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Soul Music

Forget Not His Benefits

SYNOPSIS: “Praise the Lord, O My soul, and forgot not his benefits.” Forgiveness, healing, redemption, love, compassion … just to name a few. Now what soul wouldn’t pour forth unfettered praise at the realization of all the undeserved and life sustaining blessings that God graciously gives! So what don’t you offer up some unfettered praise today!

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // Psalm 103:11-12

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

I love this psalm—it’s my favorite. It is probably right up there with the Twenty-Third Psalm for most people, and I suspect it has made your Top Ten, too!

David is on his game in this psalm; he’s in the sweet-spot of Divine favor, the blessing zone, if you will, as he calls up from his memory banks his Top Ten list of why it is so good to belong to God:

  1. Forgiveness—Psalm 103:3
  2. Healing—Psalm 103:3
  3. Redemption—Psalm 103:4
  4. Compassion—Psalm 103:4
  5. Satisfaction—Psalm 103:5
  6. Justice—Psalm 103:6
  7. Revelation—Psalm 103:7
  8. Patience—Psalm 103:8
  9. Mercy—Psalm 103:9-14
  10. Love—Psalm 103:17

No wonder David “bookends” this psalm with “praise the Lord, O my soul.” (Psalm 103:1, 22) What soul wouldn’t pour forth unfettered praise at the realization of all the undeserved and life sustaining blessings that God graciously gives!

Of course, these benefits aren’t given to just anybody—although they are available to everybody. There is a critical caveat found in Psalm 103:18:

To live under these Divine blessings requires covenant keeping.

God keeps his covenantal promises to bless only those who keep their covenantal promise to obey his laws. Still, though this is a conditional covenant, we get the far better deal, by miles. Even when we don’t always live up to our end of the bargain, God looks upon us through his eyes of compassion, sustains us by his mercy, forgives our repentance and patiently, lovingly, enduringly keeps us in his family.

All I can say to that is “praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits!” (Psalm 103:2)

So take some time to remember the benefits of belonging to God. My guess is, like David, you, too, will be singing a little soul music!

“He rides pleasantly enough whom the grace of God carries.” ~Thomas A` Kempis

Reflect & Apply: One of the greatest benefits of belonging to God is the removal of our sins when we confess them and repent of our sinful ways.  Psalm 103:11-12 says God pardons our sins and removes them as far as the east is from the west.  Last time I looked, that was a long way.  How great is the love of a God who would do that.  How about taking some time to express your thanks to God that he is in the sin removal business.

 

 

 

 

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A Spiritual Vacation or a Spiritual Victory

A Calling to Conquer

SYNOPSIS: God always leads us in triumph. There is always more territory he has destined us conquer. There are always more enemies he has empowered us to defeat. And while a part of you may yearn to sit back and relax, the glory of what it means to be Christian is to march forward as more than a conqueror. And why would we not embrace our calling to conquer? We have the promise of God that he himself will drive out our enemies.

The Journey // Focus: Joshua 13:1,6

When Joshua was an old man, the Lord said to him, “You are growing old, and much land remains to be conquered.… “I myself will drive these people out of the land ahead of the Israelites.”

We will rest when we get to heaven. Until then, there is still work to be done. I am sorry to disappoint you if you were thinking of your Christianity as a spiritual vacation. It is not; it is a spiritual victory. Of course there are ebbs and flows in the journey of faith, but there will always be more promises to possess, territory to claim, enemies to overcome and victories to secure.

Thus it will always be. That is the ongoing saga of redemptive history. While God brings us through challenges and gives us victory over our enemies, the end has yet to be written. Of course, the outcome has been predetermined, but it is still in the making. That is why we say he leads us from victory to victory.

While the promises of God are as good as done, and even though the outcome has been predetermined, that never means the believer gets to sit back and rest on their laurels. God’s rest is not a piece of geography—not at this point, anyway—it is a spiritual condition of triumph. That triumph is experienced in the advance of his kingdom through our lives. Through the work that he has given us to do, we are victorious—and that is what propels us along our journey of joyful rest.

That is evident in the story of Joshua 13. General Joshua has been one of history’s most brilliant military strategist. He has won conquest after conquest against enemies that were fiercer, stronger, better equipped and more battle hardened than Israel’s army. Moreover, God was on their side, and city after city fell into Israel’s hands. But after a long period under Joshua, the time had come for others to lead in the remaining battles.

