Month: October 2017

143. Blessed

 Psalm 84:4

Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

Psalm 84:5

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.

Psalm 84:12

O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

 “Blessed is the man….” Once again the formula for the promise of blessing is spoken to believers with certain conditions: if you dwell in God’s house, if your strength is in God, if your trust is in God.

1. Those who dwell in the house of the Lord will be blessed in every way, so much that nothing is left for them to do except praise the Lord continually. To dwell in His House is to live in the Presence of God. Within the presence there is eternal joy, perfect peace, safety and comfort. The presence of God on earth was in the temple in the OT and entrance was granted according to the prescribed ritual of sacrifice and faith. NT Believers enter into the presence, which is now in the hearts of believers, using the same ritual with repentance and confession taking the place of sacrifice followed up by faith. Neither the OT nor NT believer who approaches God necessarily feels the presence of God, but he believes he is accepted by the Lord into His living and protective presence; walk by faith, not by sight. “Dwell in thy house” = living lives surrounded with the love of God. Those people are blessed.

2. The one whose strength is in the Lord will be blessed in every way; in his heart is the highway to God. Any believer who does not rely on his own strength to cope with life and overcome the enemies will discover that the Lord is his strength. He knows he is weak and the Lord is strong for him. Pride in one’s own strength, wisdom, cleverness or ability prevents one from using the benefits of God’s strength. Thus repentance breaks down pride and lets in humility; the Lord lifts up the humble. The strength of Jesus Is far more effective than my own strength.

3. The one who trusts in the Lord will be blessed in every way. When a person is led by the Gospel to give up completely on himself and place his life in the hands of the Creator and Savior and Comforter he is truly blessed. The Lord lives life for him, in him, and through him, directing his decisions and actions and words. Nothing but blessings can come to the person who trusts the Lord for a blessed life, today and tomorrow and forever. God is good and when He has His way in us it is a good way.

142. Fill the Mouth

 Psalm 81:10

I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt:

open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

 “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.” The Lord spoke these identical words in Exodus 20 when He made the Covenant with the people of Israel through Moses. These words are the Gospel, God’s part of the covenant declaring who He is and what He has done for the people. Their part of the covenant arrangement was to keep the Ten Commandments. The Covenant: “Because I have done this for you therefore you will do this for me, ‘Thou shalt….’ God kept His promise and His part of the covenant, but the people, collectively and individually, did not keep their part, so the covenant is broken. However, Jesus kept the Ten Commandments perfectly in my place and by doing so He reestablished the covenant bond between God and me; the Covenant is now in force and God is obligated to keep His part of the relationship: “I am your God and I saved you from Sin, Death and the Devil.”

There is more now added to this basic Gospel promise: “I will fill your mouth, that is, I will provide for you all you needs.” The Lord your God will give you life and everything you need to nourish and enjoy that life. But there is one condition: “Open you mouth wide.” If you open your mouth wide, then I will fill it with what is needed.

Opening your mouth wide is a metaphor for believing God. Opening your mouth wide means that you are a receiver. You do not do it; you do not make it happen; you do not earn it or work for it. You simply receive. God is pouring out blessings. The only thing that would prevent the blessing is a closed mouth of defiant unbelief. Unfortunately, that is what happened: God goes on to say in the next verse, “But my people did not listen…would not submit.”

The Lord has already saved you, and now He wants to daily, richly and abundantly provide for you everything you need, like: forgiveness of sins, eternal life now, salvation, deliverance, peace with God, joy in the Lord, hope, answers to prayer, safety and protection from the enemy, victory of all evil of body and soul, a productive job and vocation, a blessed marriage and family, and we could go on and on. Enough said; He wants to fill your mouth. Opening your mouth signals the expectation of feeding and filling, like a baby bird; it means making room for God and his gifts; it means receptivity to the goodness of God, grace without merit. It simply means faith. It is like the widow and her two sons who were told by Elisha to borrow vessels from the neighbors, empty vessels and not a few. Then they poured from one little jar of oil until all the gathered vessels were full of oil.

