Casting Cares by Storing Up

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. - Luke 2:19

With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

- Psalm: 119: 10-18

One way I can cast my cares on my God is by storing up his word and workings in my heart. When waves of activity and change rock me, I want to cling to the unchanging Rock and be still. I can know that he is God and therefore rest and take joy in what he has before me in the moment.

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. - Psalm 131

Oh God You are my GOd

And I will ever praise You

Oh God, You are my God

And I will ever praise You

I will seek You in the morning

And I will learn to walk in Your ways

And step by step You'll lead me

And I will follow You all of my days

(c) 1992 BMG Songs, Inc.

photo: 3/20/11; taken by Dad

Be Still and Delight in the Lord

I thank God for the Psalms, which speak truth in a way so easily edifying to your soul. How gracious is our God to condescend to us and make us his delight, we who are so undeserving. And because he first loved us, we love and delight in him. He is a great God.

Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

The LORD of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

-Psalm 46:10-11

but his delight is in the law of the LORD,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.

-Psalm 1:2-3

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,

as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

beholding your power and glory.

Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

So I will bless you as long as I live;

in your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,

and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,

when I remember you upon my bed,

and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

-Psalm 63: 1-8

photo: 3/19/11

Come Lord Jesus, Come!

Our Savior pierced on the cross, all for mercy to us

Broke the power of sin and rose again

Now He sits enthroned, His coming hour unknown

And we long to see Jesus come to His own

And with full hearts, we cry:

Come Lord Jesus, come!
Split the heavens with Your glory

Come Lord Jesus, come!
Fill our eyes with Your majesty

Then we'll bow down and then we'll confess

That You are Lord, Jesus come!

We await Your return, You promise in Your Word

That at trumpet's sound You will come down

Our King upon a cloud, every knee will bow

And we'll worship then as we worship now

And with full hearts, we cry:

by Doug Plank

Whatever my God Ordains is Right

as recorded on In A Little While

Whatever my God ordains is right

In His love I am abiding

I will be still in all He does

And follow where He is guiding

He is my God, though dark my road

He holds me that I shall not fall

And so to Him I leave it all

Whatever my God ordains is right

He never will deceive me

He leads me by the proper path

I know He will not leave me

I take content, what He has sent

His hand can turn my griefs away

And patiently I wait His day...

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! - Psalm 34:8

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!

All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;

Praise Him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth,

Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!

Hast thou not seen how thy desires have been

Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;

Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.

Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,

If with His love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!

All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.

Let the Amen sound from His people again,

Gladly for aye we adore Him.

words by Joachim Neander

I have a multitude of reasons to praise the Lord, the Almighty. He is worthy of praise simply because of who he is. And wonder of wonders, he is also worthy of praise because of how graciously he has dealt with me.

False & True Hope

Psalm 33:16-17, 20-22
The king is not saved by his great army;

a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

The war horse is a false hope for salvation,

and by its great might it cannot rescue. . . .

Our soul waits for the Lord;

he is our help and our shield.

For our heart is glad in him,

because we trust in his holy name.

Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,

even as we hope in you.

I might not have a great army, great strength, or a war horse, but I certainly can be tempted to put my trust and hope in things besides God, or despair when I see that they cannot save me from a seemingly impossible sight. God may use instruments to bring about his purposes, but they are a hopeless substitute for my Lord. Nothing and no one is a match for my Lord. "For nothing will be impossible with God" (Luke 1:37).

There is both no hope outside of my God and no despair when you are under his loving and powerful arm.

Sweetness in the Messiness

Today I was reminded of Paul Tripp's conference: Your Walk with God is a Community Project. I went to this last July at Covenant Fellowship Church with a friend. And even though I only attended the first session, it was really good. I took out my notes and here are a couple highlights:

"You are always living out of some sense of identity;""God will take you where you do not want to go in order to produce in you what you could not achieve on your own;""If you want to know the true quality of your relationship with God, look at the quality of your relationship with others;""God calls you to a certain quality of relationships because he means to use those relationships for his purpose."

Even simply checking out the promo video on his site, I was encouraged with the following:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. - Ephesians 4:1-6

When Paul thinks about what it means to live in a way that's worthy of the gospel, the very first thing that comes to mind is relationships. We were not hardwired to live this Christian experience by ourselves.

If you are going to grow and if you are going to be an instrument of growth of others, you have to understand this theology of uncomfortable grace.

I move toward you, not because I trust you. I move toward you knowing that we're both broken and this is potentially messy. I move toward you because I trust the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is hope for us. It's the cross that drives me toward you.

