Category: Christian Life

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The Final Word and the Order of Angels

Jesus came as the Final Word from Heaven to earth. God got down in the dirt with us, as one of us.

There was no other way to say what needed to be said, and so God took a Body prepared and lived the life in Person, under the sun and upon the waves. A top down operation it was not, as we read in the first chapter of the book of Hebrews. He did not ride into the world followed by a mass of angels, though He truly could have as the Captain of the host of Heaven.

Instead, God entered the horizontal plain. He came to see us eye-to-eye. In doing so, He spoke as the truest Prophet, served as the highest Priest, and claimed the surest of all crowns as King of kings.

Through the ages, prophets were raised to deliver the messages. They came and went. A few were heard and their words were heeded at certain seasons.

Voices for God

Samuel, for one, was called by God to bring Israel back to right worship after the disastrous era of the Judges. They had left the tribes fragmented and defeated in their distance from the One who had delivered them from bondage in Egypt.

Samuel’s ministry was one of restoration. The Word came to him as a youth serving in the Tabernacle. A time of renewal and victory was the result of his ministry, as his preaching and teaching touched the people and moved them nearer to God.

But Samuel grew old and this prophet’s sons were weak men who did not walk in his ways. Thus, the people, in a foolish fit of human reason, demanded to have a king set over them like all the other nations.  The Lord gave them over to their request. A throne was established and a king was set upon it.

This arrangement of rule did not make life better for Israel. The kings proved to be all too human. The majority of them governed with selfish ambition. Their ways are recorded in histories that relate a nation plagued by ups and tremendous downs.

And yet God kept sending His Word through people who chose to fear Him and hear Him.

Most prophets wound up like Jeremiah. He preached consistent and true words, but those words were dismissed and mocked. He suffered much and sang out sad laments as the nation and its royal city Jerusalem slid into deep judgment and heathen occupation.

Jeremiah told of the faithful Lord, the One whose mercies never end and are ever new. He delivered the promise of the new and living Covenant to come. This “expected end” would satisfy and replenish every weary soul as the Word would be written upon hearts rather than tablets of stone. “And I will be their God, and they shall be my people,” said the Lord (see Jeremiah 31:31-34).

To understand all of this and how it came to be, we have to read the book of Hebrews. In these pages, we get a clear presentation of who Christ is in His fulfillment of Old Testament truth.

The Throne Claimed

At last, the Son was sent. He did more than talk. He lived out the sentences written from eternity past. And He lived them out as one of us. He fulfilled all the Law of the Lord in word, thought, and deed.

Christ entered into Creation, His Creation, with all of its definition and decrees and limitations. Yes, God took on a body of flesh. He lived in this body according to the leading of the Spirit. The radiance of His glory was seen only briefly and by just three – Peter, James, and John – on the Mount of Transfiguration (see Matthew 17:1-2). Jesus lived within the confines of the universe He formed and upholds by the Word of His power, to the letter.

Why? He came to be the Man of all men to die the death for all men. And by His death He “by Himself purged our sins” (Hebrews 1:3).

After He finished this work of His, He ascended to take His seat at “the right hand of the Majesty on high.” We read of how the disciples watched Jesus rise through the clouds in Luke 24 and Acts 1. Here, in Hebrews 1, we are told where He went.

The Son of Man became superior to angels through all of this, according to this passage. The royal order of the universe was now restored because of Jesus’ accomplishment as the last Adam (see 1 Corinthians 15:45).

The first Adam’s failure disturbed the original order established. Man was meant to exercise dominion through operating in the image of God as Heaven’s designated leaders of life on earth.

To reclaim the kingly position first assigned to man, Jesus became Man. God the Son redeemed all things and regained man’s superiority above the angels. Psalm 8 reveals that man was designed to be crowned with glory and honor and given “dominion over the works” of God’s hands (see Psalm 8:5-6). This status had been forfeited by the fall at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The Son became a fellow of ours. He experienced humanity to the full, even unto death.

Reestablishing the Order

More than raising us into right standing with God, Christ’s obedience and offering of Himself also put the angelic realm back into its proper place.

The rebellion of Lucifer, referred to Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, spawned division. This bright, wise, beautiful being sought an exalted status; he lusted for the worship due only to the One Most High. Others sided with him and became demonic affiliates with this fallen prince who possessed power over the world system and its kingdoms, a point noted by Satan to Jesus in the wilderness temptation (see Matthew 4, Luke 4).

Hell lost. The devil was defeated.

Jesus the Son conquered the grave; the curse of death could not corrupt His perfection. As the fully resurrected Man, as a true Son of David, He inherited the Throne of Majesty.

Jesus came from Heaven and situated Himself underneath the cosmic realm of the air. He ambushed Hell and triumphed over the power it possessed by taking all wrath and rage as penalty for sin upon His Person. The fear of death that once imprisoned us was crushed.

All authority belongs to Him. And since we’ve been made one with Him, His authority is ours also.

What of the angels and their power? What are they to us? They are our servants as stated rhetorically in Hebrews 1:14:  “Are not [angels} all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”

Yes, the angels are our ministers, as they were always meant to be. They serve God and because we are His joy, these beings are all around us. Let us therefore be wise, watchful, and kind according to this instruction:  “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2).

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Getting the Whole Story

Life doesn’t seem to make sense. Surely you have had this thought. More than that, you’ve probably said this, out loud. Admit it; you have said this, a lot – to whoever would listen.

Leave it to the Lord, via the Holy Spirit, to inspire a book that puts a series of such thoughts into the Scriptures. That’s just like God. He knows us in absolutely every way possible. And because of this He has given us words to read, ponder, consider, and utter for every mood imaginable.

In Ecclesiastes, the result is a stream of consciousness, a run of sentences, poems, declarations. Its verses can leave you scratching your head sometimes. The writer, who I believe to be King Solomon, lets loose, framing his frustrations over and over.

The book opens this way:  “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities. All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). The Hebrew word for vanity is hevel. This is the word for smoke.

