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Conflicted

The Gritty Gap Between Promise and Fulfilment

PREVIEW: Don’t we often find ourselves in the gritty gap somewhere between the promises of God and the fulfillment of those promises? Guess what? That’s called the life of faith! And, moreover, that’s exactly where faith is expressed, tested, and rewarded—the gap between promise and fulfillment. Now what are you to do with that? Well, if you are in that gritty reality, you’ve got to just “grit it out.” You’ve got to “faith” it! You’ve got to put on hope—and keep it on! There is no easy alternative. Sometimes, that is just the way of faith.

“If you are in that gritty gap between God’s promise and its fulfillment in your life, you’ve got to just “grit it out.” You’ve got to “faith” it! You’ve got to put on hope—and keep it on!” —Ray Noah

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 43:2

You are God, my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?

You can relate to this psalm, can’t you? I can. Sometimes—many times—our circumstances seem to indicate anything but a Heavenly Father who is closely and lovingly hovering over every detail of our lives with his generous and providential care. Sometimes our reality is a sickness that attacks our bodies, a devil that attacks our families, a failure that shakes our confidence, a temptation that tests our resolve, a sin that cracks our character, people that disappoint our expectations, and events that wallop the stuffing out of us. And sometimes, that’s on a good day.

So, in the midst of that raw, gritty reality of life, where is the God who has promised to meet our every need, deliver us from our every danger, fulfill our every desire, answer our every prayer, and bless our every moment? Sometimes he seems distant, silent, and uncaring. And we are conflicted. Yes, we believe in his goodness, trust his promises, and depend on his kindness, yet we cry out, “Where are you…why have you abandoned me…do you not care…is all that I believe about you not the reality of how you deal with your people today?”

The writers of this psalm, the sons of Korah, likely had experienced this same raw, gritty reality for themselves and, more likely, had witnessed it as a common occurrence in the lives of all God’s children. And they, too, were conflicted. So, they wrote a song about it. On the one hand, they poured out their hearts to God, expecting him to rescue them (Psalm 43:1), protect them (Psalm 43:2), guide them (Psalm 43:3), fill them with joy (Psalm 43:4) and lift them out of their anxiety to a place of security in him (Psalm 43:5). They trusted that God could do that, would do that; they had enough faith to boldly pray and make those requests of him.

Yet their reality was a sense of abandonment, disappointment, and vulnerability. (Psalm 43:2)

Now really, isn’t that where much of our Christian lives are lived, too? Don’t we often find ourselves in that same gritty gap, somewhere between the promises of God and the fulfillment of those promises? Guess what? That’s called the life of faith! And moreover, that’s exactly where faith is expressed, tested, and rewarded—the gap between promise and fulfillment.

Now what are you to do with that? Well, if you are in that gritty reality, you’ve got to just “grit it out.” You’ve got to “faith” it! You’ve got to put on hope—and keep it on! There is no easy alternative. Sometimes, that is just the way of faith.

So, if that’s just the tough reality of your world right now, please consider this:

“We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint.” (Rom 5:3-5)

Hang in there! You won’t be disappointed.

My Offering of Worship: If you are struggling with a sense of abandonment, disappointment, and vulnerability, like the authors of this psalm, then look up all the references to hope in the Bible. By the way, there are 180 Bible references to “hope” in the New International Version. You probably won’t need to read them all before you start putting on hope.

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Depressed? Practice Hope!

Do a Little Dwelling

PREVIEW: When it comes to the onslaught of difficult people and circumstances that regularly rob you of your joy and stability in life, the Bible calls us to practice hope! How? By dwelling on the love and kindness that God has for you. By dwelling on all the things he has done for you for which you are grateful. By dwelling on all the promises he has made to you in Scripture—all of which will be fulfilled in his time. By dwelling on the promise of heaven. Basically, the Bible calls for some reverse worrying. What do you do when you are worried? You dwell on the negative. So just turn that around and dwell on the truth of God’s Word. Do that—practice hope—and watch it “rock your world.”

Depressed? Practice Hope!

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 42:11

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

I’m not a mental health expert, so don’t throw away your medications or reject advice if you are under the care of a medical professional. And please don’t take this as the final word on clinical depression. So, with that caveat out of the way, let me just say that I think the authors of this psalm, the sons of Korah, David’s worship team, are on to something.

