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Dark Night, Brighter Tomorrow

Everyone Gets One, and Can Have the Other

PREVIEW: The dark night of the soul. Everyone gets at least one. And when you get your dark night, it is likely that you will focus on your own imperfections as the source of your dire straits. And likely, you will be partially correct. Your specific mistakes and your general state of sinfulness often open the door to difficult and disastrous events. But King David didn’t let his imperfections stop him from courageously coming to God and seeking deliverance during his dark night of the soul. He recognized his own folly, but he knew that his wrong didn’t make the disproportionate response of the evildoers who pounced on him right. He also recognized that getting a hearing from the Almighty didn’t require sinless perfection; it required authentic repentance and courageous contrition. So, despite his folly, he appealed to the love and mercy of God to turn his dark night into a bright tomorrow. You can and should do the same.

Humanity has yet to exhaust God’s supply of love and mercy, so, whatever you’re going through — self-imposed or imposed on you by others — there’s plenty left for you.-Ray Noah

MY JOURNEY OF WORSHIP // Psalm 69:5,13

You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you…But I pray to you, O LORD, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation.

We’re not sure what the source of David’s despair was, but he turned it into a lament, a plaintiff prayer to God for deliverance and vindication. Whatever was going on, this psalm represents David’s dark night of the soul:

My eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help me. Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs on my head. (Psalm 69:3-4)

Interestingly, several New Testament writers prophetically applied much of Psalm 69 to Jesus. Jesus, too, had a dark night of the soul as he carried the sins of the entire world in his sinless body to Calvary. The difference between Jesus and David was that Jesus was without sin and undeserving, while David was quite sinful and much deserving—as he, himself, recognized: “O God, you know how foolish I am; my sins cannot be hidden from you.” (Psalm 69:5)

You will notice in the title that David wrote this psalm to be sung to the tune of “Lilies.” What you may not realize is that another song was written to the same tune, Psalm 45. That song, however, is quite celebratory, extolling King David as handsome, strong, victorious, just, and whose reign will endure.

How true to life is that! One moment, you are riding high, and the next, you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel. People who once adored you now want to string you up. It happened to David, it happened to Jesus, and it will likely happen to you. You, too, will have a dark night of the soul.

During that dark night, it is likely that you will focus on your own imperfections as the source of your dire straits. And likely, you will be partially correct. Your specific mistakes and your general state of sinfulness often open the door to difficult and disastrous events. But David didn’t let that stop him from courageously coming to God and seeking deliverance. You can and should do the same.

David recognized his own folly (Psalm 69:5), but he knew that his wrong didn’t make the disproportionate response of the evildoers who pounced on him right (Psalm 69:4, 22-28). He also recognized that getting a hearing from the Almighty didn’t require sinless perfection; it required authentic repentance and courageous contrition. So, despite his folly, he appealed to the love and mercy of God (Psalm 69:16) to turn his dark night into a bright tomorrow.

Answer my prayers, O Lord, for your unfailing love is wonderful. Take care of me, for your mercy is so plentiful.

For David and for you, God is the God of salvation. His specialty is saving the imperfect. You would never know God as the God of salvation if you didn’t need saving. The fact is that you need saving from your sins—which he has done. And you will need saving from the effects of sin—yours and others—at times, specifically, and generally in all of life.

Remember that when you are in the middle of your dark night and, it looks like the day will never come. God is still the God of salvation for imperfect people like you, so cry out to him. David didn’t exhaust the Divine supply of love and mercy; there’s plenty left for you.

And the God of your salvation still specializes in turning dark nights of the soul into better tomorrows.

My Offering of Worship: Read through the entirety of Psalm 69. Taking David’s cue, pour out your heart to God. Tell him about your troubles, appeal to him for his mercy to cover your part in the mess you may be facing, and then ask for his love to bring you into a brighter tomorrow.

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Forever, And Right Now

He is the God of Yesterday, Today, and Forever

PREVIEW: The testimony of history is that the Lord alone is a great and gracious God. Therefore, we should always cast our lot with him, for in the long run, he always wins, and so do his people. When in doubt, put faith in the God of history rather than fear in the difficulty of today and the uncertainty of tomorrow. God is the God of forever! However, most of us, while we might appreciate the importance of history, are more focused on what is facing us today. And the question that always arises for us is if God is great and gracious for us today. And the answer to that concern is a resounding yes.

