It's okay to pray for joy

Is it okay to pray for joy, or is that a selfish prayer?  Asking for God to make you happy, even happy in Him, seems sort of "off" somehow.  Though I freely label myself as a "Christian hedonist," it's still something I feel funny praying for sometimes.  But the Holy Spirit gave me a clear answer today when I was reading Psalm 85-86.  Here are 3 examples from the Psalms of praying for joy, all of them with God-centered motivation.

Psalm 51:12-- "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You."
Apparently there is a direct connection between deeply feeling the joy of knowing God's great salvation, and being a good evangelist.  Here, David's prayer for joy is directly connected to his desire that God's salvation would be felt more deeply by him and extended to others.

Psalm 85:6-7,9-- "Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?  Show us Your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us Your salvation... Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land."
The main connection to draw here is between "Your people rejoice in You" and "that glory may dwell in our land."  The glory of God is put on brightest display when His people rejoice, delight in, and treasure Him above all else.  Therefore, our desire for joy is (or should be) deeply caught up in our desire for God to be glorified, because those desires are biblically synonymous.

Psalm 86:4-5-- "Gladden the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.  For You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon You."
This has got to be one of the most overtly hedonistic prayers in the Bible.  "Gladden the soul of Your servant," the Psalmist prays.  In other words: "Make me happy, God!"  And the foundation for His prayer: the character of God.  God is good, forgiving, and loving-- and this is the ground for both the Psalmist's request and His expectation.  Because God is all of these things, there is hope and reason for joy, even in the darkest of times.

And finally, not needing any explanation, are the precious words of our Savior from John 16: "Until now you have asked nothing in my name.  Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."

The Gospel in Mark

I've just started the book of Mark in my Through-the-Bible reading plan, and I've noticed something. In the first chapter of Mark, the word "gospel" has appeared 3 times-- in verses 1, 14, and 15. I didn't remember seeing that word too much in Matthew, so I did a word search to find out. Sure enough, the word "gospel" appears 4 times in Matthew, 1 time in Luke, 0 times in John... but 8 times in Mark. Considering that Mark is much shorter than the three other accounts of Jesus' life, that's surprising. Just to get an idea of the big difference here, if we divide the number of times the word "gospel" is used by the number of chapters in each of those 4 books, we get these fractions:

The word "gospel" is found in:
4/28 (14%) of Matthew's chapters,
1/24 (4%) of Luke's chapters,
0/21 (0%) of John's chapters,
but a whopping 8/16 (50%) of Mark's chapters!

To put this in even more perspective, in the whole New Testament only Romans, 2 Corinthians, and Galatians use the word "gospel" more times than Mark. Now, this doesn't mean that there's no good news in Matthew, Luke, and John, or that the saving message of redemption somehow isn't found there as much... but there does appear to be a special focus on the gospel in Mark. I'm not sure what the significance of that is, but it's something I'm going to be thinking about and looking for while I'm reading Mark these next two months.

Does anyone have any insight?

Saved For Himself

I'm in Numbers on my Through-the-Bible-in-a-Year journey, and a peculiar verse in chapter 3 struck me today.

Numbers 3:13-- "On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my won all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast.  They shall be mine: I am the LORD."

Here is what the ESV Study Bible has to say about this verse: "In the last plague, every firstborn male Egyptian and every firstborn of their cattle died, but the firstborn Israelite boys and cattle were spared.  So after this, all Israelite firstborn boys and cattle were dedicated to God."

The significance of this verse hit me between the eyes.  What God is saying is this: "I spared them and saved them; therefore, they are now mine."  God doesn't save us so that we can continue living for ourselves; He saves us for Himself.  This is the purpose of the cross.  Titus 2 says that Christ "gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possessions who are zealous for good works."

That is why He saved the Israelites, and it's why He saved us: He saved us for Himself.

Another Book

Today in my Through-the-Bible reading, I was in Exodus 32, which recounts the story of the golden calf.  While Moses was up on the mountain talking to God, the Israelites got 'bored,' and had Aaron make a golden idol for them.  God was furious, and if not for Moses' intercession, He would have wiped them all out.  But even though He spared their lives, God still held their sin against them.  "But the LORD said to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.'"

