Psalm 40 - part 3

I'll post the 3rd and last part of the bible study on Psalm 40 verse 1 below. Three more parts for 3 more studies to come, all on Psalm 40. The second is on verse 2, the third on verses 3 and 4 and the final one is on verses 6 to 8. Once again comments are welcomed!

You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

Psalm 40 can be found here.

3. God will come.


So we wait and God inclines himself to us. He leans closely and assures us of His presence and good will, which David craved so greatly. He manoeuvres the chess pieces of our lives and we see His work in action. We cry out and he draws close ensuring that we know He has heard our cry. We can do so with full confidence.

David encourages us in Psalm 27: 14 to “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”



As a child when you ran and fell on a gravel path skinning your knees and palms – the pain was pretty much secondary. Yes it stung and shocked and initially that was the painful thing. MUM! DAD! You’d cry out to them in distress.

Now Mum and/or Dad may have shouted from a distance “you ok?”, maybe they could have stood at the window and not said a word. Mum may have silently raised a marigold and gestured ‘ok?’ with a quizzical look. Both show concern and that you’ve been heard. Occasionally this is needed – a detachment of sorts so we learn to not be over dramatic in small things. It helped us grow and mature and develop our character.

But... but when they detected that you were really hurt. Really in distress. Really in need of that parental hug, that warm embrace. Then they ran. They ran to us and picked us up and held us tight saying ‘there there, Daddy’s here’, ‘don’t worry Mum’s got you’.

The worry eased, the tears were wiped away. The pain subsided and became bearable.

Isn’t that David here? He’s cried out, his arms are raised awaiting the Lord to draw near and embrace him. He knows God will come. He waits as a child waits for their parent.

Our hearts can indeed be strengthened and we can be of good courage with such as parent. We can rely on Him in everything and wait in full assured confidence of His coming. That childlike faith shines through here doesn’t it? Unblinking, (if teary eyed) confidence that he’ll come for me.

When we pray – He will answer.

The pain can be in the wait. But utter joy lies in the comfort and the boundless love that comes when the Lord Jesus draws near to us, holds us to Him and assures us that we are indeed Christ’s alone and in his justifying, atoning blood sacrifice we are lifted from the miry clay and our feet set upon the rock of the Lord Jesus enabling us to see from our new vantage point the blackness of the bog we have left behind and the heavenly glow atop Mount Zion which we will one glorious day ascend to.

There is no firmer foothold. There is no other way out of the boggy clay. Cry out to Jesus, He will hear you. Of that the Christian can be no more certain.

Amen

Next post - Psalm 40: 2

Psalm 40 - part 2

As I was sat sipping my coffee I browsed through the 'audience' statistics, which never cease to surprise me. My blog doesn't get read by that many people. I've yet to beak a 1000 views total. However I'm not bothered about that - those who read it read it and I hope they are are blessed or encouraged somehow. What thrills me is seeing where the hits have come from - worldwide! Just this morning I noticed 3 hits from Iran, a country where I cannot imagine the gospel is readily accepted. If one post was read there then all the unread posts were worth it!

So here's part 2 of the first study in Psalm 40. Read the first part here.


David’s prayer.


So why was David writing such a psalm? He was in trouble (again).

The miry clay of verse 2 is an indication that he had been thrown into a spiritual, or even physical ‘pit’. Matthew Henry, on this psalm says this:

“We have reason to think it was some inward disquiet and perplexity of spirit that was now his greatest grievance. Despondency of spirit under the sense of God’s withdrawal and prevailing doubts and fears about the eternal state are indeed a horrible pit and a miry clay, and have been so for many a child of God.”

While this explains the reason for David’s sense of waiting and his reason for crying out – his faith in God’s longsuffering and faithfulness to him doesn’t dwindle. Neither did the Lord Jesus waiver one iota in the garden of Gethsemane or on the cross itself. He was burdened and tested and hurting, but his faith remained in God’s perfect will.

So as Jesus was bogged down by our sins in that garden his prayers reflected that he indeed waited on the Lord as he subjected himself utterly and fully to the Father’s will to pour that cup of wrath fully on Him.

Jesus prayed because he was anxious.

Jesus asked for the burden to be lifted.

Jesus subjected himself to God’s will.

