He did it again!

He did it again! It's the morning of the day after Christmas and my wife is still gone. the day did not live up to expectations and a depression crept over my soul. That's when I read this entry from January 19, 2016. In it, I reference a providential reading from a previous entry I had made in my journal and how it helped me. Now I am reading and sharing this journal entry that also referenced a feeling of depression and what I did about it. I will not go into any more details here. You can read below to find those details. What I am testifying to is a chain of entries linked together providentially by my faithful and loving Father to minister to my need. Thank you, Father. Amen!

January 19, 2016

Worship: Lifesong by Casting Crowns

"Lifesong"

Empty hands held high
Such small sacrifice
If not joined with my life
I sing in vain tonight

May the words I say
And the things I do
Make my lifesong sing
Bring a smile to You

Let my lifesong sing to You
Let my lifesong sing to You
I want to sign Your name to the end of this day
Knowing that my heart was true
Let my lifesong sing to You

Lord I give my life
A living sacrifice
To reach a world in need
To be Your hands and feet

So may the words I say
And the things I do
Make my lifesong sing
Bring a smile to You

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Let my lifesong sing to You

Video: https://youtu.be/Gnf1xczuOrA
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A-Z Lyrics CASTING CROWNS Lyrics "Lifesong" (2005)

Witness: Today was a day of full frontal attacks by the enemy. He began at work while I was singing in my spirit to the Lord. A spirit of depression seemed to come over me and I paused from singing for a few seconds, then recognizing the source, I began to sing again. Then later, my younger daughter texted me concerning finding porn and an Ashley Madison account on her husband’s phone. I said to myself, the devil is making a full-frontal attack on me”. I then warned myself to watch out for his ambush. When I came home my daughter came over and delivered me the ambush. It was a letter from my wife’s friend asking me to help her with information against her husband in their divorce case. However, he wasn’t finished. I shared my daughter’s situation with my friend, who then sought to give me advice. I then responded with how I saw it. Later tonight he texted back, basically attacking my thoughts about it and belittling my ability to analyze her husband’s problem. I have responded with a few words and a prayer. I am hoping that God will bring peace to this situation.

On the good side let me share what I said as an introduction to my blog today:

This entry from August 14 just astounded me. God, in His providence, allowed me to read this just at the right time. You see, I just received a letter from my wife's friend’s wife asking me to call her about the situation and the pending divorce she is seeking from my wife's friend. I prayed for wisdom on whether to respond, though I felt I shouldn't. This confirms that decision. Pray that the truth is revealed to my wife. The Word section also was especially powerful and relevant to my present circumstances, as I deal not only with the situation with my wife, but also my younger daughter's situation with her narcissistic, sex addicted, unfaithful husband.

http://journal4christ.blogspot.com/2016/01/this-entry-from-august-14-just.html

WORD:

Ps 24:6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.b  Selah NIV                 24:6 b  Two Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac (see also Septuagint); most Hebrew manuscripts face, Jacob NIV

Ps 24:6 This is the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face — even Jacob. Selah. NASU Such is the character of those who seek him, of Ya‘akov, who seeks your face. (Selah) CJB This [is] a generation of those seeking Him. Seeking Thy face, O Jacob! YLT

I spent a long time on the phone with another friend getting advice on my son-in-law’s problems with sexual addiction and narcissism. Left me little time for study. I want to close this section with a quote from Spurgeon. There is so much more I could address in this passage, especially in the area of “seeking”.

Even seeking has a sanctifying influence; what a consecrating power must lie in finding and enjoying the Lord's face and favour! To desire communion with God is a purifying thing. Oh, to hunger and thirst more and more after a clear vision of the face of God; this will lead us to purge ourselves from all filthiness, and to walk with heavenly circumspection. He who longs to see his friend when he passes takes care to clear the mist from the window, lest by any means his friend should go by unobserved. Really awakened souls seek the Lord above everything, and as this is not the usual desire of mankind, they constitute a generation by themselves; a people despised of men but beloved of God.

(from The Treasury of David, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

"This is the generation of them that reverently seek Him"

Journal entry from:

January 18, 2016

Worship: Psalm 24 by Jason Silver

Psalm 24
Entrance into the Temple
Of David. A Psalm.