Smoke, smoke, smoke, all is smoke. I imagine the writer choking on these words as he ponders them. But it is an honest assessment of the world as he is seeing it at the time.

This is all that comes from the toil of those living under the sun.  Burn the midnight oil; work dozens of hours of overtime and what do you have to show for it all?

Smoke, that’s all. One way or another, it all goes up in smoke.

Welcome to life lived based on what we take from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Lord warned Adam and Eve not to eat of its fruit. Here, in Ecclesiastes, I think that we read of the outcome of their disastrous decision.

Knowing Too Much

Job wrestled mightily with the problem of his pain. His grief and affliction brought him low, but he refused to stop seeking God. We read of how Job held fast to his integrity and clung to the hope of his Redeemer and resurrection.

The writer of Ecclesiastes faced another type of wrestling – the mental turmoil that can come from knowing too much.

Yes, Solomon knew more than anyone alive. This how the Word described him:  “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people…he was wiser than all other men” (1 Kings 4:29).

To go with this remarkable breadth of knowledge, Solomon also had health, wealth, and peace in his days. He faced very few challenges–that is, on the outside of himself. This would leave him open to trouble as find out at the end of his days, when foreign wives turned him toward idols (see 1 Kings 11:4). There’s a great truth expressed by the writer in Psalm 119:71:  “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”

Internally, Solomon tossed and turned. He admitted his restlessness. He struggled with feelings of confusion. Things as he saw them did not add up. And it exhausted him.  “All things are full of weariness. …” (Ecclesiastes 1:8).

These doubts and questions kept coming. Solomon kept thinking and over-thinking, and these mind games he played led to projects and pursuits and entertainment and academic searching.  He had this written down. He had to have a detailed record of it all.

And because he made sure this happened, we have these pages in our Bibles. The Spirit kept him honest. He strings together words that, if taken by themselves, would make us think that life on earth is just a big zero.

Priceless Pearls

Don’t give up on Ecclesiastes. Put your hand to the plow. Push forward and read carefully. Exercise what Eugene Peterson described as “The Forbidding Discipline of Spiritual Reading.” By this effort, words read can become words lived as we let them sink deep into us.

Faith does come by the Word of God, as our eyes let the Light in and our minds allow us to hear the Voice as He is walking toward us, seeking us, calling us.

Press on and join yourself to the Preacher and his provocations. In the midst of the tangle of rough and haggard sentences, you will find that there’s something small and round and luminous. There are pearls to admire, a precious gem of thought that should give us pause.

Here’s one of them for us to think over:  “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

In the Psalms, the writers tossed in the imperative Selah at strategic points. The exact meaning of this term has been debated, but most scholars agree that Selah indicates a suggested pause or quiet moment or musical interlude is to be observed.

I am saying that we can read well and learn to insert Selah at times into our reading, especially into our reading of the Bible. Otherwise, we can just get all caught up in racing along through the syllables, reading but not recognizing or relating to the text and its context.

Reading is something I do a lot of. I am usually working through two to three books at a time in a addition to the daily Bible reading regiment I have. This means that I can get so revved up in the midst of it that the words on the pages do little to touch and nourish my heart.

Three Words

Selah. Sabbath. Shalom. These are three words that I want to better understand as I go through the fourth quarter of my life. I want to obey what Psalm 90 tells me:  “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

Selah–we need to pause and consider.

Sabbath–we need to rest and talk and sit at tables enjoying food and company. God established this after the first days of Creation. I believe that the Lord wanted us to know that our existence is not about being busy, busy, busy. The devil’s the one who is constantly roaming and looking to devour.

Shalom–we interpret this word to mean peace. But actually, it speaks of being whole and complete. Jesus finished the work of our redemption at the Cross. There’s nothing more for us to do. We are made one with Him in our salvation when call upon Him.

After all of the ranting and raving and muttering that we read in Ecclesiastes, we do get to enjoy a finishing touch that is clear and right. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:  Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

These are the words we must hold fast in our hearts. Think on them. Rest in them. And see yourself as whole in Christ.

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Our Glory Is Not Our Own

It wasn’t much of an entrance, by the world’s standards anyway. But then God never needs much to work with. A small corner of a small room in a small town provided the setting for the arrival of the Son of God.

Jesus was delivered by His mother, Mary, in Bethlehem, in a manger, in a space hollowed out for animals to sleep and to feed. With the carpenter Joseph watching and helping, and among oxen and lambs and some barnyard fowl, the Lord of Heaven came forth to begin His stay on earth.

The details have been spoken of over and over and over throughout the centuries. The telling of these things never grows old. Tinsel and glitter and parties and shopping extravaganzas serve to propound a faux brightness and a nervous tension in our midst. Joy lives on, however. Joy reigns. Joy bursts from the hearts of real believers with songs and prayers.

The Christmas story shines so brightly because it shows the glory of God as it is reflected by such common things. This is precisely the point about Creation and about man in particular.

Our glory is not our own. The glory we exude comes from Him. What God has made for His good pleasure are things that serve as a revelation of Him and of all that He is.

Angels and Glory

I think this is what makes us different from the angels. These beings that move among us possess glory that is a part of their equipment. They were given a shine, and it is a shine that is fitted and fixed. Angelic brightness does not grow in intensity. It is what it is.

Lucifer’s original title – light-bearer — referred to the brightness given to him. It was a mode for the service assigned to him, as he was situated near the throne of the Most High. His glory was a gift to him, but he came to view it as mark of superiority. For this reason, the devil initiated a rebellion that captivated a full third of the host (see Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:13-18).

Satan fell into what he is because of his self-centeredness. He grew enamored with his glory and forsook the design of God for his office and status as an anointed cherub.

Angels were brought into existence according to the will of the Lord, and so were we. But they were not made in the image of God as we are. Also, the angels were not made “living souls” by the breath of God.

What does it mean to be made in His image? I believe it speaks of reflection and connection, union and communion. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are Three Persons and One Lord, and as such, God is love. Love is about the things that are related and refreshed and reflected one to another.

