Pursuit and Promise

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Pete

If there’s anything you take from these opening chapters of Proverbs, it’s that getting wisdom is a result of intentional focus. No one is going to default their way into wisdom. The secrets of skillful living aren’t just accidentally stumbled upon but, instead, diligently pursued. That, apparently, is what David told his son, Solomon.

When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

(Proverbs 4:3-9 ESV)

“Get wisdom,” says he who was king to the one who would be king. Get insight, get understanding, get discernment. Acquire it. Obtain it. Do what you need to do to possess it. Make it your own.

Pursue wisdom as you would pursue your true love. Don’t forget her. Don’t neglect her. Don’t forsake her. But love her. Prize her highly. Embrace her dearly.

A lot of commands to obey there. But what’s clear is that wisdom is to be intentionally, relentlessly run after.

And, what’s equally clear is that, with great pursuit, there is great promise. She will keep you. She will guard you. She will exalt you. She will honor you. She will enhance the royal diadem of any kingdom with an unearthly garland of grace and crown of beauty.

Any wonder then, that after David’s death, when God appeared to Solomon and said, “Ask what I shall give you?” (1Kings 3), that Solomon asked not for himself long life, or riches, or military success, but instead asked for “understanding to discern what is right”? Any wonder, too, that it pleased the Lord that Solomon asked this?

And, for much of his life, Solomon would know her pursuit and be blessed by her promise. Tragically though, toward the end of his life he would also know the atrophy of blessing that would result from forgetting her and forsaking her as he was distracted by following after the lesser beauty of others.

So this morning I hear the voice of He who is King saying to this one whom He has made His son, “Get wisdom.”

Go after her, and keep going after her! She is found in My word. And she is realized in My Son.

Love Him, and He will guard you. Prize Him highly, and He will exalt you. Embrace Him relentlessly, and He will honor you. And He will place upon your head His garland of grace and give to you a beautiful and eternal crown of life.

Know afresh that with great pursuit there is great promise.

Found in Christ alone.

By His grace alone.

For His glory alone.

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In His Confidence

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Pete

Something I read in Proverbs this morning has me thinking about the multifaceted nature of the believer’s relationship with the God of heaven and earth.

Multifaceted. I so like that word. Many sided. As in a cut gem. Each face of a diamond, when held up to the light, presenting a distinct, yet equally glorious, array of color and implication. It’s the idea found in Ephesians 3:10 where Paul speaks of the church making known to those in heavenly places the “manifold”, or multifaceted, wisdom of God. And, if you think about it, our relationship to God, and thus our responses toward Him, are multifaceted, as well.

He is the Creator and we are His creation. The awesome, holy, holy, holy God, who allows those less than holy to enter His presence through the blood of sacrifice. Thus, we relate to Him with reverent fear. Falling on our face at the thought of being in His midst. Prostrating ourselves before Him. Unworthy, and feeling almost unable, to behold even the outer edges of His glory. Yet thankful beyond description to touch even the hem of His garment.

He is the Master and we are His slaves. Having been bought with a price, we are no longer our own (1Cor. 6:19-20). He commands the house, we are but vessels in His hands (2Tim. 2:20-21). Our will made subject to His. Our greatest desire in that day to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

He is the Father and we are His children. Born once of a mother’s womb to enter this world, we have been born again of the Spirit to enter the kingdom (Jn 3:5-6). The Spirit, Paul’s says, of adoption. Testifying with our spirit that we are children of God. Giving voice to that familial realty as He prompts us to cry, “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:14-16). Thus, we also relate to this awe-evoking, life-demanding God as a loving, faithful, nurturing, protecting, and providing Father.

And we could go on. But here’s the facet of our relationship with God above all gods that I’m chewing on this morning. The reality that we are in His confidence.

Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the LORD, but the upright are in His confidence.

(Proverbs 3:31-32 ESV)

We are in His confidence. Brought into His “secret counsel” (NKJV). With us “He is intimate” (NASB). For those declared “godly” through the finished work of the cross, “He offers His friendship” (NLT). For those made “upright” by the power of His risen life, “He is a friend” (HCSB).