As soon as I read that, my mind jumped to Revelation 20, where we see God's book again: "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened... And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done."  This is a terrifying scene.  I know my heart, and I know that if I had been at Mt. Sinai, I probably would have been going right along with the idol worship.  Because I was once an idolater too, and even now, I am a saint who struggles with idolatry.  I know that if God kept a record of my sins, I could never stand.

But the scene in Revelation doesn't end there.  It continues: "Then another book was opened, which is the book of life."  Praise God, there is another book!  I will not be judged according to what I have done, because my name is in the book of life.  When I read that this morning, I was humbled and broken and awed.  Truly, it could only be amazing grace that would save a wretch like me and cover over my endless offenses in those other books.  My sins are stacked so high, ingrained so deeply in my soul, written so clearly in those books, that it took the death of the Son of God in my place to blot them out.  So instead of my name being blotted out of the book of life (which is what I deserve), I get my sins blotted out instead.

Praise God, there is another book!

Through-the-Bible Thoughts

Every day that I have the privilege to be in God's Word is a blessing beyond description, but what I take away from the Word is different each day.  Some days are full of rich, deep, beautiful truth, and other days are more about the discipline of dryness-- pursuing God because of who He is, not because of what He gives me.  Today, though, was a particularly fruitful day with my Through-the-Bible reading.  Here is some of what the Holy Spirit was teaching me and reminding me of:

Psalm 34:2- "My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad."

This is a description of "humble boasting"-- a deliberate bragging that points away from oneself.  It's the same thing that God commanded in Jeremiah 9-- "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the might man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth."  Or like what Paul said in Galatians 6-- "Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."  What we are to boast about really has nothing to do with us; it's about openly celebrating the character of God and the omnipotent mercy that has been shown to sinners like us.  I want to become, in this sense, a more boastful person.

Acts 20:24- "I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus Christ, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."

Oh, how I want this passion!  I don't want to waste my life by considering it valuable, but I want to say with Paul that the most valuable truth that I must commit myself to is "the gospel of the grace of God."  Sometimes I think I've touched that passion, and other times I realize that I have not even scratched the surface of what it means to be so self-forgetful and consumed with the cause of Christ.  I'm not there, but oh how I want to be there!

Acts 20:26-27- "I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God."

This is what Paul said to the elders of the Ephesian church after spending three years with them.  God has been continually reminding me of this verse, and of the passage in Ezekiel 3 which Paul is referencing, in relation to my own three-year ministry at Center Presbyterian Church.  I'll be leaving when I graduate in May, and when I go, will I be able to say this?  I have been given the task to testify to the gospel of the grace of God, to declare the whole counsel of God in Bible study and youth group; will I complete my task?  The stakes are dangerously high; if I shrink from teaching difficult or unpopular truth and thus leave them in their sin, God will hold me accountable for their souls.  This is a frightening and sobering prospect, and it drives me to be blood-earnest with them, especially with the youth group kids.  When I leave, I want to be able to say with all seriousness that the kids understand, "I am innocent of the blood of all of you."  Will those words make sense in my ministry?  I pray they will.

The Iniquity of our Holy Things

I'm smack in the middle of Exodus in my Through-the-Bible reading, and today I was reading about the garments of the priests in Exodus 28.  Exodus can be a challenging book, but I know from Hebrews that the whole sacrificial system and priesthood pointed forward to the perfect sacrifice and priesthood of Christ.  So I've been on the lookout for connections.  Here's one that jumped out at me:

It shall be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts.  It shall regularly be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.  ~Exodus 28:38

God is so holy, and the people so fundamentally corrupted, that even their holy gifts were stained with guilt that needed to be borne and atoned for.  What a humbling reminder this is!  We must remember, in our service to God, that even our holy things need to be washed in the blood of the Lamb.  John Owen writes,

"Believers obey Christ as the one by whom our obedience is accepted by God.  Believers know all their duties are weak, imperfect and unable to abide in God's presence.  Therefore they look to Christ as the one who bears the iniquity of their holy things, who adds incense to their prayers, gathers out all the weeds from their duties and makes them acceptable to God."