The Lord opens our mouth wide in anticipation and expectation in order to receive what God wants to give to fill us with good things. Unbelief keeps the mouth shut; when the Gospel is heard faith is engendered and the Holy Spirit opens the mouth. Just like God promises salvation so He promises a filling.

141. Exalt the power

Psalm 75:10

All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off;

But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

 “Horn” is the Biblical symbol for power, often political power but sometimes physical power as in a rhinoceros or unicorn. The promise concerning power is two-fold: the power of the wicked will be cut off, or greatly diminished; the power of the righteous will be exalted, or greatly increased. Jesus Christ in His Death and Resurrection cut off the power of Evil that was against us, and He lifted up the power of the believers.

The horn is the spiritual power of the authority of words, to speak a word and it is so; one speaks the truth and that word overcomes the lie. Evil relies on lies, but lies are really very weak against the simple truth, unless one has chosen to believe the lie. Truth always overcomes the lie; love is stronger than hate; mercy triumphs judgment; forgiveness breaks chains. All of these “horns” of good and of God are more powerful than the “horns” of evil and the Evil One.

When the Christian is confronted with lies, temptations and taunts from the Enemy he may claim this promise (along with many others): the authority of God’s Word and Truth and the power of God’s Love and Mercy is exalted over the authority and power of the wicked, which is cut off. Satan’s usurped authority has been cut off by the bloody death of Jesus: he has no more legal claim upon the redeemed for their sin is forgiven (unless he can get us to disbelieve the power of the blood of Jesus). Death’s claim and hold on sinners is ripped away by the mighty resurrection. The record of the debt of sin with its legal demands has been canceled. The rulers and authorities have been disarmed and Christ has triumphed.

My power has increased; the Enemy’s power has decreased. Believe the promise of God and don’t let anyone trick you into believing otherwise.

140. Strength and Portion

 Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart faileth:

But God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.

 “I am weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me.” My flesh is my natural sinful soul, which is connected to and controls the body. The selfish flesh is the playground where the Bully Sin rules and eats our lunch. The flesh is not intrinsically evil or sinful in itself, but it is weak and easily gives in to the stronger ruling power of Sin and Temptation and to the subtlety of the Evil One. “My flesh faileth.” The flesh cannot be improved. All the seven step self-help books will not improve my flesh and my behavior and move me forward one inch (except temporarily and then I fall back again). One cannot work on the flesh to make a better person. Trying to do good works and stop sinning by the power of reason and will and emotions only leads to frustration after failure after frustration. Only one thing can be done with the flesh: kill it, crucify it, crush it, drown it, and just die to self. The Holy Spirit will do this through the Gospel and then He will come in and gently take over in place of the bully. He binds the strong man.

“My heart faileth.” The heart is the same as the flesh without the body; it is the spirit and the soul, but without faith the spirit is dead and the soul is allowed to run wild according to its selfish desires. Thus my heart faileth. But upon hearing the Gospel the Holy Spirit creates faith in the dead spirit and makes it alive again by coming to live there. When a believer is born again by faith in Christ then God is the strength of his heart. Now the spirit and the flesh are opposed to each other, and by His strength (and only by His strength) He overcomes temptation, defeats the Enemy, and delivers from Evil. God promises to fight, and win, my spiritual battles for me in my heart.

And this promise is forever true: God is my portion forever. Portion = lot, inheritance, destiny. In other words, I cannot lose, ever. By myself I will fail and lose and live a defeated life; with God I will succeed and win and live an overcoming life, every day and forever.

139. Receive to Glory

 Psalm 73:24b

And afterward receive me to glory.

 After God has guided me with His counsel He will receive me to glory. He has already received me into His presence and His kingdom, but I have not yet entered into glory where life is lived without Sin, Death, or the Devil. But afterward, after He has guided me through life and been with me every step of the way He will physically and historically in a moment receive me into His glory. “Come…inherit the kingdom prepared for you.” The guidance is finished, the goal is achieved, the end is reached, the purpose is accomplished; and then He will receive me to glory.

This promise is fulfilled and it will be yet fulfilled: God has spiritually received my spirit into His glory; God will physically receive my resurrected body into His glory. Both “receptions” may differ according to time and substance, but both are alike in reality and in fact. For now, during this present life, God, because of Christ, receives and welcomes me whenever He draws me to Him in faith, and He guides me as He promised.