These words speak such helpful truth. I have found them to be true in my own life, and I am faith filled that they will continue to be true in the future, because God's word is truth. God's word is life. Christian fellowship is deeply sweet, through both the happy and messy times.

photo: Grandma & Granddaddy; Grand Canal Venice, Italy 2007

Jesus Paid it All; Yes, Jesus Loves Me

I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed is small;

Child of weakness watch and pray, find in me thine all in all."

Lord, now indeed I find Thy power and Thine alone,

Can change the leper's spots and melt the heart of stone.

Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.

For nothing good have I whereby Thy grace to claim,

I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calv'ry's Lamb.

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,

"Jesus died my soul to save," my lips shall still repeat

lyrics: Elvina M. Hall, 1865

For you are my rock and my fortress;

and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;...

Into your hand I commit my spirit;

you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

- Psalm 31:3,5

How can I know God will sustain me and keep me to the end? Because he paid for all my sins and declared that "it is finished" upon the cross, and because he is a jealous God who pursues his glory above all. I know he will be faithful to lead and guide me because it is for his own name's sake, his own glory. My good and his glory are tied up in the same, because of Christ's work at Calvary. I am weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me.

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD! - Psalm 31:24

Mighty to Save

Milton Vincent, in The Gospel Primer:

But wonder of wonders, so great to behold,

My God chose to save me with method so bold,

What I could not render, God fully has done,

And doing, He rendered it all through His Son.

He sent Christ to die on the cross for my sin

To suffer my anguish, my pardon to win

...The Firstborn from death on that day emerged He

With power to save to the utmost degree

...And each day I'm made a bit more as I should,

His grace using all things to render me good.

Yes, even in trials God's grace abounds too

And does me the good He assigns it to do

Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness. 

- Psalm 29:1-2

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? - Romans 8:32

Do I doubt that the power and wisdom of God is at work in my life? Then I need to look to where it is displayed most clearly, and  hope in the God of my salvation, in whom I have all I could ever need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

photo: fortress in Salzburg, Austria 2007

Holy God

Mark Dever, in The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, page 37:

Did [Jesus] simply come in the flesh to teach us that our sins are no big deal, that he's just going to forgive and forget? What would that do to the morality of God? What would that do to the character of the One who is said to love us?

ChristianAudio's free audio book download this month is The Holiness of God, by R.C. Sproul. I am very much looking forward to listening to it, since it's been number one on the list of books I want to reread for a long time. Check out the link and get your own download, if you like. :)

photo: the apartment building where we stayed nearby Cinque Terra, Italy 2007

Doing Good, as we have opportunity

I thought Kevin DeYoung's blog post today, Doing Good, But a Little Less Than Others, was very helpful. I don't follow or subscribe to him, but I happened upon it today and greatly benefitted.

When we get fired up about a particular good cause, good idea, or good read, we think everyone should be too. But isn't it ok, on some matters, that our conscience and convictions and capabilities lead us down different paths of passion?

This is especially tricky because some behaviors are commanded of everyone in Scripture, and yet are also considered special gifts for only some. We should all contribute to the needs of the saints (Rom 13:13), but some have the gift of generosity (v. 8). We should all serve (v. 11), but some will be particularly gifted in serving (v. 7). We won't all be as good or zealous about the same things. This is by divine design. Our gifts will differ according to the grace given us (v. 6).

...I'm always trying to figure out how I can possibly be obedient to all the Lord seems to want from us. At times it feels like God expects us to be 24-7 prayer warriors with a commitment to social justice and involvement in the pro-life cause and lead lengthly family devotions and mentor a young Christian and read five Christian books a month and work through Operation World and adopt a child from Africa. Have you ever thought, "Lord, I don't have enough hours in the day to be obedient to all that you expect from me?" If you have, something is wrong with the way you use your hours or with your sense of God's expectations.

...I don't have it all figured out. But here are a few thoughts that help.

1. Most importantly, any lasting obedience must grow out of the gospel. . . We read and give and go overseas and evangelize and feed the poor and adopt orphans and get up early to pray and mentor college students and write blogs because we have nothing to prove, nothing to earn, and nothing to do except glorify God in a million different ways and enjoy him forever.

2. At Lausanne 2010, John Piper told the audience (I'm paraphrasing), "We should care about suffering, especially eternal suffering." . . . He didn't want to say we should do something about all suffering. Because we can't do something about everything. But we can care....

3. We must allow for various callings and various gifts. . . .

4. Don't forget about the church. The work to be done in the world is Christ's work. And Christ works through his body, corporately in word and sacrament, individually in a million other areas of life. I can't do it all, but the church - both gathered and scattered, the church as institution and as organism - can do all that the head of the body expects her to do.