The Sinner's Hiding Place

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered...

You are a hiding place for me;

You preserve me from trouble;

You surround me with shouts of deliverance.

~Psalm 32:1,7

How precious is the Gospel!  The knowledge of God's costly grace, freely given to us, is blessing and joy and comfort beyond measure.  Blessed is the one whose sin has been covered-- but covered by what, and by whom?  Verse 7 gives the answer-- we are covered by God Himself, who becomes for us a hiding place from the ravages of sin and wrath.  The hymn "Hiding Place" grasps this sweet truth:

You know the vileness of my heart

So prone to act the rebel's part

And when You veil Your lovely face

How can I find a hiding place?

Lord Jesus, shine and then I can

Feel sweetness in salvation's plan

And as a sinner plead for grace

To Christ, the sinner's hiding place

"Christ, the sinner's hiding place."  What a precious, precious phrase!

God knows, and I know in glimpses, the deep vileness of my heart.  I know who I am and what I deserve, and I am grateful that God daily reminds me of this in His Word.  And even more, I am so thankful that as a sinner I can plead for grace to Christ, the sinner's hiding place.

Hark, the Voice of Jesus Calling

Today in my Through-the-Bible reading I was in Exodus 17, when Israel defeats the Amalekites.  As long as Moses kept his staff raised, the Israelites prevailed, but when he grew tired and lowered his hands, the Amalekites prevailed.  So Aaron and Hur held up his hands, and Israel won the battle.  I was moved by the humility of Aaron-- all he was doing was holding up the great prophet's hands.  It reminded me of the hymn, "Hark, the Voice of Jesus Calling:"

Hark, the voice of Jesus calling,

"Who will go and work today?

Fields are ripe and harvests waiting,

Who will bear the sheaves away?"

Long and loud the Master calls us,

Rich rewards He offers free;

Who will answer, gladly saying,

"Here am I, send me, send me"?

If you cannot cross the ocean

And the distant lands explore,

You can find the lost around you,

You can help them at your door.

If you cannot give your thousands,

You can give the widow's mite;

What you truly give for Jesus

Will be precious in His sight.

If you cannot speak like angels,

If you cannot preach like Paul,

You can tell the love of Jesus,

You can say He died for all.

If you cannot rouse the wicked

With the judgment's dread alarms,

You can lead the little children

To the Savior's waiting arms.

If you cannot be the watchman

Standing high on Zion's wall,

Pointing out the path to heaven,

Offering life and peace to all,

With your prayers and with your bounties

You can do what God demands;

You can be like faithful Aaron,

Holding up the prophet's hands.

Let none hear you idly saying,

"There is nothing I can do."

While the souls of men are dying

And the Master calls for you.

Take the task He gives you gladly;

Let His work your pleasure be;

Answer quickly when He calls you,

"Here am I, send me, send me."

Jacob

Today I finished reading Genesis for my Through-the-Bible reading plan, and I was looking back over what I read.  Of all the characters and stories in Genesis, I think my new favorite has become the life of Jacob.  From Genesis 25 to 49, we see Jacob transformed from a selfish, conniving person into a humble, worshipful, wise man by his many encounters with God and grief.

Jacob starts out selfish and conniving, taking his brother Esau's birthright in chapter 25, and then tricking his father and stealing Esau's blessing in chapter 27.  But chapter 28 begins a dramatic change in Jacob's life-- a series of encounters with God that leave him changed forever.  In 28:12, he sees the vision of "the angels of God ascending and descending" into heaven, and marvels, "How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God!"  Then in 32:24, he wrestles with God Himself, and insists, "I will not go unless you bless me."  God is pleased, and blesses Jacob, naming him Israel.  And then in 35:7, God reveals Himself to Jacob at Bethel, reaffirming all His promises to him.

The last case is the most interesting and encouraging, because it comes right before Jacob is about to enter the hardest period of his life.  Immediately following his encounter with God at Bethel, Jacob is struck by three close deaths in quick succession-- his mother's nurse, his beloved wife Rachel, and his father Isaac.  It is soon after this that Joseph is sold into slavery, completing Jacob's anguish.  How kind of God to appear to Jacob before he knew he needed it, right when he was about to enter a season of suffering and grief.  God appeared and strengthened Jacob for the trials that lay ahead.

