Lifted Up

"To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul."

Psalm 25:1, NIV

David is the writer of the above words. In and through them, he expresses the commitment of his inner being -- his emotional and spiritual makeup -- to ascend to God. He is determined to have his soul lifted up to the Father.

But is that possible?
How can his soul, or anyone else's for that matter, be lifted up to God?

Lord, open my eyes that I may see wonderful truths in Your Word!

The Lord reveals, firstly, a strong need for human souls to be lifted up to Him in the following verses:

"My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long? 

. . . I am worn out from my groaning; 

all night long I flood my bed with weeping 

and drench my couch with tears. 

My eyes grow weak with sorrow; 

they fail because of all my foes." 

-- Psalm 6:3, 6-7, NIV

"The troubles of my heart have multiplied; 

free me from my anguish." 

-- Psalm 25:17, NIV

"My soul is downcast within me . . ." 

-- Psalm 42:6, NIV

This soul weariness is not just typical of David. Throughout Scripture, we find reasons to believe it is a rare moment when the human soul is free from anguish or sorrow.

Abraham experienced it.
Isaac was not spared from it.

And down the line

Joseph
Moses
Eli
Job
Jeremiah
Habakkuk . . .

even Jesus encountered this phenomenon -- "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground" (Luke 22:44, NIV)

. . . Peter
John
Paul
you
I

We all know what it is like to be weary in our soul.

But why?
Why are we so familiar with soul weariness?

The Father reveals to us that soul weariness will overwhelm our senses when we focus on what our physical eyes see.

"Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise Him,

my Savior and my God."

Psalm 43:5, NIV

In other words, when humans do not put their hope in the Father, the result is a downcast and disturbed soul. When we allow circumstances to halt or dam the flow of our praise to God, it goes without saying the condition of our soul will also plummet to the den of worry and despair.

Indeed, the Father invites us to ask our soul a significant question:

Soul, will you look to circumstances or will you look to God?

Each and every time we set our eyes upon earthly matters, soul weariness dethrones God. On the other hand, a soul is lifted up to God when, like David, we put our hope in God despite unfavorable circumstances.

Praising God in sickness and in health, in plenty and in want, in rain and in shine, in the morning and in the evening is the elevator that lifts our soul up to the Father.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Fear no Human, Trust in God

"Fear of man will prove to be a snare . . ." -- Proverbs 29:25a, NIV

For fear of man Lot offered his daughters to Sodom's sex-crazed men, Abraham lied about Sarah (calling his wife his sister), Isaac denied his wife and gave her to Abimelech, Saul forfeited his kingdom, the Israelite army stood paralyzed for 40 days before Goliath, the royal officials at the gate of king Xerxes knelt down and paid honor to the jew-hating Haman, young captives ate the desecrated food at king Nebuchadnezzar's table, Judas betrayed his Teacher and Friend, Peter denied his Lord three times, the disciples deserted Jesus, Ananias and Sapphira lied to the apostles . . .

What foolish deeds!
What misplaced fear!

You and I, my friend, continue on the same idiotic path when we persist on altering our behavior solely because of what someone might say, think, or do to us. We adopt and adapt to another person's tastes, preferences, and philosophies because we fear offending them -- not even taking the time to genuinely assess and come to understand our true identity.

" . . . but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." -- Proverbs 29:25b, NIV

The beginning of wisdom is to fear the Lord, to trust in Him, to surrender to YHWH, to relinquish all control to Him from dawn to dusk and throughout the night. True wisdom is attained when we realize it is not sound to fear those who can kill the body and after that can do not an iota more. Peace is found when we learn to be still and know that the Lord of hosts is God. He is the One whom we are invited to fear, to revere, to honor, to serve, to heed, and to love always.

How often do you and I turn God's glory into shame?
How long will you and I love delusions and seek false gods?
How often do you and I blindly opt not to contend for our faith?
How long will you and I try to cover our tracks for fear of getting caught?
How often do you and I imbibe the syrupy lies of unfaithfulness and idolatry?

We walk onward upon this deadly terrain because we fail to realize human beings have but breath in their nostrils. We need not fear them and seek their approval or recognition. The Lord is the One whom we need to seek and acknowledge. His opinion is that which matters.

"If God be for us, who can be against us?" -- Romans 8:31, NIV

That, my friend, is sound faith.

May our love and respect for YHWH be more than the morning mist, more than the early dew that disappears, but may they endure forever!

The Return

Good morning, Lord!

Your Word, O precious Father, tells me that You "keep me as the apple of Your eye [and] hide me in the shadow of Your wings," according to Psalm 17:8, NIV.