But “receiving me to glory” is still a future promise; it is afterward. For now, during the time of guidance, I was “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.” (Ephesians 1:13-14). Now I have the Holy Spirit; afterward will have the inheritance. “Glory” means the outward manifestation of the inward character: in God’s case, it is light, beauty, holiness and the perfect love of God. In this glory there is only and completely God and there exists no sin, no sorrow, no Satan, no death, no tears, no fears, no darkness, no doubts, no questions. This is Glory. We will not see this until afterward. For now, while we wait we have faith and hope and a promise.

138. Guide

 Psalm 73:24a

Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel,

 Having the promise of a guide through life is really comforting. We need a guide when we travel through some place we haven’t been before and we don’t know the path to get where we want to go. A guide leads us in the right way to bring us safely to our destination. The Guide counsels us with advice and directions. We are not forced to go that way, but we choose to follow the direction of someone who knows the way, who has been there before, and who knows where to turn right or left and stop and go.

Such also is life: it is a journey to a place we don’t know and we don’t know the way. Every new day is a new place along the way with new experiences demanding decisions for which we do not know enough to choose aright, and we often make bad choices. Every tomorrow is full of the unknown and the unpredictable. We cannot know the way through life, what we do know is wrong, and we make choices according to our own warped and darkened selfish understanding. We are in desperate need of a guide: Jesus says, “I am the Way.” Once we believe in Jesus and follow Him we are on the way, and He will never let us go without wise and unerring counsel. We may not like His Word or want to do what He says, but the Guide is the Good Shepherd, and He is always right and good. “He leads me in the paths of righteousness.” (Psalm 23:3).

This promise is unconditional: the Lord will guide me with his counsel. What is not so certain, however, is whether I will heed that counsel. If fact, I definitely will not, but He will not give up and stop guiding me. His counsel is clearly spelled out in His Word. When I don’t listen or don’t follow I repent, believe, and get going again. My pride doesn’t see it, but the Word shows me that I am lost without Jesus the Guide. I will not find my way through this jungle on my own. Thank God, I have a Guide. He guides me all the way to Glory.

137. Comfort

 Psalm 71:21b

And comfort me on every side.

 Connected to the greatness, God promises to comfort me on every side. Relative comfort is very close to a survival need just like food, clothing and shelter; in fact, humans spend much time and effort working on those three needs to make life more comfortable. Seeking creature comforts is an insatiable drive created in the heart of every natural man and woman. Greed wants more comfort. Humans also spend very much time and energy seeking emotional comfort in some kind of relationship. But, disappointingly, marriages, families, and friendships far too often produce more stress than comfort.

The quest for physical and emotional comfort is seldom fulfilling and never ending, which causes us to doubt that this promise could ever come true. Can I really be comforted on every side? Yes, when God comforts me. God provides for at least minimal comfort physically; God comforts emotionally in times of stress; God creates relational comfort through the love and forgiveness of one another; God promises financial comfort in times of poverty, debt and need; God comforts inwardly when outwardly we are sick and in pain.

Our God is “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our afflictions.” (I Corinthians 1:3-4). It is with the Gospel of Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit, “The Comforter,” comforts our hearts and minds on every side. Whenever we need comfort we may turn to the Gospel: the same Gospel applies comfort whether we are suffering a loss, enduring pain and sickness, undergoing tribulations, frightened by death, anxious about tomorrow, worried about food and clothing and shelter, threatened by guilt and shame, or by persecution, or from whatever side the Enemy is attacking us. Whichever side the Enemy is coming from the Strength, Support, Hope, Promise and Comfort of God will be there to comfort and keep.

136. Greatness

 Psalm 71:21a

Thou shalt increase my greatness,

 The promises concerning what God will do for me grow greater every day as I read of them and take them to heart. In this verse the Lord is promising two things: 1) He will increase my greatness, 2) He will comfort me on every side. Today we dwell on the first promise.