The essence of God in His Trinity understanding has always been about glory that is both shared and as well as distinct. The Persons of the Godhead are One and yet each is unique. It is such a marvelous mystery, a reality so far beyond comprehension that it may only be embraced.

Think of how Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:  “Glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You … Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed” (John 17:1, 5). In John 16, Jesus spoke of the Spirit like this:  “He will glorify Me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:4). And Jesus talked of His followers to the Father this way:  “All mine are Yours, and Yours are mine, and I am glorified in them” (John 17:10).

Glory, glory, glory in the Highest is what is being communicated by these passages.

Consider this:  when the Lord revealed Himself to Moses, it happened in a wilderness as this man watched over his father-in-law’s flock. Then, God showed up as fire in the midst of a bush. The glow of the glory did not reduce the bush to ashes. Instead, His Presence abided in His Creation and brought Moses near. His Presence consecrated the very ground upon which Moses walked.

Later, we read that Moses’ face absorbed the glory of the Lord as he sat before God. This was noticed by the people and they were afraid to face Moses because of his glow.

In the New Testament, we come to understand that glory has been given to us through the offering and ascension of the Lamb of God and the sending of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, cloven tongues of fire were seen upon the disciples in that upper room on Pentecost as the Spirit moved upon them.

Stephen spoke the Gospel and those who heard him said he possessed the face of an angel. The glory of the Lord shone from him because of the work of the Holy Spirit in him. The record of Luke in Acts 7 reveals that as he perished from the stones thrown at him, Stephen saw Christ as He stood in His place at the throne of grace.

Glory, Closer Than We Think

The glory of God is closer to us than we think. The Holy of Holies, the most hallowed place of Israel’s Tabernacle and Temple, was divided from the rest of the worship center. What was put between this glorious room and everything else?  A curtain – the separation was demarcated by a veil, one that had been stitched and fashioned by the people who worshipped the Lord.

The Holy of Holies’ curtain was decorated with two cherubim. This imagery pointed back to the Garden of Eden and the angels who guarded the way to the Tree of Life in the midst of the Presence in the Garden. Man’s fall put something between the Lord and His prized creatures, the ones He made in His image.

It wasn’t a wall of separation that was erected, however. The glory of the Lord was not locked up behind gates and bars and chains. It was not vaulted or sealed. It was veiled – His glory just inches beyond us. Between man and the glory lay just a curtain, just a woven tapestry; a creation of fabric was what kept the glory of God from human eyes.

Veiled was the sign of His Presence until the coming of the Son. When the Son completed His redemptive work, the Temple curtain was ripped from top to bottom.

Jesus came to reveal the salvation of God to all flesh (see Luke 3:6).  God the Son took on flesh, bone, and Blood. Fragile things of frail dust as they are, these in Christ still were subject to the ordinances of nature and the earth. His Body was and is a true Body. He grew weary. He ate food. He wept. He touched many – infants, lepers, blinded eyes, deadened ears.

Our flesh can be sliced with ease. We bleed readily. And so it was with Jesus.

The Son’s glory was deposited into our form, into our likeness. He hid Himself behind the fabric of humanity, our very humanity.

Jesus was born to be torn.

With the tearing of the Son on the Cross, the veil of the Presence of God was opened to everyone. Glory can flow to us and into us and through us. We who are born again in Him are now living temples of the His Spirit. We are free to be set aglow with the glory of God. We can have as much of Him as we want, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians:

“…When one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:15-18).

Let us rejoice for what He has made us to be. Though we are common, rough, imperfect works in progress, we still stand as reflectors of the glory of the Lord God Almighty.

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The All We Have to Give

A widow marched to the offering box with all that she had, as we read in Mark 12. Just two mites were in her hand – all of the money she had to her name. A mite represented the smallest and least valuable of the coins in circulation during Jesus’ days on earth. It is likely that a single penny plucked out of a gutter on Dundalk Avenue would count for more monetarily than what this woman gave.

Others in the giving line that day, for sure, deposited far more by economic and business standards. But were these ones being as generous as her?

On this day, the Lord was watching and He liked what he saw.

Jesus took note of this widow and her gift, and He rejoiced. He gathered His disciples to Him and made much of her. “Truly I tell you, this widow has put more into the treasury than all the others,” the Savior explained (see Mark 12:43).Here was someone willing to give her all to the work of God. Her action revealed a wealth, a richness that exceeded the riches as they are measured by our world.

The One with Almost Everything

This story comes to us a couple of chapters after Jesus encountered a rich, young ruler. That man was a man of means. He had money, youth, and power – everything that the world counts as valuable was his.

Still, this rich, young ruler was missing something and he knew it. He surmised that he was somehow poor. The sense of his poverty brought him to Jesus. He fell before the Savior and asked:  “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (See Mark 10:17).

Jesus first deflated his words of flattery – “Why do you call Me good? None is good except God alone” – and then told him to keep the commandments. These things, the man claimed to have done from his youth.

Next came what Mark described as a moment of divine affection:  “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, You lack one thing:  go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me’” (see Mark 10:21).

Go, sell, give, come and follow. Simple and huge commandments had been laid before the rich, young ruler; these commandments were directed straight at his heart. He was unready for such an answer. He left the scene in dismay and grief, Mark wrote, for his possessions were many and these things possessed him, as they so easily do when we wed ourselves to the ways of the world.

Jesus sorrowed too at that moment. “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God?” He lamented to His disciples as the man walked away.

Seek His Face

What became of this rich, young ruler?

We aren’t told specifically. Some have conjectured that this man was really John Mark himself, the very one who wrote the story. The Bible, however, leaves open the question of his identity. The Word of God refuses to behave like fairy tales and legend stories. Tidy endings very often go missing, and we are left in wonder and moved to consider afresh His unsearchable judgments, His ways that are passed finding out (see Romans 11:33).

What the Bible does clearly tell us is this:  “Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face evermore” (Psalm 105:4). His face, God wants us to come before His face.

This is the richness of real life in God. David wrote, “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to You, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek’” (Psalm 27:8).