We are in His confidence. Privy to the secret things of God (Matt. 13:11). Brought into divine mysteries hidden since the foundation of the earth now revealed to those who believe (Eph. 1:7-9). The higher ways than our ways, the higher thoughts than our thoughts, made known to us even as we’ve been given the mind of Christ (Isa. 55:9, 1Cor. 2:16).

Sure, sometimes we are to see ourselves in the King’s court, and so we bow. Other times, in the Master’s house, and thus we obey. But let’s not forget the privilege of sitting at the Teacher’s feet, listening and learning as He shares His heart through the the illuminating agency of the Third Person of the Godhead Himself.  And, relishing the one-on-one time with Him, we draw near. We lean in. We enjoy “doing coffee” with Him at our table for two.

We are in His confidence. Unreal.

What grace.

To Him be all the glory.

Amen?

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His Perfect Patience

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Pete

He had known this daughter of Abraham (Lk. 13:10-17) from her beginning. After all, He knit her in her mother’s womb. He knew her in her “unformed substance.” What’s more, before she had even taken her first breath, He had written in His book every one of the days He had formed for her “when as yet there was none of them” (Ps. 139:13, 16).

So, He also knew about the disabling spirit that would come upon her. He knew what it would do to her. How it would inflict the frame He had “made in secret” (Ps. 139:15). How it would take that which was “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14) and contort it, the spirit from Satan binding her and forcing her body to twist and bend so that she would be unable to stand up straight.

He also knew He would heal her. That written in her book was a chosen Sabbath day when He would come face to face with her, call her over, and say, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” That on that day He would lay His hands on her and immediately she would be “made straight”.

He knew it all. Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end, knew it all. He knew when her suffering would start, the very day the disabling spirit would enter her, and He knew when it would end, the day He would cast it out. And, He knew that in between those two days there would be eighteen years.

Eighteen years! That may not be a lot in heaven years, but on earth, in mortal years, that’s a long time! A long time to be hunched over. A long time to be unable to look up. A long time to be looked down upon. And, having become a man of earth Himself, Jesus knew it would be a long time for her.

And yet, something Paul says in one of my other readings this morning impresses upon me that how Jesus dealt with this woman was according to “His perfect patience.”

I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.

(1Timothy 1:13b-16 ESV)

Jesus knew Paul, too. He knew this descendant of the tribe of Benjamin, this Hebrew of Hebrews, this man dedicated to the Law and zealously defending it. He knew He would harness and redirect the zeal of this son of Abraham for the sake of the gospel. But He also knew that before then, the man born Saul of Tarsus would persecute the church. That, in his blind fervor, this Pharisee of the Pharisees would preside over the capture and execution of born again children of God.

But on a day He had written in Paul’s book, the eternal Son of God would stand face to face with this murderous zealot and deliver him from his bondage of blindness (Acts 9), saving the chief of sinners that His mercy and His overflowing grace might be an example for all who would be called to faith. The timing of which was determined from the foundation of the world–in accordance with His perfect patience.

His longsuffering towards the notorious Paul, an enemy of the cross bound by the blindness of sin, all part of making known the glory of His mercy and grace.

Similarly, His restraint in dealing with the suffering of the unnamed woman of Luke 13, a hunched over nobody bound by the debilitating dominance of Satan, equally part of making known His glory as conqueror over sin, sickness, and death.

And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. . . . and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by Him.

(Luke 13:13, 17b ESV)

We, as well, can trust in His perfect patience. That what He permits in our lives, and for how long He permits it, has been written into our books that it might ultimately evidence the sufficiency of His grace and be an example for His glory.

Amen?

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To Bear Fruit

Posted on July 23, 2019 by Pete

Jesus interpreted the news for them. That incident where Pilate decided to shed the blood of those not so innocent Galileans who had come to shed the blood of their innocent sacrifices in Jerusalem? Don’t think it was God’s divine judgment on them because they were worse sinners than you. All need to repent.

