“Quietude, which some men cannot abide because it reveals their inward poverty, is as a palace of cedar to the wise, for along its hallowed courts the King in his beauty deigns to walk” – Charles Spurgeon

“And yet some people actually imagine that the revelation in God’s Word is not enough to meet our needs. They think that God from time to time carries on an actual conversation with them, chatting with them, satisfying their doubts, testifying to His love for them, promising them support and blessings. As a result, their emotions soar; they are full of bubbling joy that is mixed with self-confidence and a high opinion of themselves. The foundation for these feelings, however, does not lie within the Bible itself, but instead rests on the sudden creations of their imaginations. These people are clearly deluded. God’s Word is for all of us and each of us; He does not need to give particular messages to particular people.”
— Jonathan Edwards

“A truly humble man is sensible of his natural distance from God; of his dependence on Him; of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom; and that it is by God’s power that he is upheld and provided for, and that he needs God’s wisdom to lead and guide him, and His might to enable him to do what he ought to do for Him.”
— Jonathan Edwards

“Today, true mortification is all but lost between the rigid, stubborn frame of spirit which is earthly, legal, harsh, critical, consistent with wrath, envy, malice, and pride, on the one hand, and pretences of liberty, grace, and I know not what, on the other.” – John Owen (The Mortification of Sin, abridged)

I liked the “I know not what” part. Having a sense of the certainty of something, but not knowing exactly… I like that he said that.

“Let a man pretend what he will, little concern over sin is a serious offence to the grace and mercy of God!” – John Owen (The Mortification of Sin, abridged)

“Others are hardened in their own sin by persuading themselves that they are in just as good a condition as the unmortified professor. They see their [the unmortified professor's] zeal for religion, but it is not accompanied by righteousness. They view their worldy and selfish lives. They see them talk spiritually but live vainly. They hear them mention communion with God, and yet they are in every way conformed to the world. They see them boast of forgiveness of sins, and yet never forgive others. Thus, as they see the stain of sin in the unmortified professor, they harden their own hearts in their unregeneracy.” – John Owen (The Mortification of Sin, abridged)

Through all of the wrestlings and wranglings of our soul it is nice to have a steadfastness upon which to lean. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe” (Prov. 18:10).

So many days I feel weak. I feel really, really weak inside. On those days I think “Trust in the Lord with all your heart”. Really? With all of my heart? “Lean not on your own understanding”. Really? Do not lean on my own understanding? “In all your ways acknowledge Him”. Really? Acknowledge God in all of my ways? Well. Ok. Then I hold on tightly to the “and He shall direct your paths” part.

Feelings can be swayed so easily. So easily. In realizing that right thinking leads to right feeling, and that what we feed our minds is what our minds are given over to, it has become quite clear to me over the past couple of years that I have to preach to myself. I have to speak the truth to myself or else I am moved too easily. I love it when David says in Psalm 16:8 “I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.”

Sometimes I get so numb to the word “faith” that I need to switch it out with the word “confidence”, in order to really get it. When I read God tell Jeremiah “I am the God of all flesh, is there anything too hard for me?” (32:17), it leaves me thinking “No, of course there isn’t and yes I can have confidence in You”. I think I associate certainty and a firm trust with the word “confidence” more so than the word “faith”.

As I go through different seasons of life, it is nice to have confidence that God has ordained my seasons just as surely as He has ordained “seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night”. Though it feels cold and rainy, sometimes amidst the gray, the light mist feels good against your face.

I woke up thinking about Haiti this morning. It has been almost twelve years since I went there for a mission trip. I remember vividly the night sky and staring up at the stars from the roof of the mission I was staying at. I remember the sound of the voodoo drums resonating across the mountains and valleys as we traveled to a “mountain church”. I remember the signs of spirituality everywhere… spirituality with great darkness.

I have seen several posts or comments related to the tragedy in Haiti, as well as other tragedies, typically they are from atheists, that say things like, “a single penny to help the cause is better than all the prayers in the world”. I hate that saying. It is a lie.

I am well aware that there are people who hide behind words and “saying a prayer” so that they do not actually have to give or move. I am well aware that the heart that is truly moved by the love of God will manifest itself with deeds of love. I am well aware that faith without works is dead.

Don’t think for a second that money given to relief is worth more than your prayers. James 5:17 says, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.” God ordained and used Elijah’s prayer to shut up rain on the land of Israel for 3 1/2 years. God can ordain and use your prayer to awaken the hearts of Haitians to the light of the glorious good news of Jesus Christ.

I keep going back to read in Luke 18:1 when it says the reason Jesus spoke the parable to them was to teach them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Men always ought to pray and not lose heart. It’s easy to lose heart. Pray.

If you cannot give abundantly physically, you can give abundantly through prayer. Not through a flippant prayer, but through earnest and fervent prayers. The “effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”. God honors fervent praying. Praying that shows a broken and contrite spirit.

There are times that you may be moved to pray and that prayer comes easily. There also may be times that you have to labor and wrestle not only in prayer but just to start praying. Regardless of how easy or hard it is we must continue earnestly in prayer, pray without ceasing, and pray always and not lose heart. God hears our prayers, God uses our prayers, God ordains our prayers as the means to carry out His will in the world, and who knows what other great things are happening which we cannot see?

God is good.

For my quiet time I am reading in Corinthians. I just finished 1 Corinthians and have started 2 Corinthians. Like always, there are so many things that hit me and prick my heart, but I want to share one of them from 2 Corinthians 5:1-8.