1 The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it;
2 for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.
5 They will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God of their salvation.
6 Such is the company of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.[a]Selah
7 Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.Selah

Video: https://youtu.be/v_E-l0aYnqM

Witness:

I was grocery shopping the other day and trying to buy healthy. I was doing very well. I would occasionally come across something that looks really good, but I resisted, knowing that while it may have looked good, it wasn’t really good for me. Looking at the label helped when it came to resisting. However, as I am coming to the end of my shopping I was strolling by the bakery and my eyes lighted on the Cinnamon Buns and some Apple Danishes. I said, “come on you only live once, and it won’t hurt you to cheat a little”, so I put them in the shopping cart along with the good and healthy food. It came to me later that this was how we treat our Christian walk. We are enjoying the blessings of God. We are walking according to the Word and listening to the Holy Spirit and following our Shepherd in the paths of righteousness. Then the enemy whispers, “come on, you only live once and besides it won’t hurt you to cheat just a little”. Now, it may not hurt you to cheat a little on your diet in the short run, though it may in the long run. However, in our walk with the Lord, such an attitude can have devastating results. I remember David, seeing and lusting after a woman bathing on the rooftop in sight of the palace. Perhaps he rationalized that it was just going to be one little fling, yet it led not only to adultery but also deceit and murder and the loss of the child that was conceived in this “one little act of indiscretion”. We may rationalize that our “indiscretion” (i.e. sin) is not as great as David’s, but the body of a Snowman is made from a little snowball.

WORD:

Ps 24:6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.b  Selah NIV                 24:6 b  Two Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac (see also Septuagint); most Hebrew manuscripts face, Jacob NIV

Ps 24:6 This is the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face — even Jacob. Selah. NASU Such is the character of those who seek him, of Ya‘akov, who seeks your face. (Selah) CJB This [is] a generation of those seeking Him. Seeking Thy face, O Jacob! YLT

I hesitate to go on. I think my allergy medicine makes me very tired. I can’t seem to keep my eyes open. I also hesitate to complete what I began yesterday. I am not sure how fruitful such an adventure will be. Never-the-less, let me just share a few things about this textual issue.

Adam Clarke says:

[That seek thy face, O Jacob.] It is most certain that ’Eloheey, O God, has been lost out of the Hebrew text in most MSS., but it is preserved in two of Kennicott's MSS., and also in the Syriac, the Vulgate, Septuagint, the AEthiopic, the Arabic, and the Anglo-Saxon. "Who seek thy face, O God of Jacob."

(from Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Barnes says:

[That seek thy face, O Jacob] Margin, O "God of" Jacob. DeWette understands this as meaning that they would seek the face of God AMONG His people; or that they who belonged to the race of Jacob, and who were sincere, thus sought the face of God. There is supposed to be, according to this interpretation, a distinction between the true and the false Israel; between those who professed to be the people of God and those who really were His people (compare Rom 9:6-8). It seems to me that the word is not used here as it is in the margin to denote the "God of Jacob," which would be a harsh and an unusual construction, but that it is in apposition with the preceding words, as denoting what constituted the true Jacob, or the true people of God. "This is the generation of them that seek him; this is the true Jacob, that seek thy face, O Lord." That is, this is the characteristic of all who properly belong to the race of Jacob, or who properly belong to God as his true people. The sense, however, is not materially affected if we adopt the reading in the margin.

(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Pulpit Commentary:

This is the generation of them that seek him. Men with this character impressed upon them are the "generation," the stamp of men, whom God will recognize and accept as his worshippers, true seekers after him. That seek thy face, O Jacob. The LXX. have,

Zhtou/ntwn to\ >pro/swpon tou Qeou Iakw/b, whence some suppose yhla to have fallen out of the Hebrew text. This, no doubt, is possible, and removes all difficulty. But it is better to loose a Gordian knot than to cut it. We may keep the present text, and obtain a satisfactory sense, by regarding "Jacob" as grammatically in apposition with "generation," and translating, "This is the generation of them that seek him - that seek thy face - even Jacob." All they are not Israel who are of Israel (Rom 9:6). The true Jacob consisted of those Israelites who answered to the character described in  ver. 4.