A very troubled David, based on Psalm 46:1, informs me that You are indeed "my refuge and strength, [my] ever present help in trouble," O Holy Spirit.

Yes, Lord. 
I hear You.

Yet Mr. Trouble is a persistent knocker and a sly intruder. He not only knocks on my door but he threatens to make of my heart his home. For a very long time, Mr. Trouble kept my pen away from this blog -- one that is intended to help me write my way to Your well of remembrance where daily mercies await. Though I took a break from this blog to work on a writing project for a significant publisher, it became clear to me toward the end of the academic year that my heart and body were too weary from the attacks of Mr. Trouble to continue -- and so, I declined that offer. Health concerns for myself and other relatives also distracted me from You, from the Word, from prayer, from a heart full of gratitude, from so many blessings You had in store for me . . .

" . . . my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold." -- Psalm 73:2, NIV

Thankfully, You and I both know that "though You have made me see troubles, many and bitter, You will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth You will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once more." -- Psalm 71:20-21, NIV

So, today, I am grateful.
I choose thankfulness from the depths of my heart.

I thank You because, even when I cannot see or comprehend it, I know You "surround me with Your favor as with a shield" (Psalm 5:12b, NIV).

I thank You because You "will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. [You] will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. [You] will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in [Your] sight." -- Psalm 72:12-14, NIV

I come to You today.
I return to Your well which never runs dry.

I thank You, O Lord, my refuge and my strength!

Lent 2015 Days 13-16: He Knows

My friend and I visit and pray on the phone most week days before we go to our respective jobs. One thing that always heartens me is the reply I receive from him each time I pop the commonly asked question, "How are you?" His answer is always one and the same:

"I'm alive; I'm awake." 

For six years, we've been praying together, talking about our days, and learning about each other. We have grown truly familiar with one another. Sometimes a slight sigh from me will send him on a probing spree since he can already tell from my voice that there is a rough matter teeming my heart. Sometimes a simple hello from him will cause me to ask about the reason for his ebullience because I can already sense joy and gratitude welling up in his heart. 

That is the beauty of friendship.
That is the beauty of brotherhood.

Still, there is no way he and I can know each other to the extent the Father knows humanity. Though I know many things about him -- things he's told me; things I've sensed -- and vice versa, neither one of us knows when death will separate us. I don't know all his thoughts and he is unaware of some of my pondering. We simply don't know everything about each other. How could we? We are mere mortals.

But there is One who knows. 

Psalm 139:3 expresses it in this way:

"You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways."

The Lord of the ages knows everything about each person's journey.
The Father of wisdom is well aware of our sleeping arrangements.

"Waking or sleeping, Thy presence, my Light!"

His intimate knowledge of each person reveals a God whose unerring precision detects the poison that lodges itself in our thoughts, the bitterness that resides in our hearts, the "chaff" (the unproductivity) that hides itself in our "wheat" (fruitfulness). 

When you and I merely get by in our work, God knows that we are mixing chaff and wheat together. When you and I are unhappy about the promotion that goes to our coworker, the Father knows the bitterness that worms its way inside our hearts. When you and I are premeditating slander, the Lord of lords knows of the poison that we are steadily drinking.

He knows.
He is familiar with our thoughts.
He is well acquainted with all of our ways.

Lenten thought calls us to rend everything to Him; He already knows it all anyway.

Nothing at all is alarming to Him.
Nothing at all is obscured from Him.
Nothing at all is misinterpreted by Him.

He knows.

The Lord knows the ways you and I take every single day, hour, minute, or second. He knows when the path on which we find ourselves is customary or accidental. He knows when the besetting sin we nurse is public or private. He knows when our decisions are based on good or wrong motives.

He knows.

And that is an invitation for us to stand in awe of Him . . .
. . . that we may worship and adore Him.

And that is an invitation for us to find encouragement in Him . . .
. . . that we may courageously take our stand against the devil's schemes.

And that is an invitation for us to live with joy and delight in Him . . .
. . . that we may throw away our mourning clothes and feast upon His victuals.

He knows.

Praise His glorious name!

Lent 2015 Days 11 & 12: Path & Cot

Snow.
Weather.
Hard news.
Cancellations.
Late night talks.

I am not sure what a normal schedule looks like these days. Yesterday, in fact, was particularly unpredictable and thorny causing me to cross a pitiful number of items off of my mile-deep and Eiffel-tower tall checklist. Once again, my desire to achieve finds itself bumping into the reality of the Father's invitation for me to instead receive what He has in store for me.

