The Silence of God

A friend of mine posted these song lyrics on facebook and I thought it would be great to post them here. They are a powerful reminder of the goodness of God even in silence. Enjoy.

The Silence of God

Lyrics by Andrew Peterson 

It’s enough to drive a man crazy; it’ll break a man’s faith
It’s enough to make him wonder if he’s ever been sane
When he’s bleating for comfort from Thy staff and Thy rod
And the heaven’s only answer is the silence of God

It’ll shake a man’s timbers when he loses his heart
When he has to remember what broke him apart
This yoke may be easy, but this burden is not
When the crying fields are frozen by the silence of God

And if a man has got to listen to the voices of the mob
Who are reeling in the throes of all the happiness they’ve got
When they tell you all their troubles have been nailed up to that cross
Then what about the times when even followers get lost?
‘Cause we all get lost sometimes…

There’s a statue of Jesus on a monastery knoll
In the hills of Kentucky, all quiet and cold
And He’s kneeling in the garden, as silent as a Stone
All His friends are sleeping and He’s weeping all alone

And the man of all sorrows, he never forgot
What sorrow is carried by the hearts that he bought
So when the questions dissolve into the silence of God
The aching may remain, but the breaking does not
The aching may remain, but the breaking does not
In the holy, lonesome echo of the silence of God

A Great Message from Tim Smith of The Resurgence

I found this at www.theresurgence.com and thought it would be great for you to read:

Most good books have a preface or introduction of one sort or another. The first book of the Lord of the Rings begins with a chapter entitled, “Concerning Hobbits”. Star Wars always begins with, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” Without them we would not know that hobbits are small agrarian creatures with hairy feet, we might think Luke Skywalker is from Iowa rather than Tatooine. Psalm 1 serves this same purpose as the preface to the book of Psalms building a foundation on which the rest of the book comes to rest.

Delight or Destruction? Your choice

The psalm begins with a challenge: do not take the counsel of the wicked, be counted with sinners or join in with those who scoff (v1). Rather, delight yourself in God’s law, the whole of scripture in our case, and meditate on it day and night (v2). This is a challenge to a very high standard and is the qualification for the blessing that follows. If, and only if, the word of God becomes our delight, we will be blessed. We will be like a fruitful tree, well watered and nourished, we will not wither and all we do will prosper (v3).

However, if we we fail to delight in the scripture the opposite will be true. We will wither and die and the wind will blow us away (v4). God knows our hearts. We will not stand as righteous in the judgment and all our ways will perish (v5-6).

Your Best Life Now? Not necessarily…

I find that there is still a strong desire in my heart to adopt the “bible promise book” mentality I spoke of in my introduction to this series. I want to hold onto the promise that “all that I do will prosper” above all the rest of the prohibitions and cautions, but the psalmist will not let me. I have access to that blessing only to the extent that I delight in God’s word and keep it close in meditation. The great english preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon says it well:

“How few among us can lay claim to the benediction (blessing) of the text! Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you – Is your delight in the law of God? Do you study God’s Word? Do you make it the man of your right hand – your best companion and hourly guide? If not, this blessing does not belong to you.”

from the “Treasury of David – Psalm 1”

Martin Luther also drives this home:
“…one does not meditate on the law of the Lord unless his delight was first fixed in it. For what we want and love, on that we reflect inwardly and diligently… Therefore let delight be first sent into the heart as the root, and then meditation will come o fits own accord.”

from “Luther’s Works – Vol. 10 – Lectures on the Psalms”

Delight is much more than duty

I would take Luther’s comments a small step further to say that unless we delight first and foremost in Jesus we will not delight in his word. The scripture reveals the glory of the Father in the face of Jesus Christ through the illumination of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 3:18-4:6). Jesus is the only man who has ever, or will ever, fulfill the righteous requirements of Psalm 1. He has never walked in the counsel of the wicked, stood with sinners or sat with scoffers. He delights in the law as the one who inspired it (Jn 1:1). As such, he experiences the fullest blessing possible as an eternally fruitful, everlasting tree of truth and righteousness. To be in the truth of the word is to be in Christ. Apart from him there is no truth at all.

