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Blessed Fear

Consumed With What God Cares About

PREVIEW: What does it mean to fear the Lord? This is by no means a theological definition, but for all intents and purposes, to fear the Lord means to make him and his purposes both the center and the circumference of your life. It is to be consumed with love, fueled by faith, and characterized by obedience in a moment-by-moment walk with God. It is to care more about what God cares about than anything else. That is what it means to fear the Lord, and that is what it takes to be blessed by the Lord.

Blessed Fear - Ray Noah Blog

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 128:1-2

Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.

King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, began his most famous book, Proverbs, by writing, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7). What followed was a collection of wise sayings intended to lead the God-fearing person into a life that the Lord would uniquely bless.

Solomon’s father, King David, who was Israel’s most beloved king, began his most famous book, Psalms, by writing, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.” (Psalm 1:1-3 )What followed was a collection of worship songs that expressed the blessed condition of one who feared the Lord.

Blessed fear—almost seems like an oxymoron. Fearfully blessed—same with that. Yet, for the person who fears God, blessings are guaranteed. And for the person who lives a genuinely God-blessed life, there you will find the fear of the Lord at their core.

What does it mean to fear the Lord? This is not a theological definition, but for all intents and purposes, to fear the Lord means to make him and his purposes both the center and the circumference of your life. It means to be consumed with love, fueled by faith, and characterized by obedience in a moment-by-moment walk with God. It means passionately caring more about what God cares about than anything else.

That is what it means to fear the Lord, and that is what it means to be blessed by the Lord.

You see, blessing in the purest sense is to be consumed by your love for God, to be fueled by your faith in God, and to be characterized by your obedience to God. A person who lives that kind of life knows pure and unassailable joy at the deepest level. Earthly success, material wealth, personal popularity, and all the other attributes the world says are needed for the blessed life are simply pale compared to a life characterized by blessed fear.

When you fear the Lord, you are truly blessed. When you are truly blessed by God, it is because you fear the Lord.

May God grant you holy fear, and may God richly bless you.

My Offering of Worship: Have you made the Lord and his purposes both the center and the circumference of your life—that he is your everything? Can you honestly say you are consumed with love, fueled by faith, and characterized by obedience in a moment-by-moment walk with God? Do you passionately care more about what God cares about than anything else? If not, take some time today to invite God to realign your life so that the measurement of who you are and what you do reveals that you genuinely do fear the Lord.

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Recalibrate

Perfect Alignment with God’s Purposes

PREVIEW: How do we get God on our side? Simple: we get on God’s side! And what is the best way to ensure the Lord’s help? Not just to get the Lord on your side—that can be tricky business, given the exceeding craftiness of our own humanistic motives (“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out” Jer 17:9). Rather, the only surefire guarantee of the Lord’s help is to get on God’s side—and stay there—by maintaining God-honoring goals, focusing my interest on God’s purposes, setting my family apart for his glory, and exerting all my energies “as unto the Lord” (Col 3:17, 23). If you are like me, achieving that will require a good deal of recalibrating your life so that from the center to the circumference, you are aligned with God’s will.

Recalibrate - Ray Noah Blog

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 127:1-2

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves.

During the Civil war, President Lincoln was asked if God was on his side. His reply was, “It is not is God on my side, but am I on God’s side?”

That’s a great question to ask yourself in any of life’s endeavors. Whether it is in pursuing your personal goals (“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain”), protecting your interests (“Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain”), producing a good living (“In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat”), practicing a life of tranquility (“he grants sleep to those he loves”) or planning for a happy family (“how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children” Psalm 127:3), at the end of all your efforts, nothing of lasting value and eternal consequence will have been accomplished if the Lord has not helped.

And what is the best way to ensure the Lord’s help? Not just to get the Lord on your side—that can be tricky business, given the exceeding craftiness of our own humanistic motives (“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out” Jeremiah 17:9). Rather, the only surefire guarantee of the Lord’s help is to get on God’s side—and stay there.