David’s psalm 41 reflects many aspects of his own and also Jesus’ Gethsemane prayers.

a) Both present their worries. Their anxieties and spiritual concerns are presented openly and unreservedly. In our private prayers we should be unabashed in our repentance, praise and supplications.

Hebrews 5: 7 tells us “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;”

Phil. 4: 6 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

b) They pray for the burden to be lifted/eased. Provided we pray with contrite hearts we can ask God for anything. We should pray expectantly, anticipating God’s intercession in our problematic lives. The prayers won’t always be answered how we would like them to be, but they will be answered according to His will.

Mark 14: 36 “And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

c) David and Jesus subject themselves utterly to God’s will. They accept that God’s perfect will is what matters and that their feelings, emotions and discomforts are not what matters most. They know that God will be glorified in their subjection to His Sovereign will.

John 17: 1 “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee”

Subjecting ourselves to God’s will may not be pleasant an experience bodily, but from it comes great spiritual growth and maturity. God proves His faithfulness daily and our unbelief is of us, never as a consequence of His failing us.


Next: God will come. Read it here.

Psalm 40 - part 1

I have once again been neglecting my blog - apologies for to the 3 people who read them regularly (i.e my Mum... three times).

I prepared and delivered 4 bible studies in March, so while I consider 'blogging' properly during May, I'll post notes for each of the bible studies here - they read like essays so they should make sense!? While I'm doing so hopefully I'll get back in the groove of posting regularly.

So here's Part 1:

First off read Psalm 40

Psalm 40: 1


“I waited patiently on the Lord and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.”

Context:

This is the penultimate psalm in the first of the 5 books of psalms. It bears many similarities with the next, psalm 41. The theme of the first book is introductory in some sense and they are in main prayers that have stemmed from situations of distress punctuated with statements of confidence in God’s singular ability to save.

Psalm 40 and 41 are pretty much an exclamation mark on this collection of prayers and songs. There are too reflections on ethics and worship in the previous 39.

Here David writes the first 10 verses as a reflection on past mercies to be thankful for and in verses 6 to 8 he reminds the Old Testament reader (and us) that the sacrificial system was worthless if separated from faith, repentance and obedience. Religiosity is being guarded against and reminds us that we must be cautious in our obedience not to be trying to placate God.

We are going to look at 3 things contained in verse 1.

1. David’s wait.

2. David’s prayer.

3. God will come.

__________________________________________________________________________________

1. David’s wait.

What does it mean to ‘wait’ on someone? Or rather to ‘wait patiently’? One hardly gets the impression here that David is tapping his foot with his arms folded, hence the ‘patiently’, but it neither gives the impression that David is casual in his waiting either. He is though waiting with a degree of confidence. He can be patient as he knows the Lord will arrive.

We in this modern age are impatient. At traffic lights, in queues we tap our toes or the steering wheel and we tut and harrumph. With each other we are emotionally impatient and easily frustrated by others actions, manner, behaviour, traits and individualisms. It has been said that now the average time we will wait for the PC egg timer is a mere 15 seconds. After this we start tapping and re-tapping buttons, shortly after this we consider shutting the computer down. Utter madness. Sit in someone’s company for 1 minute and say nothing and do nothing. Many cannot.

But here David takes the pace out of his expectations; he waits on an eternal God, to whom time does not apply. Time is our measurement of events in an order we can understand and relate other events to. God has no need for this as all events and all time is his to do with as he pleases. He controls nature – the Red Sea parting. He controls the sun – when it paused in the sky for Joshua (Joshua 10), He controls nature and animals – the ark, Elijah’s ravens, the plagues on Egypt.

He IS the creator God – Colossians 1: 16 tells us –

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”

So David explains to us what we know, but we often fail to recognise fully. We can be patient and confident in our Lord. He is longsuffering, utterly Holy... He is the God of glory, love, grace, goodness wrath and mercy. He is immutable/unchanging. He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and Sovereign over all.

When we have a God who is all these things, why should we concern ourselves with if, when and how he will answer our prayers... He surely knows better than us?!

David’s experiences of God here have always been that in every instance God’s will is carried out and prayers are answered. His patience in waiting on the Lord is borne of faith, despite the fact that as David writes this it shows us that he has been sat on this concern for sometime and it was wearing on him greatly. David knows well that He will incline to us and hear our cries – we can know this ourselves when we read 1 John 5: 13 – 15

“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

This inclination of God “unto me” suggests also a personal relationship that God takes seriously. On David’s part it demonstrates a deep reverence and an almost astonishment that the Almighty creator God would stoop to hear his petitions. Yet it also lends itself to David’s understanding that God WILL do so when he cries out to Him. David realises that God’s inclining to him is utterly unmerited and gracious, but also that He is not a fickle God and will faithfully lean close to him when David waits on Him.

