One of the problems of writing a thing called Meditations on the Glory is that it is both presumptuous and pretentious. It is presumptuous in that it presumes that I can say something of accurate significance about the glory of God. I have a great ability to be presumptuous, and I guess that I have an ability to say something accurate and of the glory of God, but only as it is revealed to me by the Holy Spirit through the word of God. You see, there is none like God. There really is nothing to which I can compare him. So apart from His self-revelation, I really cannot accurately know anything about Him. How do we receive this self-revelation of God? It is by His Spirit and by His Word. It is also pretentious. A child is said to be pretentious when he or she attempts to be older in behavior and thought than they really are. Perhaps I am being pretentious in hoping to explain something of the glory of God. How can I explain anything about the One to whom nothing can be compared?
Somebody has once said that we cannot know God completely, but we can know him truly. He is the infinite God. We can truly know some aspect of Him. But since we are finite, we cannot know Him completely. To know Him completely, we would have to be infinite. Similarly since anything to which we might compare Him is finite, there is none like Him. But He has chosen to enter our lives to deliver us from our sin so that He might make a name for Himself. If He were not the infinite God, that would be very prideful. But since He is the only infinite Creator, it is only right for him to enter. We are most delighted and fulfilled when we find our delight in enjoying some small or new aspect of what He is like. There is none like Him! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 142
The title says it was David’s prayer in the cave. At least a couple of times, David hid in caves from Saul’s army. Here was a young man who had tasted great military success. He had singlehandedly defeated the Philistine champion. Over the years he went on to lead portions of Israel’s army in successful fight after fight against the Philistine. During the time, he learned vital military skills in leading men into battle. He had become Israel’s champion. The people sang his praise, “Saul has killed his thousands, but David his ten-thousands.” He had accomplished all that King Saul had asked him to do, including marrying Saul’s daughter with its attendant bride price of 200 Philistine foreskins. He had even been secretly anointed as King by the prophet Samuel. Saul’s son Jonathan had recognized that David would be king in his place, and he was fine with it. But David’s meteoric rise to power and the promises that came with it were nowhere on the scope of fulfillment without some sort of mutiny. Mutiny against the Lord’s anointed did not exist in David’s theology.
So here he sits in a cave with his men. He is hunted as a criminal. Instead of leading Israel’s finest, He is leading Israel’s disenchanted. Instead of receiving recognition and adulation of the people, He is receiving scorn and rejection. From a strictly human perspective, this is a hopeless situation. He felt as if no one cared for his soul. The walls of the cave began to close in and shut like the bars of a prison. His physical problems were not the major problem. He was in a prison of the soul. How does one break out of such an impenetrable prison?
David cries out to the Lord. He declares his trouble before him. He complains to the Lord. Wait a minute! He complains to the Lord? Did not the Lord kill thousands of people in the wilderness for the sin of complaining? Yes He did, but their complaint was of a different order. Their complaint was against the Lord and His leadership. It arose out of an unbelief that the Lord loved them and would bring a good resolution to their complaint. David’s complaint is of an altogether different sort. David’s complaint is on the one hand recognizing the realities of his awful situation, and on the other hand, recognizing the realities of who God is and then submitting to His leadership.
Look at how he holds this tension before him. When his spirit was overwhelmed he says, “Then You knew my path. In the way in which I walk, they have secretly set a snare for me.” He does not discount the problem at all, but he declares what he knows to be true of God in this situation. God is omniscient and this difficulty did not in any way catch God by surprise. God knows beforehand the traps that our enemy sets for us. Declaring such truth enables David to begin the process of relaxing in the face of death. The only physical refuge that David had was the cave with all of it amenities, snakes, spiders, bugs, scorpions etc. David brings back to mind that God made the cave, “You are my refuge.” He brings back to mind that God provides his needs, “You are my portion.” A complaint given to the Lord in belief also looks beyond the complaint to a time of greater fulfillment. David says, “You shall deal bountifully with me.” I once was told that a component of maturity is being able to endure a current deprivation in order to obtain a future reward. That doesn’t mean that I have to like the current deprivation.
So the glory of the Lord can be seen even in the worst of circumstances. It is His glory to welcome our complaint of the present as long as we are focused upon Him. Focusing on Him enables us to see His omniscience, His protection, His provision and His reward. We can see that even in the midst of great problems! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
ZECHARIAH 4
There is no light at the end of the tunnel. When I was in seminary, the administration told us that the hardest time of the years was in the middle of the program. If you took a full load each quarter, the M.Div. program was three years long. After a year and a half, the excitement of beginning a new thing was definitely worn off. There was still no light at the end of the tunnel. It was still another year and a half or two years until the toil was finished. A lot of guys became discouraged and quit at that point. For them it was a mountain that could not even be climbed, much less moved.
Zerubbabel had been building the temple for ten years. It was a monumental task. It probably seemed that it would never end. The Lord comes alongside him to encourage him. Mountain moving is a specialty of the Lord; after all, He made them. The Lord wanted him to know that only His Spirit could accomplish such a task.
6 So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts. 7 ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ’ ”The Lord gives us the grace to complete the tasks which He gives us. Grace is the unmerited favor and ability to accomplish what God designs for us to do.
We are designed to build the temple, His church. It is a life-long task. Often times it seems as if there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Weariness can easily set in, but our Lord is mountain mover. Sometimes He is a tunnel digger, and always He is the light in the tunnel. In the toil and in the darkness, He calls out, “Grace, grace to it!” He gives us what we need. That is His glory! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
JAMES 4
Part of the glory of Jesus is that He is jealous of us. What would I do if some man began making advances (that she did not want) toward my wife? You'd better believe that I'd be in His face pretty quick. But what if she wanted his advances? I would probably still be in his face. But I would also have to address the reason she wanted his advances. Would the reason she wanted his advances be because of a deficiency in me or a deficiency in her or a combination of both?
With Jesus there is no deficiency. When we give in to the advances of Satan, the world or the flesh, it is because of a deficiency in us, not in Him. He yearns for us, but not at the expense of His holiness. Receiving the advances of others is an indication of pride. After all, He is our Creator. We are receiving advances of a created thing over the love of the Creator. What unbelievable pride! Humility is understanding His glory and yielding only to Him. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
No comments:
Post a Comment