worship & meditation

I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love,

and I will meditate on your statutes.

Psalm 119:48

There are two places the rich and rewarding truths of God’s Word fill up our lives described in this verse. We see the sufficiency of scripture and the transcendence of God’s Word described. And what was true of this hymn to scripture in ancient Israel is powerfully still very true today.

Scripture fills our worship. As the psalmist worships, lifting hands in praise, the posture of worship is directed toward God’s commandments. It is God’s Word that motivates to worship. It is holy truth that turns hands toward holy worship of God’s holy Word. It is love for God’s own commandments that moves the heart to praise. We must worship in, by, because of, and in response to God’s Word speaking to us. The Word of God should be a major part of our liturgy, in fact, we cannot truly worship without it. God must speak and we must respond. God’s Word is our true worship leader.

Scripture fills our thinking. This too is a kind of worship that continues even when we leave the congregation. We meditate on God’s Word. Unlike the worthless practice of eastern mysticism that says meditations means emptying our minds (an impossibility), biblical meditation is about filling our minds.We fill our thinking with scripture. That means repeated reading of God’s Word… word by word… exploring its depths. It means singing God’s Word, in wonder, praise, and rich personal connection. It means memorizing scripture so that hidden in our hearts are the very thoughts of God Himself, ready to guide us at the Spirit of God’s bidding.

Loving the Lord, and loving His Word, means we commit to worship by the book. It means we commit to meditation on God’s truth. It means we dive deep, personally, productively, emotionally, and spiritually, into a treasure store of truth for all of our lives… truth that carries us confidently, and worshipfully, always to our eternal God forever.

missions: mystery & ministry

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Ephesians 3:6

The gospel is the great uniter. It breaks all barriers and brings all believers together into one Body of Christ. In Jesus we are one. And God desires that the Church celebrates and rallies around this reality. There is unity in diversity. There is beauty in God’s planned design of many different ethnicities, races, and colors of humanity united in the worship of Jesus!

What can we do to surely celebrate this mosaic? Paul gave all his life efforts as a Jew among Gentiles to proclaim, publish, and promote this great, mysterious work of Christ. Would we do the same? To do so means stepping out of comfort zones. It means personal exposure and risk. It means cultural exploration and adventure. It means venturing at personal cost to other ethnic expressions much different than our own in order to reach our world with the gospel. This is why missions exists. And will we dare to leave the enclave of our own ethnic comfort zone to make sure the gospel goes everywhere?

Jesus,

You are making of the many tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations of this world ONE body. Would You please move us… move Your church… to love ALL people groups as You do? Some ethnic groups You are already bringing close to us. Most urban areas in the USA are culturally diverse, rich with immigrants and diversity. To others You call us to go and bring the gospel to where they are so that they may know Your love. All should get the opportunity to partake of Your promise in the gospel, for Your glory, so Your kingdom spans this globe.

Amen

my prayer, my promise

Make me understand the way of your precepts,

and I will meditate on your wondrous works.

Psalm 119:27

I open this Bible

a book I’ve been reading for half a century

clearly dear to me

would You show to me

Lord, what I need to see

In the pages of scripture

I want to see You

and keep coming to know You

and what is always true

as I follow You

Your words bring a reading prayer

asking You to help me know

what You wish to show

so that I can go

to this world with truth and grow

As I think on Your words

my soul to worship turns

and inner fire now burns

as my heart fully yearns

to live out all it learns

I think about Your truth

and You Spirit illuminates

as I calmly meditate

on promises overwhelmingly great

discovered as I investigate

What’s more.. what You say You do

showing me how to really live

in the amazing grace You give

I am blessed in what I have

as in Your Word I believe

This Bible shows wondrous works

My God is on the move today

in my life and in my day

in gratefulness I say

“Help me understand and love Your way”.

mighty in mercy

…for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

And his mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

Luke 1:49-50

Mary’s song of praise at the end of Luke 1 is filled with appreciation for the work of God. It wasn’t just that she was amazed that God was bringing the Messiah into the world miraculously through her, but she knows God is doing a great new work that will change Israel and the world forever. Her praise is all about what only God can do.

The first two things on her list of praises are ways in which she has personally come to believe the extent of God’s work in the coming Messiah she was privileged to deliver into the world. First, she is impressed with God’s mighty, holy power. The fact that a child is conceived in her, still a virgin herself, by the power of the Holy Spirit moves her to contemplate the might of God. In holiness and power, a Messiah would come into the world. And she is blessed to be part of the great things a holy God is going to do, by His Holy Spirit, with His holy Son.