Genesis 32:10 shows the transformation from the young, rebellious Jacob to a much humbler, gracious man.  Returning to meet his brother, Jacob prays a wonderful Gospel statement: "I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that You have shown to Your servant."  What a transformation from the sneaky, selfish Jacob just a few chapters before!

Towards the end of his life, in chapter 47, you can see how much Jacob has progressed in walking with God.  He meets Pharaoh himself, and Jacob's first reaction is to bless this man who has done so much for his family.  Pharaoh is impressed by Jacob's age and wisdom and humility.

Throughout Jacob's life, one way we can see his growing intimacy with God is the names that He uses to address and describe God.  Jacob has perhaps the most unique names for God in all of Scripture.  And throughout his life, these names become more and more intimate:

"The God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac" ~31:42

"The Fear of Isaac" ~31:53

"The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day" ~48:15

"The angel who has redeemed me from all evil" ~48:16

"the Mighty One of Jacob, the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel" ~49:24

And finally, the New Testament has this to say about this wonderful man of God and his amazing transformation: "By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff."  ~Hebrews 11:21

I think Jacob is my new favorite human character in the Bible.  I want to be like this man, who is such a testament of grace and the power of God to change a life.  He walked with God, believed through grief, intimately knew his Creator and Savior, and at the end of his life, it could be said of him, "He bowed in worship."  What a man!  What a transformation!  I want to be like Jacob.

The Promise and Power of Missions

Today I was reading Psalm 22 for my Through-the-Bible reading plan (yeah, I know, I'm a couple days behind).  Verses 27-28 jumped out at me.

All the ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the LORD,

and all the families of the nations

shall worship before You.

For kingship belongs to the LORD,

and He rules over the nations.

This passage is a promise for missions, and power to back it up.  "Missions" is the work of the church in bringing the Gospel to unreached people.  The reason we can have confidence in doing this is promises like this one in Psalm 22.  The promise is that all the ends of the earth shall turn to the LORD and worship before Him.

But what if the promise fails?  What if people don't turn?  What if Christians don't go?  This flood of questions and doubts can threaten to undermine missionary zeal, unless the promise of missions in verse 27 is accompanied by the power of missions in verse 28.

We can be absolutely confident that all the ends of the earth will turn to the LORD, that "a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages" will one day stand before the throne, because "kingship belongs to the LORD."  God is sovereign over the nations, He is sovereign over the flow of history, He is sovereign over the darkened hearts of men, He is sovereign over salvation, He is sovereign over missions.  The same God who spoke omnipotently into darkness and said, "Let there be light," still speaks with the same omnipotence into blinded, darkened hearts around the globe, saying "Let there be light" (2 Corinthians 4:4-6).  The mission will not fail, because kingship and sovereignty and wisdom and power belong to the Lord.  We can therefore obey His summons and go with confidence, knowing that there is power to back up this glorious promise.

All Authority in Heaven and on Earth

I realized after my Through-The-Bible reading today that there has been a theme emerging in the last couple of readings from Matthew.  I would summarize Matthew 7:28-9:8 with these words: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."  This section of Matthew highlights the divine, omnipotent authority of Jesus.  The word "authority" actually appears 4 times in this relatively short passage.  For example:

7:28-29- "The crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one who had authority."

8:1-3- Jesus has authority to simply 'will' a healing; "I will; be clean."

8:5-13- The Romans centurion understands the nature of Jesus' authority ("I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.  And I say to one, 'Go' and he goes...)  Jesus commended his faith, and healed the man's servant.

8:14-17- Jesus has authority over all ailments and diseases.

8:18-22- Jesus has authority to command his disciples to leave all to follow Him.

8:23-27- Jesus has authority over the natural world, including the winds and waves.

8:28-34- Jesus has authority over the spiritual realm and all the forces of Satan.

9:1-8- "The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sin."

In this section, we see a general progression from the more 'mundane' authority to more explicitly supernatural and surprising authority.  We first see Jesus teaching with authority, then we see Him in progressively more dramatic healings, then with control over nature, then with control over Satan, and finally with the absolute divine authority to blot out sin.  