Perhaps Lincoln’s question is a good one to ask yourself today: “Am I on God’s side?” Are my goals God-honoring? Are my interests dedicated to his purpose? Is my work his work? Is my family set apart for his glory? Are all my efforts done “as unto the Lord” (Colossians 3:17, 23)?

If you are nervous about answering those questions as if you were giving account to God himself, then wouldn’t you say it is time to recalibrate your life so that from the center to the circumference, you are aligned with God’s purposes?

I hope you will join me today for a little recalibration. If we can pull that off, we will be in good standing to get the Lord’s help. And, like the Apostle Paul, the testimony of our life will be, “But I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike.” (Acts 26:22)

My Offering of Worship: A powerful and penetrating chapter on what a recalibrated life should look like is Colossians 3. Read that entire chapter, perhaps several times, and pray through each piece of evidence of a life that is fully recalibrated to God’s purposes.

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For Desert Dwellers

Your Armload of Blessing is Coming

PREVIEW: As is true for every Christian, you, too, will get a season in what seems to be a wasteland, what we might call a desert experience. It is a barren place that is bordering your life physically, emotionally, financially, relationally, or spiritually, seemingly preventing you from moving into the place of fruitfulness that God intends for you. But don’t forget: God specializes in creating streams in the desert, turning bareness into fruitfulness, and birthing life from death. So, dear desert dweller, get ready to laugh. God is about to end your stream of tears and send you a stream of restoration.

For Desert Dwellers - Ray Noah Blog

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 126:4

Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negev.

You’ve got a Negev; so do I. Everybody gets a Negev at some point in their life. Spending time there just seems to be core curriculum for Christians.

So, what’s a Negev? The Negev was the desert that sat on Israel’s southern border, and it was an inhospitable, intimidating, and impossible place. It was a borderline of barrenness. Israel had a physical Negev, but your Negev is not geographical; you may very well be living with a barren place that is bordering your life physically, emotionally, financially, relationally, or spiritually. And your desert experience is likely preventing, or so you think, from moving into your Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a place of fruitfulness that God intends for you.

And here’s the deal with deserts: To the natural eye, there is no quick way out or easy way through. To the natural mind, there is nothing but barrenness, with no hope for life, and no prospects for change. The desert represents death—the end of a dream, the end of the line, the end of the story.

But God specializes in creating streams in the desert, turning bareness into fruitfulness, and birthing life from death. God brought the Israelites through the desert to the Promised Land, David out of the wilderness into the palace, Israel back from Babylonian exile to rebuild Jerusalem, and Jesus from death’s tomb to eternal glory. As you can see, deserts—physical, emotional, financial, relational, spiritual—are no big deal to God; some of his best work is done there.

Your Negev may look like the end of the road for you but don’t lose hope. Though you may weep tears of sorrow or tears of repentance or tears of intercession over your desert (“those who planted their crops in despair will shout “Yes!” at the harvest,” Psalm 126:5). You see, God will water your Negev with those tears and in the proper time, bring forth so much abundance (“And now, God, do it again—bring rains to our drought-stricken lives,” Psalm 126:6). And when, not if, but when that happens, you will have to pinch yourself to make sure it is not a dream (“those who went off with heavy hearts will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing,” Psalm 126:1).

So, dear desert dweller, get ready to laugh. God is about to end your stream of tears and send you a stream of restoration.

My Offering of Worship: Select two or three different Bible translations and read slowly, carefully, and prayerfully the six verses of Psalm 126. Pour out your heart to God, claim his promises from this song for your own life, and offer a sacrifice of gratitude in advance for your coming stream of restoration.

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Do Good

O God, Keep Me Pure and Keep Me Prosperous

PREVIEW: God sometimes uses difficult trials to purify our faith and evil times to bring a better kind of prosperity than mere temporal stuff to our lives. But in a sense, when the psalmist prays, “Do good, O Lord,” he is foreshadowing the very prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6:13, “Lead us not into temptation.” The Message captures the psalmist thoughts when it translates that line in the Lord’s Prayer, “Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.” That’s not a bad prayer to pray, I’d say. Given the choice between tough times and good times, I will pray for the latter, following both the psalmist’s and the Lord’s examples.