In verse two it talks about groaning with earnest desire to be clothed with our heavenly habitation (dwelling). It is speaking of being in this current ‘tent of the body’ and longing to be further clothed. Just like 1 Corinthians 15:35-49 talks about how corruption will put on incorruption so here in 2 Cor 5:4 Paul says, “…that mortality may be swallowed up by life.”

Then it blows me away that in verse 5 when it talks about God preparing us for this very thing (being clothed with our heavenly body and habitation) it says that He has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. A deposit. A down payment. Like earnest money.

How great is it that God who is supreme and cannot lie and cannot be moved puts a down payment on us? He secures us with Himself so that nothing can annul it. He prepares us to receive that for which He has prepared for us.

Now. What REALLY hit me was the next 3 verses. Verse 6 starts like this “So we are always confident”. Love that. Always confident huh. About what? Sorry, let me finish the verse, “So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

The point is that we know, by faith, that when we are in the current ‘tent of this body’ that we are absent from the Lord and when we are absent from the body that we will be present with the Lord. I like how then Paul says, “well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord”.

It seems like a lot of people do not groan for their heavenly habitation. It seems like a lot of people would not be well pleased to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. We are consumed far too much with our desires (which are weak desires) so that we think if only we had this or that before we die or if only we accomplished such and such. Everything good and perfect comes from God so to go to His presence is far better than anything we could ever think or imagine. We should be well pleased to say “To live is Christ and to die is gain”.

There is confidence in living that way. For who or what can separate you from the love of Christ which passes knowledge?

Verse 9 starts with “therefore”. So because of everything we just said, “we make it our aim whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”

Can I get an amen. Sure. Amen.

“The enjoyment of [God] is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean.” — Jonathan Edwards

Satiate my soul Lord!

Jer. 31:14

I used to not be able to say that God loves me so that I will be happy. I remember thinking that God wants me to be holy not happy. While it is true that He wants me to be holy, it is also true that He wants me to be happy. I don’t know why it never dawned on me that it is my view and our view of happiness that is skewed.

God is The Fountain of Living Waters (Jeremiah 2:13) that people forsake. People who are in a desert, dying of thirst, with cracked and bleeding hands and lips and all they need to do is turn and drink from the Fountain of Living Waters for the everlasting satisfaction, fulfillment, joy, and pleasure of themselves. Instead we turn to “broken cisterns that can hold no water”. We look for joy and satisfaction in everything but that which is perfectly satisfying.

I have heard variations of this all my life. You know? You know. Sometimes truths break out afresh and anew. Sometimes truths come with new force. Sometimes they are forgotten and need to be remembered. Sometimes God’s Holy Spirit just opens the eyes of the blind to see.

Rehearsing over this truth in my mind over and over excites me. Meditating on, is probably a better word, but I like rehearsing. Running it through my thoughts again and again.

Jesus said in John 6:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Do you see it? The next verse tells that He is speaking about the Holy Spirit who was yet to be given. So in saving us and giving us the Holy Spirit, God has given us the satisfaction and joy of our souls… and out of us flows rivers of living water because He is the Fountain of Living Water and He lives in us.

He spills out of us and the overflow of our joy in Him is love that spills to others… and then I end up not loving people and doing things out of a sense of duty but because the joy of the Lord is overflowing in my heart. Then I can be a cheerful giver, and that is good because God loves a cheerful giver. If we don’t care that God loves a cheerful giver then we don’t care about what pleases and delights God, because He tells us that He does love a cheerful giver.

David, speaking by the Spirit in Psalm 100 says to make a joyful shout to the Lord all you lands and in verse 2 he says “Serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing”. Psalm 37:4 says “Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall…” yeah we know the rest. Gladness, Joy, Delight, Cheerfulness… in God.

Psalm 16… not sure of the verse, says “In Your presence is fullness of joy and at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” Joy is with God. Pleasures are with God. He gives every good and perfect gift. All of God’s good and perfect gifts… if they are corrupted, they are corrupted by our sinful natures, and satan, and the system of this ungodly world.

Does this mean life is always fun? Of course not. But it does mean that we should pursue pleasure and pursue the satisfaction, that is, the happiness of our souls in God. It is not a wrong pursuit. It is good. Jesus struggled greatly while praying in the garden of gethsemane… but why did he endure? The Bible says in Hebrews 12 “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising its shame” It was for the joy set before Him. For the joy set before Him. For the joy set before Him.

There is also sorrow in the midst of joy, when waiting for it to come to a fullness. Happiness truly is knowing the Lord, the Savior Jesus Christ. So practically you pursue this joy by pursuing God. You pursue the relationship… like a husband pursues his wife and a wife her husband. You tell Him you love Him, you give Him gifts, you spend time with Him, you do acts of service for Him, and you touch Him. You get on your face before Him and on your knees in prayer. You clap your hands in praise of Him. You raise your hands to Him. Pursue it. You have to believe that He is and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. You must believe that.

And with that I will leave you with what the Apostle Paul told the Philippians “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!” and what he told the Thessalonians “Rejoice always!”

I feel like I could just keep writing and writing.

But I won’t.

Not now.

I just read this quote from Charles Thomas Studd. I liked it. I smiled.

“Remember the miller’s donkey. The miller, son, and donkey went to the market. The miller rode the donkey all the way and people exclaimed, “Cruel man, riding himself and making his son walk.” So he got down and his son rode; then people slanged, “What a lazy son for riding while poor old father walks.” Then both father and son rode, and people said, “Cruelty to animals, poor donkey.” So they got down and carried the donkey on a pole, but folks said, “Here are two asses carrying another ass.” Then all three walked and people said, “What fools to have a donkey and not ride it.” So let’s go ahead with our work for God and not care what folks say.”