I got a new Bible for Christmas. I asked for a new Bible for Christmas. BUT… I have such a hard time switching to a new Bible from my old Bible.

I have tried to make the switch before but I failed miserably. I have been using my current Bible for about 19 years. I remember it was hard making the switch to it. It is a New King James Version, which I like. I had tried going back to King James Version which did not happen. I have a beautiful Cambridge King James Version Bible that just sits there looking beautiful.

My current Bible has duct tape on it. Yeah, it has some wear. So I am glad that I got a new Bible for Christmas and I like the ESV (English Standard Version) so I think that will make the transition easier. It is just that I can picture the pages in my old Bible and I remember where passages are by how the page looks. I will most likely feel somewhat lost in the new Bible.

I haven’t decided how I should start working it in. I know I need to start using it in my quiet time, but it feels weird underlining in a new Bible… you know? It is all clean and fresh and new. Maybe I will just finish my current reading schedule and then start my next reading schedule with the new Bible. I don’t know… I just don’t know.

“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.”

Some notes I took from a recent message I listened to on humility by John Piper. I think it was called humility and servanthood. :::

The gospel is the root. Jesus is the root! of humility

**”Humility does not make you gloomy, dismal, downcast, or unhappy.”

“Gospel humility frees you from the need to pose, calculate, posture, or sniff out what others think. It makes you free to laugh at what is really funny with the biggest belly laugh imaginable that makes your face contort and look ridiculous.”

“uncontrollable laughter” (not without self control) can be a very humbling moment… there are no calculations of how am I being perceived. Proud people do not get red in the face with laughter… they must always maintain their “dignity”.

It frees you to be the happiest person you could possibly be.

**”Humility does not make you fearful or timid”

–the only source of courage the world can think of is self-confidence. The Bible teaches us to put no confidence in the flesh but to put our confidence in God as we rely on Him.

…”not a spirit of fear but of power and love and …”

God confidence!! not self confidence… you wanna be strong and bold? then be nothing and have God on your side.

“Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies?” Isaiah 51:12

**Humility does not make you passive. It does not remove the driving motor of ‘achievement’”

For the world it drives the ego with accomplishment and achievement.

1 Cor 15:10 “I worked harder than any of them… nevertheless not I, but the grace of God that was with me”

The grace of God in the heart of the believer who is humble and dependent on God produces incredible industry.

‘protestant work ethic’ when relying on the grace of God. Deep humble dependence on God (sovereign grace) produces industry… dependent like a child… toil happens, energy happens, the unleashing of dreams.

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”