And since we believe this sacred book, the Bible, is God’s perfect revelation of himself and his will for mankind, then let’s lean into it as our perfect and only rule of faith and practice. Let’s treat it as we should—as the first, highest, and best authority by which we will live our lives!

In light of that, when it comes to the ups and downs that we commonly experience in our daily existence, this psalm reminds us that the recipe for emotional balance and inner joy is to practice hope. The psalmist says, “put your hope in God.” The Apostle Paul said it a bit differently—but he had the same thing in mind: Put on…hope.” (1 Thessalonians 5:8)

Practice hope! How? Start by dwelling on the love and kindness that God has for you. Dwell on all the things he has done for you for which you are grateful. Dwell on all the promises he has made to you in Scripture—all of which will be fulfilled in his time. Dwell on the promise of heaven. Basically, just do some reverse worrying. What do you do when you are worried? You dwell on the negative. So just turn that around and dwell on the truth of God’s Word. Do that—practice hope—and watch it “rock your world.”

Don’t believe that will work? Well, let me give you just one example of how hope can change you. Suppose you were to receive a phone call later today from an old friend who enthusiastically says, “Friend, I have good news. You can take a 7-day trip to Hawaii with my company which won’t cost you a dime. We have room for two more…but here’s the catch: we leave tomorrow evening at 9:00 PM. The boss is taking us on his private jet, and we’ll be staying at his beachfront villa in Maui.” You tell him you’ll call him right back, and the minute you get off the phone, you and your spouse, who was listening in, start thinking and planning. Out comes the pen and paper, and you begin to prioritize what you need to do to make this happen. Then you call the friend back and tell him you’re in.

If that were to happen, I guarantee that you would then begin to ruthlessly align your life over the next 24 hours to pull off that all-expenses paid trip to paradise. You might say that the hope of Hawaii tomorrow changed the way you lived today.

There’s something even better and more permanent than Hawaii. It’s called heaven. So why don’t you live like you are going there not only tomorrow but live every day like you are going there, because you are! Here’s the deal: You will be amazed at how hitching your hope to the promise of heaven (or the love of God, or the blessings of salvation, or any other truth of God’s Word) will change everything you experience today—even your emotions.

So why not give it a try? As the psalm says, “Put your hope in God!”

My Offering of Worship: Take some time to read Ephesians 1-2 and take note of all the blessings that are yours by virtue of belonging to Jesus. List them out on a piece of paper and then slowly, repeatedly, prayerfully thank God for each one.

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Flawed But Forgiven

Helplessly Flawed but Not Hopelessly Lost

PREVIEW: Living in God’s favor is not about sinless perfection. None of us will reach that lofty plane in this life. I wish we could—I especially wish I could. But because I have been fundamentally infected with sin, that will not happen until I reach heaven. I—and you—will continue to stumble into sin until the day we die. And that sin will bring uncomfortable if not outright tragic consequences into our lives. So what is a helplessly flawed Christian to do? One, cultivate self-awareness of your propensity to sin. Two, cultivate godly sorrow for your sinfulness. And three, cultivate a repentant heart—then repent, early and often.

“We’re all helplessly flawed, but there is hope! You see, we can also be fully forgiven, and as a result, live under the high favor of God—if we are sincerely repentant for our sinfulness.”

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 41:4,12

O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you…In my integrity you uphold me set me in your presence forever.

The juxtaposition of these two verses presents a problematic incongruence. It appears that David is speaking out of both sides of his mouth. On the one hand, he is connecting his personal sin with physical malady and public hostility. On the other hand, he claims that it is his personal integrity that gives him favored status before the Almighty.

However, there is no incongruence for David—or for you and me. Yes, we are all helplessly flawed, but there is hope! You see, we can also be fully forgiven, and as a result, live under the high favor of God if we are sincerely repentant for our sinfulness.

Living within God’s favor is not about sinless perfection. None of us will reach that lofty plane in this life. I wish we could—I especially wish I could. But because I have been fundamentally infected with sin, that will not happen until I reach heaven. I—and you—will continue to, as a good friend of mine was fond of saying, “dip ourselves in the yogurt” of sin until the day we die. And that sin will bring uncomfortable, if not outright tragic consequences into our lives.