I have a tendency to work from the outside in; to first ask, “what should I do?” before I ask, “who should I be?” But to “delight” in God’s word requires much more than a regular “quiet time” or daily devotional reading of the scripture. This could be a part of it but to delight requires a change in heart that is only possible through the the Holy Sprit. It means that we value, love, desire and take pleasure in the word. When this happens is becomes perfectly natural to meditate on scripture day and night. It also follows that what we do in that state would prosper as our hearts are unified with Jesus.

The Challenge

I would challenge you to ask the hard question, “where do I truly delight?” Ask the Spirit to search your heart for anything you delight in before Jesus and His word. Ask the Spirit to show you how to walk away from those idols and to place an insatiable desire for God’s word in their place. This is the heart of Psalm 1, Psalms 2-150 and the whole of Scripture.

Heavenly Father… Open the eyes of my heart that I might truly see your glory revealed in Jesus by the Holy Spirit in the pages of Scripture. Reveal anything that opposes this and give me a deep delight in Your word. Grant that Jesus, as revealed in Your word, would be my deepest source of satisfaction, rest, comfort, pleasure and identity. Remind me that anything that prospers in my life ultimately comes from You. Amen.

The Grace of God

How hard is life? I know that for me, it seems like I try so hard and do so much only to come up empty. I can remember back when I was in 9^th grade, I had to move. The cool thing about this move is that I was actually moving back to the town in which I had spent all of my elementary days. I just knew I would pick right back up with my old friends and that it would be like I never left. I was dead wrong!! For some reason, things were not the same and I tried so hard to make new friends and to fit in to this new surrounding. I discovered that life was tough and, not to bust your bubbles, but it doesn’t get much easier. Life is hard. Life takes guts and courage and no one gives you anything for nothing. However, God, in his splendor and glory, through Christ stands ready to offer that which we cannot buy and that which we cannot afford. He stands to offer us life. He tells us, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden’s light.”[1]

 

God, by His grace, offers to us life and purpose that is centered on the greatness of God himself. This life, though foolish to the world, is abundant and joyful. It overflows with the mercy of God. It overwhelms the guilty and wondering heart with love that is freeing and pursuing. It is a life that chooses us and not us choosing it. The basis of grace is God himself who simply draws us with His Spirit.  Grace. Never has a word spoken such truth.

1.)    What is Grace?

A.)  It is God’s goodness to those who deserve only punishment.

B.)   It is an unmerited, unique gift that God gives to us in Christ that both forgives us and teaches us how to live.

 

2.)    What do we do with Grace?

A.)  We Rejoice in Grace – 1 Peter 1:8,9

B.)   We Live in Grace – 1 Corinthians 15:10; 2 Corinthians 1:12; Hebrews 13:9

C.)  We Grow in Grace – 2 Peter 3:18

D.)  We Speak with Grace – Ephesians 4:29; Colossians 4:6

E.)   We are Strengthened by Grace – 2 Timothy 2:1; Hebrews 13:9

 

3.)    Why Grace?

A.)  Only God knows.

B.)   Without it we are hopeless and unable to escape from this prison of wrath.

 

4.)    How do we experience Grace?

A.)  Only through Faith – Ephesians 2:8,9

B.)   Faith is putting your complete trust in someone other than yourself.

C.)  Grace and Faith mirror each other because they are actions that happen to us and not something we cause ourselves.

 

 

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[1] Matthew 11:29,30

WWG (Wrestling with God)

Ok, so most of us have seen these wrestling (wrastlin’ if you live in certain places!) shows that come on tv. I have to admit that I grew up loving it and every so often I find myself sneaking a few minutes each week. It has changed alot since I was a kid and it is pretty raunchy. With that said, one thing that hasn’t changed is that wrestling on tv is not real. I know, I just burst someone’s bubble. I do understand that it is choreographed and staged each week for our viewing pleasure. However, I think at times there are mistakes made because you can see some obvious pain on one the particiants face. Now, what does this have to do with anything? Well, wrestling is biblical. I am serious. There are several times people wrestled with God. In R.C. Sproul’s book, The Holiness of God, he talks about this issue. In it he talks about Jacob wrestling with the Angel of God and he sheds some light on this amazing story:

“The angel demanded the name of Jacob. The demand for the name was similar to the custom we have today of indicating surrender by saying uncle. For the combatant to yield his name meant that he was acknowledging the superiority of the other party. The yielding of the name was an act of submission. When Jacob surrendered his name, he surrendered his soul. He relinquished authority over his own life. With the surrender came a new name, a new identity: Israel.” (The Holiness of God, pg. 196)

Wow, the wrestling match that lasted all night was used to break Jacob, and us, in order to give us a new identity. Our lives are not committed but surrendered to God and his ways. Welcome to WWG!!