And that recent freak accident where the tower in Siloam fell for no apparent reason and killed eighteen unsuspecting bystanders? Don’t try and connect some cause and effect dots thinking it was because they had somehow transgressed more than the others in the crowd who were spared. There isn’t anyone who doesn’t need to make a 180 degree turn about something.

But then the Master told them a story. And here He connects the dots between action and consequence.  Or, rather, inaction and consequence.

“A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?'”

(Luke 13:6-7 ESV)

It was a warning to the stiff-necked religious leaders and to unbelieving Israel. But I can’t help but think it’s worthy chewing on for all who have ears to hear.

According to those who’ve read the historical accounts, apparently the Galileans carried a particular notoriety concerning their wickedness. And their “tumultuous behavior” was a seditious thorn in Pilate’s side. So when some of them left Herod’s jurisdiction and came to Jerusalem, Pilate’s backyard, to go through their religious routine, Pilate took advantage of it. But Jesus said, don’t think they deserved what they got anymore than any other sinner.  Instead, He says, if you want to connect dots, connect them between “no fruit” and “cut it down.”

That Jesus was alluding to the Father as the Sovereign Horticulturist, and Israel as His vineyard, would not be lost on anyone who was familiar with the Scriptures (Ps. 80:8, Isa. 5:1-2, Isa. 60:21 , Jer. 2:21). That He would focus on one particular fig tree planted in the vineyard would take it from a national discussion to a very personal one.

The fig tree was planted for one express purpose, to bear fruit. And the vinedresser repeatedly checked in, year after year, seeking fruit on it. But, year after year, he found none. Finally, he commands, “Cut it down!” It’s just using up and wasting resources that were designed for fruit-bearing. Cut it down.

Can’t help but pause and think to myself, “Self, you were saved, the seeds were sown, the Spirit has watered, so that you might bear fruit. When God comes seeking fruit is He finding it?”

Sobering question. Even if I might venture a sheepish, “Some,” as an answer, it still begs the question, “Am I bearing fruit in accordance with the potential the Planter of the vineyard has afforded me?” To which I hear Jesus’ earlier admonition, “Repent!”

And then I note the vinedresser’s intercession on behalf of the fruitless fig tree.

“And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'”

(Luke 13:8-9 ESV)

Give it some more time. Not so it can get its act together, but so that I can further nurture it. Not so it can try harder, but that I might further work it and feed it. The goal is still to bear fruit, but wait a little longer, I’m not finished with this fig tree yet.

Oh, the patience of our divine Vinedresser, the Lord Jesus. Oh, the abundance of His resources!

Having poured out His Spirit into us, willing to pour it out even more (Rom. 5:5, 8:9). Having given us His Word to feed on, giving it still more, knowing that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4), and that we are transformed through the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2). Having knit us together with the people of God as the body of Christ so that, as each of us does our part, we are able “to grow up in every way into Him who is the head” (Eph. 4:15-16). Thus, abiding in Him that we might bear fruit for Him (Jn. 15:4-5).

Oh, to bear fruit. For that is why we were planted.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Beware Even of Spiritual Success

Posted on July 22, 2019 by Pete

I’m chewing on King Hezekiah’s story in 2Chronicles this morning (ch. 29 – 32). He had a good run. Twenty-nine years on the throne and a lot to show for it. He oversaw a deep cleanse of the temple. He restored worship at the temple as it had not been conducted for years. He gave the people an opportunity to once again give expression of “willing hearts” through sacrifice and thank offerings.

Not only was he a catalyst for revival in Judah, but he also reached out to his wayward brethren of the northern kingdom to come to Jerusalem and worship through the remembrance of Passover. Inviting all the tribes of Israel to come as they were, consecrated or not, as he prayed to God that the Lord would pardon everyone who set their hearts to seek Him “though not according to the sanctuary’s rule of cleanness.” And God heard his prayer, healed His people, and accepted their worship. Not since Solomon had there been a Passover like the one quarterbacked by Hezekiah.

He was a king among kings. He nailed it during his reign. The inspired record testifying to it through the ages.

Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.

