The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like hind’s feet.” It is my understanding that a hind is a kind of female deer that is able to stand in very precarious places. In this morning Lord I am asking you to help me and anyone reading this blog to stand, and having done all to stand. And I ask You Lord to do Your part in helping us to rejoice. And if nothing else Lord, we can choose to rejoice that You have clothed us with garments of salvation, and covered us with robes of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). And so I praise and bless and worship You again this morning Lord, in Jesus Name Amen

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest (II) Diligent rest

The paradox in the title of this post is perhaps best seen in the context of the quote which says “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9- 11). We are told that are three interrelated ways the Israelites of old did failed to exercise due diligence. They were disobedience (Hebrews 4:11), they had an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God (Hebrews 3:12) and their hearts were hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13).

Part of this was that they did not enter the promised land when they were told to, and they tried to enter when they were told not to (Numbers 13 and 14). The unbelief came out of fear of the in inhabitants of the land, and the hardness of heart came in terms of their wilful disobedience in seeking to enter when they were told not to. I have seen this many times in Christians doing works the Lord had to not called them to, and not doing the works He has. I have been there at times too! However, it is only as we have rest from such works (verse 10), that we can enter into His rest and operate out of it. Operating out of His rest means that we move when He says to move, and stand still when He says to stand still. In other words when we are operating moment by moment in complete dependence on His guidance and leading.

And this only really works, when we know who we are, and we know whose we are. And we need due diligence in this, for as with Jesus the Evil One comes along and tempts us to forget these things. In the words of a chorus that is popular at the moment “I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God!” As children of God we have authority over all the works of the evil one. And it is our identity many times, that the Evil One seeks to attack, casting doubt in subtle ways. As with Jesus he comes and whispers in our ear “if you are a child of God… “ (Matthew 4:3). Jesus answered by quoting Scripture. And it is no coincidence that the very next verse (after Hebrews 4:11) tells us that the Word of God is living and powerful and cuts both ways in terms of our inner temptations and our outer challenges.

Father, the due diligence of which we speak, has a lot to do with staying vitally connected to You, knowing who we are in You, knowing our authority and knowing that “If You be for us, who can be against us" (Romans 8:31). Due diligence Lord has to do with keeping short accounts with You, confessing when we need to, and coming boldly before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). Thank You Lord for Your care and concern, thank You that You are far more interested in us coming into life in all its fullness that we could ever be. Thank You that our walk moment by moment in obedience is the safest place in the universe in Jesus Name Amen

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest (I) What it means

The word “strive” in this quote from Hebrews 4:11 in the ESV, is not an accurate translation, but it makes a good blog title! Thayer tells us that the Greek means “to make haste, to exert oneself, endeavour or give difference.” Other translations have “labour, or be diligent.” We will look at this later, but today I want to look at what the author means by rest. There are several "rests" referred to in the book of Hebrews. Two are relevant to our discussion. The first is the rest that the Israelites failed to obtain, when they were refused entrance into their rest in promised land. The second, is in verse 9 where the author argues that “There remains a rest for the people of God today.” This he says is because the admonition to "strive" to enter into rest in Psalm 95:11, was given many years after the Israelites failed to enter their rest.

So what is this rest that is available for us today? It is I think helpful to compare it with the three aspects of salvation. I was saved from the penalty of sin (justification), I am being saved from the power of sin (sanctification), and I will be saved from the presence of sin (glorification). In the same way firstly, the Christian can rest from the need to earn his or her salvation. Secondly there is a rest available in the here and now, a rest from striving against sin. Then there is the eternal rest of heaven. It is this middle aspect of rest I wish to address. Jesus calls this “soul rest” when He offers “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28, 29).

What I want to say this morning, is that those Christians who have some of the more obvious addictions (alcohol, drugs, pornography, anger etc., etc.) actually have an advantage, in terms of entering into this rest. And the advantage is this, the addiction can be a huge aid to help us to come out of denial. This is what the first step in any 12-step program is all about, namely coming to terms with the fact that we cannot live the Christian life without a lot of help. It is hard, though not impossible, to be a Christian and a Pharisee in the midst of your addiction. If you are that, it means is you are still in denial! So then this rest is first of all knowing that we need to come to Him, and to come to Him. Then “all” we need to do it is to take His yoke upon us and learn of Him. More to come!

Father, I put the word “all” in inverted commas in the above sentence, because although it is very simple, it is far from easy. But what seems to be true Father, is that the greater our need, the greater the deliverance when it comes. And Lord my experience of being diligent to enter into your rest, is that it needs to be a daily diligence. And it is indeed all about coming to You, about our ongoing relationship with You. Thank You that this promises is true Lord, for You are faithful. And I worship You this morning Lord in Jesus Name Amen

Conflict intimacy and the cross (IV) Time out

To my knowledge there are just two scriptures that speak about a timeout in relationships. The first, with no obvious context, is found in Ecclesiastes 3:5b. It says “There is a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.” The second is in 1 Corinthians 7:5 which, in the context of marital relationships, says “Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, so that Satan does not tempt you.” The context of prayer and fasting may or may not be related to conflict, but it certainly can be. As recently as last night I was hearing testimonies of marriages that benefited from a timeout. But it’s not just marital relationships are can be helped by these things!

One of the songs I remember from my youth had the line “You always hurt the one you love, the one you shouldn’t hurt at all.” Again this is true not only of marital relationships, but friendships in general. Being fallible humans we let each other down all the time, and as I posted earlier I am convinced that a deep and intimate relationship cannot be established without a period of conflict or mutual suffering. So we may indeed need time out to lick our wounds, to engage in the process of choosing to forgive, to figure out our own part in the conflict, and then to come together again as we submit first to God, and then to each other (Ephesians 5:21).

Taking a timeout should be a last resort, but it may be necessary at times because of the weakness of our flesh (Romans 6:19). It is best however, if we settle our disputes quickly, amiably and in love and humility. The Scripture admonishes us to “Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:26, 27). The point is, that when we leave things, they can easily fester. And as in the 1 Corinthians 7 quotation we do need “to come together again.” It is helpful to not leave this vague, but rather to agree on a time to do this. If we don’t do this, because of the weakness of our flesh, it is far too easy to “just let her slide.” In fact this is one of the many ways, we can indeed give place to the devil!

Father, I am so aware this morning of the need to commit to each other in relationships. I mean relationships seem to be one of the most, if not the most, difficult things we need to deal with in life. And if there is no commitment, we can easily drift apart at the first sign of conflict. As I said above, it may be necessary at times to take a timeout. I know this Lord because of the many times I myself have been deeply hurt. But I’m asking You this morning Lord to help me not to nurse my hurt at such times, but rather to take hold of the grace that is so readily available to us in Christ, to come again to the foot of the cross, so that I may be humbled again as I consider the price that You paid for our reconciliation, both with You and each other. And I thank and praise You again this morning Lord, for Your willingness to answer this prayer which I pray in Jesus Name Amen