So how, then, can we claim a personal integrity that invites the attention, honor, and favor of God? I would suggest there are three characteristics we can, and should cultivate, as David did, that will allow us as flawed people to be fully forgiven and highly favored:

First, we must cultivate self-awareness. Not an over-indulgence in introspection and self-absorption, but a healthy consciousness of both our strengths and weaknesses. I was recently speaking with a person about a relational crisis they were experiencing, and they were pouring out their heart about how difficult the other person was. When I asked them to share what flaws they brought into the troubled mix, I got a blank stare and an admission that they couldn’t think of any. That is not all that uncommon in troubled relationships. Although they are not always willing to be as honest as the person I interviewed, many times they are simply unaware or unwilling to consider the pain and problems they are contributing to the situation. David was incredibly self-aware…and he often asked God to make him even more aware, painfully aware of his own flaws (see Psalms 26:2, 139:23-24). Maybe you should too!

Second, we must cultivate godly sorrow. Not self-pity, but redemptive sorrow. Self-pity leads only to depression; self-awareness without sorrow for sin brings only hopelessness, unproductive navel-gazing, and a pessimistic approach to life. However, as the Apostle Paul taught in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11, godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, while worldly sorrow brings only death. I think that was the secret to a seriously flawed David’s favor with God—he experienced deep sorrow for his sins. Perhaps we should ask God to break our hearts quickly anytime we think, say, or do anything that breaks his heart.

And third, self-awareness and godly sorrow must lead to sincere repentance. I’m not talking about feeling bad that we’ve been caught in a goof or are having to “pay the piper” for our imperfections. I’m talking about confessing our offense, making amends when we should and can, and turning from our sinful actions by walking an opposite path toward holiness and kingdom fruitfulness.

Well, that’s a mouthful—but I think you get the picture. That’s how you can be a “deeply flawed person of integrity” and live under the full forgiveness and high favor of the Almighty. And hallelujah, that is only possible with the God we serve!

My Offering of Worship: Memorize Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, 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.” Then pray it with a sincere heart.

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No-Strings-Attached Faith

Trust When There Is No Visible Evidence

PREVIEW: Neither good times nor bad days should be relevant to our faith, because our lives are anchored in something far better, infinitely stronger, and eternally lasting: the immutable character of God. As a result, we must exhibit profound trust in spite of circumstances and offer unfettered praise in scorn of consequences. Both in private and in public, we must exude organic devotion to God that comes with no strings attached. Only then can we exclaim, “Bless is the one who makes the Lord their trust.”

“Neither good times nor bad days should be relevant to your faith, because you are anchored in something far stronger than your circumstances: the immutable character of God.”

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 40:4

Blessed are you who give yourselves over to GOD, turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing, and ignore what the world worships.

Are you willing to trust the Lord even when it doesn’t make sense? Are you willing to praise him unconditionally? Will you speak of his love and goodness even when, on the surface, circumstances would seem to indicate anything but his loving-kindness toward you?

Of course, committed Christ-followers always answer quickly and resoundingly with a “yes!” to those questions. But what happens when, like David, you find yourself in a “slimy pit” (Psalm 40:2), or when the will of God requires painful and costly sacrifice on your part (Psalm 40:6), or when your personal failings have landed you in deep weeds (Psalm 40:12), or when there are those who want to destroy your life and ruin your reputation (Psalm 40:14-15)? What happens then? Are you just as willing to trust the Lord and give testimony to his great faithfulness?

In a very real sense, neither good times nor bad days were relevant to David’s faith because his life was anchored in something far better: the immutable character of God. As a result, what you witness in David is a profound trust in spite of circumstances and unfettered praise in scorn of consequences. Both in private and in public, he exhibited organic devotion to God that came with no strings attached (Psalm 40:9-10),

I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD.
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.

There have been many spiritual heroes, like David, who have exhibited that kind of organic devotion. Such is the case of one of our Early Church Fathers, Polycarp. In the year 155 AD, 86-year-old Polycarp, a man who had been discipled by the Apostle John, was burned at the stake. When given the chance to recant before the fires were lit, he said, “Eighty and six years I have served Christ and He has done me nothing but good; how then could I curse Him, my Lord and Savior?”