(2Chronicles 31:20-21 ESV)

But, like so many who run the race well, he got tripped up towards the finish line. As is all too common in the divine record, though he kicked keister for much of his life, it also seems he may have coasted somewhat toward the end of it. And how come? Pride.

In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death, and he prayed to the LORD, and He answered him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem.

(2Chronicles 32:24-25 ESV)

Hezekiah would repent of his pride, and God would relent for a time, but I’m struck by the thought of how even spiritual success can be food for the flesh and can be used by the enemy to bring about spiritual failure. How even doing all the right stuff with the right heart can become a stumbling block when the right Person isn’t given the right glory. How even the motivation to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant” can be twisted into self-exaltation and misplaced self-confidence.

All the stuff that Hezekiah did that was “good and right and faithful before the LORD his God” eventually fueled the fire of thinking of himself more highly than he ought. Of trusting in himself more than he should. Of going it more alone than he was able.

How we need to guard the heart. It is a pride manufacturing machine. It can take even that which is done for the Lord and fashion it into an altar which aggrandizes self.

The longer we live, the longer we seek first the kingdom, the greater the opportunity to somehow think our good works are a result of our self-powered faithfulness. The longer we keep on keepin’ on, the more tales we’re tempted to write into our spiritual resumes as a way of suggesting something about our spiritual capability, rather than seeing them solely as evidence of the abundant grace of a God that works in us and through us and, so often, despite us.

How we need to beware even of spiritual success.

Oh to be more like John the Baptist. That the longer we seek to faithfully discharge the duty the Master has called us to, the more inclined we are to say:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”   (John 3:30 ESV)

By His grace. For His glory.

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Religious Leaven

Posted on July 16, 2019 by Pete

It’s religious leaven. Allow in even the tiniest amount and it’s gonna spread. While just a little bit might seem quite innocuous at first, once it’s allowed in the mix there’s a good chance it’ll take over. Can’t really see it at first, but eventually it manifests itself. So Jesus says, “Beware!”

In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, [Jesus] began to say to His disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

(Luke 12:1 ESV)

“In the meantime” . . .

Jesus had just been going head to head with Pharisees, religious lawyers, and scribes as they tried to “press Him hard” and “provoke Him to speak about many things, lying in wait for Him, to catch Him in something He might say” (Lk. 11:53). On the pretense of open, honest debate they were actually secretly hoping to trip Jesus up.

And who doesn’t like to watch a good fight? The verbal sparring between Jesus and the religious elite attracted a crowd, a really big crowd. And Jesus knowing that the hearts of the multitudes weren’t a lot unlike the hearts of the Pharisees (Lk. 12:56), sees it as a teachable moment for His followers. And so He says to them first . . .

“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

There it is. The leaven of the religious. A righteous man’s, or perhaps better said, a self-righteous man’s Achilles heel. Hypocrisy.

And once it becomes part of the sacred landscape, watch it spread. The original “selfie” that goes viral.

What begins as carefully chosen, seemingly harmless play-acting takes over, becoming a full-on, fake facade. What starts as a little bit of slight-of-hand, eventually becomes unavoidable gymnastics which choke out a pure heart.

Beware of it, says Jesus, stay away from hypocrisy.

So how do we recognize the almost imperceptible, but eventually domineering, active agency of faking it? Jesus gives His disciples a clue.

“Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.”

(Luke 12:2 ESV)

Secrecy. That’s the tell-tale sign of hypocrisy.

Covering up what we really think. Saying something other than what we want to say. Not wanting to reveal who we really are. Void of transparent relationships with anyone. Always trying to put on a good face in front of everyone. That’s how we wear the mask in order to fool others.

But the little leaven of fooling others in one or two small areas of life, if not checked, can permeate every area of our lives. And, to such an extent that, eventually, we end up fooling even ourselves.

Hypocrisy. Beware of it, Jesus says. And, He says it to His disciples first.

Why wouldn’t I think that I need to hear it, too? Why wouldn’t I pause and reflect and do my own “secrecy inventory?” Why wouldn’t I check my own degree of transparency with others? Take stock of how many relationships I have where “what you see is what you get?” And take stock of how many relationships are maintained by putting on a mask?

