December 29, 2016:
Worship: We Sing, Emmanuel, Thy Praise by Paul Gerhardt
1 Immanuel, we sing Thy praise,
Thou Prince of Life, Thou Fount of Grace,
With all Thy saints, Thee, Lord, we sing;
Praise, honor, thanks, to Thee we bring
Thou Prince of Life, Thou Fount of Grace,
With all Thy saints, Thee, Lord, we sing;
Praise, honor, thanks, to Thee we bring
2 E’er since the world began to be,
How many a heart hath longed for Thee!
And Thou, O long expected Guest,
Hast come at last to make us blest!
How many a heart hath longed for Thee!
And Thou, O long expected Guest,
Hast come at last to make us blest!
3 Now art Thou here: we know Thee now:
In lowly manger liest Thou:
A Child, yet makest all things great;
Poor, yet the earth Thy robe of state.
In lowly manger liest Thou:
A Child, yet makest all things great;
Poor, yet the earth Thy robe of state.
4 Now fearlessly I come to Thee:
From sin and grief O set me free!
Turn wrath away, dread death destroy,
And turn my sorrow into joy.
From sin and grief O set me free!
Turn wrath away, dread death destroy,
And turn my sorrow into joy.
5 Thou art my Head, my Lord divine:
I am Thy member, wholly Thine;
And by Thy Spirit’s strength gracious power
Will seek to serve Thee evermore.
I am Thy member, wholly Thine;
And by Thy Spirit’s strength gracious power
Will seek to serve Thee evermore.
Amen.
Witness:
In just a few days 2016 will be history with all its ups and downs around the world, the USA, and in my life as well. In some ways, I have grown, yet in many respects, I feel I have peaked, and my devotional life has grown rather stale. I still pray and I still journal, but the presence of the Lord seems far away many times, and I feel like I am going through the motions without the old fire and earnestness I once had. I realize the Christian life is a journey and as we travel it, we go through different seasons. Therefore, I will not lose heart as I travel this path of righteousness. There are many seasons that I am going to experience along the way, and each is ordained by my Heavenly Father and led by my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. I can choose to experience the joy and satisfaction in the journey when I am filled with the Holy Spirit or in darkness and depression when I let the things mention above affect my walk on the way. Winter is here, and so is it so in my walk at the moment. It is no coincidence that the Saviors birth is celebrated when things are at its darkest. Into the darkness, the everlasting light shone. And He still shines, and we rejoice.
Oh, come Light of the world and shine into my heart.
Satisfy my soul and Your grace to me impart.
May joy divine rise up in me and cast away
The shadows of depression that seek to lead me astray.
̶ Amen
WORD:
|
Ps 25:16-21
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart have multiplied;
free me from my anguish.
18 Look upon my affliction and my distress
and take away all my sins.
19 See how my enemies have increased
and how fiercely they hate me!
20 Guard my life and rescue me;
let me not be put to shame,
for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness protect me,
because my hope is in you.
NIV
|
Ps 25:16-21
16 Turn to me and have mercy,
for I am alone and in deep distress.
17 My problems go from bad to worse.
Oh, save me from them all!
18 Feel my pain and see my trouble.
Forgive all my sins.
19 See how many enemies I have
and how viciously they hate me!
20 Protect me! Rescue my life from them!
Do not let me be disgraced, for in you I take refuge.
21 May integrity and honesty protect me,
for I put my hope in you.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved..
|
|
Ps 25:16-21
16 Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.
18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.
19 Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.
20 O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.
21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.
KJV
|
Ps 25:16-21
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.
18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
19 Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
20 Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.
ESV
|
As I read these verses, I can surely relate to them. What happens when sin and trials afflict us? An internal whirlwind develops and several things begin to swirl up within us that threaten to destroy our joy and sense of well-being. The first thing we will experience if we have a heart after God is a loss of the sense of His presence in our life. The Psalmist cries, “turn to me” because he feels the LORD has turned His back on him. There are two reasons why we may feel this way. One is real, and one is imagined.
First, we may feel the loss of His presence because of sin in our lives whether actively committed or from neglect. This loss of presence is real in the sense that God removes His favorable presence from our life to make us aware of His displeasure and His desire for our holiness (Is. 59:2; 1 Thess. 4:7-8). It is done in love with the aim of a father who loves his children and disciplines them for their good (Heb. 12:5-13 – notice the goal of holiness is seen here as well).
And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.NIV
The second reason we may feel the loss of His presence in our lives is because of the trials that we are experiencing. This sense is more imagined than real in most cases unless the trial is as a result of sin in our lives. Consider the famous poem called “Footprints in the Sand” as an example of the imagined sense of the lack of God’s presence in our lives.
One night I dreamed a dream.As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,One belonging to me and one to my Lord.After the last scene of my life flashed before me,I looked back at the footprints in the sand.I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,especially at the very lowest and saddest times,there was only one set of footprints.This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it."Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,You'd walk with me all the way.But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,there was only one set of footprints.I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave youNever, ever, during your trials and testings.When you saw only one set of footprints,It was then that I carried you."https://www.onlythebible.com/Poems/Footprints-in-the-Sand-Poem.html
We know the promises in Scripture that He will never leave us nor forsake us, but in our flesh, we fail and forget this precious promise. When this lack of the sense of His presence floods our soul, we cry out like David here in this Psalm. Yet we must not stay here. We must examine ourselves, or rather ask the Lord to search us to see if there is sin present in our lives and confess them.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,and lead me in the way everlasting.Ps 139:23-24 NIV
And we must believe and confess with David:
Even though I walkthrough the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,for you are with me;your rod and your staff,they comfort me.
Ps 23:4 NIV
And trust our Saviors promise:
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matt 28:20 NIV
I will continue tomorrow in the new year with my thoughts on this internal turmoil and the fallout from it.
No comments:
Post a Comment