Could it be that the rich, young ruler had this going on inside of him? Jesus was there and this man wondered of a better life, of a life before the Lord, of a life eternal and forever, of the life missing among his prosperity. And so he sought the face of God in Jesus. He put himself right there.

This brings to my mind Ecclesiastes 3:11:  “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

The widow had so little by sight. Something in her brought her to the Temple on that day. She saw the richness of God and His grace. She committed herself to Him. She was richer than she, or anyone of the others giving that day, could imagine. She embodied what James wrote:  “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5).

The rich, young ruler, perhaps, wanted to be an heir in the Kingdom. He wanted peace with the Lord and an understanding and security in the life that comes from above. I pray that he did bring himself to heed the words of the Lord. I want to believe that he gave away his possessions to possess what really matters.

Oh, how rich we are because of our faith in Him. May we realize this eternal reality. And may we be generous with the love and faith the Lord has poured into us. Let us bless others and forgive and show mercy and walk before Him in His greatness.

Small things are never despised by Jesus. Anything given with the whole heart is worthy of honor for what the world sees as last is made first in Heaven.

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The Shadow of His Wings

A lot gets said about the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. We really make quite a to-do about the Christmas story with its manger. And well we should. Christmas comes during a season when it’s colder and darker. We enjoy the proclamation of the Light of God entering into our world. This warms our hearts.

Jesus came to earth with an ultimate purpose and eternal destinations in mind. We are getting close to that time of the year when we celebrate the Son and the story of His arrival, His original Advent, the time when He allowed Himself to live a “little lower than the angels.”

There will be dramatic presentations featuring choirs, Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, the shepherds. Songs such as “Joy to the World” will ring throughout churches as we think on the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.

Yes, we hear plenty about how Jesus came – conceived of the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin girl. We also know a good bit about where He came from – the little town of Bethlehem, as prophesied in Micah 5:2. His birth was a miracle starting point – just the beginning of a series of things related to the Lord’s redemptive plans for the world that He so loves.

Now more than ever, what matters to me is where Jesus went and where He is at present.

The Savior reached His ultimate destination with the Ascension. He was lifted through the clouds to take His seat at the right hand of the Father. There, He sits as the Advocate for us. He speaks on our behalf for He brought perfected, glorified humanity to Heaven as the Resurrected One, the firstborn from the dead.

There were other stops along the way to this place of honor and intercession set above our world.

The Curtain Torn

During His days on earth, Jesus set His face “like a flint” toward Jerusalem and the Cross upon which He was nailed and hung (see Isaiah 50:7 and Luke 9:51). This city with its Golgotha – the skull hill of Roman execution — was to be the scene of His death.

He always understood this. The dark and bitter battle in Gethsemane marked a fierce struggle for the Son to push forward and reach the site of the ultimate offering for the sins of all. He labored in that Garden through a lonely and desperate evening of prayer for the Father’s will to be done.

He did arrive at the Cross – battered, scourged, crowned with thorns. He was lifted up from the earth as He said that He would be. From the wood He went to the grave, from the grave He came alive and went to the sky.

The reports of the crucifixion include the high moment when the Christ committed His spirit to the hands of the Father. “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:51).

The curtain referred to in this passage is the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the worship center God had ordained and defined for His people. The only thing that rested behind that veil was the Mercy Seat. This seat was where the High Priest was to sprinkle the blood of atonement for the sins of the people.

The Mercy Seat

I have always been drawn to stories about the Mercy Seat. This significant item, related to the worship of God, is first introduced to us in the latter chapters of Exodus. The instructions for the Mercy Seat’s design and its position in the Tabernacle were given to Moses during his days before the Lord at Mount Sinai.

The Mercy Seat sat atop the Ark of the Covenant, a holy cupboard that originally contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments, a pot of manna saved from the days of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, and the budded almond branch labeled by Aaron that confirmed his family’s assignment to the priesthood.

This lid upon the Ark was a slab of pure gold and of one piece with the figures of two cherubim that framed it. The angel statues faced the space to which the blood was applied, their wings hanging over it and guarding it. This picture gets mentioned in a number of Psalms as “the shadow” of God’s wings. It is a place of refuge and rejoicing, according the songs attributed to David:

“Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings” (Psalm 17:8).

“Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by” (Psalm 57:1).

This Seat and the Ark it sat upon were rarely seen, at first. Only the High Priest was supposed to come before it as he entered into the Holy of Holies, illumined only by the glory of the presence of the Lord. And he was to do this just once a year on the Day of Atonement.

A reading of the Old Testament reveals that the Ark was eventually brought out into the open and not always for good reasons. In 1 Samuel, two diabolic priests carried the Ark to the battlefield because they perceived it would bring some magic power of victory to Israel’s army. They were wrong and they wound up dead, the Ark falling into the possession of the enemy Philistines.

Eventually, David brought the Ark with the Mercy Seat to his palace compound in Jerusalem. He sat and prayed before this as he ruled as Israel’s king.

Jesus, the eternal Son of David, would also come to the Mercy Seat, but not to the one fashioned by human hands.

The Blood Speaks

Like all things related to the Tabernacle and the Temple of Israel, the Mercy Seat was a figure of something actual and real in the place where God dwells. The book of Hebrews tells us this:  “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9:24).

The veil was torn, as shown in the gospels, to indicate the new and living way that Christ made for us who believe upon Him. “He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).

The Manger, the Cross, the Grave, the Throne — all of these are sacred places in the Gospel story, the telling of the works of the Son. We know them and talk about them and rejoice over what represent. They stir our faith.

For me, however, I want to ever keep the Mercy Seat in my mind. From that holy thing, the substance of our salvation continues to speak today, tomorrow, and forever. The Blood of the Lamb of God is there even now. The Blood answers every accusation made against us. We are declared to be all clean, made whiter than snow.

We stand redeemed in Him and eagerly await His arrival to reign as there will come the New Heavens and the New Earth.

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The Sad Comes Untrue

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

“Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?”

These words spring from the joyful Sam Gamgee and are found in J.R.R. Tolkein’s novel , “The Return of the King.” Singer Jason Gray turned this line into a refrain for a series of his songs that I like to sing to myself.

