Refreshment For A Thirsty Heart - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 42:1-2,

"As the deer pants for streams of water, 

   so my soul pants for you, O God. 

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 

   When can I go and meet with God?"

Psalm 42, which is the first psalm in Book II of Psalms (Did you know that the 150 psalms are arranged in 5 books of psalms?) is written by "the Sons of Korah". Here is a beautiful metaphor of the longing of the human heart for his Creator!

The picture here to me is that of a deer that is desperate to quench its thirst. A deer that is possibly exhausted, running from danger, a wanderer in the wasteland, overwrought and needy, looks for relief and refreshment. 

Just as a panting deer finds it in a cool stream of water, so the psalmist looks for escape from a spiritual thirst, from being parched of the refreshment that his creator provides. Just as a thirsty deer has a desperate desire for that cool drink, so the psalmist has a desperate desire for a life-giving encounter with the source of life!

I certainly have the impression that the one who penned these words had a previous encounter of spiritual refreshment with his Creator! An encounter not easily forgotten and one that would drive anyone who thirsted for spiritual refreshment back for more! 

I believe our encounters with God are like that. When we draw near to God, he draws near to us. As time goes by and we don't find ourselves there, we again recall the wonderful quenching spiritual refreshment being close to the Lord provided for us and it brings a longing in our hearts to return. "As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God."

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Causation or Manifestation? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 41:1-3,

"Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the Lord delivers them in times of trouble. The Lord protects and preserves them— they are counted among the blessed in the land— he does not give them over to the desire of their foes. The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness."

Is David suggesting in this psalm that we can earn good things from God by doing good works- in this case having regard for the weak? Look at what David says is in store for those who do so:

Deliverance in times of trouble, verse 1.
Protection and preservation, verse 2.
Regarded as blessed, verse 2.
Kept from the desires of their foes, verse 2.
Healed when sick, verse 3.

Who wouldn't want these things? All it takes is regard for the weak! Would you implement a regard for the weak in your life if you could get those things from God?

It is just this attitude and outlook that inspires within me an attitude that is not so much a regard for do-gooders. I find religious do-gooders to be motivated by self-promotion. A quid pro quo approach to God. If I do all the right things, then God has "promised" to reward me for my hard work and effort.

This is not the gospel. All the hard work and effort was done on the cross of Jesus Christ. He secured God's mercy for us. He secured a righteous standing before God for us. He secured all the blessings that will come to us as co-heirs with him.

As I read the Scriptures, we lack the ability to establish ourselves before God as those who deserve his blessings, his gifts to us. When we embrace Jesus Christ in faith we inherit God's blessings and gifts based on the work Jesus Christ did, by presenting himself as a sacrifice of atonement on the cross.

So, what to make of David's observation here? As a buddy of mine often says, "Very simple!" Those who have regard for the weak manifest the activity of God's Spirit in their lives. Anyone who does so certainly enjoys God's blessings.

Go back and read the beatitudes Jesus gave in his sermon on the mount, Matthew 5:3-12. Take the challenge to read them, not from the standpoint as a laundry list of things to do to get God's blessings (as has been promoted in so many ill-informed sermons), but as observations of those things that manifest a heart that has given itself to God (with the resultant expression in life), and found God's favor as a result. The reality is, it is a born again heart, filled with the Holy Spirit, that is seen doing those things. The beatitudes are observations of a heart given to God, not a punch-list of things to do.

Being a do-gooder will never ingratiate one to God to secure his blessings. Being a lover of God does so.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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The Lord Listens! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 40:1,

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry."

The Lord listens!

David struggled and sought help from the Lord. He speaks of his patiently waiting upon the Lord which expresses his faith to me. David approached the Lord as he patiently endured his trouble fully expecting an answer from the Lord. And, he was not disappointed. He heard David and answered David's plea in his perfect timing.

I suspect many of us often feel we are somewhat isolated from heaven's help, from the Lord's listening ear. What if we suddenly realized that as we were calling on the Lord, that at that very moment the Lord turned his ear to us and listened! Listened to our heart's desires, our pleas, our frustrations, our calls for help. I think this is the kind of faith David operated in. I also believe we have been made privy to it so that all those with David's faith feel assured the Lord listens to us just as he did David.

David said, "Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him." Psalm 4:3. In Psalm 5:3 we read, "In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly." David had utmost confidence that the Lord listened to his calls for help, "The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer." Psalm 6:9.