Do Good - Ray Noah Blog

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 125:4

Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart.

God is good—all the time! That isn’t just modern American “Christianese.” No, that is biblical truth.

The fact is, God is all wise, fundamentally good, and always in charge! That never changes, even in tough times, which is likely the setting for this psalm. Some Bible scholars believe Psalm 125 was written during the time of foreign domination—perhaps at the hands of the uber-wicked Assyrians—or at least during a time when it seemed likely that Jerusalem would be overrun by the godless.

This is yet another Psalm of Assent, and the writer penned the song for people to sing on their way to worship in Jerusalem. It prompted them to call upon God for two things:

First, to keep Jerusalem pure: “The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil.” (Psalm 125:3)

Second, to keep Jerusalem prosperous: “Lord, do good to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart”. (Psalm 125:4)

The writer recognized that people were seriously tempted to fall away from God when times were tough—either by giving in to the godless culture that had swallowed the land or by abandoning their trust in the God who seemed to withhold much-needed provision.

Of course, we recognize that God sometimes uses trials to purify our faith and tough times to bring a better kind of prosperity to our lives. But in a sense, the psalmist here foreshadows the very prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6:13, “Lead us not into temptation.” The Message captures the psalmist’s thoughts when it translates that line in the Lord’s Prayer,

“Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”

That’s not a bad prayer to pray, I’d say. Given the choice between tough times and good times, I will pray for the latter, following both the psalmist’s and the Lord’s examples. Sure, I am willing to embrace trial as a necessary friend (James 1:2, MSG), but my first choice is to hold hands with the goodness of God.

Yes, do good, dear God, and keep me safe from myself and the Devil!

My Offering of Worship: Where in your life are you giving into fear are seeking escape by temporal means? Stop! Go to God. Tell him your need—and be very specific. Then don’t neglect to offer him thanksgiving in advance, which is absolutely the key to his all-surpassing peace ruling in your heart.

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Help Wanted

There is No Better Helper Than God

PREVIEW: Who better to have helping you than the God who created everything and who, by his power, sustains everything he has created. All other helpers will fall short and will ultimately fail, but there is One who never fails. And best of all, he is yours, and you are his. Better yet, he needs no convincing to act on your behalf. By virtue of you being his child, he not only stands at the ready to help you, he actually goes ahead of you and prepares the way before you get there. Yes, the Lord is our helper!

Help Wanted - Ray Noah Blog

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 124:8

Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Let’s add a bit more context to our verse. The psalmist writes, “If the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped.”

He is throwing a lot of analogies at us to describe not just the rough spots that we find ourselves in from time to time, but this is a desperate situation that we are not sure we can survive. We find ourselves in deep weeds with no help, no human escape, no remedy. We despair of life, if not physically, then emotionally, relationally, financially, or spiritually.

Then the psalmist declares those words that we depend on for our very life, breath, well-being, meaning in life, and joy: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (v. 8). Or as the Message puts it, “God’s strong name is our help, the same God who made heaven and earth.”

Who better to have helping you than the God who created everything and who, by his power, sustains it? All other helpers will fall short and will ultimately fail, but there is One who never fails. And best of all, he is yours, and you are his.

Better yet, he needs no convincing to act on your behalf. By virtue of being his child, he not only stands at the ready to help you, but he also actually goes ahead of you and prepares the way before you get there. (Isaiah 45:2) He commands you not to fear, for he will lead you and guide you into good success wherever you go. (Joshua 1:3,7-9) He has promised you health and prosperity, joy and purpose, righteousness and wisdom. (Proverbs 3:5-6; 4:11) He says he will stand beside you and walk with you—especially when the going gets rough. (Isaiah 43:2) He will even be your rearguard—he’s got you covered. (Isaiah 58:8).

What an incredible reality—God is on your side, and therefore, as you stay on God’s side, you cannot fail. So many people place their trust in people and institutions, in politicians and political systems, in bankers, coaches, parents, and preachers, which are at best very flawed and quite temporal. But those who trust in the Lord for his help will not be disappointed.

Isaiah 49:23 says of those who find their help in the Lord, “Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

Hallelujah, with God as your God, help wanted is help received!