These words really should form an anthem for us who are believers in the Savior. Sad things do come untrue because Christ makes us new.

Facts are facts – there is no disputing them. Consequences are real and all too often tragic. Bad things happen. We do bad things. He hurt others with wrong words, with harmful acts. We are flawed and crooked; such is our nature drawn to the dust and to the fear of death.

Division. Confusion. Disaster.  These things are very real in our world.

Real, yes; but must they be true?

Facts may remain. They can be listed and read, over and over and over. They form the essence of accusation and condemnation and revenge.

Forgiveness

Truth, I believe, involves definition. As a result, one has to dig deeper, below the surface to our foundations. Underneath everything is His everlasting arms. Those same arms were spread open on the Cross of Calvary and they invite us to come to Him.

Face it, we really know not what we do. Deceived and desperately wicked are our hearts in unbelief.

What is the response of Christ to these realities? It is this:  “Father, forgive them. …”

Grace and mercy must form the bedrock for us. It is only by grace that we are even here. We came alive one instant and we had nothing to do with it. Life was given, freely, a gracious happening it was. It came through no effort of our own.

Mercy answers what life brings to us. It is extended, and we may receive mercy simply by recognizing our need for it. Mercy revives and restores in the wreck and the ruin of what we make of things. We are forgiven and set free. Our sins are buried in the sea of His forgetfulness and removed from us, as far as East is from West (see Micah 7:19 and Psalm 103:12).

Reach for Hope

And so I say sad things do come untrue, as they did for a particular robber in his condemnation, who hung there beside Jesus on the execution hill that day. The facts of his crimes sent this man to that cross. But the truth about his destiny changed in moments.

“Lord, remember me when You come into Your glory,” he said to Jesus. It was a cry for mercy. It was a cry that was heard. It was a cry answered with a promise.

“Today, you shall be with Me in Paradise,” said the Lord.

The upside of the world came down to this robber. He was given life from above just as his life here below neared its end.

All that was sad became untrue. This robber was made new. Eternal life was made his reality. His past was gone forever, swallowed up in the forgiveness of the Son of God.

Let’s allow God to show us afresh the truth about who we are in Him. To work the works of God we need only believe on Him who was sent from God (see John 6:28-29).

It is simple really. Defeats do come, but though weary and burdened, we may reach for any thread of hope dangling at the edges of the robe of His righteousness. May we stretch weak, withered hands toward Him and be made whole, for holy is He.

Let the sad go. Let it be untrue to us. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

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Complainers Welcome!

Are you a complainer?  I am. I actually think I am too good and too experienced at it. I am a well-practiced whiner and critic. I struggle with this part of my makeup.

If you are like me in this area, I have some news for you. This, like all things, is worked together for good by the God who loves us and gave Himself for us.

The Lord allows room for our complaints. Lament is something that God encourages us to do. He knows that we are dust. He fully understands our makeup. He’s quite aware of the things we think and feel.

Lament and complaint are really forms of meditation. We think. We ponder. We imagine. The uncomfortable and troublesome things weigh heavily upon us. We give our minds over to them and we need ways of escape.

Have you ever had it up to here with something or someone? Have you ever felt so overwhelmed that you didn’t know what to do?

God shows us the ways of release. More the 40 percent of the songs and hymns contained in the book of Psalms are devoted to the right practice of lament.

Some of these writings push beyond lament to what’s known as imprecation. That last term could be described as songs to sing, or prayers to pray when you wish someone really gets what you think they deserve. They are songs you may sing when you think you want someone dead. Seriously. Check out Psalm 109 and the strong language used in relation to the enemies of this writer.

Psalm 142 gives us a brief, but clear example of the practice of lament. “I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I showed him my trouble” (Psalm 142:1-2)

Lament recognizes the reality of life on earth. It doesn’t ignore it. It faces it head on and shows us where to take our stuff.

The verbs in these opening verses are strong verbs. The psalmist “cried” and “poured out” his feelings. Instead of venting to people, he dumped his issues before the Lord.

This is a habit we would all do well to learn. Only God can handle the knowledge of good and evil, as was made very clear in Genesis 3. Once, Adam and Eve entered into that realm of information, they could only run and hide.

The truth is that human beings are fallen, broken creatures in need of measureless mercy that comes only through Christ. Writer Francis Spufford described the “crack in everything” as the “undeniable human propensity” to fall and fail. Men and women possess sin natures that expose themselves in big and small ways each and every day. This we must accept as reality. It cannot be avoided in this present cosmic atmosphere.

But there is another reality, the one of hope, the one that points us to the new world to come. A day is promised to us, a day when Christ shall return and set things right as He established His rule over all Creation. A New Jerusalem shall come from Heaven to earth. It will be a city all square and full of the presence of the Lord.

The Bible presents two great lamenters – Job and Jeremiah. They were men who lived amidst much trouble. Did they keep this trouble to themselves? They did not. They poured out their complaints. They cried to the Lord. They demanded that He answer them. And He did answer them. And He used them mightily.

As you read of these men in the Word, notice what was at the center of their hearts. Yes, they did make a lot of noise. They emptied out their hearts with vigor and honesty. They held nothing back.

Job, though wounded, frustrated, and accused, still held on to the integrity of this truth:  “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” (Job 19:25). He kept this in mind, even as he saw God as dismissing him. He knew that the eternal Redeemer would come down and stand up for His own.

Jeremiah, a prophet who was largely ignored and much abused, was responsible for Lamentations, a collection of funeral songs. He sang these as he watched his people destroy themselves in idolatry and disobedience.

At the center of this collection, however, we read some of the most gracious and powerful words in the all the Bible:  “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him” (Lamentations 3:21-25).

These are words we must speak in the midst of our complaining. This picture of God must be held fast. This truth is the reality of comfort that comes from above. This reality answers the reality of the disasters in this realm.

Let’s pour out our souls before Him, yes. And let us hold fast to His mercies, for faithful and true is our Redeemer who shall soon rule and reign.