We can see this reverence of and trust in the Lord in Psalm 17: 6, 7 where David had previously called upon the God who hears and inclines to us.

The patience stems not from an assumption that David is in a queue, but rather that as a Sovereign God He will incline himself to answer David’s prayer when the Lord wills it to be right, not at David’s convenience. We can, can we not, be so petulant and spoiled in our petitions? This reverential deference to God’s good will is an example to us all that our prayers are not a list of demands; they are not negotiations with the Almighty. David here understands that he is subject to God and His will and cannot demand that the Lord should respond.

He is rather saying ‘I’m crying out Lord. I’m putting my trust in you in these things, I know you will listen and answer and that your Sovereign will be done’.



Next post: David's Prayer. Read it here.

Be careful what you pray for...

An off the cuff thought here... from last week.

I was reading Genesis 18: 20 and following through chapter 19 - Lot being brought out of Sodom before its destruction and Abraham's intercession for the Godly men therein. Abraham 'talked' God out of destroying every single person... I choose my words carefully here as I'm not trying to pass any sort of comment on being able to influence a Sovereign creator God with emotional pressure.

My point is this - Abraham interceded for the righteous men of Sodom and his prayer was answered, Lot and his extended family were saved as was the outlying city of Zoar.

Abraham's heartfelt prayer for his fellow men of God and his family was heard and answered.

As I read this I considered Israel's demands for Samuel to intercede and insist that God installed a King (1 Samuel 8). Against God's will. Consequently God gave Israel over to their desires in a King... subsequently apostasy, pain, tyranny and all round unpleasantness followed from King after king, with the odd good sort here and there.

The Lord's message was that 'you reject my messenger, you reject me'.

Now I realise that 1 Samuel 8 isn't necessarily about prayer, but it did make me think that the motivation of your heart is oh so very important and is also so easily forgotten.

Abraham interceded in prayer out of Godly love and concern for his brethren. Israel made a petulant, selfish demand.

What was the state of your heart when you prayed today?

What motivated the prayer?

How will it be answered?... Like Abraham's? Or like Israel's?

Like I say, we should be careful what we pray for.

1 Kings 17: 1 – 7, Elijah at Cherith

1 Kings 17: 1 -7

Elijah and Ahab, the brook at Cherith

There are 3 parts to this post and I'll post them separately, one post for each of the following points.

1. The faithful obedience
2. Food for the prayerful
3. Faith from the Father

Context

• Ahab King of Israel, Phoenician wife Jezebel supporter of 100s of prophets of Baal. She would slaughter many men of God.
• Prior to Ahab there had been many kings descending from David. In ch.16 we see Baasha, Elah, Zimri and Omri had all done "evil in God's eyes" (Ch15:34, 16: 7, 19, 25, and 30). They had also (v.13) "provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols."
• Judgement was coming. They were sinful, worshiped idols and mocked God.
   

The faithful obedience – verses 1 and 2
Text suggests Elijah 'popped up from nowhere', but consider his situation. A faithful, prayerful man of God in a land filled with sin and idolatry. Indeed the Lord had given them over to their sins. Elijah had clearly felt the call to speak out against their sin.
Verse 1 – Elijah's witness and statement. He testifies to the living God of Israel. Baal had replaced God, God had been declared dead even (just as science has declared God dead once again in our day – science is just the new Baal in this respect). In walks Elijah, to the throne room! He makes his proclamation doubtless to incredulity, scorn and resentment – who does he think he is?!?! (Picture that today?)
Prior to this proclamation Elijah's preparation would have been deeply prayerful and also filled with anxieties, fears and doubts. He was a man, a sinner like you and me, maybe even not as brave! He was a man, not a robot. A lot of his time would've been spent in prayerful consideration.
AW Pink on Elijah's prayerful preparation – "Prayer in private was the source of his power in public: he could stand unabashed in the presence of the wicked monarch because he had knelt in humility before God"