Religious leaven. Beware of it.

Yes, Lord!

By Your grace. For Your glory.

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A Chilling Epitaph

Posted on July 15, 2019 by Pete

I read the words and what immediately came to mind was, “What a horrible epitaph.”

I don’t think much of what might end up written in memory of me. Not really motivated by leaving a legacy. More concerned with just being faithful to what I think God wants me to do today. But, not gonna lie, after reading these words, I sure know what I DON’T want put on my grave marker.

AND HE DEPARTED WITH NO ONE’S REGRET

Ugh! How’s that for a last bon voyage? Even worse, that it’s God-breathed.

Reading about King Jehoram of Judah this morning in 2Chronicles 21. Grandson of King Asa who, though he didn’t finish so well, modeled for his people what it meant to seek the LORD courageously as he put away the detestable idols that had become prominent in Judah and renewed proper worship in the house of the LORD (1Chr. 15).

And Jehoram was also the son of King Jehoshaphat who, though he had some misplaced allegiances to the wayward kings of Israel, kept his eyes set on God and his heart tuned to sing His praise (2Chr. 20). Thus, Jehoram, next in line for the throne, should have had a pretty good foundation to build upon during his reign as he had seen modeled a lot of the right stuff.

But not so much. He didn’t walk in the ways of his father nor his grandfather (2Chr. 21:12).

First, though his father had given him the keys to the kingdom, he executes all his brothers and anyone else who might be a potential threat for the throne. Then, he caves to the influence of his wife and her dad, Ahab king of Israel, and “does evil in the sight of the LORD” (21:6b) by going after fake deities. What’s more, he “led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into whoredom and made Judah go astray” (21:11) as well.

So, after setting his face against the LORD, the LORD sets His face against Jehoram. After only six short years of Jehoram’s reign, the LORD goes from fighting for Judah to fighting against them. Songs of victory in the land replaced with laments of defeat. And for the last two years of his reign, Jehoram himself suffers in great agony because “the LORD struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease” (21:18).

And here’s how his story concludes:

In the course of time, at the end of two years, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great agony. His people made no fire in his honor, like the fires made for his fathers. He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he departed with no one’s regret.

(2Chronicles 21:19-20a ESV)

What a way for a king of God’s chosen nation to go. Forsaken of God. Without honor among his people. A prevailing, “Who cares? Good riddance!” attitude instead of a state funeral worthy of a life well-lived for a king.

AND HE DEPARTED WITH NO ONE’S REGRET

Honestly, it sent a bit of a shiver down my spine. What a chilling epitaph!

Not looking for glory or praise. But thinking that if I’m faithful to my God and to His call on my life, someone’s gonna care when I’m gone. That if I seek first the kingdom (Matt. 6:33), keep my mind set on things above (Col. 3:1-2), and, by His enabling, daily try to offer my body as a living sacrifice here on earth (Rom. 12:1), there might be a few who are sorry I’m no longer around. At the very least, and who could want anything more, a Savior who might welcome me home with, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21).

By His grace. For His glory.

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A Lifelong Relier

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Pete

Asa saw it as a boy during his dad’s reign as king of Judah. Their army of 400,000 up against the northern king’s army of 800,000 was out numbered 2 to 1, and yet they were victorious. How come? The divine record leaves no ambiguity as to what turned the tide in their favor:

Thus the men of Israel were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.

(2Chronicles 13:18 ESV)

Then, like father like son. When Asa took the throne he too found himself in a similar situation–his army of 580,000 men nose to nose with an enemy horde of a million men and 300 chariots. And he too looked to the LORD. And the LORD looked with favor upon Asa.

And Asa cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like You to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

(2Chronicles 14:11-12 ESV)

But in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, after decades of calling the people of Judah to seek the LORD with all their heart and soul (2Chron. 15), something changed in Asa’s heart.

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, the king of the northern tribes again takes an aggressive stance against Judah and starts to build siege works. But now, rather than relying on the LORD, as he had in the past, Asa pulls out his checkbook (actually, it’s God’s checkbook as he takes “silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the LORD”) and hires the Syrians to distract the king of Israel.