Yes, battles remained. Get used to it! In preparation for the end of his career, God told Joshua to divide the land between the twelve tribes. He was to assign specific geographical territory to each tribe, even though some of it was yet to be firmly in Israel’s possession. So why divide the land between the tribes before Israel had conquered it?

For one thing, Joshua was advancing in years and the day of his death was looming. The task would not be complete by the time of his passing. Furthermore, there would not be a singular leader over Israel for the next four hundred years as they continued to possess and settle the land, so God assigned Joshua the task of allotting the land among Israel’s tribes, clans and families.

But while that is the practical reason for counting their chickens before they hatched, there was also a faith reason. God was on their side, and he would see to it that the land came under their possession. While they would have to work and war to possess it, we are told by God, “I myself will drive these people out of the land ahead of the Israelites.” God’s promise to work on Israel’s behalf was so certain, that the division of the land could be made even before it was conquered. God’s promise is as good as done. God was asking Israel through this division of land to picture what he had promised. Again, the faith principle is that we need to picture what we want to possess.

So what is the point? Simply this: God always leads us in triumph. There is always more territory to conquer. There are always more enemies to defeat. And while a part of you may yearn to sit back and relax, the glory of what it means to be Christian is to march forward as more than a conqueror. And why would we not embrace our calling to conquer? We have the promise of God that he himself will drive out our enemies.

Yes, the time will come for rest soon enough. In the meantime: onward toward yet another predetermined victory.

Going Deeper: Memorize Romans 8:37-39, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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FaithList: Naming Names

Don't Jump Past the Genealogies

SYNOPSIS: Perhaps you think that reading through the seemingly endless lists of names in Scripture is unnecessary. Maybe you think taking the time to utter these names is boring, meaningless and a colossal waste of your time. But let me ask you this: why do you think God, in his providential oversight of bringing the Bible into existence, saw fit to include so many statistical and genealogical lists? Do you think it was merely for historical purposes? Or are they to build the faith of his people? I would argue for both. Don’t neglect these genealogical praise songs!

The Journey // Focus: Joshua 12:1-2

These are the kings east of the Jordan River who had been killed by the Israelites and whose land was taken. Their territory extended from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon and included all the land east of the Jordan Valley: King Sihon of the Amorites… King Og of Bashan, the last of the Rephaites….The king of Jericho…The king of Ai, near Bethel…The king of Jerusalem…The king of Hebron…

We have seen it many times already in reading through the Old Testament: endless lists of meaningless names—at least, meaningless to us. But not meaningless to the people of Israel! Every name is a story—a God-story, to be specific—of God’s provision for his people and punishment for his enemies. And every time Moses or Joshua wrote these lists down, they became a kind of checklist of praise for the people of Israel. You might say, they were praise songs for statisticians. God even loves the numbers geek!

As I have said before, we might be tempted to just skip over these names when we come to them in our Bible reading—at least I am. But I would encourage you not to do that. As an act of worship, read the names out loud. Of course, you won’t know how to pronounce half of them, so just make them up. Remind God of what he did for his people. Of course, God doesn’t need reminding, but in reminding him, you are really reminding yourself that the activity of God is rooted in history—it is real; that God is for his people—he is not an uncaring, distant deity; and that God fulfills his promises—which includes empowering his people to overcome their enemies.

I would then encourage you to list out your own victories. Write a “faithlist” of things that God has done for you. Go back into your past and dredge up your God-stories back up. Write down the things he has done for you lately. Include little provisions and big miracles. Remember what God has done and memorialize it on a list. Then thank God for each one of those answers—out loud. Do it as an act of worship. Remind God of how great he is. Of course, he already knows his own greatness, but you will be building your own faith as you do it.

Perhaps you think that what I am suggesting is unnecessary. Maybe you think it is a colossal waste of your time. But let me ask you this: why do you think God, in his providential oversight of bringing the Bible into written form, saw fit to include so many of genealogical and statistical lists? Do you think it was merely for historical purposes? Or are they to build the faith of his people? I would argue for both. They are to remind us that God’s work is not merely spiritual fable; it is rooted in history. Moreover, what God has done in history is to teach us that he will do again. Since he is a covenantly faithful God, the interventions, provisions and victories that he wrought for his people in the past, he will work into the lives of his people today.

These statistical and genealogical praise lists are powerful. That is why I would suggest that you come up with your own from time to time in your journey of faith. There is an old gospel song authored in the late 1800’s by Johnson Oatman that captures what I am calling you to do. When I was growing up, my faith community periodically sang this song, Count Your Blessings. One of the verses and the chorus went like this:

So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged; God is over all.
Count your many blessings; angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your blessings;
See what God hath done.