I think that this passage is designed to make us more and more amazed at the power and authority of Jesus, so that we will say what the disciples said, yet with hearts full of faith, "What sort of man is this, that even the winds and waves obey Him?"

Wondrous Sovereign of the Sea

Today in my Through-the-Bible reading, I read about Jesus calming the storm.  Matthew 8:26-27- "And He said to them, 'Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?'  Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  And then men marveled, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey Him?'"

Jonathan Edwards answers their question in his phenomenal sermon, "The Diverse Excellencies of Christ:" "By His walking on the sea in a storm, when the waves were raised, He showed Himself to be the God spoken of in Job 9:8, that treadeth 'on the waves of the sea.'  By His stilling the storm and calming the rage of the sea by His powerful command, saying 'Peace, be sill,' He showed that He has the command of the universe, and that He is that God who brings things to pass by the word of His power; who speaks and it is done, who commands and it stands fast."

The disciples were amazed and afraid, because as good Jewish men, they knew their Old Testaments.  They knew Psalm 65:6-7, which speaks of "the One who by His strength established the mountains, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples."  They knew Psalm 89:9- "You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them."  They knew Psalm 107:29- "He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed."  They knew who this One in the boat with them must be-- Yahweh Himself, the Lord of the heavens and the earth.

Fleeting vs. Lasting Treasure

In my Through-the-Bible readings, I came to Psalm 17 today.  Psalm 17 is a lament of David, crying for vindication against the unjust accusations of the wicked.  At the very end of the Psalm, David contrasts the hope of the wicked with the hope of the righteous:

Deliver me... from men of the world whose portion is in this life.

You fill their womb with treasure;

they are satisfied with children,

and they leave their abundance to their children.

As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness;

when I awake, I shall be satisfied with Your likeness.

~Psalm 17:14-15

The portion, treasure, and satisfaction of the ungodly is in this life.  At first glance, it doesn't seem like they've got it too bad; in fact, it looks a lot like the American dream.  Treasure, children, abundance.  A four-bedroom house, a two-car garage, and a white picket fence.  These are gifts from God (You fill...), yet their only portion is in this life, and at the end, they leave their abundance to their children.  It's treasure, yes; but it's the kind that moth and rust destroy and thieves steal.  They are satisfied, yes; but with something temporal and less than they were made for.  Even though their children are a blessing from the Lord (Psalm 127:3), they are missing the One who blesses.

Contrast that to the hope of the righteous: they shall behold the very face of God in righteousness, and they will be satisfied with His likeness.  This is a better hope, an enduring satisfaction, and a glorious joy that will overflow for eternity.

This is what Jesus means when He tells us to store up treasure in heaven; we are commanded and invited to forsake earthly treasure for a better and lasting possession.

May we never get caught up with blessings, even the wonderful blessing of children, at the expense of losing sight of the One who blesses.

Through the Bible

I am so excited to be starting Discipleship Journal's Through the Bible in a Year program.  I started following it in September, which plopped me in the middle of Isaiah, Proverbs, John, and Hebrews, but now I'm starting off afresh in Genesis, Psalms, Matthew, and Acts.

I've added the Through the Bible reading plan as a part of the Daily Verse Online's daily devotional tools that get sent out by email each day, and the response so far has been very encouraging.  I've gotten several emails from people who are eager to "let the word of Christ dwell in them richly" in 2009, who will be joining me and many others in this reading plan.  Hearing from people who are hungry for the meat of God's Word is so encouraging.  Praise God for the work He is doing in His people!

Profit

Today in my Through-the-Bible reading, I read Malachi, thus finishing the reading plan for this year.  On January 1st, I'll start over with Genesis, Psalms, Matthew, and Acts.

But today, God has me in Malachi, and it's been a stirring read.  The one place that really hit me the most was the end of chapter 3.  Throughout Malachi, God makes accusations against the people, who then insist on their innocence.  God then gives evidence of their wrongdoing.  At the end of chapter 3, the exchange goes like this:

Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD.  But you say, 'How have we spoken against you?'  Y0u have said, 'It is vain to serve God.  What is the profit of our keeping His charge?'