I, who am nothing, have been made something; I, a poor, miserable sinner, have been made a rich and ecstatic saint; I, a humble and lowly slave of sin, have been liberated and raised to an exalted status. All this Christ has done for me and now He even promises to increase my greatness. Christ has lifted me out of humility, poverty, slavery and misery and made me great, and now He plans to make me even greater. God is in the business of creating something out of nothing (me); then He makes me more than something: He makes me great; then He increases my greatness.

How can He make me greater? How can He lift me higher? How can He make me holier? Can He make me more righteous? I am already saved to the uttermost; I am already raised up with Him and seated with him in the heavenly places (there is no higher place to go); holy and righteous do not admit of degrees or levels but are already absolutes. What does He mean? “Increasing greatness” means incrementally increasing my awareness of the greatness He has already bestowed on me. I will never fill up the full knowledge of God’s Love (how high, how deep, etc.), nor will I understand how much God’s Grace is super-abounding toward me (I must grow in grace). I do not receive more Love or Grace from God; I simply become more aware of how much there is and how much more there is I haven’t even imagined yet. In the same way the Lord does not make me greater, but He increases my greatness when He, through His Word and Spirit, causes me to realize, recognize and walk into the true greatness I already have, greatness that approaches heights just a little lower than God. I am that great; I just don’t see it yet. The promise is: He will open my eyes to see more and more.

135. Make Alive

 Psalm 71: 20

Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again,

And shall bring me up again from the depth of the earth.

 God promises to quicken, revive, make me alive again; He promises to bring me up again from the depth of the earth, from Sheol, from death and hell. This He has done: I was dead in trespasses and sins but He has made me alive in Christ; my spirit was dead within me but He has forgiven the sin that killed it and made my spirit alive again; by faith the Holy Spirit lives in my human spirit; I was heading directly for eternal death and hell was my definite destiny but He has brought me up again from the depths. All this miraculous new life creation happened when Jesus died on the cross and rose from the tomb; life was given to me when I was baptized and believed. The promise of quickening has been fulfilled and finished, but there is more.

Christ has earned, and the Holy Spirit has given, new life once for all eternity; however, it means so much more: I die daily when I remember my Baptism and drown and die and a new man comes forth and walks in newness of life; Sin and I myself get me in great and sore troubles and He makes me alive again; many words and events in my life bring me close to the depths of death and He brings me up again. These things happen every day as I sink and rise; I cause the fall while the Lord cause the raising to life.

God made me see these troubles and calamities but I am the one who brought them on, being the sinful, guilty and dead-in-sin human. He has graciously allowed afflictions to attend me because I needed the discipline, but He is always there to lift me up and give me life. Every affliction is a bit of sin and death; every deliverance from affliction is a bit of forgiveness and life.

Both life and death are going on all the time at the same time; living and dying are both present but at some times we may feel closer to life or to death than at other times. For example, a harsh word tends to bring me closer to death while forgiveness for that word brings me up and restores me to life again. We may turn to the Lord many times a day for a quickening injection of new life. So He promises.

134. Strong Refuge

 Psalm 71:7

I am as a wonder unto many;

But thou art my strong refuge.

 Many times God promises that He will be a strong refuge for us. A refuge is simply a “safe place.” Men seek refuge from a storm, from fierce battle, from marauding enemies, from bullies, from wild beasts, from slavery, from tyranny, and from any kind of physical or material danger. That image of a safe place free from danger, of a place of protection and safekeeping, of hunkering down while the enemy rages without is a clear metaphor for the promises of a strong refuge in the spiritual world.

The spiritual storms, battles and dangers in the spirit are even greater for they may affect eternity: losing eternity would be a far greater loss than anything we can imagine. The enormity of this danger does not keep the enemies away, but through hatred spurs them on to wreak greater havoc in our life and hope, joy and peace.

God Himself is the strong refuge; run to Him and be safe. The Holy Spirit though the Word stirs us up to repentance and confession of sins; then He makes absolutely certain the forgiveness of sins to our hearts through the Gospel. Now we are in a safe place, a strong refuge, secure in Him, where no harm or danger can touch us.

By faith we live and walk inside the refuge. The outward result is that we become as a wonder to many. Many see a calm, composed assurance, often confused with self-confidence or self-assurance, which is given by God inside the refuge.