What a dilemma!

In many ways, my life hasn't been too keen on letting this Lenten season reach a normal, predictable rhythm. A roller coaster ride on many fronts is more like it -- emotionally, physically, spiritually, etc. And like a dazed customer at an amusement park I find myself on this ride never quite ready for the unannounced 90-ft drop that inevitably comes, jolts my heart, and muffles my inner cries.

How I long for calm and peace!

Humbly, I turn to Psalm 139 anew. Eleven full days have come and gone since I began meditating on this psalm -- what a tremendous blessing it has been! -- and on this 12th day I have much comfort as I read up to verse 3:

Psalm 139

To the Choirmaster. A psalm of David.

1  O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

2  You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

You discern my thoughts from afar.

3  You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

I am comforted because Psalm 139 reminds me that this amazing Lord of mine foreknew the pace of these past few days and still saw fit to let me partake in them. He knew about the snow, the bad weather, the hard news, the cancellations, and the late night talks well in advance. He knew everything about me even before the creation of the universe -- my personality, my secret wishes, my innermost thoughts. He knew my desire to achieve feats in my own strength but chose to invite me to receive His feats instead. He knew the nature of my roller coaster life and provided me with His Word which, alone, can shush my storms to a whisper.

Praise His glorious name!

This mysterious Lord observes my path and my cot, my walking and my sleeping. He surrounds me with the shield of His penetrating gaze and encircles all of me (mind, body, spirit) within the boundaries of His perfect wisdom.

Awake?
He sees me.
Asleep?
He searches me.

Straying from His path?
He runs decidedly after me.
Dozing through and forgetting His way?
He slumbers not but remembers me fully.

O, thank You for the shield of Your gaze, O Father. Your boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. May the path I take and the bed in which I sleep bring honor and glory to Your name! In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen!

Lent 2015 Day 10: From Afar

On this 10th Lenten morning,

I come to You in dust and ashes, my Lord,

my conscience laid bare before Your holiness.

For the sake of Christ, O gracious Father,

grant that I may rend my heart, my all to You.

Direct my will to claim no right in myself,

in what I am, have, or hope to become someday.

Receive me now and always as Your very own,

and use me as Your vessel in every possible way --

through afflictions or affections, losses or gains.

Do with me, Your child and instrument, as You please. 

Amen.

I greet you, my friend, and hope the words prayed above will stir your heart and mine to continue trusting in the Father whose love for the world caused Him to give "His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (Jn 3:16). This season of rending is an opportunity for us to expose our hearts to the luminous presence of Immanuel -- God with us -- as we prepare to celebrate Christ's victory over sin, death, and the grave.

Nourishing our minds and hearts, Psalm 139 has been pointing us to the Godhead (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) and the power of the cross. The past 9 days led us to meditate upon the following:

Psalm 139

To the Choirmaster. A psalm of David.

1  O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

2a  You know when I sit down and when I rise up . . .

As a result of pondering the psalm heading, we grew to view this beautiful hymn as one originally intended to be used by the Choirmaster of the time, the distinguished musician in charge of leading God's people in worship. We learned that God Himself is our ultimate Choirmaster or life master. We also gleaned that David (first a lowly shepherd then anointed king) is to be seen as the writer of this psalm. That fact heartens us to believe anyone who surrenders to God can be used by Him for His great purposes regardless of economic status or position in life. 

In verse 1, we further saw God's lordship over heaven and earth, humans and beasts and plants -- learning that God's light scrutinizes our hearts and knows human motives, thoughts, words, and actions before any one of them materializes.

Verses 2-6 are seen as a way for David to unpack some of the mysteries contained in verse 1. So, yesterday, we learned of God's intimate knowledge of our heart attitudes both when we sit down and stand up. It was a truly convicting moment of meditation!

Today, we are looking at the second part of verse 2, which reads,

You discern my thoughts from afar.

How might we define the verb "to discern"?

The following phrases might come to mind:
-  to know by sight
-  to detect a matter
-  to notice something unclear
-  to distinguish between right and wrong

If the above picture agrees with "discern," then David's words might suggest that the Lord can literally see our thoughts; He knows them by sight. The Father easily detects the matters that teem our hearts. He notices the concepts/motives that are often fuzzy or hidden to our observers. 

And . . .

He can discern everything both near and far.
He is immanent and transcendent, after all.

That is, He understands, grasps, comprehends our thoughts -- He gets it all! -- way before we even acknowledge them. He foresees and foreknows. He already knows the cause, character, and consequence of our thoughts before we are even cognizant of them. His interpretation of our musing is always spot on.

