Who Shall Ascend?

One requirement of the Ministry Apprentice Program is that I take a day of solitude both in the fall and the spring.  So, this Thursday morning I went to Carolina Beach State Park and stayed until this morning.

A day of solitude is a day for rest in the Lord, and listening to Him.  A day for correction, instruction, awakening, restoration, peace...a day for the Lord and myself to be alone.  It isn't a walk in the park...I'm sinful, and it isn't easy for me to focus on the Lord for an entire day.  It takes discipline that I am rather short of, and often when I am finally focused my heart breaks by my sin He reveals to me.  Yet I always leave these days rather astounded at what God has revealed to me.  

It often feels like He teaches me ten different things, and just when I think I have understood what He is saying all ten things meld together into a coherent idea.  This day the Lord hit me from all sides concerning the affections of my heart.


The following is the morning entry in my journal:

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
  And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
  who does not lift up his soul to what is false
  and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the LORD
  and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
  who seek the face of the God of Jacob.  Psalm 24:3-6

The mark of one who truly seeks God is holiness.  The relationship between my effort and my personal holiness is often confusing.  Surely I can do nothing in ascension of holiness apart from the Holy Spirit working in me, but how does the Spirit's work in me come about?  What is my role?

Scriptures affirm that it is acceptable for us to labor in the pursuit of holiness, and anything short of labor is sloth.  Scripture is also clear that my justification before God is completely based upon Christ's righteousness imputed to my soul.  And that there is not one good granule within my heart apart from the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  So where does this leave us?

I am called to be holy, yet can do nothing without Christ.  It appears contradictory, but David gives a crucial piece of information.  The generation that seeks God's face will be marked by holiness (vs. 6).  It is my desire to know God intimately, to see His face, to sit before him with a burning heart crying out body and soul my affection for Him!  It is this and nothing else that can propel my soul toward holiness.  Only when my desire for God is greater than my desire for worldly treasures, worldly pleasures, worldly wisdom...only then will I be enabled by the Holy Spirit to ascend the holy hill.  Where are the affections of my soul this morning? 

Let the Redeemed of the LORD Say So

Psalm 107:1-10

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

   for his steadfast love endures forever!

Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,

   whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands,

   from the east and from the west,

   from the north and from the south.

Some wandered in desert wastes,

   finding no way to a city to dwell in;

hungry and thirsty,

   their soul fainted within them.

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,

   and he delivered them from their distress.

He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.

Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,

   for his wondrous works to the children of man!

For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

This is one of my favorite psalms.  I encourage you to take a moment and crack open your Bible to read it in its entirety.  

The psalmist opens declaring God's goodness, and we immediately know this is a spiritual song about the steadfast love of the LORD.  He declares that this love has brought people out of darkness from all ends of the earth.  I love that the psalmist has the insight to realize nothing can describe the steadfast love of God but God Himself.  So after declaring God as good we see the psalmist deferring to God’s redeeming work to speak for itself (vs. 2).  I am greatly helped by this through remembering that the best way to declare God's love is not with my rhetoric, but with reflection on God's redemptive work in history.  How beautiful a thing to contemplate the different places where God has met us in our sin, and welcomed us into His family; bestowed on us such a rich inheritance that we did not deserve or earn in any way!

After laying out the different places God has brought people from death to life, the psalmist reflects on how God is truly LORD over everything.  God orchestrated every moment that led each of these persons into spiritual and physical thirst, hunger, and need in order to draw them to Himself.  This is what is so interesting about this psalm.  It is a reflection upon the “steadfast love of the LORD.”  How could steadfast love be exemplified in a God whom sends hunger and thirst on his creation?  

In my darkest hour during my freshman year, I knew exactly what this psalm meant by saying "their soul fainted within them."  I was wandering, hungry and thirsty for life, and I just felt tired.  It was terrible.  How can a God of steadfast love put us in positions where we just feel like our souls are faint within us? 

Towards the end of the psalm the psalmist says, "He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste."  It seems like the psalmist is derailing the train.  This is the point where I would stomp on his foot under the table to stop him from embarrassing himself and God.  But he knew exactly where he was going with the psalm because he had a God-centered view of reality.