Hookers and Robbers

I recently was reading through a book that dealt with Christianity from the view point of the non religous. It was a bit scandalous in its approach and for us good “church” people, it is a tough read. At first, I thought little of the material and even contemplated putting it down. However, a story that struck me was that of a young lady who was vehemently opposed to Christ and the church. The story goes that as a college freshmen she decided to come out of the closet and openly embraced lesbianism. She embraced pagan worship (the americanized version!) and she was the epitome of what kind of person we would be terrified of in our churches. The smae time frame in which this was taking place in her life, another young lady was growing in walk with Christ. She began to be burdened for those around her and asked God to give her the grace needed to invest her life in someone else, in order that this person may come to know Christ. So imagine to our Godly young lady’s surprise when through a course of events during her freshmen year, she and our lesbian friend form a friendship, albeit skeptical on both sides. God used this friendship to help teach our lesbian friend that Christ died for her. he walked with people like her. He even came and made it clear that he came for those who no one wanted, no one cared for, and for those whom were sick (spiritually). After a great period of time, this young ladt embraced Christ and she found in Him all that she was looking for. It was not an overnight change and it was along process of investment on the part of our godly young lady, but she invested her life in this girl and God brought mercy to this soul. This should remind us that we are all hookers and thieves in our hearts and that Christ desires to have mercy on us. Pray and ask God to give you a vision of those souls around you looking for salvation. They are there. The process is messy, overwhelming, and chaotic but in the end there is peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Mystery Indeed

Last night, our church hosted worship leader Charlie Hall. It was an amazing night. The guys in the band were such great guys and they seemed truly greatful for the opportunity to play here at our church. This is amazing because they have played before 20,000 people at Passion Conferences all oper the world. What amazed me most was the fact they led worship and not just performed. There times of silence on our part and times of joyful celebration but in it all God made himself known to us. Life is a beautiful mess that God is in the process of using for His glory. The mystery that Christ died, rose again, and coming again is truly remarkable. This was a great night and those who attended were truly blessed.

Casting Crowns Video

Who Does God say that I am?

Who are you? This seems like an easy enough question. For most people however, there is a bit of fear when it comes to answereing this challenge. Most people live their lives with mutiple facades to cover up who they really are. They live with pressure to conform to so many different views and ideas that they end up forgetting who they really are. Scripture helps us to understand this task. It teaches who we really are and what God says about us. I am amazed that as I realize the sinfulness of my life, that God still loves me. He sees the depth of who we are and he loves us. Yet, he doesn’t leave us the way he finds us. He is in the processing of turning us from what we are to what we were designed to be. We were created to love and worship God. Yet who we really are is what keeps us from truly knowing God. This is why Christ’s death and ressurection are so important. You see, his death paid the debt we owed for our sin and His ressurection is God’s approval at what he did. The debt is paid and life is available. So, when you think about who you are, let your thoughts go to what God says and what he thinks. Over the next few days we’ll be looking at several truths about who God says that I am.

1.) I am a Child of God: John 1:12

 

2.) I am a branch of the TRUE Vine: John 15:1,5

 

3.) I am a friend of Jesus: John 15:15

 

4.) I Have been justified (declared right by God) and redeemed: Romans 3:24

 

5.) My Old self was crucified with Christ and I am no longer a slave to sin: Romans 6:6

Beloved!

In the Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon), Solomon wrote of a very intimate picture of a husband and wife as they pursue and give themselves to one another. The book was considered to much for young people in some Jewish circles and the boys could not read until they reached a certain age! So, you may be asking, “Why are we going to be talking about this?” I want to share with you 2 verses that speak not only about the love between a husband and wife but also the love between Redeemer and Redeemed. These verses reinforce such amazing truth and I hope that they will be an encouragement to you this week.

READ: Song of Solomon 5:16; 6:3

Who is our Beloved?

How does knowing you are HIs and He is yours effect your perspective?

What are some other ways this passage has spoken to you today?