The people question how it profits them to keep walking with God.  The wicked prosper, and they put God to the test and escape, and the arrogant seem to be blessed.  So what good is it to follow God?  Their complain is just like Asaph's complaint in Psalm 73-- "Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.  All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence!"

Here is God's answer to Malachi and Asaph:

Malachi3:16-17,4:1-2  The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed His name.  "They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares His son who serves them... For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all the evildoers will be stubble... But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.

Psalm 73:25-28 Whom have I in heaven but You?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  For behold, those who are far from You shall perish; You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to You.  But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.

God's answer to the people in Malachi is the same answer that He gave to Asaph-- a reality-check of the coming end of the wicked, and a reminder that the greatest riches of the righteous lie not in things but in God Himself, and that the most important question is not, "What do you own?" but rather, "Who are you owned by?"

The Trinity

In my Through-the-Bible reading plan, I'm in the upper room discourse of John 13-17.  It's been about eight months since I was here last, and as always I'm blown away by how Scripture keeps coming alive no matter how many times you read it.  Sometimes it's the Gospel that really stands out; sometimes it's a specific promise; sometimes it's a certain command; sometimes it's glory; sometimes it's judgment.  This time, the Holy Spirit has been teaching me about the Trinity.

Yesterday I was at McDonald's reading John 14 (who says you can't read the Bible anywhere?) and verse 20 exploded with a megaton of relevance.  "In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you."  

At first glance, it's grammatically confusing.  But think about that statement for a minute.  The Father and the Son are so united that Jesus can literally say, "I am in my Father" and (a couple verses earlier) "The Father is in me."  That in itself is an indescribably glorious mystery, but Jesus extends that mystery to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us.  "You in me, and I in you."  Jesus here is inviting us into the life of the Trinity.  The eternal fellowship, love, glory, and joy between the Father and the Son and the Spirit has now been opened to us as well.  

That's why Darrel Johnson, in his great book "Experiencing The Trinity," writes, "I was brought into being by the Trinity to be a co-lover within the Trinity!  I was bought by the blood of Jesus Christ to become a co-lover with Him and His Father and His Spirit!"

We are co-heirs and co-lovers.  Amazing!

The Good Shepherd

I was incredibly blessed last night in my daily Through-the-Bible reading to get a new glimpse of Jesus and His glory.  I was reading from Ezekiel 34 and John 10, and I don't know if the people who designed the reading plan intended this, but both passages overlap marvelously.

In Ezekiel 34, we get a stunning picture of the grace of God and His plan of future redemption in Christ.  This is especially amazing, coming after 33 straight chapters of judgment.  At the beginning of chapter 34, God condemns the shepherds of Israel (their spiritual leaders), saying "The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought."  But then a few verses later, the tone shifts dramatically:

"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will see them out.  As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered... I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.  I will seek the lost and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak... And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.  And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them.  I am the LORD; I have spoken."

What a prophecy!  We see its fulfillment in John 10: 

So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  All who came before me where thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.  I am the door.  If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."

Praise God for that!  He Himself will be the shepherd, and lay down His life for His sheep that He will seek out and bring in and bind up and heal.

A Faithless Seeking

In my Through-The-Bible reading plan, I'm in John 8, and I was bowled over by Jesus' words that I read this morning. In 8:21, He says, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins."  I was shocked.  Do you mean that a person can seek after God and still die in their sins?  That certainly was a shock to my self-assured Calvinist sensibilities.  But then after the Jews objected, Jesus continued in 8:24.  "I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins."

So now he says that people who don't believe Him will die in their sins.  But He just said that seekers will die in their sins.  I always thought that seeking Jesus was a sign of faith.  But apparently not.

There is such a thing as faithless seeking.  You can seek Jesus earnestly and diligently without one drop of true faith.  The people who followed after Jesus in John 6 when He fed the 5,000 were not seeking Him with faith.  "Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.  Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.'" (John 6:26-27)  The people were seeking Jesus because He gave them food; they weren't actually interested in Him.

