June 23, 2016
Worship: You are Good by Keri Jobe
Your kindness leads me to repentance
Your goodness draws me to your side
Your mercy calls me to be like You
Your favor is my delight
Every day I'll awaken my praise
and pour out a song from my heart
You are good, You are good
You are good Your mercy is forever
You are good, You are good
You are good, Your mercy is forever
Your kindness leads me to repentance
Your goodness draws me to Your side
Your mercy calls me to be like You
Your favor is my delight
Every day I'll awaken my praise
and pour out a song from my heart
Your kindness is forever
Your goodness is forever
Your mercy is forever, forever
Lyrics from <a href="http://www.elyrics.net">eLyrics.net</a>
Video: https://youtu.be/sZwiW1Fgrp8?list=RDsZwiW1Fgrp8
Witness:
What do you desire most? What is it that you treasure above all? Our Lord made this profound and penetrating statement recorded by both Matthew and Luke:
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matt 6:21, Lk 12:34 NIV
Your treasure is, is a heart locator. What you treasure functions as a GPS navigation system to locate where your heart is. In that same passage, we find there are only two places that we can store up our treasure: either here on earth or in Heaven. Note the contrast given and emphasized by repetition:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matt 6:19-20 NIV
How many seek for pleasure in the treasures this world offers – fame, fortune, and fun. These will all pass away (moth and rust destroy) or are stolen from us (thieves break in and steal), but the treasures we store up in heaven are eternal and cannot rot or be ripped from us.
This came as a sobering reality to me today. I listened to a study on 1 Peter 3:18 given by John Piper in his Look at the Book series. It is titled: Do You Want God More Than Anything?
When I finished listening to it I had to ask that same question. I realized that I wasn’t there fully, but it was something I truly desired to attain. I looked back on my self-centered life where TV and the bedroom vied for my attention with time in the Word and being used by God for the blessing of others. In fact, the latter were almost nonexistent. I went to church and read devotionals sporadically. I had many false starts in Bible reading and study. This was true also in the case with my wife and our devotional life together. As I knelt and prayed; I reflected on these and thanked God that He took away my desire for TV and sex with the leaving of my wife and gave me a hunger for His Word. I did not wish for this to happen and all could have been avoided if I had just listened to that still small voice which kept calling me to a deeper devotion to the Lord and His will for my life. So, I prayed that this desire would continue to grow in me for I was feeling the pull again from these competing desires( to clarify- my desires were not to indulge in immoral behavior).
Tonight, as I write this portion of my journal I have to chide myself because I made sure I ate early enough to start earlier with my quiet time and journaling. Yet I watched the news longer than I should have and when I sat down to start I found myself clearing emails and getting bogged down in one particular email particularly. I started downloading cookbooks that were being offered for free (yeah, I found out I like to cook different things now that I am alone -though I don’t get much time to do so with my schedule). I finally came to my senses, but it was 8 pm by then. So, I had to pray and thank God for showing me I still have work to do on this issue and with God’s help, I trust I will store up much treasure in heaven where I want to find my heart as well!
Ps 25:6-7
6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you are good, O Lord.
NIV
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Ps 25:6-7
6 Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.
KJV
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Ps 25:6-7
6 Remember, O LORD, your compassion and unfailing love,
which you have shown from long ages past.
7 Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth.
Remember me in the light of your unfailing love,
for you are merciful, O Lord.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
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Ps 25:6-7
6 Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!
ESV
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However, I do not think that David is declaring the reason that God should forgive him is because He is good. David knows that he does not deserve God’s forgiveness, but only His just wrath (see Ps. 51). The NIV and NLT could be construed this way. This is perhaps the way the Pulpit Commentary views it:
Do this "for thy goodness' sake," i.e. because thou art essential Goodness, perfect Tenderness, perfect Love.(from The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
They seem to translate this phrase ontologically with reference to His “being” good or merciful, but this prepositional phrase should be translated as the ESV has it, “for the sake of”. Therefore, David is asking for God’s forgiveness and deliverance from his enemies (remember verses 1-3) “for the sake of” or the benefit of, display of, and honor of God’s goodness. The TWOT comments on the use of this prepositional phrase (one word in Hebrew):
lema ‘an
Many passages record action (intended or accomplished) for God's sake. Indeed, it is the Psalmists' frequent plea that God will save, lead, deliver, quicken, etc., for his sake, i.e. to demonstrate before the creation, the wicked, or the righteous (or all three) the certainty of his covenant (Ps 25:11; Ps 143:11; Jer 14:21).
(from Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Copyright © 1980 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)
Barnes says:
Psalms 25:7
[For thy goodness' sake] In order that thy goodness or benevolence may be displayed and honored- not primarily and mainly that I may be saved, but that thy character may be seen to be good and merciful.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
In the end, David’s concern is more for the glory and honor of the Lord than his own. To forgive on the basis of who David was would be wrong and tantamount to idolatry on God’s part, as if God’s motivation for forgiveness was located in the value and pleasure of David as a created being rather than in the value and pleasure of God Himself as the only uncreated, holy, pure, wise, good, and glorious being. Again, we must cry out:
To God Be the Glory!
I finish this journal entry with a quote from a message by John Piper:
Do you love the thought that you exist to make God look glorious? Do you love the thought that all creation exists to display the glory of God? Do you love the truth that all of history is designed by God to one day be a completed canvas that displays in the best way possible the greatness and beauty of God? Do you love the fact that Jesus Christ came into the world to vindicate the righteousness of God and repair the injury that we had done to the reputation of the glory of God? Do you love the truth you personally exist to make God look like what he really is—glorious? I ask again: Do you love the fact that your salvation is meant to put the glory of God’s grace on display? Do you love seeing and showing the glory of God?
This is why God created the universe. This is why he ordained history. This is why he sent his Son. This is why you exist. Forever to see and savor and show the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. The question at the end of Romans 1-11 is. Do you embrace this calling as your treasure and your joy
(from a message titled: All Things Are from God, Through God, and to God. The Glory Is All His)
Link to the Message: http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/all-things-are-from-god-through-god-and-to-god-the-glory-is-all-his
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