Truly, God has been good!

Going Deeper: Why don’t you try counting your blessings today? Make a faithlist of all that God has done for you. You will be amazed at God’s goodness and filled will more faith to take on the day ahead.

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The Victory Parade

Christ Is Leading Us In Triumphal Procession

SYNOPSIS: Do you feel bogged down in life’s journey? You are not! In reality, you are in marching in Christ’s victory parade. So don’t allow your faith to rise and fall on the empirical evidence of right now. Patiently trust on those days when you are slogging through life, because soon enough, the procession will take you by the final grandstand. Others have already finished the parade, they’ve stood in the winner’s circle, they’ve received the victor’s crown. Now they are waiting for you in the cheering section at the finish, urging you on to victory. So is the Victor!

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // 2 Corinthians 2:14

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

What a great promise: God always leads us in triumphal procession! In other words, we are marching in Christ’s victory parade. He has taken us captive and we are happily his trophies of grace in the Victor’s procession. Wherever the parade leads, we are giving off the smell of victory!

That sounds a bit ethereal, but in reality, what that means for you is that in every turn of the path, good or bad, smooth cruising or rough road, not only have you already won, even better, your winning is a witness to the triumph of Jesus Christ. Whatever comes your way—it doesn’t matter—in the end, you win. Since you are in Christ’s victory parade, you are a victor!

Now in reality, the road you are on may seem like anything but a parade. But if what the Apostle Paul wrote is true—which we confidently accept by faith—then in a practical sense, we never need to be discouraged in this journey by unknown outcomes. Perhaps you can’t see the twists and turns in the road ahead, but God knows them, and that’s all that matters. He is steering you to the finish. So travel with confidence! It is really a victory parade you are in, and Christ is leading it.

Moreover, don’t be intimidated by the either the impossibility or the length of the journey. It could be the road you are traveling is difficult, even treacherous, and with no end in sight. In truth, the path to victory always is, so get used it. You are only walking where the greats have trod! And since the path is really the parade route, take courage, Christ is leading you to victory.

Finally, don’t get disturbed by delays. Perhaps you feel like you have bogged down in the journey, but remember, you are in a victory parade. Don’t allow your faith to rise and fall on the empirical evidence of right now. Patiently trust in spite of delays, because soon enough, the procession will take you by the final grandstand. Others have already finished the parade, they’ve stood in the winner’s circle, they’ve received the victor’s crown. Now they are waiting for you in the cheering section at the finish, urging you on to victory.

And best of all, so is the One who has led you in this triumphal procession all this way. Once you see him, what seems like a difficult journey now will appear in reality then as nothing more than a victory parade.

So let me say it again: this journey you are on is really a victory procession, and Christ is leading you in triumph.  So act like it is a victory lap—soon enough it will be!

“To choose what is difficult all one’s days, as if it were easy, that is faith.” ~W. H. Auden

Reflect & Apply: Is there a fear or discouragement impeding your faith journey at the moment? Rethink it—Christ has already won your victory and is leading you in triumphal procession. Allow that truth to make a difference in how you walk.

 

 

 

 

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From Promise To Fulfillment: The Story of Faith and Obedience

Align Your Life to God's Promises

SYNOPSIS: God has made thousands of promises in his Word to his people. Some of them are specific to that time and to those people, but most are general promises that are for you to possess. Picture them! That is an act of faith. Then align yourself to possess them. That is an act of obedience. Faith and obedience—may that be the testimony of your life.

The Journey// Focus: Joshua 11:16-18,23

So Joshua took this entire land: the hill country, all the Negev, the whole region of Goshen, the western foothills, the Arabah and the mountains of Israel with their foothills, from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, to Baal Gadin the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and put them to death, Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time…. So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war.

God had promised Israel a land—the land of Canaan. The promise was made to Abraham hundreds of years before Joshua 11 as a condition of the covenant the Lord made with this man who would become the father of many nations, including Israel (that story is contained in Genesis 12-25), and much later, the father of our faith (Romans 4:16) The rest of Genesis all the way thorough Judges tells the story of Israel’s circuitous journey to physically get to the Promised Land (Exodus-Numbers), enter it to possess it by dispossessing the nations who lived there (Joshua), and then settle it (Judges).

