October 28, 2016
Worship: Out of the Depths by Bob Kauflin
Out of the depths, O Lord, I cry to You
When I am tempted to despair
Though I might fail to trust Your promises
You never fail to hear my prayer
And if You judged my sin
I’d never stand again
But I see mercy in Your hands
When I am tempted to despair
Though I might fail to trust Your promises
You never fail to hear my prayer
And if You judged my sin
I’d never stand again
But I see mercy in Your hands
So more than watchmen for the morning
I will wait for You, my God
When my fears come with no warning
In Your Word I’ll put my trust
When the harvest time is over, and I still see no fruit
I will wait, I will wait for You
I will wait for You, my God
When my fears come with no warning
In Your Word I’ll put my trust
When the harvest time is over, and I still see no fruit
I will wait, I will wait for You
The secret mysteries belong to You
We only know what You reveal
And all my questions that are unresolved
Don’t change the wisdom of Your will
In every trial and loss
My hope is in the cross
Where Your compassions never fail
We only know what You reveal
And all my questions that are unresolved
Don’t change the wisdom of Your will
In every trial and loss
My hope is in the cross
Where Your compassions never fail
© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)
For an insightful devotional thought based on the lyrics to this song I recommend going to this link:
Witness:
Joy, it’s what we long for and peace that satisfies. We continually seek after these things. For the believer, they know that neither peace nor joy comes through a program, person, or place here on earth. That is, not a lasting one. Yet, what believer has experienced these things on a continual basis? Not one, I’m sure, though people like the Apostle Paul may have come closer than most of us. I thought about this. Why don’t we live in continual joy and peace as believers seeing all that all God has done for us and provided for us? One reason is obvious, we still sin, and this causes grief in our lives. Another reason we don’t often think about it is the futility we face in this life under the sun. Sometimes we lose perspective and look at the way things are and think that is the way they will always be. We declare with Solomon that:
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Eccl 1:14 NIV
And
And I saw something else under the sun:In the place of judgment — wickedness was there,in the place of justice — wickedness was there.
Eccl 3:16 NIV
So, we may lose our joy because of this sense of futility. However, we must remember that though there may be nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9), we don’t live life as if it were only under the sun. We live with eternity in mind. We live life in the Son. The Apostle Paul says:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.Rom 8:18-25 ESV
Wow! We wait with groaning, eagerness, and patience. That is so antithetical to the world’s “I want it easy, I want it now” philosophy. Inherent in these verses is a third reason why joy and peace are not always present in our lives. They can be normative but not constant in our life because we are still mortals. We live in a finite world. We have not put on immortality yet. As finite beings, we do not have the capacity to enjoy to the fullest measure that which exists in eternity. God enjoys such things continuously because He is eternal. When we put on immortality, we too will experience to our fullest capacity the joy and peace of the Lord. By experiencing a taste of these things in the present, it makes us wait with anticipation the time when this “mortal puts on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:54 ESV). In that day joy and peace will be full and forever.
http://img.heartlight.org/cards/g/revelation21_2-4.jpg
WORD:
Ps 25:11
For the sake of your name, O Lord,
forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
NIV
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Ps 25:8
For the honor of your name, O Lord,
forgive my many, many sins.
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 25:11
For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.
KJV
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Ps 25:11
11 For your name's sake, O Lord,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
ESV
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My thoughts tonight, as I meditate on this verse, are short and pungent:
The more we meditate upon and know and experience the greatness of
our God the more we recognize and see and feel how great our sins are.
In Isaiah chapter 6 Isaiah records a vision of he had of the LORD. We read of the seraphs "calling out to one another." They said,
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."(v.3 NIV)
And what was Isaiah's response?
"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." (v. 5 NIV)
What follows is astounding:
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
(vv. 6 -8 NIV)
We see a similar experience in Luke 5:1-11.
One day Jesus was speaking to a crowd on the beach of Lake Gennesaret. Because it was crowded He climbed into the boat of Simon (Peter) to speak to the people. When through He instructed Simon and the others with him to:
"Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." (v. 4 NIV)
What was Simons response?
Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." (v. 5 NIV)
What happened next is amazing;
When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.(vs. 6-7 NIV)
See Simon’s response to this catch:
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. (vs. 8-10a NIV)
And Jesus’ response
Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." So, they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.(vs. 10b- 11 NIV)
Praise God although our sin is great He still loves His chosen ones. He forgives our sins and sends us out with the Good News to gather others into His net of salvation.
He rends us
Cleanses us
And sends us!
Entices you and He provides
A way for you to escape
I put the blinders on your eyes
Put my fingers in your ears
And over your mind a vail I drape
He says, give me your hand
I am here to help you
You are never alone
I whisper lies in your mind
I utter the words you can’t
You’re weak, so don’t
From the rising of the sun
And deep into the night
You use me every day
To keep you from obeying
My Enemy’s written words
And follow His holy way
Who are you? What is your name?
You ask with increasing impatience
But you know me very well
I promise you peace
But in the end …
I make your life a living hell
I am as old as the garden
I taught the first pair
To blame and to accuse
I am the favorite of my master
The one he likes to use the most
My name you know as Excuse
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