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See, What You Do Is …

“Mom, I am playing with that brown boy – he’s nice.”

So said our son one warm summer morning. He had just come off the playground at Rosedale Park just outside Baltimore.

“Yes, he is. Have fun!” she told him, and so played out another scene in the process of training up a child in the way that he should go.

Our sons were 4 and 5, our daughter 2 or 3, probably, at that time. They were brought often to this place to have fun. Mom had to get them out of doors, and other moms and dads did the same.

There would be other playgrounds and beaches, pools and fields, gyms and sidewalks. At all of them, our kids made friends.

They discovered the blessing of association, the intimacy of friendship. They learned about others and enjoyed them. It wasn’t hard work to let them learn. They played mostly, argued sometimes, even got mad every now and then, but we always went back to the playgrounds and fields and pools and gyms. The others came back, too. And they all grew up as kids are known to do.

Normal, Healthy, Together

Through the years, there were hundreds of little moments like this. It wasn’t as if we determined to do this. We didn’t craft a strategy or embrace some goal of raising good friends and neighbors. We just lived – and still live — in Baltimore, right in the City in fact, and this was the way it was – normal, healthy, different children had fun. Together.

As a result, these children grew up to be men and women of heart and faith and truth.

Today, they grieve with those who grieve. It hurts them to watch things that ought not to be.

They pray. They wonder.

They cry. They stand.

They watch. They lead.

They hope.

And because they hope, I hope.

This World, This Generation

I have to say they know things that I never knew. This is not their father’s world. It’s their world. And I am welcome to enjoy this world, as long as I am willing and available to learn what they can show me.

Mostly, they show me what they learned from their mother. “Do not forsake your mother’s teaching” says Proverbs 1:8 and these kids followed this.

“See, what you do is …” is how she prefaced her important lessons on all manner of things.

They discovered that all things are of God. And that all things are for our sake. And that all things work together for good because of Him and His purposes.

These truths guided them. They lived in other countries. On many occasions, they wound up in groups where they were the different ones — the few even — in classrooms, on basketball teams, in marching bands, on stages, and at parties. And they took no thought of this at all. They found that they fit. They felt at home, with friends, with family.

They played. They laughed. They lived. They fell in love, really.

“See, what you do is …”All along the way I think they heard their mother saying this. I know that they still hear her.

“See, what you do is …”

Believe the best.

About everyone.

Love unconditionally.

Everyone.

And have fun.

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The Psalm of Psalms — Beth

This is the second entry in this series on Psalm 119, which will examine each of this psalm’s stanzas. Every set of eight verses in this acrostic writing is tied to a particular letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

BETH

            “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

            “With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

            “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

            “Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.

            “With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.

            “I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.

            “I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

            “I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word” (Psalm 119:9-16)

            Two monumental questions often pop up in the minds of Christians. No. 1:  How do I get right with God? No. 2:  How do I stay right with God? The psalmist gives us answers to those questions within the first three verses he has written here. Not surprisingly, both answers center on our relation to the Word of God.

            First, the writer addresses the matter of cleansing. Let’s face the fact; sin is a reality for human beings. As the psalmist will tell us further along, our souls cleave to the dust. The natural flesh craves satisfaction. We stray, and we pay. Consequences result when our choices are wrong. Therefore, God provides the way for washing. The Hebrew verb structure reveals “cleansing” as a constant need for the believer, and the expectation is that this will happen again and again. Another idea expressed here is that instances of “cleansing” vary in extension because failures are different.

            His “Word” answers our sin. The Hebrew text indicates that “word” refers to a principle uttered, and this highlights our need to hear preaching. Although it has been discounted by some, preaching remains a primary commodity in God’s economy. Bible preaching fixes people. Those who would be cleansed must hear something from the Lord, and He still speaks through pulpits. Powerful messages from men of God should be taken to heart.

            The “way” theme begun in verse 9 continues in verse 10 where the writer appeals for help from God. With the understanding that his heart has been made whole, the psalmist offers a prayer for discernment. Detours present themselves in our lives. The temptation to wander weighs on us sometimes, and we must ask the Spirit to empower us in Truth. With lives of worship, our hearts draw nearer and nearer to Him.

            The answer to question No. 2 – How do I stay right with God – comes in verse 11.  The hiding of the Word of God in the heart fortifies it for the temptations faced. In Luke 9, Jesus told the disciples to let His sayings sink deep. Those men and women were soon to face challenges to their faith as members of the early church and Christ wanted them to understand just what it would take for them to stand strong. Treasure what God teaches you. Store up the truth and allow the Spirit to develop resources for obedience within your heart.

            Knowing God’s Word keeps us from going against Him. Our sin is against God and against God alone, as David made clear with his deep cry of repentance in Psalm 51: “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight” (Psalm 51:4a). Yes, our wrongs do wrong people. We hurt others, and we have to make apologies and sometimes restitution. Ultimately, however, our sin strikes at God. It quenches the relationship He desires to have with us by creating distance that does not have to be there. We forfeit moments of joy and fellowship and it is all so unnecessary because He has given all that we need to stay right with Him.

            What we read next is praise for God and a cry for instruction. Can you see the real beginnings of wisdom? The fear of the Lord starts to come through in the psalmist’s words. “Blessed” represents an expression of awe and it is as if he is on his knees as he pens these things. Boldly standing before the throne of grace with a “whole heart,” the writer imperatively expresses himself. “Teach me” he commands the Lord, and it is a definite, specific command. It is a command in the mood of Isaiah 45:11:

“Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.”

            Knowing just what we need to be kept from sinning, we may ask God to provide that essential, personal communication for our lives. “Speak specifically, Lord, for You alone know me and You love me and You will love me until the end.” We may pray prayers such as this and believe He will answer. May we never hesitate to go right to our Source. Truth tells us to do this and to do it often.

            After this big request, the writer spends the next four verses boasting to God about himself. And why should he not boast? He is in the presence of his dearest and closest Friend. Avoid the temptation to question the measure of humility expressed in these words. This One who knows us best is never offended. He is faithful and just to forgive and He is faithful and just to show us when and where we are off. Dare to speak boldly before the Lord and leave the correction to Him.