Joshua 11 is at the heart of the conquest story—it is where the rubber of faith meets the road of fulfillment. When the Lord had commissioned General Joshua to lead Israel to cross the Jordan and go into the land to drive out the nations, he first gave him a picture of what the Promised Land would look like:

I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you—the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. (Joshua 1:3-5)

Joshua needed to picture what God wanted him to possess. He also needed to hear God’s twin promise of presence and power to maintain the courage it would take to go up against nation after nation that were bigger, better equipped and more experienced in war than the Israelite army. Which brings up several important points relevant for our faith journey today about moving from God’s promise to their fulfillment in our lives:

  • We have to picture God’s promises if we hope to possess them—that is what “faithing” it is all about (“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.” Hebrews 11:1-2)
  • The best of God’s promises are way bigger than what we can imagine, and even way bigger than what we need. God’s promise to Joshua was basically the entire Middle East. What that tells us is that God gives in abundance, which is simply defined as more than we need. (“God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20)
  • The bigger the promises, the bigger the opposition to those promises we will face. The Enemy knows what is at stake in the people of God possessing the promises of God, so he throws up obstacles of every kind to discourage us from staying at the task of claiming them. Even though he is a defeated foe, he won’t go down without a fight. (“Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.” Daniel 10:12-13)
  • The promises of God are sure, but they are not automatic. We have a part to play: we have to possess them. God can’t possess them for us; we have to give spiritual effort to bring them into our possession. That too, is called faith: bringing in through spiritual effort from the unseen realm into our reality what God has already established. (“Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Philippians 2:12-13)

God promised a land, then empowered Israel to possess it, but Joshua and company had to go out and fight to claim what was theirs by divine declaration. And they did. Notice how similar the reality of their victory was to the original promise:

Joshua conquered the entire region—the hill country, the entire Negev, the whole area around the town of Goshen, the western foothills, the Jordan Valley, the mountains of Israel, and the Galilean foothills. The Israelite territory now extended all the way from Mount Halak, which leads up to Seir in the south, as far north as Baal-gad at the foot of Mount Hermon in the valley of Lebanon. (Joshua 10:16-18)

God has made promises to you, too. It may not be a literal land, but it is a territory. Faith is the activity of claiming it; of bringing it into your possession. Picture what he wants you to possess—that is faith. Believe that it is yours by diving declaration—that, too, is faith. Then get after it. Possess what you have pictured. Align your prayers and your resources—spiritual, physical, financial—to possess it. Giving spiritual effort to possess God’s promises—that is called obedience.

Faith and obedience—that is the story of those who possess the promises.

Going Deeper: God has made over 6,000 promises in his Word to his people. Some of them are specific to that time and to those people, but most are general promises that are for you to possess. Picture them! That is an act of faith. Then align yourself to possess them. That is an act of obedience. Faith and obedience—may that be the testimony of your life.

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When God Fights For You

Predetermined Victory

Make no mistake: God still fights on behalf of his people. In a realm that you usually can’t see, there is a battle, and God is at war to bring about complete and utter victory for his kingdom. And while that victory may not be seen like you and I would want, let’s be perfectly clear about this: the outcome is predetermined and the victory has already been won! If you don’t believe that, then as they say, fast-forward to the end of the book and you will see it: we win!

The Journey// Focus: Joshua 10:9-13

Joshua traveled all night from Gilgal and took the Amorite armies by surprise. The Lord threw them into a panic, and the Israelites slaughtered great numbers of them at Gibeon. Then the Israelites chased the enemy along the road to Beth-horon, killing them all along the way to Azekah and Makkedah. As the Amorites retreated down the road from Beth-horon, the Lord destroyed them with a terrible hailstorm from heaven that continued until they reached Azekah. The hail killed more of the enemy than the Israelites killed with the sword. On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel: “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies.

Obviously, it doesn’t always work this way, but when it does, boy howdy! The situation was different back then, and it called for God to step in on Israel’s behalf in a way that left no doubt in the minds of friend and foe alike that Yahweh was on the side of his people. Similar to the ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea, clearly God was fighting for Israel. And it wasn’t a fair fight. It never is when God gets involved.

Israel was taking possession of their Promised Land in fulfillment of the centuries old covenantal promise that God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That meant the Canaanites, a particularly brutal, sinful, godless amalgam of city-states, had to be dispossessed from that land. So city-by-city, Joshua was on a winning streak where they didn’t barely eke out victories; these were blowouts. And in this case, not only was the Israelite army crushing the Amorites, God steps in and through a hailstorm of epic proportions, laid waste to the enemy. We are told that more died by the hail than by the sword.

