Both Crying and Singing

Spurgeon in Morning and Evening for July 2nd:

Morning:

"Our heart shall rejoice in Him." - Psalms 33:21

Blessed is the fact that Christians can rejoice in the deepest distress; although trouble may surround them, they still sing; and, like many birds, they sing best in their cages. The waves may roll over them, but their souls soon rise to the surface and see the light of God's countenance; they have a buoyancy about them which keeps their head always above the water, and helps them to sing amid the tempest, "God is with me still." To whom shall the glory be given? Oh! to Jesus - it is all by Jesus. Trouble does not necessarily bring consolations with it to the believer, but the presence of the Son of God in the fiery furnace with him fills his heart with joy. . . .

Evening:

"Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit." - Psalms 28:1

A cry is the natural expression of sorrow, and a suitable utterance when all other modes of appeal fail us; but the cry must be alone directed to the Lord, for to cry to man is to waste our entreaties upon the air. When we consider the readiness of the Lord to hear, and his ability to aid, we shall see good reason for directing all our appeals at once to the God of our salvation. It will be in vain to call to the rocks in the day of judgment, but our Rock attends to our cries. . . .

How kind is God to give Spurgeon to me like an older wiser brother to point me to my Father and his revealed word? A picture came to my mind from his evening writing. Later in this passage, he says, "When God seems  to close his ear, we must not therefore close our mouths, but rather cry with more earnestness; for when our note grows shrill with eagerness and grief, he will not long deny us a hearing . . . surely the Lord will speak peace to our agitated minds, for he never can find it in his heart to permit his own elect to perish." It is like when my siblings and I were little children in our beds for the night. Wanting one or both of our parents to come back in to grant a request (a drink of water, the night light, a favorite stuffed animal, to sing us a song...basically anything to stall the necessity of going to sleep, but sometimes to pray with us to melt away nightly fears), we would yell their names from our beds. If they did not respond, we cried louder and louder. We would join our efforts into one voice together, "Maaaaaaaa-mee," or "Daaaaaaaa-dee." Spurgeon is like my older brother, encouraging me to cry louder to my Abba, and not to cry to another for what only He can help. He is not hushing a younger sibling out of annoyance, but spurring on by directing my cries to the only One who can hear and help.

Along with not chiding sorrowful cries, he is also promoting joyful songs in the midst of distress (in the morning passage). What a comfort to be allowed both "natural expressions of sorrow" and to "rejoice in deepest distress." My Father truly did send his Son to condescend to my level and his Spirit to commune with me. It is only his presence and promises that can unfailingly deliver joy in any moment whatsoever.

It does not matter if I be conflicted, confused, or numb, nor if tempted to sinful thoughts and feelings. My Father still calls me to himself. He still draws me. And he wants me to cry my griefs to him. And he wants me to sing praises to him. Whether tears on my checks one moment, or happy notes on my lips another - whether a despairing sickness that turns to knots in my stomach or a lightness of heart and eagerness for life reflecting trust like a child - my dear Abba welcomes both my sobbing cries and my joyful melodies of praise.

It is not up to me to understand. God holds me in his hand.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. - Psalm 16:11

There is nowhere I'd rather be than with my God. And guess what? He is always with me, and he is always drawing me. He wants me to come. And oh that I would learn to quietly come and be still at his side, knowing he is my God.

And he is more than enough. He always will be.

photo: AA field at Creation, Wednesday June 29th

Nothing Is Too Hard

'Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.'
- Jeremiah 32:17

photo: June 29, 2011 - Mt. Union, PA

Isaiah 40:28:31

Lecrae gave a great gospel message to a packed out fringe stage crowd this afternoon. 

This shot is about half way back in the crowd.

Looking unto Jesus

Charles Spurgeon Morning and Evening, June 28:

Morning:
"Looking unto Jesus." - Hebrews 12:2

It is ever the Holy Spirit's work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan's work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. . . . and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that "Christ is all in all." Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee - it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee - it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument - it is Christ's blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by "looking unto Jesus." Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when thou liest down at night look to him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail thee.

"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name."

Evening:
...With an enthusiastic love for Jesus difficulties are surmounted, sacrifices become pleasures, sufferings are honours. But if religion is thus a consuming passion in the heart, then it follows that there are many persons who profess religion but have it not; for what they have will not bear this test. Examine yourself, my reader, on this point. Aaron's rod proved its heaven-given power. Is your religion doing so? If Christ be anything he must be everything. O rest not till love and faith in Jesus be the master passions of your soul!

Creation Festival and Change

I am out at the Creation Festival with my whole family this week - came out after work on Monday. I'm thankful for a week vacation like this right now.
It's been four years since I've been at Creation for the whole week, and a long time since I've been here not working the festival. But I still have been here every year. Including West, I think I've now been to 26 Creation Festivals (one year was cancelled and we didn't come - others were cancelled but we were here setting up).
We will be uploading photos on our family blog and I also will be adding my own to my facebook album here.