The testimony of history is that God alone is great and gracious. Therefore, we should always cast our lot with him, for in the long run, he always wins—and so will we.-Ray Noah

MY JOURNEY OF WORSHIP // Psalm 68:19,35

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens….You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God.

Honestly, it took me a while to “get” this psalm. Not only did I have to read it through a couple of times, but once I was within the psalm, I had to stop and restart several more times just to figure out what David was trying to say. I now have greater sympathy for those of you who are daily readers of this blog.

My conclusion: This is a great psalm! David is tracing the glorious history of God and his people from their mighty and miraculous deliverance from Egyptian slavery to the enthronement of God’s presence in the sanctuary in Jerusalem. And, in case you didn’t know, that history covers several hundred years—years of ups and downs. But through it all, God always cared for his people, and at the end of the day, led them inexorably toward a preordained victorious conclusion.

The testimony of history, then, is that the Lord alone is a great and gracious God. Therefore, we should always cast our lot with him, for in the long run, he always wins, and so do his people. When in doubt, put faith in the God of history rather than fear in the difficulty of today and the uncertainty of tomorrow. God is the God of forever!

Most of us, however, though we might appreciate the importance of history, are more focused on what is facing us today. And the question that always arises is if God is great and gracious for me today. And the answer to that concern is yes. That is why, after praising God for his mighty and miraculous work throughout Israel’s history, David then says, “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” He is not only the God of forever, but he is also the God of right now.

You see, history is simply a series of daily experiences. String enough daily events together, and you’ve got history. God’s historical track record is comprised of revelations of his mighty and miraculous character as well as demonstrations of his great and gracious work in the daily lives of people like you and me. And since God is always true to his character, since he is always faithful to his covenant, you can trust that he will bear your needs today and lead you inexorably to a foreordained victorious conclusion, too.

So, what is the takeaway from this psalm? Simply this: How God proved himself to his people, Israel, he will prove himself to you today. He has the history to back that claim up.

He is the God of forever, and of right now!

My Offering of Worship: Are you concerned about things you are facing today or worried about what may happen tomorrow? Since God is faithful, why don’t you declare, “You are the God who never changes, the victorious One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

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Audacious Expectations

Delight Yourself in God … Then Watch Out!

PREVIEW: Don’t ever feel selfish for asking God to bless your family, your church, and yourself! In fact, that is a highly spiritual thing to do. How is that? If you want Divine blessing so that people will look at you and see God’s favor in your life and be attracted to the God of your salvation, then God guarantees his blessings. But if that is going to happen, then you cannot ask for selfish blessings. You cannot misspend God’s graces in foolish ways. You cannot ask for stuff that you will spend on your own humanistic desires. Rather, your motives, plans, hopes, and dreams need to be sanctified, which means that you need to delight yourself in the Lord first for him to grant you the desires of your heart:

"Delight yourself in the Lord first and foremost if you expect the Lord to grant you the desires of your heart." - Ray Noah

MY JOURNEY OF WORSHIP // Psalm 67:1-2

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

I never feel selfish for asking God to bless my family, my church, and even me! In fact, I think it is a highly spiritual thing to do. How is that? The second verse of this psalm provides the key: I want Divine blessing so that people will look at me and see God’s hand. I want them to see God’s favor in my life and be attracted to the God of my salvation.

Now if that is going to happen, then I cannot ask for selfish blessings. I cannot misspend God’s graces in foolish ways. I cannot ask for stuff that I will spend on my own humanistic desires. My motives, plans, hopes, and dreams need to be sanctified, which means that I need to delight myself in the Lord first if I am to expect that he will grant me the desires of my heart:

Take delight in the Lord, and he’ll give you your heart’s desires. (Psalm 37:4)

That really puts the onus on me to clean up my desires, doesn’t it? But if I can live with the purest of intentions—if I can live with a kingdom mindset—then I can expect God’s extraordinary grace, his undeserved blessing, and the favor of his face to shine down upon me every day of my life. I love how Ken Sande puts it:

“When you draw on God’s grace to put off your self-centered attitudes and act on His principles, you put His glory on display. Your life points to His vast wisdom, compassion, and transforming power, and as you look for God’s glory, the impact reaches far beyond yourself because you give everyone around you a reason to respect and praise God. Glorifying God is not about letting others see how great you are. It’s about letting them see how great the Lord is.”