Now that’s bless-able devotion! But you might ask: How was Polycarp so blessed since he was burned to death? Well, Polycarp has been elevated to that eternal cloud of witnesses alongside David, while his executioners have been relegated to the dustbin of history. You see, from this side of life, trust doesn’t always make sense, but from the eternal side, unconditional trusting bears the fruit of eternal blessing.

So yes, blessed is the one who makes the Lord his trust! David was blessed—so was Polycarp. I want to be one of those in the company of the blessed, too! Don’t you?

My Offering of Worship: Re-read the list of people who exhibited organic devotion to God when on the surface, there was no empirical evidence to place truth in God. After you read of their deep water faith, ask God to give you that kind of faith.

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Take Stock

What Will Your Epitaph Say

PREVIEW: Take a stroll through a cemetery when you get a chance and read the epitaphs on the tombstones. On them, you will see the history of those dearly departed ones succinctly packaged by the dash between two dates — the date of their birth and the date of their death. The dash is what we call life. One little dash, but what a story it tells. And often, those who are left behind sum up the departed one’s dash with an inscription left on the headstone, an epitaph. So, here is a question of utmost importance: What will yours say?

“Whatever you hope your tombstone will say means that you will have to live your life that way between now and then.”

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 39:4-7

Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered — how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath. We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it. And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.

One day you will have an epitaph chiseled on a headstone. If you doubt that, take a stroll through a cemetery, and you will see that everyone gets one. Seriously, as morbid as it might sound, I’d highly recommend that stroll because what you’ll read on those markers will tell a lot about the people buried beneath them.

On the headstones, you will see the history of those dearly departed ones succinctly packaged by the dash between two dates — the date of their birth and the date of their death. The dash is what we call life. One little dash, but what a story it tells. And often, those who are left behind sum up the departed one’s dash with an inscription left on the headstone, an epitaph.

Some of those inscriptions are profound. Some express tremendous love or a deep sense of loss. Even those that are quite humorous still deliver a sobering reminder. There are websites dedicated to the more memorable tombstones in history. But whether profound, heartwarming, heart-wrenching, or even funny, each epitaph is quite instructive, like the one that not only made me laugh, it really made me think:

This is what I expected — but not so soon.

Epitaphs like that will remind you of the unavoidable reality that one day, you, too, will have your entire life summed up and chiseled onto a stone for others to read. There is a New England headstone that captured this sobering truth:

As you pass by and cast an eye,
As you are now so once was I.

We will all have an epitaph one day. King David, the author of this psalm, got one. I will get one, and so will you. The only question is, what will yours say? So, here’s the deal: Whatever you hope it will say means that you will have to live your life that way between now and then.

David, who was far from a perfect man, apparently did a great deal of thinking about the end of his life. That’s what this psalm is all about. And it really changed the way he lived out the rest of his dash, so much so that at the end of it, his friends wrote on his headstone:

A Man After God’s Own Heart. (Acts 13:22)

Hmm! I think I’ll take some time today, and while I’m at it, I’ll take some stock, too, on what my tombstone will say. Why don’t you join me? And if our current appraisal is not what we would hope for, let’s make a course correction — beginning today.

My Offering of Worship: As soon as it is possible, take a stroll through a cemetery and read the tombstones. Then, when you get home, write out what you want yours to say.

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Sin-Sick

Consider the Connection

PREVIEW: Be open to the possibility that sickness is the result of sin. I’m not talking about living under a load of paralyzing guilt and spiritual paranoia. God wants you to live in the blessed freedom of forgiveness, the delight of his unmerited favor, and the incredible joy of abundant living. At the same time, be willing to live the examined life. Check in with God a lot, as well as with trusted believers, and open your heart to the things that may be not only blocking the favor of God but actively inviting his punishment.

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 38:3

Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins.

Is sickness the result of sin? My definitive answer is, maybe!

That question has been on the minds of people for ages. And for a good portion of human history, there was a perceived connection between bad behavior and the disfavor of the local god. Even in the history of the Old Testament Israelites, as well as in Christian history over the last two thousand years, the belief was that personal and corporate sin led to Divine punishment, including sickness.