(from The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

The JFB Commentary has this long but enlightening comment:

Psalms 24:6

The generation of them that seek - i.e., that seek to be among the true sons of Jacob, a seeker after God, and so a representative head of the Church. As to the "face" of Jacob, whom true Israelites look up to as a spiritual father, cf. Isa 29:22. But the parallelism of "seek Him" and "seek thy face, O Jacob," would hardly be theologically correct. For seeking Jacob, a man, though representing Church, cannot stand, on a similar footing with seeking God. Rather, 'This is the generation of them that reverence, Him; they that seek thy face, (O God, are) Jacob' - i.e., wrestling suppliants before Gods "face" (Gen 32:30; Hos 12:4). The Hebrew for the former "seek" is not the same as that for the latter. The first (daarash) means to diligently regard or reverence; the latter (baaqash) is to "seek." Others may be descendants of Jacob after the flesh; they alone are his true sons who, like him, are reverent seekers after God's face in the way of holiness (Rom 2:28). Margin, ellipsis is harsh, 'that seek thy face, (O God of) Jacob:' though 2 MSS. of Kennicott and the Syriac support it. The Arabic, Ethiopic, and the Septuagint read, 'that seek the face of the God of Jacob.' The English version may be retained with slight change-`This is the generation of them that reverently seek Him, that seek thy face (being the true) Jacob.' The sudden address to God, "that seek thy face," gives emphasis to the sentiment as declared before God Himself.

(from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

So, it seems that even if the phrase “O God” is not in the original, we can  still make sense of this passage. The Psalmist is distinguishing between the true and false believer by describing the character of the true believer. The true believer is described as one who “seeks” reverently after God’s presence, who “seeks” for His blessing and favor. Some commentators helpfully remind us of Jacob’s wrestling with God.

The Expositor’s Commentary says:.

[T]he declaration that such seekers are the true people of God is a worthy close of the whole description, and the reference to the "face" of God verbally, recalls Peniel and that wonderful incident when Jacob became Israel. The seeker after God will have that scene repeated, and be able to say, "I have seen God." 

http://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/psalms/24.htm

Starke says:

Many men inquire after the way to heaven; but they do not like to tread it or to travel it.—There is always a difference between the world and the Church in the world, between God’s places and the devil’s places, and that difference is diligence in sanctification.—Examine yourself whether you are a subject of the King of glory; the mere outer confession does not suffice; that must be accompanied by indubitable marks of faith.—The surest mark of the true Church is the disposition of Jacob, struggling and striving for the blessing and righteousness from the God of our salvation.—He who takes a great deal with him, cannot enter in through a narrow gate; Christ comes to us with many heavenly blessings, therefore the doors must be made wide and opened for His entrance.—

http://biblehub.com/commentaries/lange/psalms/24.htm

Let me end by quoting from Waren Weirsbe again as a fitting close:

The only way we can enter into God's presence is through the merits of Jesus Christ, which means we must repent of our sins and put our faith in Him. Only Jesus Christ qualifies to enter the Father's presence, and He has gone to heaven to represent His people and intercede for them before the Father's throne. To "seek God's face" means to have an audience with the King (Gen 44:23; Ex 10:28; 2 Sam 14:24,28,32), and this is now possible through the work of Christ on the cross (Heb 10:1-25). God's righteousness is a gift, not a reward for good works (Rom 3:21-4:9; 5:17; 10:1-10). David compared the generation of God-seeking people to their ancestor Jacob, who saw the face of God and held on by faith until he received a blessing (Gen 32:24-32). Jacob certainly wasn't a perfect man, but the Lord saved him and even is called "the God of Jacob" (Ps 46:7,11).

(from The Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament © 2001-2004 by Warren W. Wiersbe. All rights reserved.)

O Lord examine my heart

And reveal to me whether it is

A heart that truly seeks after You

A heart that has been redeemed and

A heart that has been cleansed by Your

Holy and loving and righteous right hand

With the atoning blood of the crucified Lamb

!אָמֵן……………..….Amen!......................ἀμήν!