Now, that’s the way I want to live. I want to be living proof to this lost world of a loving God. So, I am going to pray this prayer today: “God, bless me a lot! May I know your grace in new ways. Let the bright glory of your favor cause my life to shine so much that others will see me and be attracted to you!”

And I am audacious enough to expect that God will do that for me!

Incidentally, there was another Old Testament character who dared to pray that way: Jabez. Here is his short story from 1 Chronicles 4:9-10:

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

He dared to ask God for the moon, so to speak, and guess what? He got it. I love the profound simplicity of the last line of that story: “And God granted his request.”

Ask God for the moon…and the earth, too! Perhaps God will grant your request, and you’ll be the next Jabez story—unless I beat you to it!

MY OFFERING OF WORSHIP: “Delight yourself in the Lord,” the Psalmist declared, “and he will grant you the desires of your heart.” So, here is the $64,000 question: Are your desires aligned with what pleases and honors God? If not, I think you know what to do.

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Refiner’s Fire

Fit and Pleasing to God

PREVIEW: Fiery trials aren’t much fun, to say the least. But scripture often presents God as the great silversmith and you as the precious but unrefined silver. And when you are in the Refiner’s fire, be assured that you will never be left in the fire too long, but neither will you be taken out too soon. Rather, you will always be under the watchful eye of the One who fully understands the refining process. And when, as a result of the fire, your life reflects the image of Christ, you will be ready, purified like pure silver, fit and pleasing to God. So, if you are in a fiery trial, hang in there; you’re going to really shine when it is all said and done.

"Remember, if you are in a fiery trial, when as a result of the heat your life reflects the image of Christ, you will be refined like pure silver, fit and pleasing to God."-Ray Noah

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 66:10-12

For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.

What is the difficulty that you are going through at this moment in your life? My prayer is that God will use this trial to develop deeper character in you.

I realize that trials aren’t much fun. But I also know that God uses problems and pain in our lives to do some of his best work. James 1:2-4 says, “Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”

The psalmist saw the difficult situations God allowed Israel to endure in that light. I hope that you, too, will see your trying situation, above all else, as the work of the Great Refiner to bring about his pure character in you.

I came across this story of how a silversmith describing the process of purifying silver. I hope it gives you a whole new perspective:

The silversmith said, “To refine the silver, I sit with my eyes steadily fixed on the furnace, for if the time necessary for refining is exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured. I never take my eye off the silver in the furnace. I don’t want to take it out too early because if I take it out too early, it won’t be purified. But I don’t want to leave it in the fire too long, because if I do, it will be injured. When the silver is in the fire, I focus. I don’t let anything distract me. I let nothing take my focus off the silver. I watch the silver carefully, waiting for the right moment to take it out.”

The silversmith was asked, “How do you know when it is the right moment?”

And he said, “I know the silver is pure when I can see my face reflected in it.”

The Old Testament prophet Malachi describes God as a refiner and purifier of silver: “He’ll be like white-hot fire from the smelter’s furnace. He’ll be like the strongest lye soap at the laundry. He’ll take his place as a refiner of silver, as a cleanser of dirty clothes. He’ll scrub the Levite priests clean, refine them like gold and silver, until they’re fit for God, fit to present offerings of righteousness. Then, and only then, will Judah and Jerusalem be fit and pleasing to God.” (Mal 3:2-5)

What a profound picture of God, the great silversmith, and you, the silver. You are never left in the refiner’s fire too long or taken out too soon but are always under the watchful eye of the one who fully understands the refining process. And when, as a result of the fire, your life reflects the image of Christ, you will be ready, purified like pure silver, fit and pleasing to God.

Hang in there; you’re going to really shine when this is all said and done.

My Offering of Worship: If you are going through a fiery trial, change your prayers from “God, why me?” to “God, what now?”