Then, if that weren’t enough, Joshua put his foot on the gas to completely destroy whoever was left. The day was coming to a close, the sun would soon set before the job got done, so he even called out to the sun and moon for them to freeze in place. Imagine that: a man making demands of the solar system just so he could finish his work before nightfall. And it happened! Seriously, the only time before or since, the sun literally stood still and the moon didn’t budge until Israel had pitched a complete game, a shut out—and a no hitter at that.

Don’t you wish that was your testimony with every problem you face? I do! But most times, that is not what is called for. Typically, God has other methods for accomplishing his will. We are not literally going into a physical land to dispossess nations, so what Joshua did would be completely inappropriate for God’s people today. We are to take possession of spiritual lands by capturing people through the gospel and bringing them under the loving reign of Jesus Christ. It is a bit different today than in Joshua’s day.

However, make no mistake that God still fights on behalf of his people. In a realm that you usually can’t see, there is a battle, and God is at war to bring about complete and utter victory for his kingdom. And while that victory may not be seen like you and I would want, let’s be perfectly clear about this: the outcome is predetermined and the victory has already been won! If you don’t believe that, then as they say, fast-forward to the end of the book and you will see it: we win!

Take heart today, my friend. In whatever battle you face, you have a God who fights for his people. Surely the Lord fights for you in the unseen realm—sometimes in a way that even leaks into the visible realm—just like he fought for Joshua:

Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day! (Joshua 10:14)

In an earlier battle, once again Joshua led Israel to a stunning victory over the evil and defiant Amalekites. When the battle was over, we are told that Moses built an altar there and named it “Yahweh-Nissi (which means ‘the Lord is my banner’). He said, ‘They have raised their fist against the Lord’s throne, so now the Lord will be at war with them.’” (Exodus 17:15-16)

Yahweh Nissi—the Lord is just as much your banner as he was theirs!

Going Deeper: What is your battle today? Take heart, Yaweh Nissi will do whatever it takes to march you on to victory!

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Fruitful Fear

It's the Only Way to Live

SYNOPSIS: The fear of the Lord doesn’t conjure up very a positive image. But to be God-fearing doesn’t mean to cower in terror because a capricious and vengeful Deity is fixing to squash you like a bug if you displease him in the least. Rather, while acknowledging that disobeying his law will bring painful consequences, it recognizes that obeying that very same law will bring life-giving benefits. In that sense, to live in the fear of the Lord is the only way to the blessed life. Too many people today are trying to live a God-blessed life without a God-fearing life. It can’t be done! But those who fear the Lord have nothing to fear! In fact, they have every good and perfect thing to gain.

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // 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.

Fear!  The word doesn’t conjure up very positive images does it? These days in our cultural context, parents don’t usually teach their kids to live in fear of anything and teachers don’t instruct their students to be afraid.  So why should preachers stand in pulpits and preach the “fear of the Lord” to their congregations? That seems a bit incongruent with our image of a loving and gracious God.

The problem is that we misunderstand what the Bible means when it talks about this kind of fear. A better way to think of it is the old term used a generation or two ago: God fearing. That simply meant to have a deep reverence for God and a healthy respect for his laws. It did not mean to cower in terror because a capricious and vengeful Deity was fixing to squash you like a bug if you displeased him in the least. Rather, while acknowledging that disobeying God’s law would bring painful consequences (just try ignoring his universal law of gravity and see how that works for you), it recognized that obeying that very same law would bring life-giving benefits.

To live with a healthy and holy fear of God provided the foundation for a prosperous journey through this life as well as preparation for entering into the joy of the eternal kingdom in the life to come. The fear of the Lord was what enabled people to navigate daily challenges with good judgment and grace. And the icing on the cake for a fear-of-the-Lord approach to living was the promise that God would add fruit, blessings and prosperity to our lives.  That’s not a bad exchange:  Fear of the Lord for fruitfulness in life.

Too many people today are trying to live a God-blessed life without a God-fearing life. It can’t be done! Living without deep reverence for God and healthy respect for his laws, including awareness of the consequences of breaking them—will only produce the other kind of fear: fear that our past will catch up to us, high anxiety because of what we’re going through today, and terror of what might happen tomorrow.

But those who fear the Lord have nothing to fear! In fact, they have every good and perfect thing to gain.  If you can wrap your life around what it means to be God-fearing, this gracious God himself will give you the life you’ve only dreamed of—and even beyond that.

The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else. ~Oswald Chambers

Reflect & Apply: What kind of fear is your fear of the Lord? A healthy and holy fear, or one that is unhealthy and unholy? Spend some time today thinking about what it means to be a God-fearing person—and what changes you may need to make to be one.