These difficulties have been orchestrated in such a way that God can reveal His steadfast love by coming in and turning that desert into "pools of water" (vs. 35).  He says that "he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks" (vs. 41).  It is in our point of need that we see the magnificent glory and love of the Lord.  Why else would Jesus teach that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom (Matt. 9:23)?  Our ability to know the full measure of God's love is limited by our personal awareness of our spiritual need.  Prior to my darkest hour, I would have scoffed if someone told me I had a need for anything.  But God had different plans.  His hand was over the course of events that led me to cry out to Him in need.  This is precisely why it can be considered steadfast love for God to place thirst and hunger in our hearts; in order to reveal a need in ourselves that draws us to fulfillment in Christ.

Every example of God's redeeming work in this psalm is preceded by the person in need crying out to the LORD.  This reminds me of how stubborn I am at times in acknowledging my need for God.  This is ironic because it is precisely in my acknowledging that need that my eyes are open to see, as Paul describes it, the vast breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ.

            The psalmist ends encouraging us to reflect on this steadfast love God has for us and orchestrates in us.  “Whoever is wise,” he says, “let him attend to these things” (vs. 43).  I wish I could say I was good at following this advice.  I can count a number of times in my short life that in the midst of difficulty I did not reflect on how God uses suffering to declare his steadfast love for us.  Without that perspective, I had nothing but self-pity, bitterness and envy going for me.

It brings great joy to God and those around us when He brings us out of difficulties in life and fixes our eyes on Jesus.  The psalmist says, “The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth” (vs. 42).  How joyful is it to see God bring joy and delight into a friend or family member who has been depressed and distraught over something?  Do we not sing praise to God in our hearts to see those brought out of affliction?  It is out of this great praise to God for His work in our lives that we are motivated to live a life pleasing to him.   

We have done nothing good to merit this favor from God.  He gives it to us as a free gift to us.  The only way I can think of to respond to such amazing grace and love is to wake up and ask how I can please Him daily.

Have you contemplated the steadfast love of the Lord lately?  Take some time today to sit quietly, read over Psalm 107, and think of all the good things He has given you, and all the difficult situations He has brought you through.

 

MAP Update

Hello all!

It has been awhile since I put out the first newsletter, and I have (as you have noticed) decided to make some changes.  This blog format will allow me to post more frequently.  The reason it was taking so long for me to get newsletters out is because I do not have professional publishing software, nor do I know enough about computers to utilize free software to make a decent looking newsletter.  Bottom line: I can write more substance here, and waste less time on aesthetics.  I think it's a good pairing, don't you?

Just a quick list of things I have been up to lately:

Latest Happenings:

• Sunday School - Sunday school started back up with a new curriculum focused on how we can be a part of God's redeeming work in our communities here in Wilmington.
• DETOUR - Detour is our evening event for high school kids and their friends to come play games, meet new friends, and be challenged to think about God in a different way...maybe even to think about God for the first time in their lives.
• 9Marks - 9Marks is an organization promoting healthy churches, and I was lucky to attend their conference on Biblical Theology hosted by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  This was very helpful to me in the way that I read and understand the Bible as a whole.  It also gave me a taste of seminary.
• D-Now - D-Now was an inter-denominational retreat for high school youth groups in Wilmington.  We took our high school kids to enjoy fellowship with some 1,600 other kids from across the city.
• MAP Dinners - Every Tuesday night I have dinner with a different family from the CCC congregation.  These dinners have been a great way to know the church intimately, and hear how God has been working in peoples' lives.
• Fall Festival - This weekend is our annual fall festival.  We expect about 300 people total for an evening of family fun, food, and games!
• Reeds Jewelers - I hold a job outside of CCC at the corporate offices for Reeds Jewelers.  I work in their e-commerce department processing online sales and handling customer service.  I am enjoying getting to know my co-workers as we gear up for the holiday season.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog!

This blog is to serve the purpose of keeping you in the know of what's going on in my life with regards to the Ministry Apprentice Program at Christ Community Church, and what God is teaching me through it.

If you have received this link from me via email, or just stumbled upon this blog one way or another I am glad you are here.  I hope that all I write here is encouraging to the body of Christ, and true to Scripture.