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He’s All Ears

God Hears, So Why Not Ask

PREVIEW: What would you do if you worshipped a god who never heard your prayers? Or if you believed in no god at all? How sad, scary, and frustrating that would be! And yet billions of people on this planet live that way. But we have a God who hears us when we pray! How blessed are we that God has chosen us as his people, has given us the awesome privilege to come into his courts, and has invited us to pour out our hearts to him. And he hears us! But if we don’t take advantage of that privilege, as Phillips Brooks said, “it is an infinitely foolish thing.”

2024-01-15 He's All Ears

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 65:2-4

You, God, answer prayer, to you all people will come. When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.

What would you do if you worshipped a god who never heard your prayers? Or if you believed in no god at all? How sad, scary, and frustrating that would be! And yet billions of people on this planet live that way.

Over the years, it has been my privilege to travel to many places and engage in missionary work, and one of the sobering things I witness wherever I go is a profound sadness and emptiness in the souls of people who don’t know our God.

In the former Soviet Union, I’ve talked with people who had been indoctrinated their entire lives with the communist propaganda that God didn’t exist. That Soviet system promised the Russian people everything, but in the end, it not only didn’t deliver, but it also robbed their souls of the joy, peace, and hope that comes only from being connected to the Creator. What I saw in their eyes was a bleak reminder of what happens to the human spirit when you take God out of the picture.

Russia isn’t the only place where that happens. I’ve witnessed desperate Hindus in Sri Lanka making sacrifices of food to their gods while their emaciated children played in a sewage-infested stream nearby. I’ve seen devout Catholics in Central America pouring out their hearts to icons and animists in Africa worshipping snakes, but none of them walked away from their respective religious rites with any sense that their prayers had been heard. And every day here in America, people worship their stuff, yet they crave more since, in reality, they are giving their worship to a god that cannot hear.

But we have a God who hears us when we pray! And like the psalmist said, how blessed we are that God has chosen us as his people, given us the awesome privilege to come into his courts, and invited us to pour out our hearts to him. And he hears us!

He hears our pleas for forgiveness—and answers: “When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.” (Psalm 65:3)

He hears our prayers for provision—and answers: “Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.” (Psalm 65:4)

He hears our request for intervention—and answers: “You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas” (Psalm 65:5)

And even when we don’t ask, he still fuels this global ecosystem with what it requires to keep us alive: “You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it…You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.” (Psalm 65:9,11)

How blessed we are—God hears us when we pray. As the Apostle John said, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15)

How blessed, indeed, that we are His, and He is ours!

My Offering of Worship: Since God hears and answers the prayers of his people, why not offer up your requests? As Phillips Brooks said, not to is an infinitely foolish thing.

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Complain, Complain, Complain

Let God Turn Your Whining into Worshiping

PREVIEW: Most of the time, God’s Word instructs us not to complain. Yet, there is a form of complaint that is not only acceptable but also quite therapeutic. David did it in this psalm; David does it a lot in the psalms: He gripes to God. The whining and griping we voice, for the most part, grates on the people who must listen to us. It does us no good—even if they give in to what we want, they have been pushed down the path to a negative opinion of us. But when we pour out our complaint to God, good things happen in us and for us, not the least of which is that our whining will turn to worshiping.

2024-01-12 Complaining, Complaining, Complaining

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 64:1

Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint.

One of my favorite stories is of the monk who joined a monastery and took a vow of silence. After the first ten years, the abbot called him in and asked, “Do you have anything to say?”

The monk replied, “Food bad.”

After another ten years, the monk again had an opportunity to voice his thoughts. He said, “Bed hard.”

Then, at the end of thirty years, once again, the monk was called before his superior. When asked if he had anything to say, he broke his silence and blurted out, “I quit.”

The angry abbot shot back, “It doesn’t surprise me one bit. You’ve done nothing but complain ever since you got here.”

Great story. Like the abbot, I’m not a big fan of complaining or complainers. My unspoken response to those who complain is what a friend once said to me when I was complaining: “Build a bridge and get over it.” Once in a while, I will actually say that if I feel a jolt like that, it would be good for the griper.

