Listen Now

What would you do if you believe you were going to meet with God? Certainly what you believe about who God is and where you are in relation to Him would make a difference. At ARCC we desire to reclaim the meaning and depth and value of the privilege that it is for the people of God to gather together for worship on Sundays. Not only are we experiencing a foretaste of what it will be like when Jesus returns and we get to actually stand around the throne, but we are also being formed by and in and through this experience for a life that pleases God. Indeed, a life that seeks to see to it that the earth is filled with the glory of God. In meeting with the Lord together our identities are solidified in who God is and what He has done for us that we might be holy and blameless. In meeting with the Lord together our purpose becomes clear as we are sent out as holy ones to declare to the world who the truly Holy, holy, holy One is.

Sometimes the warrior can lose sight of the point of being a warrior. Sometimes in weariness and exhaustion and wounded-ness the warrior can believe that it is safer and easier to find sure footing by simply viewing everyone and everything as the enemy. To be sure, life impacts the way your flesh is conditioned to view, perceive, and respond to every situation you walk into. The Psalmist seems to outline some of the ways we would be tempted to hide ourselves and make ourselves feel “safe” and “secure” as ones who set their minds on the flesh. What would it look like to respond, in those same situations, as ones who set their minds on the Spirit? In this Psalm we really can find life from dread.

Longing is an emotion that most of us are pretty uncomfortable with. We don’t like the feeling that it creates in us. This uneasiness that there is something out there that my heart deeply wants, and I don’t have it. We deal with this in many different ways. Most often, when we do experience a deep longing in our heart, we try to satisfy it as fast as we can or at least distract ourselves from it. But most of the time, in our immediacy to put the longing to rest, we settle for things that only curb it and do not leave us deeply satisfied. Others of us have tried that enough, and now we just seek not to long for anything. We settle into lives that fall well short of our desires and mask our sorrows with the outward appearance of contentment. “I should be grateful for what I have,” we tell ourselves as we put our desire for joy to rest. But what do we do when we can’t curb the craving when we can’t find a distraction that can block out the urgency of our need? What do we do when our sorrow won’t be hidden behind a veil of contentment. This is where we find King David in Psalm 63. With a longing that must be satisfied and a clarity that only the wilderness can provide, calling out to a God that He believes not only has the ability but the desire to give him the joy he so desperately seeks.

Hebrews tells us that God shakes things so that we will know what belongs to His Kingdom and what belongs to the kingdom of this world. We live in a time where it seems like everything is being shaken and it truly seems difficult to know where to find firm footing. The writer of Ecclesiastes looked in many places and in many directions only to come to the conclusion that all was vanity. In Psalm 52 we are given a picture of what it looks like to see God as truly our rock and salvation as well as a picture of what it looks like to react was one who is “shaken”. One of the great dangers of our time is that in our culture it seems perfectly acceptable to be shaken all the time and still believe that you are a Christian. When the Lord calls us to speak the truth, may we we be living the lives to go along with it. It would seem that as believers, if this was ever going to be the case, we must take up the discipline of silence and grow in the ability to pour out our hearts before Him. It will be in those spaces where we can come to know Him, in the midst of all things shaking, as the true and powerful One Who is working out His steadfast love. This becomes our firm foundation as the things and people around us continue to be blown and tossed. May we, the people of God serve as a non-shaken presence pointing others to the Mighty One who saves.

The Psalmist, whose heart is growing faint, seems to be giving us something of a simplified checklist of things to work through in order to give his heart the care it needs. These things are all aspects of the life of one who belongs to the Lord. The profundity of these things is that they are NOT profound at all. In fact, the danger lies in that we would have a tendency to assume or overlook or even discount the validity of these things. As believers, for the sake of our hearts, we must get back to fervently doing the basics of the Christian life. We must reclaim the convictions and the non-negotiables that are directly and exclusively bound to one’s relationship with Christ. May we cling to the Law of Christ established in the grace of Christ which gives life to us and a heritage to generations that will come after us God willing.

For the next several Psalms we are going to read David’s lament over suffering at the hands of evil men. It is a great thing that the people of God would learn to excel (by the power of the Holy Spirit) at glorifying God through their suffering. There is much room for us to grow in the way of “entrusting our souls to a faithful Creator while doing good”…especially in times of suffering. We are living in a time where it would seem that there are plentiful opportunities for the people of God to relate to while considering David’s groanings. That being said, we know that David’s great sufferings did not keep him from committing great sins towards others causing much devastation. While this is something that is typically difficult for us to see in ourselves we can see that not only is it possible for hurting, wounded, and suffering individuals to hurt others, it is very likely (outside of the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit) that they will hurt others. Because this is true, we must be willing to receive texts like this one from a posture that believes it is possible that we are as likely to be on one side of the narrative as the other. The fact that all of this centers around the cross of Christ means that there is incredibly good news no matter what the truth may be for you. We can trust that vengeance and justice will be utterly satisfied AND as broken sinners who hurt people we can know that there is ultimate forgiveness by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. May we all learn to live out what is true of us in Christ which is that we are more than conquerors. Christ is our great defender and HE is our great intercessor. May we see this play out that the world might know that God rules in righteousness to the ends of the earth.