My Offering of Worship: Where in your life are you giving into fear are seeking escape by temporal means? Stop! Go to God. Tell him your need—and be very specific. Then don’t neglect to offer him thanksgiving in advance, which is absolutely the key to his all-surpassing peace ruling in your heart.

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Confidence In The Un-Random God

God’s Got A Plan

THE BIG IDEA: Nothing is random about God; nothing is left up to chance. The God of the Bible is the sovereign Lord of the universe and is ruling over the details of history to bring about his perfect plan. What may seem like happenstance or coincidence, God has foreordained, caused, or permitted in his perfect will. Coincidence is simply a sovereign act of God for which he chooses to remain unseen, a miracle for which he prefers anonymity. God is in control of all things, and that includes your life.

Confidence In The Un-Random God

Meditation // Matthew 2:5,15,18,23

For thus it is written in the prophets…

The birth and life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world, was not the product of random events. It was the direct result of prophetic fulfillment. Thus the phrase linking Christ’s life to Old Testament prophecy is repeated four times here in this second chapter of Matthew’s Gospel.

Those details of Jesus’ life had been laid out in the mind of God from eternity past and had been written down in the inspired utterances of the prophets of old hundreds of years before Christ was born. The fulfillment of scores of prophecies in minute detail of the birth, life, death, and resurrection Jesus leaves us with a pretty amazing track record of prophetic accuracy…leaving no doubt that those prophecies detailing his second coming will most certainly be fulfilled, too.

There is nothing random about God; nothing is left up to chance. The God of the Bible is the sovereign Lord of the universe, and is ruling over the details of history to bring about his perfect plan. What may seem like happenstance or coincidence, God has foreordained, caused, or permitted in his perfect will. Coincidence is simply a sovereign act of God for which he chooses to remain unseen, a miracle for which he prefers anonymity.

God is in control of all things, and that includes your life. David wrote in Psalm 139:16,

You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

God’s Word invites you to live with amazing confidence today, knowing that he is in control of all things, including even the smallest details of your life. Therefore, you can say, “all things will work together for my good and his glory.”

What Now? Offer this prayer of confidence to God: Lord, I will live confidently and expectantly this day, and this year, knowing that my life is a part of your greater plan. Take over my life completely, and may every detail of my existence serve your purposes perfectly and bring great glory to your name.”

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You’re Worth It

For The Joy Set Before Him

THE BIG IDEA: “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame.” What was the “joy” that so motivated Jesus to go through such a humiliating and torturous death? I’m convinced, my friend, that you were the joy Jesus saw as he hung there on the cross. And when he saw that you would one day stand with him as one of the redeemed before his Father’s throne, his heart swelled even as the life drained from his body, and he said, “It’s worth it!” All the suffering and humiliation of the cross was worth it to Jesus because you’re worth it!

You’re Worth It - Ray Noah

Meditation // Mark 15:24

Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross.

Mark’s account of Jesus’s betrayal, arrest, trial, suffering, and crucifixion is moving beyond words. As you read in the paragraph below his description of what Jesus went through, I would encourage you to remember that Jesus didn’t have to go through this. But he did—and the reason was you.

The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then, they led him away to be crucified. (Mark 15:16-20)

Trumped-up charges, the mockery of a trial, public humiliation, mental and physical torture, and rejection—the Second Person of the Trinity, the Agent of Creation, the Messiah of God’s chosen people, suffered beyond description at the hands of the people he loved. Yet he chose to endure it. Why? He did it for you! Hebrews 12:2 says,

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame.

What was the “joy” that so motivated Jesus to go through such a humiliating, torturous death? I am convinced, my friend, that you were the joy Jesus saw as he hung there on the cross. And when he saw that you would one day stand with him as one of the redeemed before his Father’s throne, his heart swelled even as the life drained from his body, and he said, “it’s worth it!”

All the suffering and humiliation of the cross was worth it to Jesus because you’re worth it!

What Now? Just take a minute before you do anything else today and offer your heartfelt thanks to God yet again for what he did by placing Jesus on the cross in your stead.