Secondly, Mary sees the mercy of God coming in the Messiah. God, rich in mercy, was saving His people. This mercy would have generational impact. Indeed, two millennia after Mary first praised God for this merciful Messiah, generations of Christians have worshiped Jesus. And even today I am in awe of the mercy Jesus has showered upon me. I am able to fear God, love my Lord and Savior, and find mercy, although I am a sinner, because of Jesus Who is both mighty and merciful.

rewarded according to Your word

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.

Psalm 119:9

I first came across this encouraging scriptural admonition when I was a very young man… about 10 years old, and memorizing verses in my church’s Thursday night AWANA program for kids. This was the fundamentalist Baptist version of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts back in the 1970s. I had my gray uniform and my red scarf and a chest full of pins and medals… some for the typical outdoor or sport activities, and most of them for the scripture memory achievements. I am so thankful that I had incentive as a kid to saturate my thinking with the Bible. Some of the motivation might have been a tad legalistic ( I wanted the up front recognition badly and was proud of those fancy pins), but the overall effect of learning so much scripture has indeed proven to be helpful and protective over decades. It still shapes my thinking fifty years later. I can’t say the same thing about basketball teams or softball teams I played on at the time! God’s Word is a powerful, purifying, protective life shaper!

I wish I had the kind of energy and capacity for scripture memory now that I had back then. These days I might learn at most five or six new passages a year. It takes weeks of consistent review to get a new one down. This psalm is correct that a young person’s mind is the best mind for guarding the heart in the Word. I still work at it. It is still very much worth it. And when I apply myself to consistent, significant scriptural exposure, my spiritual life is personally fulfilling and very rewarding.

Lord,

Keep me saturated in scripture, committed to knowing You by Your Word, and filled with Your precious thoughts by consistent intake of Your Word. I know the reward. I live my life in these truths and promises and am not disappointed by You! I have been spared much personal grief by taking care to stay in the Bible. It is a grace coming straight from You. It is precious. It sustains my soul. Thank You for Your Word, my Lord! In it, Your gospel has been made clear to me. By Your Word I am convicted of sin and urged to repent. Through scripture’s great and precious promises I trust You into a glorious eternity!

Amen

5 reassuring truths in Christ

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace…

Ephesians 1:7

Packed into this one small verse explaining the wonder of salvation in Christ are five reassuring truths to start the week.

1. In Jesus we HAVE salvation. We possess it right now. It is our present state, not just our eternal future. Jesus has redeemed us and we are saved right now.

2. In Jesus we are REDEEMED. We are brought to Him, His own people, delivered from the control of sin and the ownership of death. We are His now.

3. Jesus gave His life for us. This redemption and this salvation came to us at great cost: the blood of Jesus our Savior shed for us freely at the cross.

4. In Jesus our sins are completely forgiven. Our trespasses against a holy God are now covered by the blood of the sacrifice which Jesus offered. Only Jesus can provide such forgiveness.

5. God now showers on us the wealth of His grace. This is a wealth beyond all the riches we could imagine, and it is now given to us by Jesus. We are a people surrounded by the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ.

O Lord Jesus,

Thanks for this reminder as I go into this week. I am saved by You, redeemed by You, loved by You at great cost, forgiven in You, and now Your grace is all around me. May I live in that worshipful awareness and share that life, that truth, that way with others!

Amen

Good catch, Lord!

I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,

but the LORD helped me.

Psalm 118:13

I’ve had seasons where I can relate to the sentiment of this section of the 118th psalm. Life can press in hard. People can push you. People can seek your downfall. You can feel backed up to the edge of the abyss, and a look over your shoulder confirms a potential disaster. And still life presses in and pushes hard. In that moment God will rescue. He will catch you. He will help you.

Sometimes I get myself into this predicament, running full speed without spiritually refueling, cramming my week with activity while neglecting sabbath rest. Letting that busy kind of high fuel me while people press in and my personal problems go unaddressed. “I’ll get to them later”, I think. And then, before I know it, there is no where to go… I’m backed up on the cliff’s edge again and my feet are slipping.

When my heart turns to do my Helper, He never fails. He catches me in my failing fall and graciously enforces a time of resting in Him. He disciplines me to get my soul back into balance. And in the wisdom of His Word I see the beauty of walking with Him, not being busy AROUND God, but quietly, carefully, joyously walking WITH God.

Lord,

Once again I find my rest in You. You have caught me numerous times when life has pushed too hard, or I have pushed myself too hard. And when I’ve created that pressure by my own foolish, selfish ways, You have forgiven, disciplined in love, and renewed me. Thanks for Your loving arms that catch me when I fall. Teach me to rest, and walk with You!

Amen