How well this describes so many "seekers" today!  So many people are only interested in seeking Jesus because of what He might be able to give them: a job, money, a spouse, friends, security, a personal sense of spiritual fulfillment or enlightenment.  Jesus is clear in John 6:35- believing Him means coming to Him as thirst-quencher and satisfier, believing that HE is the bread of life.  In other words, seeking Him in order to get something is no faith at all.  True faith means seeking Jesus because you want HIM, and all the glorious fullness of everlasting joy that He is.

Are you seeking Him with faith today?

Your words were found, and I ate them

Today's Through-The-Bible reading brought me to Jeremiah 15:16-

Your words were found, and I ate them

     and your words became to me a joy

     and the delight of my heart,

for I am called by your name,

     O LORD, God of hosts.

What an amazing verse, especially when you look at it in context.  After delivering all his prophecies of disaster and destruction, Jeremiah is deeply discouraged and pleads to God for help.  But in the midst of his discouragement, Jeremiah remembers how precious God's Word still is to him.  It's sort of like David, praying out of his discouragement in Psalm 42, "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."  Though the God's Word to Jeremiah is alienating him from his family and his people, yet they are still a joy to his heart.

May this verse be true of me every day.  I want God's Word to be my joy and delight; I want to hunger and thirst after God and His righteous Word.  But my heart doesn't naturally love what is most lovely, and my fallen tongue doesn't naturally "taste and see the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8, 1 Peter 2:3).  I need the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, to do this work in me every day.  I must pray with the Psalmist, "Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!"  "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law."  I need God to sovereignly, omnipotently bend my stubborn heart to His testimonies, and I need His Spirit to say "Let there be light" to my darkened eyes every morning so that I can see the wondrous things in the Bible.  And I have His promise that He will do this: Jeremiah delighted in the Word of God because he was called by God's name.  So am I!  And so I have the same Spirit and calling that Jeremiah did that enabled him to enjoy God.

This Morning's Scripture

For my Through-the-Bible-in-a-Year plan, I was reading this morning from Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, John, and James.  Something in each one hit me really hard as I was reading (praise God for the Holy Spirit who delights to do that sort of thing).  Here are my thoughts:

Behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn;

they take no pleasure in it.

Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD

~Jeremiah 6:10-11

Wow.  I pray that this will never, ever be said of me.  "The word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it."  If that's what the people of Israel were doing wrong, here's what is right: TAKE PLEASURE in the word of the Lord.  To not take pleasure in it, to not delight in it, is scorn.  It is treating it as less precious than it is.  And look at the consequences: the wrath of the LORD-- God takes our affections for the Bible very seriously.  Lord, forgive me for all the times I have not taken pleasure in Your word, and by Your Spirit implant Your holy joy in me.

Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness... Apart from [God] who can have any enjoyment?  For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy.  ~Ecclesiastes 2:13,26

Praise God for this one!  There is more gain in wisdom than in folly, and there is more gain in light than in dark!  Not to quote John Piper or anything, but this is classic "Christian hedonism."  You want gain, right?  Then seek wisdom, and walk in the light!  And to those who please God, He gives this great gain in abundance.  Oh the goodness of God, that He works in us what is pleasing to Him (Heb. 13:21-22) and then fills His people with immeasurable good things!

For this purpose I cam baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. ~John 1:31

When you stop to look at it, you quickly realize that the whole Bible is intensely, radically Christ-centered, and the testimony of John the Baptist is no exception.  The whole point of his baptism, the whole point of his entire ministry, the whole point of his life and his message of repentance and all the years of locusts and honey, was this: that Jesus would be revealed.  May that be the purpose of my life and ministry as well.

Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ~James 1:21

This sort of reminded me of the passage from Jeremiah, in how seriously it takes the Bible.  Specifically, I thought of this in terms of my youth group's Bible study that I help to lead, and I was burdened anew for their hearts to be opened to the Word of God.  I want them to see that this study we are doing is so much more than a self-help lesson, or something to do Sunday afternoons-- it is life and death.  Eternal life and eternal death hang in the balance of how they will respond to God's Word.  Will they take pleasure in it, delight in it, receive it with meekness... or will they not?  Oh Lord, open their hearts and mine to Your Word, that we may receive it with meekness and joy!