            Pay attention to how the psalmist spreads out the aspects of his life before the Lord. He presents to God the record of his words, his joys, his considerations, his perspectives, his focus, and his memories.

            “I have not been quiet about Your works, Lord,” the writer expresses in verse 13. What he heard from God, the psalmist declared. He relays the communications exactly, accurately, and constantly. The whole counsel of God comes out of this man. He reveals “all the judgments,” all of the Lord’s processes and decisions are being put out there. He understands that where there is no vision the people perish, according to Proverbs 29:18. “Vision” makes reference to the open proclamation of truth. Without the declaration of doctrine, people die. In reading Proverbs, we see wisdom personified in many passages. She cries out to the simple, to the undiscerning. Her words, she confidently declares, are life.

            In verse 14, the writer tells the Lord to recognize the gladness with which he walks in the way. He treasures the testimonies, and he stores them in his heart. Better than all riches are the records of God’s works. Real wealth belongs to those who cherish these evidences and we see it in their smiles and laughter and joy. We also see this in their quiet persistence when things are seemingly falling apart all around them.

            Bible precepts and Bible pathways form the essence of meditation for the writer. Hearing the Word creates lines of thinking in our memory center, and these lines become easier and easier to follow. This capacity is developed with careful thought. Musing should be a primary pattern in our lives as it was in the lives of great believers such as Augustine, Luther, Spurgeon, Murray, Tozer, and Graham. These men set aside time to ponder the Scriptures, to pray, and to consider the ways of God.

            Amid today’s frenetic culture, too many believers take in heaps of amusement. We can be so quick to enter into exercises that distract us from deep thinking. The sad results are these:  fragile faith and worldly perspective. The apostle Paul instructs us to speak to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (see Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16). Our minds should be filled with verses and choruses and passages, so that the eyes of our hearts open toward His ways.

            Do you have a complaint? Bring it before God, which is what David says to do in Psalm 142:  “I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble” (verse 2). “To complain” is one of the meanings for the Hebrew word translated as “meditate” in this psalm. The Bible does speak against murmuring and misspeaking. People tend to talk too much and such talking brings big troubles and much confusion. However, in making our complaints known to God, we are really taking our problems to the only One who can solve them.

            The regard we have for the Word, for the preaching of it and for the reading of it, exposes our heart attitudes. Bible meditation conditions our focus and we grow in our attention to the things of God. The heart can learn to observe life with anointed eyes, which is the best definition of the word “delight.” The Hebrew term used in the original manuscript was drawn from the practice of smearing ointment on the eyes in order to gain clearer vision in the dry, Middle Eastern climate.

            The spiritual practices mentioned here serve us well. They keep the Word in its proper place of prominence in our minds and hearts. Roots go down deep and soul structures grow strong. Our capacities become well watered and do not wither because we are mindful of Truth. We think with God in the way that Moses wrote about in Deuteronomy 32:2:  

“My doctrine shall drop as the rain; my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.”

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The Psalm of Psalms

Any discussion of Psalm 119 must begin with its structure. It is a work of 22 stanzas, each containing eight thoughts corresponding to a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Readers of the original language text will find that every line in a particular stanza begins with the Hebrew letter associated with that stanza. The form served a function and helped stir the memories of those being taught these thoughts from God. It is a remarkably poetic piece exalting His Word and its power.

Poetry is language pressed into a form for the sake of function. For creative communication, poetry represents the result of much thought and hard work. Poets are devoted and disciplined communicators. Thoughts come to the poet and he has authority over those thoughts and how they are to be expressed. The poet has a will to exercise. He carries the authority to say what he wants to say in whatever way he wants to say it. The writer of Psalm 119 decided to organize his thoughts according to a certain pattern; he had that authority from God. However, authority that is exercised sets in motion responsibility and accountability. Maintaining the pattern of communication within the psalm is now the poet’s duty. He made himself accountable and responsible. The poet is responsible to stick to the form; he has accountability to it. To depart from this accountability and to fracture the pattern creates confusion for any reader.

            The poet of Psalm 119 took on a great responsibility. He carefully crafted the words God gave him into an inspired order. He was not sloppy, nor was he deterred. He stuck to his pattern and as a result we have 176 verses suitable for our edification and equipping. Just the writer’s accountability to the form provides for us a good study of an attribution of the character of God. The Lord is immutable; He changes not. And the writer of Psalm 119 changed not his mode of communication.

Psalm 119 provides a glorious celebration of the Word of God. In these verses, we ride a momentum of inspiration. Thought builds upon thought. We sense the writer’s passion for truth. His – and our – necessity also is among the revelations here. The phrases stir in us the hunger for God’s personal, specific, and timely communication in the way that they must have stirred the poet. Something rich and fulfilling is here for us if we will allow the Holy Spirit to open the words to us.

This is the first entry in this series, which will examine each of this psalm’s stanzas.

ALEPH

            “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

            “Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

            “They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

            “Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.

            “O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

            “Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

            “I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.

            “I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly” (verses 1-8)

            The writer gets right to his point in the opening part of this psalm. His theme is the Word of God, and only five of the 176 verses written here are without some reference to God’s Truth. For starters, he presents us with six words – law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, and judgments. These words provide insight into the varied and specific ways God speaks to us as believers.

            “Law” makes reference to the Torah, the five books of Moses, which are considered the authoritative body of teaching for Israel and for its direction as a nation. This collection of truths is to be believed, cherished, and heeded.

            “Testimonies” represent witnesses or evidences of God’s real work in creation and in particular, on earth. These were classified as things observed such as the sea opening for Israel and then swallowing Egypt’s soldiers and chariots.

            “Precepts” are foundational premises. Such communications come to us before we need them. We receive these instructions during seasons of preparation in our lives. In driving classes, our teachers told us many things and we also read about the rules of the road. Then, we were put behind the steering wheel and asked to practice what we had learned. We turned the key and began putting precepts into practice as we moved into traffic.