So, what about us today? Does the Lord hear us as he did David? The writer of Hebrew tells us, "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16. Paul reminds us, "In him [Christ Jesus] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence." Ephesians 3:12. I love the way the Apostle John puts it, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." John 5:14-15.

David shows us the way! God listens! Those of us who know Jesus Christ have an audience with the Creator of the cosmos!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Enslavement to Sin - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 39:1-3,

"I said, 'I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.' So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good. But my anguish increased; my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue..."

In David's attempt to keep himself from sin by watching his ways and keeping his tongue from sin, he found he simply could not contain it, "But my anguish increased; my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue..." David struggled with sin. When he spoke with his tongue, he said, "Save me from all my transgressions", verse 8.

David had the Holy Spirit within him in one way or the other as we read of in Psalm 51. Since it was prior to Jesus Christ offering himself as a propitiation for our sin, and the resultant new birth we receive when we embrace him in faith, David's was a different experience than ours as believers. He simply could not master sin as he so clearly states in this psalm. 

Believers today, on the other hand, are no longer enslaved to sin as we were prior to our regeneration (being born again), "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin." Romans 6:6-7. Paul goes on to say, "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." Romans 6:17-18.

It is my opinion that David's experience with sin was more like the experience Paul talks about in Romans 7:14-20. There Paul talks about the dominance of the sinful nature of anyone who has yet to be regenerated. He does so using the first person personal pronoun in a figure of speech substituting the present tense of the verb for the past, called "heterosis of tenses" (present tense for the past in this case). As he does so, he claims the same passion for keeping God's law as all Israel did (at least at times) as pictured in their "traditions of the elders" and as witnessed to by Paul himself in Romans 10:2, "For I can testify about them [unsaved Israelites] that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge."

Sin's dominance in the life of someone not born again or regenerated cannot be overstated. The Scriptures call it an enslavement! Perhaps this helps explain some of the things we see in the lives of some of the ones around us. And, perhaps also, it helps explain some of the things we look back on in our own lives.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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When Sin Strikes - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 38:3-4,

"... there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear."

In this psalm David cries out to the Lord in his anguish because of his sin. He makes other comments in this psalm, "I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart." Verse 8. "For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me. I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin." Verses 17-18.

David looked to the Lord for relief from the inner turmoil he experienced from his sin. He closes this psalm with the following words, "Lord, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God. Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior." Verses 21-22.

Although David lived a millennium before the Holy Spirit began to be given freely to all who place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ (following the Pentecost event in Acts 2), he nevertheless was indwelt with the Holy Spirit as one of the great heroes of faith in the Old Testament. David refers to the indwelling Holy Spirit in Psalm 51:11.

Paul speaks of the inner conflict between our sinful natures and the Holy Spirit that indwells all believers since Pentecost. "For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want." Galatians 5:17.

While believers will never be free from that sinful nature in this life, succumbing to its promptings can have devastating consequences for us. I have known of those who have even suffered mentally as well as emotionally because of poor decisions in regard to a past sin. David certainly exhibits that kind of consequence in his own life as he calls out to God in desperation.

The good news is that although we retain that old nature when we are born again, we are now no longer enslaved to it. Paul says of believers, "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." Romans 6:18. While we struggle with the enticement of our sinful natures, the Lord promises us a way out, "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13.

For any of us who may have found ourselves in David's plight following some sin we have slipped into, we need to recognize that all sin has already been paid for by Jesus Christ on that cross. And, while we recognize that it was sin that prompted him to die on that miserable cross, we need to embrace the love of our Lord, get up, dust ourselves off and and recognize the truth that the Apostle John spoke of, "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One." 1 John 2:1.

We all may fail from time to time, disappoint ourselves and the Lord and possibly others. When that occurs, we need to be mindful that the last thing we need to be is stuck in the morass of failure and find ourselves unproductive and useless to the Lord as he pursues the building of his kingdom today.

Ask the Lord's forgiveness, and the forgiveness of any others as necessary, slip back into the harness of the gospel effort and get back to pulling our fair share of the load. We don't need victims here, we need healthy and equipped workers!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

Envying the Wicked - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 37:1-2,

"Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away."

David addresses the potential of God's people slipping into envy of those who reject the Lord and yet do well in this life. It is quite apparent that having wealth and all the wonderful things this life has to offer is not kept from those who reject the Lord. You recall Jesus saying, "... it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 19:23.