Most of the time, God’s Word instructs us not to complain. Paul said to the Philippians, “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” (Philippians 2:14-15)

Yet, there is a form of complaint that is not only acceptable but also quite therapeutic. David did it in this psalm; David does it a lot in the psalms: He gripes to God. The whining and griping we voice, for the most part, grates on people who have to listen to us. It does us no good—even if they give in to what we want, they have been pushed down the path to a negative opinion of us. But when we pour out our complaint to God, things happen.

What things? First, we get out what, by and large, shouldn’t be bottled up inside. Second, voicing our upset gives us a chance to evaluate whether we should really be upset or not. Third, we put what we can’t control in the hands of the One who is in control of all things. And fourth, as we are asking God to change the circumstances we are griping about, God does something even better—he changes us.

Notice in this psalm how David starts off with whining (Psalm 64:1-7) and ends up worshiping:

[When God acts on our behalf] then all mankind fears; they tell what God has brought about and ponder what he has done. Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult! (Psalm 64:9-10).

That is usually what happens when you follow the psalmist’s plan for problem-solving: whining is replaced with worshiping. And anytime you end up worshiping, you are in a good place.

My Offering of Worship: Are you complaining about a matter? Stop griping and go to God. He will listen. He will act. And he will give you a better perspective. But at the end of your complaint session, make sure your whining has turned to worshiping.

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Desert School

It’s Where faith in God Alone is Forged

Give It Some Thought: Every hero of our faith got wilderness school. And each would tell us that the desert was the most productive time of their lives. You see, the desert is the place where you get stripped of every false dependency while, at the same time, your faith is forged in God alone. That is never a pleasant process. Frankly, it is the toughest thing a believer is forced to endure. It requires solitude, involuntary insignificance, forced simplicity, soul-searching, patience, and desperation, to name a few—the necessary ingredients to an altogether deeper dimension with God, ingredients that are only extracted and catalyzed in the blast furnace of the desert. The desert is where the rebel soul learns the ways of God.

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 63:1

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

David wrote this psalm in the desert—not the kind of place you would first think of as the perfect setting for such an eloquent prayer like this. But if you were to study the lives of all the greats in God’s Hall of Faith, you would find that, almost without exception, each had spent a season in the desert.

The most famous desert dweller, Moses, spent forty years on the backside of the Sinai wilderness. He, however, was only one in a long line of many: Abraham was schooled in the desert, Elijah got it, too, and so did John the Baptist, Peter, and Paul. God’s people, Israel, spent forty years wandering in the desert; forty years it took for God to drain 400 years of Egypt out of them.

Even Jesus, God’s own Son, spent forty days and nights fasting and praying in the dangerous and desolate Judean wilderness. Now, if the very Son of God needed wilderness school, guess what? The desert is going to be core curriculum in your school of spiritual maturity as well.

My sense is that each of these heroes of faith would tell us that, in hindsight, the desert was the most productive time of their lives. How could that be? Well, the desert is the place where you get stripped of every false dependency, while at the same time, faith in God alone is forged in the core of your being. That is never a pleasant process. Frankly, it is the toughest thing a believer is forced to endure. It requires solitude, involuntary insignificance, forced simplicity, soul-searching, patience, and desperation, just to name a few—the necessary ingredients to an altogether deeper dimension with God, ingredients that are only extracted and catalyzed in the blast furnace of the desert. Andrew Bonar, a nineteenth-century Scottish preacher, said,

In order to grow in grace, men must be much alone. It is not in society that the soul grows most vigorously. It is in the desert that the dew falls freshest and the air is purest. The backside of the desert is where men and things, the world and self, present circumstances and their influences, are all valued at what they are really worth. There it is, and there alone, that you will find a Divinely-adjusted balance in which to weigh all around you and within you.

All the greats were driven into the desert, and there they found God. It seems that in our day, we’ve done our best to avoid the desert, which has only left us devoid of deepness with God. Maybe we need to reconsider the desert; it may not be such a bad place after all. The desert is where the rebel soul learns the ways of God.

My Offering of Worship: In retrospect, where has God put you through desert school? And what were the spiritual lessons you learned there? Once you have rehearsed them, offer up a prayer of gratitude for the invaluable faith lessons that God has taught you that only came in your desert.