            “Statutes” carry a different meaning. They are instructions that are highly personal. The Hebrew phrasing explains that statutes are prescriptive; that is, as with a medical prescription, these words deal with something close to us. Each of us develops convictions through hearing and reading the Word of God. God inscribes right words into our hearts and we build content for character.

            “Commandments” form the code of conduct for our relationships with God and with others. These primarily relate to the covenants the Lord established with His people. The picture is of a superior giving a verbal communication to a subordinate. God’s commands are unique. They require an inner commitment, not mere superficial obedience.

            “Judgments” represents a category of truth related to God’s decrees. A forensic, judicial element is implied. God told Adam that the wages of sin would be death. The first man was given one regulation and he did not keep it. The Lord made the decree. God meant what He said. The forensic evidence of Adam and Eve’s violation provoked the consequence of death. Something innocent had to die to pay the penalty required according to righteousness. In the Old Testament, innocent animals were offered and their shed blood spoke in answer to the sinner’s debt. Once and for all, judgment was accomplished at Calvary when the perfect man, Jesus Christ, became sin for us.

            The Cross represents the finished work of judgment. Jesus paid the debt He did not owe for us who owed debts we could never pay. This thought comes through right here in verse 1 of Psalm 119: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.” This sentence could be worded this way:  Straight are those who are made complete, whole, and entire in accord with the truth they hold and the path that they have been placed into.

            In the same way that Jesus began His Sermon on the Mount, the writer of Psalm 119 defines the “blessed” in his opening sentences. With these two statements, the psalmist addresses the two aspects of sanctification – the permanent, positional and the present, experiential. Verse 1 declares that ‘blessed” or “straight” are those who are undefiled – made complete in accord with truth and fact. The finished work fact of Christ’s death at Calvary makes us complete and therefore undefiled, for He has imputed to us His righteousness. God robes us with righteousness because Justice has been fully satisfied; the sin penalty of humanity was fully paid in the offering of the Lamb of God. He “puts” His righteousness on us once and for all. We became hid with Christ in God at the moment of our salvation. Daily, however, the Lord “imparts” His righteousness to us. He gives us power to live moment by moment as we receive the filling of His Holy Spirit. His power is “parted” to us as we choose to rely on Him and His leading in Spirit and in Truth.

            According to Psalm119:2, a right walk with God involves keeping His testimonies and seeking Him with a whole heart. The instruction here is to guard the memories of things God does. Hold those things close, allow them to provide counsel, see them as precious. The Hebrew verb for “seek” implies that believers should possess a continuous element of pursuit for the face of God. “Resort” might be the best word to think of here. This word carries with it the idea of going somewhere with a restful purpose. Those who rest in Christ accomplish things without striving.

            Rest diminishes my predilection to live for self in the efforts of the flesh. Iniquity’s power is short-circuited somewhat. That nature to sin is still with me and always shall be. However, my heart is whole. Its needs are being met as I hold to the Word and walk in God’s ways.

            The forceful language of verses 4 and 5 include two instances of “keep” — shamar in the Hebrew. This word was used to describe hedging a garden with thorns in order to protect the planting from wild foragers. What are we to hedge? The precepts and statutes God communicates to us.

            Think of the word shamar and picture Christ upon the Cross with His crown of thorns. Terrible beatings staggered Jesus, and He was weak from the bleeding that began during His prayers in Gethsemane. Even the Roman soldiers comprehended this and so they pressed Simon the Cyrenian to help Christ get His Cross up the hill of Golgotha. Yet, on the Cross, Christ spoke from Psalm 22. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” and His other sayings indicate His connection with the Word during these dark hours. To accomplish the final details contained in the redemptive plan, Jesus guarded His mind. The painful, thorny crown crammed on his brow demonstrates how He hedged His own thinking. Truth was His frame of reference, and the Scriptures governed His thoughts while His human emotions sensed the abandonment of the Father and the Spirit. As the Son was made all sin for all men, the Face of Absolute Holiness had to turn away and allow judgment to be rendered fully and finally before the crowd on earth and to an unseen atmosphere crowded with angelic and demonic witnesses. The Word made flesh exercised faith in the eternal Word He was and is.

            This method of thinking preserves us from being ashamed. Shame is not necessarily a bad thing, for it is something we should sense in our hearts when we have done wrong. Ashamedness develops when we allow this sense of failure to fester and deepen, leaving us with thought patterns that are confused, confounded, and disappointed. Our mind becomes surrounded with poor emotions that lie and tell us we are alone, that we have no foundation, and that we have no place in God’s plan.

            The answer for such troubles is to respect the Word of God. See what Truth has to say about failure and then put those instructions into practice. 1 John reveals that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins. Even when our natural heart whispers condemnation, God declares that He is greater than our hearts. Shame goads us; it pricks the heart, but only so that the heart shall hasten its way to the Throne of Grace for confession and restoration. May we look rightly and view properly all of the Lord’s commandments. His revealed wisdom guides us, and the divine code of conduct brings light to the darkness of our doubts and fears.

            “Learned” in verse 7 is a word derived from goad. The infinitive form of the verb implies that the goading of God in our lives is unceasing; that is, we are always learning more and also learning things all over again. This process brings understanding to us as we perceive the perfection of all His ways. Our praise then becomes straight, which is the meaning of uprightness. We worship the Lord for who He is, and selfish motives wither in the Light.

            The Aleph stanza concludes with a seeming paradox. The psalmist’s determination to guard the statutes of God collides with a plea for divine perseverance; his commitment to keep the Word is followed by a cry for help. Because “diligently” (verse 4) and “utterly” (verse 8) are the same adverb in the Hebrew text, a connection becomes clear that zealousness for God’s precepts and statutes requires the steady sense of His presence.

            At the start of this stanza, the psalmist recognizes the objective reality of his blessedness in the finished work of Christ. With his close, he prays his soul be kept and his emotions comforted in Omnipotence and he casts himself upon the Cornerstone. There is a great lesson here:  “Even when we possess a good measure of truth, the fear of the Lord remains the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7).

            Let us hold fast to our reverence of Him.