But Elijah trusts in the Lord and in v2 we read that 'the word of the Lord came to him' at just the right time. If we too are prayerful, obedient and trust the Lord to do so he will do this for us when we testify of our love for Christ Jesus.
Psalm 81:10 tells us "open thy mouth wide and I will fill it" if we're hungry for the word of God, he will feed us and at the right time the words will be put in our mouths by Him. This is why studying your bible and memorising verses is so important. We can at the right time recall infallible words and instructions from our fallible, sinful lips. It avoids conjecture and gives us a biblical basis for our words.
Elijah's faith wasn't perfect however. God's is. As a fallible man he will have worried unnecessarily. God had things in hand – he must have wondered what they would do to him, would they lock him up? Kill him? Laugh at him and ignore him? All of the great men of the bible felt doubt and fear, Noah, Moses, David and here I am sure so did Elijah, the Apostles too. We can empathise a little I'm sure – creeping anxiety that we later look back on and shake our heads saying 'I should've trusted him more!"

Part 2 coming soon!

Further prayer

I listened to a Dr Joel Beeke sermon on the way home today entitled 'John Calvin on intimate prayer' and of course my last blog came to mind. I had never intended my previous post to be anything like a definitive guide to prayer of course, but listening to Dr Beeke I did ponder the amazing depth that exists within prayer and realised that I have barely scratched the surface of the relationship I have with our Lord and Saviour.

One of the things that Dr Beeke mentioned was about how easy it is for our prayers to become dry and repetitive and different ways in which he goes about refreshing his prayer life, both of which I have done myself. One is to use a prayer book, the other is to use scripture. My brother sent me a copy of a prayer book entitled 'The Valley of Vision' following my baptism and it has been a great encouragement and a 'starter for 10 ' (as he described it). It really is a wonderful book and I would wholeheartedly recommend you get a copy if you don't have one. Valley of Vision by Banner of Truth

The other way in which Dr Beeke suggested one could revive our prayer is through reading/using scripture. He gave the following analogy (excuse the paraphrase). He commented on a book (it may have been notes or even prayers, I'm afraid I can't remember... it isn't that important to the story) that had been found by a friend of his father, that had been written by his father. Dr Beeke's father had passed into Glory some time before. He was handed the book and gazed at the words, recognizing his father's handwriting. The friend asked if he'd like to have it, to which he replied "of course!" Later reading his father's words he became conscious of how proud and happy his father would have been to see and hear him studying the words he had written himself. How much joy and pleasure his father would've got from having his own written word read back to him.

Well there in istself is the justification for using God's word in one's prayers. God would surely delight in hearing any one of his children reading to him, or better yet memorising and repeating His word in prayer.

Anyway, here's a link to the sermon - don't take my word for it, take Dr Beeke's or John Calvin's... or maybe more specifically, God's. Click the title below for a sermonaudio.com link
Calvin on Intimate prayer

Prayer... how do you do it?

Prayer - why do you pray? What do you pray for? What are you actually doing?

These questions and more are ones I have asked myself recently. It is easy to make prayer a 'shopping list' of requests for God's intervention in worldly matters and I am often conscious that I am asking so much while giving so little in return. But that's the thing isn't it?

I realised this week that the power of prayer lies not in the act of prayer itself, the power lies with God and His will, nowhere else. Prayer is the vehicle through which we see glimpses of God's grace. I say this because driving home I felt a guilt at forgetting to pray about an issue I had previously noted... the insinuation my subconscious was trying to impress was that if I didn't pray then God wouldn't know what to do... what a fool I am!

Praying is an act of faith which God delights in. It is an act of faith on our part everytime. It is us saying "show me, guide me/them, help me/them, encourage me/them." because we realise we need and crave His intervention at every turn.

It is of course much more than that also. It is praise, thanks, penitance, obedience, reconciliation and hope amongst I'm sure many, many other things. But whatever the context prayer is an incredible act and while it can be so formalised and reverential it is also the most informal, personal conversation you can ever have.

There are suggestions in the bible that prayer changes God's mind on certain issues. The problem I have with this being that an omniscient God would know that His mind was going to change. Ergo: it isn't a change of mind for God, but in our terms it would appear to be so... my brain aches just thinking about it!

Anyway I have considered my own prayer life this week and would encourage everyone to do likewise. It's not a shopping list is it? It's a chance to kneel at the throne of Grace and have a conversation with the Lord God Almighty, the Creator, your Saviour and the best friend you will ever have.