It wasn’t until the last fifty years or so that we in the Western world have come to the point of view that there is no spiritual-physical link between sin and sickness. And to be sure, the fact that I catch a cold, come down with the flu, or contract a disease does not imply that some egregious sin had been committed.

On the other hand, in a very real sense, all sickness is the result of sin — original sin. Romans 5:12 reminds us that because of one man’s sin, death entered the human race. And since, by virtue of Adam’s sin, we are all sinners, guess what? We will all experience death. And the dying process, which begins at birth, by the way, includes bouts of sickness along the way.

Having said all that, there is truth that sickness is sometimes the result of specific sins in our life. David understood that, and reading this psalm makes it pretty clear that he was associating unbearable physical pain, the symptoms of a debilitating illness, and excruciating emotional distress with the things he had done that had violated the laws of God.

I think we ought to be open to that possibility, too. I am not talking about living under a load of paralyzing guilt and spiritual paranoia — hopefully, you know me well enough to realize I would never suggest that. God wants us to live in the blessed freedom of forgiveness, the delight of his unmerited favor, and the incredible joy of the abundant life.

At the same time, we ought to be willing to live the examined life. We need to check in with God a lot, with trusted believers, too, and open our hearts to the things that may be not only blocking the favor of God but actively inviting his punishment. In Psalm 139:23-24, David invited the Divine searchlight to scrutinize the inner recesses of his life:

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.

There really is great freedom in taking such an open and honest posture before both God and man. Not only that, it may just prove to be one of the best preventions for both physical and mental health you will ever run into.

My Offering of Worship: It would be a good idea for you to pray the Psalm 139 prayer—especially is you are sick: “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.”

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Success Guaranteed

Delight Yourself in the Lord

PREVIEW: Make the Lord the center and the circumference of your world. Therein lies the key to success in life — to fruitfulness and fulfillment in all you do. Not just to make things happen for yourself but to actually have God working on your behalf to give you what you have set your heart to do. You see, God wants to grant you success. And success, as he defines it, is far greater, longer lasting, and more satisfying than what the world offers. So, delight yourself in the Lord, and you will find that the Lord delights himself in you!

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 37:4

Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.

I love these verses, particularly verse 4. It’s one of my favorites. Therein lies the key to success in life — to fruitfulness and fulfillment in all you do. Not just to make things happen for yourself, but to actually have God working on your behalf to give you what you have set your heart to do.

But this is no automatic formula to riches, power, and fame that David is talking about. In this verse itself is the essential context that we must grasp and apply if we are to enter into the blessed life the psalmist goes on to describe. Furthermore, the entire chapter of Psalm 37 provides valuable insight that further explains verse 4. You and I would do well to read and absorb this whole psalm in context.

So let me give you a heads up on some of David’s caveats to the success he promises:

First, you’ve got to put God first and make him foremost in your life. Another way of putting it is that God must be both the center and circumference of your existence. I think that’s what David had in mind when he said, “Delight yourself in the Lord.”

God will not grant you willi-nilli any old desire. That would be irresponsible of God and dangerous for you. However, when you delight in God above all else, that in itself will shape the desires that arise in your heart and guard you from foolish, selfish, sinful, and harmful wishes.

Second, you’ve got to delay gratification and practice patience. You will find in the rest of this psalm that, over and over again, David speaks of not getting in a rush to see the plan of God unfold in your life and not getting caught up in the false success of those who are far from God. In due time, God will bring about his promised blessings. Here is how David sees it in verse 7:

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

And third, you must refuse to cut corners and commit to a consistent walk of uprightness before God. If your life is characterized by incongruent living — saying one thing but doing another — don’t expect God’s deep and abiding favor. Though much of this psalm is dedicated to this truth, notice in particular how David puts it in verses 18, 34 and 37:

The days of the blameless are known to the LORD, and their inheritance will endure forever…Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it…Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.

God wants to grant you success. And success, as he defines it, is far greater, longer lasting, and more satisfying than what the world offers. So, delight yourself in the Lord, and you will find that the Lord delights himself in you!

My Offering of Worship: Take inventory of the things you desire most in life. Are they in line with what should be your top desire: To please God and glorify him above everything? If they are not in line with that, then ask the Lord to sanctify your desires — and cooperate with him as he reshapes you. If they are in line with pleasing and glorifying God, then thank him in advance for bringing them to pass.