He is Wisdom.

One quick glimpse of God suffices for Him to tell us everything we have ever pondered or considered. One glance is enough for Him to pierce through the fog of our darkened minds and hearts.

He is Light.

This Light and Wisdom were found in one Galilean who walked the lanes of Israel over two thousand years ago. John, the beloved disciple, described a particularly enlightening scene below:

45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48 Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

Indeed, Nathanael knew right away that this man was the foretold Messiah. He recognized in Jesus the divine attributes Psalm 139 instructs. Without ceremony, Jesus made it clear to Nathanael that He knew what was in his heart even from a great distance. When looking at Jesus' response to Nathanael, the words recorded are "I saw you" and not "I knew you." Yet it was clear that Nathanael realized that the sight Jesus meant included total knowledge of who he was -- His omniscience. Nathanael "saw" then that only God could have figured him out so plainly.

What about you and me, friend? Have we come to "see" in Christ the God who sees, knows, and discerns our thoughts from afar? Have we come to "see" Jesus as the Rabbi, the Son of God, the King of Israel?

May the Lord of all wisdom and perfect sight lead us to that place!  

Lent Day 2015 Day 9: Sit or Rise

I am grateful to be awake on this 9th morning of Lent. My chosen companion for the 46 days leading to Easter, Psalm 139 has been on my mind and in my heart ever since Ash Wednesday. I pray the Lord will continue to reveal Himself to me through the words of King David.

So far, we have pondered the beginning of the psalm:

Psalm 139
To the Choirmaster. A psalm of David.

1  O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

We learned that this beautiful hymn was entrusted into the hands of the Choirmaster, the distinguished musician in charge of leading God's people in worship -- gleaning also that God Himself is our ultimate Choirmaster or life master. We also ascertained that David (first a lowly shepherd then anointed king) was most likely the writer of this psalm -- finding therein much hope that God would choose to use us like David for His higher purposes regardless of our status in life. We further pondered God's lordship over heaven and earth, humans and beasts and plants -- understanding thereby that the light of God searches the human heart and intimately knows all our motives, thoughts, words, and deeds before any one of them materializes.

Such a God knows me . . . 

puny me
even me

. . . and knows me so well that He knows when I am active and inactive as expressed in the next verse:

2a  You know when I sit down and when I rise up . . .

God's probing light exposes you and me.

He knows when we sit down . . .

-  alone (Jer 15:17)
-  in the seat of scoffers (Ps 1:1)
-  at His banqueting table (Ps 23:5)
-  in the company of revelers (Jer 15:17)
-  in ashes scraping loathsome sores (Job 2:8)
-  on the ground for days uttering nothing (Job 2:13)
-  greedily imbibing juicy gossip and slander (Prov 18:8)
-  waiting patiently to be drawn up from the pit of destruction (Ps 40:1-2)

. . . and He knows when we rise up . . .

-  alone (1 Ki 18:22)
-  in the morning (Ps 3:5)
-  groaning and crying (Ps 5:1-2)
-  in the pathway sinners take (Ps 1:1)
-  standing in the fiery furnace (Dan 3:25)
-  in fierce anger against the Lord (Jonah 4:1)
-  taking our prayerful stand at our watchpost (Hab 2:1) 
-  standing in awe of the Lord's righteous laws (Ps 119:120)

Yes, my friend.

He knows you and me.
He perceives all that comes out of us.
He notes our position -- whether sitting or standing.

Charles Spurgeon says it this way, ". . . I am observed when I quietly sit down, and marked when I resolutely rise up." Samuel Annesley advances, "Thou knowest my rest and motion . . ." And James Montgomery elaborates, ". . . at home, abroad, in crowds, alone, Thou mark'st my rising and my rest." And I join their rank in saying He knows when I sink into the miry pit of despair and when I rise with a prideful, heaving chest.

Lenten thought is beckoning you and me to rend our selfish leanings in deference to the glory of our Lord when we face sitting down or rising up:

Might we give up grumbling and choose gratitude instead when we sit down to eat?
Might we give up gossip and use discretion instead when we rise from a confidential conversation? 
Might we give up mockery and choose encouragement instead when we sit alongside others?
Might we give up conforming to the world and instead align our minds and hearts with the Word?

I pray you and I will sit to imbibe Scripture with attentiveness and affection, gratefully receiving therein all that is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). I also pray you and I will rise up from our time in the Word humbly yet firmly prepared to take our stand against the devil's schemes.

Thank You for teaching us, O Lord.