This is a difficult time for me, as Matt and I broke up last week. Different waves of emotion continue to crash upon me, but I am thankful for the unchanging Rock that I have in Christ. I very much appreciate your continued prayers. Thanks for your care.

photo: view from the Lookout yesterday morning

Thou Our Guide

I had some open time this evening and picked up my copy of Knowing God, which I have still yet to finish. My marker, where I last left off, was in the chapter called "Thou Our Guide." Pages 239-240 contain the following:

No Simple Answers

But it does not follow that right guidance will be vindicated as such by a trouble-free course thereafter. Here is another cause of deep perplexity for Christian people. They have sought guidance and believe it has been given. They have set off along the road which God seemed to indicate. And now, as a direct result, they have run into a crop of new problems which otherwise would not have arisen - isolation, criticism, abandonment by friends, practical frustrations of all sorts. At once they grow anxious. They recall the prophet Jonah who, when told to go east and preach at Ninevah, took a ship going north to Tarshish instead, "away from the Lord" (Jon 1:3), and was caught in a storm, humiliated before unbelievers, thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish - in order to bring Jonah to his senses. Is their own present experience of the rough side of life (they ask themselves) a sign from God that they are themselves like Jonah, off track, following a path of self-will rather than the way of God?

It may be so, and the wise person will take occasion from his new troubles to check his original guidance very carefully. Trouble should always be treated as a call to consider one's ways. But trouble is not necessarily a sign of being off track at all; for as the Bible declares in general that "many are the afflictions of the righteous" (Ps 34:19 KJV), so it teaches in particular that following God's guidance regularly leads to upsets and distresses which one would otherwise have escaped. Examples abound. God guided Israel by means of a fiery and cloudy pillar that went before them (Ex. 13:21-22); yet the way by which he led them involved the nerve-shredding cliffhanger of the Red Sea crossing, long days without water and meat in "that vast and dreadful desert" (Deut 1:19), and bloody battles with Amalek, Sihon and Og (Ex 17:8; Num 21:21-23) - and we can understand, if not excuse, Israel's constant grumbling (see Ex 14:10-12, 16:3, Num 11:4-6, 14:2-3, 20:2-5, 21:4-5).

Again, Jesus' disciples were twice caught by night in bad weather on the Sea of Galilee (Mk 4:37; 6:48), and both times the reason why they were there was the command of Jesus himself (see Mk 4:35; 6:45).

Again, the apostle Paul crossed to Greece "concluding" from his dream of the man of Macedonia "that God had called us to preach the gospel to them" (Acts 16:10), and before long he was in jail at Philippi. Later he "resolved in the Spirit to . . . go to Jerusalem" (19:21 RSV), and told the Ephesian elders whom he met on his way, "I am going to Jerusalem, bound in the Spirit, not knowing what shall befall me there; except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me" (20:22-23 RSV). So it proved to be: Paul found trouble on the grand scale through following divine guidance.

Nor is this all. For a final example and proof of the truth that following God's guidance brings trouble, look at the life of the Lord Jesus himself. No human life has ever been so completely guided by God, and no human being has ever qualified so comprehensively for the description "a man of sorrows." Divine guidance set Jesus at a distance from his family and fellow townsmen, brought him into conflict with all the nation's leaders, religious and civil, and led finally to betrayal, arrest and the cross. What more can Christians expect, while they abide in the will of God? "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master . . . If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!" (Mt 10:24-25).

By every human standard of reckoning, the cross was a waste - the waste of a young life, a prophet's influence, a leader's potential. We know the secret of its meaning and achievement only from God's own statements. Similarly, the Christian's guided life may appear as a waste - as with Paul, spending years in prison because he followed God's guidance to Jerusalem, when he might otherwise have been evangelizing Europe the whole time. Nor does God always tell us the why and wherefore of the frustrations and losses which are part and parcel of the guided life.

But I am glad for what he does tell us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is working all things for our good. He only gives good gifts to his children. If he is for us, who can be against us? In him is perfect peace, and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore. We can hope in him and rejoice! Strength rises for those who wait on the Lord.

I praise and marvel at a God of grace and peace who extends the same to his children.

photo: Chicago; 6/11/11 

Strength for the Weary

I could not go this life without God's word and without his church. My Father has given these to me, and sent his Spirit to be my comforter and strength. I cannot face one moment on my own, but God does not require that I do that.

This morning I read Psalm 77.

I said, "Let me remember my song in the night;

let me meditate in my heart."

Then my spirit made a diligent search:

"Will the Lord spurn forever,

and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love forever ceased?

Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?"

Then I said, "I will appeal to this,

to the years of the right hand of the Most High."

I will remember the deeds of the LORD;

yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

I will ponder all your work,

and meditate on your mighty deeds.

Your way, O God, is holy.

What god is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders;

you have made known your might among the peoples.

You with your arm redeemed your people,

the children of Jacob and Joseph.

Psalm 77:6-15

I need to join the Psalmist in speaking truth to my heart, and pray I will not be lead by emotion but that emotion would follow behind the truth of God's word. "On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."

Sunday Pete spoke on Ruth 4:1-8 (here). I have a determined and sacrificial Redeemer.
And I have a loving daddy, who held my hand and wrapped his arm around me for the entirety of the sermon on Father's day.

And what was the first song we sang during worship yesterday?

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever

Our Hope, our Strong Deliverer

You are the everlasting God

The everlasting God

You do not faint You won't grow weary

You're the defender of the weak

You comfort those in need

You lift us up on wings like eagles

(c) Chris Tomlin

God's providential kindness and specific care sustain me. In weakness and sadness, how I need to cling to his promises: moment by moment. His mercy is new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. He will never leave me nor forsake me. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

He chose me. I can know that he loves and wants me, because he chose me, dying to get me and keep me forever.

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. - Psalm 42:11