August 18, 2017
I have lost my appetite
And the flood is welling up behind my eyes
So I eat the tears I cry
And if that were not enough
They know just the words to cut and tear and prod
When they ask me "Whereʼs your God?"
Why are you downcast, oh my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
I can remember when you showed your face to me
As a deer pants for water, so my soul thirsts for you
And when I behold Your glory,
You so faithfully renew
Like a bed of rest for my fainting flesh
I am satisfied in You
When Iʼm staring at the ground
Itʼs an inbred feedback loop that brings me down
So itʼs time to lift my brow
And remember better days
When I loved to worship you and all your ways
With the sweetest songs of praise
Why are you downcast, oh my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
I can remember when you showed your grace to me
As a deer pants for water, so my soul thirsts for you
And when I survey Your splendor,
You so faithfully renew
Like a bed of rest for my fainting flesh
I am satisfied in You
Let my sighs give way to songs that sing about your faithfulness
Let my pain reveal your glory as my only real rest
Let my losses show me all I truly have is you
Cause I truly have is You
So when Iʼm drowning out at sea
And Your breakers and Your waves crash down on me
Iʼll recall your safety scheme
Youʼre the one who made the waves
And your Son went out to suffer in my place
And to tell me that Iʼm safe
So why am I down?
Why so disturbed?
I am satisfied in you
I am satisfied in you
I am satisfied in you
Corrected by me
Witness:
As I drove home from shopping, I was meditating on my life and my actions. My soul was disturbed because when I was in the store picking out a card for my oldest son’s birthday, I was reminded of my present situation and it brought tears to my eyes. In other years, I would have been with my wife picking out a “From Both of Us” card. Now as I looked at them, deep sorrow filled me. I also saw the cards “From Mom” and “From Dad” which only exacerbated my feelings of sadness. In such a mood, I drove home, and my thoughts turned in on myself. Before I sat down, I wanted to write about this, but I could not remember my thoughts and feelings at the time. The song above brought back those memories, and I am thankful to God for that, as well as for the message of the song itself.
On my way home these words surfaced in my mind, “My life is an empty shell, an outline without substance, bullet points that I cannot adequately defend.” I asked the Lord to “fill in the empty shell.” I was determined to make my life be more than words but one full of a vibrant faith, and a heart full of godly, sincere feelings.
Tonight as I recalled what I was thinking, I realized that if I accepted my assessment of my life, I would be listening to the lie of the enemy of my soul. I am not just an empty shell. The Lord has filled me with His Spirit. I am not an outline without substance. The Lord is writing my story into my life every day all that He has written from eternity. And I am not just bullet points I cannot defend. I may not be the most eloquent defender, but my life is a testimony of the grace of God, who saved me and is sanctifying me, and is conforming me into the likeness of His Son. I am not what I was, and I am not what I shall be.
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:3-8 NIV
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.Rom 8:29-30 NASU
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
1 John 3:2-3 NIV
WORD:
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- Some final thoughts and then onto Psalm 27
THE LESSONS TAUGHT BY THIS PSALM
1. We should live such holy lives that we feel no guilt when our enemies attack us.
2. We should purpose to maintain our integrity at all times and at all costs.
3. We should believe that God will deliver us out of all our troubles.
If I were to categorize each point made above it might look like this:
· Consecration
· Commitment
· Certitude
However, I believe some points were left out. Here a few I would add. I’m sure there are others.
1. We should live self-examined lives with the LORD’s help.
2. We should live separated lives from all evil.
3. We should seek and savor the presence of the LORD and worship Him
4. We should celebrate God’s protection and preservation privately and publicly
5. We should strive to receive the blessings of the LORD so that we can return back praise and thanksgiving and glorify and bless the LORD.
Categorizing these might look like this:
· Contemplation
· Cut away
· Covet and Cherish
· Celebration
· Compliment
Albert Barnes sums up the message of the Psalm in his final comments on verse 12:
[In the congregations will I bless the LORD] In the assemblies of his people will I praise him. Compare Ps 22:22. The meaning is, that in the great assembly he would offer special praise that God had resolved his doubts, and had given him so clear evidence that he was truly his friend. He would go to the house of God, and there render to Him public praise that he had been able to find the evidence which he desired. No act could be more appropriate than such an act of praise, for there is nothing for which we should render more hearty thanks than for any evidence that we are truly the friends of God, and have a well-founded hope of heaven. The whole psalm should lead us carefully to examine the evidences of our piety; to bring before God all that we rely on as proof that we are His friends; and to pray that He will enable us to examine it aright; and, when the result is, as it was in the case of the psalmist-when we can feel that we have reached a level place and found a smooth path, then we should go, as he did, and offer hearty thanks to God that we HAVE reason to believe we are His children and are heirs of salvation.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
The psalm begins with a plea and ends in praise (and more than that as I have said). It commences with a prayer to Yahweh and culminates with that glorious name on David’s lips in the midst of God’s people. Here is a foretaste of heaven.
Some sage has said concerning this final phrase in the Psalm:
The public praises of the Church are the emblem of heaven itself.H. Gurnall, (from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 Ages Software, Inc. and Biblesoft, Inc.)
Matthew Henry’s says this in his concluding comments on this psalm:
Those that hate the congregation of evil-doers shall be joined to the congregation of the righteous and join with them in praising God; and it is pleasant doing that in good company; the more the better; it is the more like heaven.(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, PC Study Bible Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All Rights reserved.)
Sing all you saints of God
Tell of His glory near and abroad
Join with the celestial ranks
Shout for joy and give Him thanks
Unite with the heavenly throng
Worship with testimony and song
Of our God’s mercy and love
With those who have gone above
Our heavenly Father seeks true spiritual worshipers who seek to worship Him in spirit and truth
John 4:23-24
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
NIV
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