5. Lastly, we should pray. a)...short, immediate prayers... b)...general categories to your daily, weekly, or monthly prayer list

It's good to be reminded that while I am called to so many areas of obedience, God chooses to use the body and not simply the individual to work his purposes in this world. We each have different lives and different opportunities. I can see a lot. I can care a lot. I need not allow that to overwhelm me, but cause me to be thankful and amazed at the little part I am allowed to play, being thankful for my brothers and sisters and first and foremost amazed at my Savior, who did it all at Calvary.

Contentment in your calling

Tonight I finally read an excerpt on How to use the present life, and the comforts of it from John Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian Religion," which Doug handed out two weeks ago.

The below excerpts were sweet water to my soul.

...those in narrow and slender circumstances should learn to bear their wants patiently, that they may not become immoderately desirous of things, the moderate use of which implies no small progress in the school of Christ. For in addition to the many other vices which accompany a longing for earthly good, he who is impatient under poverty almost always betrays the contrary disease in abundance. By this I mean, that he who is ashamed of a sordid garment will be vain-glorious of a splendid one; he who not contented with a slender, feels annoyed at the want of a more luxurious supper, will intemperately abuse his luxury if he obtains it; he who has a difficulty, and is dissatisfied in submitting to a private and humble condition, will be unable to refrain from pride if he attain to honour. Let it be the aim of all who have any unfeigned desire for piety to learn, after the example of the Apostle, "both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need," (Phil. 4:12).

...the Lord enjoins every one of us, in all the actions of life, to have respect to our own calling. He knows the boiling restlessness of the human mind, the fickleness with which it is borne hither and thither, its eagerness to hold opposites at one time in its grasp, its ambition. Therefore, lest all things should be thrown into confusion by our folly and rashness, he has assigned distinct duties to each in the different modes of life. And that no one may presume to overstep his proper limits, he has distinguished the different modes of life by the name of callings. Every man's mode of life, therefore, is a kind of station assigned him by the Lord, that he may not be always driven about at random. . . . it is enough to know that in everything the call of the Lord is the foundation and beginning of right action. He who does not act with reference to it will never, in the discharge of duty, keep the right path. He will sometimes be able, perhaps to give the semblance of something laudable, but whatever it may be in the sight of man, it will be rejected before the throne of God; and besides, there will be no harmony in the different parts of his life. Hence, he only who directs his life to this end will have it properly framed; because free from the impulse of rashness, he will not attempt more than his calling justifies . . . Again, in all our cares, toils, annoyances, and other burdens, it will be no small alleviation to know that all these are under the superintendence of God. The magistrate will more willingly perform his office, and the father of a family confine himself to his proper sphere. Every one in his particular mode of life will, without repining, suffer its inconveniences, cares, uneasiness, and anxiety, persuaded that God has laid on the burden. This, too, will afford admirable consolation, that in following your proper calling, no work will be so mean and sordid as not to have a splendour and value in the eye of God.

This was just the nudge I needed to direct my heart to contented anticipation to enjoy my work tomorrow. I've been up and down with this contentment thing too much recently.

I can so often find myself distracted, and soon after discontented, because my focus is not in the things God has given me to focus on. Why do I let my eyes, mind, and soul wander and strive? All good is found in God and in what he has clearly set out for me. And I can take joy in the things of God, like something as "simple" as a sunny day or friendly smile, because the joy is rooted in God himself. Then also, the thanksgiving goes straight to God himself. To God alone be glory.

What good things have you particularly enjoyed recently?

photo: Crossway Church farm, 2/22/11

Few words

I am short on words these days, but listening is often so much better for you anyway. I need to not listen to myself but to the word of God.

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

forever.

The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. . . . He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

- Revelation 22:17,20

Hope in God

Psalm 20

May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble!

May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!

May he send you help from the sanctuary

and give you support from Zion!

May he remember all your offerings

and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices!

May he grant you your heart's desire

and fulfill all your plans!

May we shout for joy over your salvation,

and in the name of our God set up our banners!

May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!

Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;

he will answer him from his holy heaven

with the saving might of his right hand.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

They collapse and fall,

but we rise and stand upright.

O LORD, save the king!

May he answer us when we call.

Psalm 42:5-6

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.

My heart quickly becomes heavy with the cares, even good ones, for the well fare of others. But when I see so many needs, struggles, and sufferings of people close to me and those far removed, it forces me to say that our only hope is in the Lord. Whether finances, physical suffering, relational strife, or any circumstance that seems hopeless, I need to remember that there is nothing I can do to help other than to cry out to God and let my soul rejoice in knowing he is faithful and good. He will not forget his own.

Our God is faithful to remove all else from the place that He alone is worthy to hold in our lives and hearts.

My soul can again be light when I, by the grace of God, tell my heart to "Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."

photo: Cinque Terre, Italy 2007