The Fickle Heart

I read Psalm 106 this morning. It recaps some of the history of the relationship between Israel and God. I could not help but think how the Psalmist captured the fickle heart of Israel. The fickle heart is the one that pursues God for a while and then, slowly, begins to pursue its own desires. The fickle heart "forgets" the goodness of God until it has become so deeply mired in itself that it has nowhere else to turn but to God alone. The Psalmist records for us such phrases as, "they did not remember your kindness...they soon forgot what He had done...they forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt." When life was good for Israel, they became proud and thought that the goodness they were enjoying was the fruit of their own labor, when they were living under the blessing of God all the time. Eventually, God gave them what they asked for (v. 15). I cannot help but see the church as Israel in this Psalm. So often we call out to God in the hardest of times, and sometimes not even then, and forsake Him in the best of times when we should be proclaiming His name. Our heart is fickle. We cast it before whatever is before us. The Psalmist put it this way, "by their deed they prostituted themselves" (v. 39). I wonder what we are mindlessly giving ourselves to as the church sometimes. I am not so naive as to think it is always Jesus, despite what we might say. There is a silver lining to this dark cloud though. In spite of all the times Israel turned her back on God, He remained constant. Over and again we read phrases like this "yet He saved them for His name sake...many times He delivered them...for their sake He remembered His covenant." There in lies the good news. Where man had forsaken the covenant he had made with God, God never forgot the covenant He made with man. The impact that has for the life of man is immeasurable. Let that thought soak in for just a second. In spite of all the things we have done to run away from God, He still pursues us out of deep love for us. This phrase sums it all up and gives us a great definition of God's grace, "out of His great love he relented." He did not give Israel nor us what we deserved based upon our actions. Hallelujah!! He relented. He let off and held off the judgement that was due us. In fact, His son, Jesus, took the Judgement in our place, bearing our sin and shame. I am so thankful this morning for God's great love for me. I hope that you will allow God's love to overflow you and fill you as you read this. I pray that the Holy Spirit will awaken your heart and turn it from fickleness to faithfulness. Remember, God pursues you with a passionate love, a love that never fails. Crash on!

Delight in This

"But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." Psalm 1:2

What brings delight to your heart? For all of us, it is something different. My wife had our third child 2 weeks ago. I delight in being able to hold that little baby girl and enjoy her innocence, her purity, her beauty. I delight in being able to wrestle with my two young sons. I delight in the beauty of my bride. I delight in the rumble of a motorcycle as it rolls down a two-lane country road. I delight in a big bowl of homemade ice cream in the summer time. There are many things I delight in. The Psalmist says that the delight of the blessed man is found in the word of God. How true. God's word is the thing that breathes life into us so that we may delight in the other things of life. Have you ever noticed how many undelightful people there are in the world. I wonder if that is directly proportional to the number of people who don't know Jesus. It could be, until we look at the number of people who claim to be Christ-followers who are just as undelightful. The word of God is our delight, but it only brings delight if we allow it time to do so. Notice the Pslamist says that he delights in the word because he meditates on it. Meditation has gotten a bad wrap. It has too much Eastern influence and not enough Biblical influence. To meditate on the word of God is to empty your mind of everything else, fill it again with the word and then think about that word deeply and without distraction. Meditating on God's word means to drink deeply from the streams of living water that flow from the pages of Scripture. There is a word that I intentionally skipped over until now. That word is law. The blessed man is to meditate on the law of God. We live under grace, but that is not to say that we are to forsake the law. When we meditate on the law of God it makes us appreciate grace all the more. The law makes us aware of our sin and inability to keep the whole law. Because we are unable to keep the whole law, God infused grace to us through Jesus Christ. It is important for us to search the law, the Old Testament to gain a greater appreciation for grace. The Psalmists final word on meditation says that it is to happen both day and night. Our meditation is not to be relegated to the "quiet time" but is to go with us throughout the day. Much like Paul says we are to pray without ceasing, we are to meditate on God's word unceasingly. Isn't it interesting who prayer and meditation on the word go hand in hand? I hope that you will delight in the word and work of God today as you crash into life.

The Blessed Man

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers." Psalm 1:1

I had a revelation this morning as i read this verse again. It was as if God peeled back a layer and revealed a new truth to me, so I had to share. It is as if God walks man through a progression of what has to happen in his life in order for man to be blessed. First he must not walk in the counsel of the wicked. If he is not walking in the counsel of the wicked, then he must walk in the counsel of the righteous. The righteous become some by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, blessing comes for those under grace. This is not to say that wickedness is not present. It is not to say that wickedness does not give counsel, because both of these are true. What it does say is that the counsel of the wicked is not heeded, but the counsel of righteousness is. It is here that we must lay claim to surrounding ourselves with wise and godly counsel. We must surround ourselves who have grace as their path and Heaven as their goal. This is the most important step in being the blessed man -- to live under grace and follow the path of righteousness.

If this is true, then the next thing results. The blessed man does not stand in the way of sinners. I have always read this as the man standing or living the same way that sinners do. Today, however, God reavealed to me that the blessed man does not stand in the way of sinners or that a man who is under grace does not keep a sinner from coming to Christ. This prompts the question of how we live. If we truly claim to be under grace then there should be nothing in our lives that keeps others from coming to or following us to Christ. We are not to be a stumbling block to those who have yet to discover the path of righteousness through grace. That puts a whole now light on living under grace. Grace is not just for us, but also for those who have yet to come under it.

The blessed man does not sit in the seat of mockers. The mockers are the ones who look down upon and make fun of others. Those who are mocked are those who are different. The blessed may may be mocked because his life is different becasue of Jesus, but he should never be the mocker. When we look at people through the eyes of grace, we see what Jesus see -- the hurting, the suffering, the wounded. We do not see as man sees -- the lazy, the disabled, the useless. The mockers sit where those under grace are active in meeting the needs of people. When Jesus was with people, it was very rare to see Him sitting down (unless He was teaching). He was always up and among the people. The mockers sit and point out what is wrong, while those under grace do something about it.

Hopefully tomorrow, we can carry over into verse 2. Until next time, keep crashing into life!