David provides solid reasons for not envying those who reject the Lord, "Consider the blameless, observe the upright; a future awaits those who seek peace. But all sinners will be destroyed; there will be no future for the wicked." Verses 37-38.

It is a theme that shows from time to time. Here we see it again in Psalm 73:2-3, "But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." In this psalm from Asaph, he found his answer when he beheld God in his worship. He says, "When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny." Psalm 73:16-17.

Here is what Asaph found as the final destiny of those who reject the Lord, "Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! They are like a dream when one awakes; when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies." Psalm 73:18-20.

As Asaph, we can only maintain the right outlook when we follow Paul's admonition, which is what I am sure made the difference for David as well, "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Colossians 3:1-4.

Focusing our hearts and minds on the Lord brings the greatest perspective on all aspects of life, and among other things, keeping us from envying the wicked. We have an inheritance headed our way… they have something else.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Blind to Sin - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 36:2,

"In their own eyes they [the wicked] flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin."

David expresses this observation about the wicked - they simply have no understanding about their sinful condition. He says this observation comes from the Lord himself.

The wicked include all those who have failed to place their faith and trust in the Lord and as such are unregenerate without the facility to grasp both their condition and the plight they face of God's looming judgment of them. John says they walk about in a spiritual darkness, unable to see what it is they stumble over, 1 John 2:10-11. Particularly verse 11, "They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them."

In our minds we may find this contemptible of them, but I have shared in that reality myself (we all have). David certainly places them in such a light. Keeping that in mind, I think it instructive as we share our faith with others. The lost do not know what we know. They do not "see" what we see. They do not understand what we understand.

Our approach to those who need the gospel message need to be approached with that in mind. We should expect to encounter possible confusion on their part, maybe defensiveness, hostility, excuses, conceit, condescension. Most lost folks don't know what it is they don't know. Because of this many feel they have "woke" to other truths, other understandings, other answers to life's questions.

These things being the case, I love the approach taught by "Way of the Master" ministries over the years. Use God's word to help them see their sinfulness. Share what God has to say about personal sin and stay on that track. The employment of God's word to shed light on another's sinful condition is dicey but absolutely necessary. No one looks to be saved if they don't recognize their need for it.

Expect pushback. However, there are some who, when confronted directly and meaningfully in a sincere and courteous manner will acknowledge their need for forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:15 and Isaiah 52:7.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

David's Cursing - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 35:4-6,

"May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay. May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away; may their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them."

Psalm 35 falls into a category as one of the imprecatory psalms - there are a number of them. An imprecation is to curse someone or something. David does so in an illustrative manner in this psalm. The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines curse as "a prayer or invocation for harm or injury to come upon one." To curse is also defined as "a profane or obscene oath or word." It is in the sense of that first definition that we are looking at here, "to call upon divine or supernatural power to send injury upon." Synonyms for imprecation include anathema, ban, malediction, execration (the act of cursing) and "malison" (a new one for me - a curse or malediction).

You recall that God cursed the ground when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, and the serpent as well for his role. In Genesis 4:11 God cursed Cain for the murder of his brother Abel. In Matthew 21 we read of Jesus cursing a fig tree. Paul cursed all who do not love the Lord in his closing comments in his first letter to the church in Corinth. He observed that all who rely on the "works of the law" are under a curse, Galatians 3:10.

A lot of cursing going on in the Scriptures, so these psalms of imprecation should not surprise us. Here is what David sought from the Lord when he asked for curses from the Lord on his enemies in Psalm 35:

He asked for shame and disgrace, verse 4.
That his enemies be turned back in dismay, verse 4.
That they be like chaff before the wind, verse 5.
That the angel of the Lord drive them away, verse 5.
That their path be dark and slippery, as the angel of the Lord pursued them, verse 6.
That ruin overtake them, verse 8.
That they be intangeled in their own net and fall into their own pit to their ruin, verse 8.
He asks for shame again and confusion, verse 26, shame and disgrace.

David could curse! He could imprecate! However, as I read these things, and as I do consider David's faith to be a role model for us all, I am reminded of what Jesus taught his followers, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you." Luke 6:27-31.

I am also mindful of Paul's admonition, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." Romans 12:14. He goes on to instruct us, "Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.'" (His quote of Proverbs 25:21, 22.)

The take-away I have from this is that if I consider what David did as an example for myself, it best be done in the full counsel of the Scriptures. Will I be able to say to the Lord that my actions, attitudes and words resonate in harmony with what Jesus taught, what his apostle Paul taught?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.