In Psalm 57, as David runs and hides from Saul, he acknowledges that his only refuge is in God Most High. Knowing that to be true his repeated refrain is “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!” In Psalm 58, David describes one way the LORD God’s glory is displayed on earth. The God who judges the earth, the One who makes all things right, will receive blessing, honor and glory forever and ever. The bad news is that we live in an unjust world with lying, unjust, wicked rulers. The good news is that the LORD Jesus Christ will righteously judge that rebellion. The bad news is all of us have been and can be unjust, wicked liars who deserve righteous judgment. Hallelujah, Jesus is not only just but the justifier of the one who has faith in Him.

The more you read the scriptures, meditate on the Psalms, and become familiar with the story of David the more you realize that his battle with Goliath was hardly the defining reality of his life especially in his own eyes. Over and over again in the Psalms you don’t read about the man who ran into the battle with a sling shot and five stones, but rather a man who was constantly taking refuge in the Lord. Slaying giants doesn’t seem to be the theme of David’s life at all. Being overwhelmed by life and all that comes with it and experiencing God’s grace and mercy and protection in it seems to be a closer representation of David’s experience. What if taking refuge in the Lord was supposed to be the theme of our life rather than slaying the giant? How would we know if this was true of our life?

Psalm 56 picks up where Psalm 55 leaves off - David bringing his frustration and complaint before the Lord. David knows that God is the only one who can deliver him from the trouble he faces everywhere he goes. Oftentimes, we don't know what to do with Psalms like these - Psalms of Imprecation and Lament, and because of our misunderstanding of what God is inviting us into through these particular Psalms, our view of God and our view of ourselves suffers. Since these types of Psalms can be repetitive in the life of David, could it be that God is not as quick to rush past cement in our lives as we are? If we were to slow down and seek God in the midst of a fallen world, we may just find that God uses joy and pain to conform us into the image of Jesus.

There seems to be a need to look more closely at this idea of the heart being deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. Read and quoted by itself it comes across like a warning…a warning that says that our hearts are never to be trusted. If Proverbs is true, in that from our hearts flow the wellspring of life, then a rejection of our hearts actually becomes the source of more destruction and not less. As you get closer to the text here in Jeremiah you begin to realize that this is actually more of a cry for help from someone who has pressed in long enough to know the truth about their own heart. The beauty in this is that as we begin to behold the truth about ourselves we actually get closer and closer to beholding God who is near to the broken hearted.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. It is truly a blessing to trust in the Lord, but it is even greater so if the Lord, Himself is the entire reason for our trust. It is not good news simply that God is good and generous and capable of pouring out blessing upon those who trust Him. It is good news that our God has actually pledged His faithfulness toward us in such a way that we would truly be His people and that He would truly be our God. The life we live by faith we live believing a God who has shown Himself to be ultimately and eternally trustworthy. If God is truly for us then who can be against us? Life has always been meant to flow from our trust in who God is and who He has shown Himself to be.

By the grace of God something was instilled in us that has made us hyper vigilant towards finding a savior. The curse is that we continue to seek that in the trust of men which usually, eventually results in self isolating self reliance. This truly is a curse. This is also why it was profoundly relevant for Jesus to describe His yoke as easy and His burden as light. Anyone who has trusted in their own strength for any length of time knows deeply how ruthless the yoke is and how heavy the burden is that they place upon themselves. In the end all other “savior” suck the life right out of us and prove over and over again that they cannot produce in us truly abundant life. How long will we be like the shrub in the desert before we take Jesus up on His offer to come to Him and find rest? Our flesh is warring against such a surrender which is why God, Himself must, at times, “make us lie down in green pastures”.

We will see the trustworthiness of the anger of God over sin and its destruction. Somewhere in here there might just be an invitation to join the Lord in a Spirit-filled righteous anger that lends itself toward redemption.

The peace Jesus gives and the power the Holy Spirit is sent with are essential as we are sent out into the world.

The Psalmist was on to something he spoke of blessing for those who sought the Lord with their whole heart. This is less about intensity and more about truth. Sometimes the eyes of our hearts must be enlightened.

In the fulness of time it only makes sense that the Author of this story would include another garden.

Christ made the true Preparation for the True Sabbath.

The world looks different from up there.

When all the world sees is chains and bondage Jesus is putting the wisdom of the world to shame and showing His people the way to true freedom.