And God calls him on it. He sends a prophet to confront the aging king of Judah:

” . . . you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God . . . ”

(2Chronicles 16:7 ESV)

And it get’s weirder. Rather than heed the LORD’s rebuke and repent, Asa gets angry at the LORD’s messenger and throws him in prison. What’s more he is so enraged and so cranky that he inflicts “cruelties upon some of the people at the same time” (16:10).

And for the next five years, until his death, this king who had known what it was to rely on the LORD and had repeatedly seen the power of God to defy insurmountable odds, would maintain a posture of independent, self-reliance. The divine record also chronicling for the ages to follow that even when Asa suffered a debilitating ailment in his feet, “yet even in this disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians” (16:12).

How does that even happen? Pride? I’m guessin’. Complacency? Probably. Having enough resources at hand to be self-sufficient? For sure.

Another reminder in Scripture that starting well doesn’t guarantee finishing well. That running the race diligently for most of the race doesn’t excuse us from running the homestretch with equal purpose and diligence. That without faith, regardless of whether you’ve been a man of faith for most of your life, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6).

O, to be protected from a prideful, independent attitude. O, to resist the temptation to use what’s been given in abundance as a means to avoid trusting in the Giver of that abundance.

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

(2Chronicles 16:9a ESV)

O that I might never cease, in all things, to have a heart wired, by His enabling, to trust and depend on the LORD. That I might look to Him alone, in every situation, as my strong support.

That I would be a lifelong relier.

By His grace. For His glory.

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A Heart Set on Seeking the LORD

Posted on July 11, 2019 by Pete

They gave up their inheritance. Land that had been in their family for generations they abandoned. Property promised them from the time of the exodus they saw disappear in their rearview mirrors. More than their prized possession, it was their connection to their ancestry as a member of one of the twelve tribes. And they just walked away from it. How come? Because they set their hearts to seek the LORD.

Continuing to read in 2Chronicles this morning. The kingdom established under David and Solomon is divided because of Rehoboam’s bone-headed move to listen to some hard-hearted, wet behind the ears advisors (2Ch. 10.). Thus, the northern ten tribes have broken away under Jeroboam’s leadership.

And under that leadership they have established a new religion, one that worships goat idols and golden calves as the gods of their deliverance (2Ch. 11:15, 1Ki. 12:25-33). One that no longer needs the Levites, those who were appointed to serve in matters of worship before God, and so has cast them out. And the Levites leave their common lands in the north and come to Judah and to Jerusalem to serve and worship there.

And what catches my attention this morning, is that others did as well.

And those who had set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

(2Chronicles 11:16 ESV)

Don’t know that I ever realized this before, that after the split there were those “from all the tribes” of the northern kingdom who responded to Jeroboam’s fake worship economy by packing up and heading south. Not content with man-made gods and government-designed worship, they move to the region surrounding Jerusalem to worship the God of their fathers. And it cost them everything as they left their land, their possessions, and friends and family behind. Their very identities, which had been so intricately tied to their tribe and the land given to their tribes, had, in one sense, been severed.

But now they had a new identity. Now they marched under a different banner.

Those who had set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel.

While the land was important, it had been but a gift from God. And rather than be brought into bondage by the gift, they instead sought the Giver. They refused to let their possessions possess them and lead them to capitulate to the idolatry around them. Instead they would count themselves as God’s holy possession, and God, owning their hearts, gave them the power to separate. And so they became known as those who had set their hearts to seek the LORD.

I wanna be like them. In a culture that increasingly distances itself from worship in spirit and truth in order to embrace worship of self and tribal allegiances, I don’t want the gifts I’ve received to so tie me to the way of the world that it turns my heart away from the One who rescued me and gave me the gifts in the first place. Rather, I want to be willing to walk away from everything if that’s what’s needed to walk after Him. I want to march to the beat of the kingdom’s drummer, even if it means leaving what I possess in order to pursue what He has promised.

I want a heart set on seeking the LORD.

You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.”

(Psalm 27:8 ESV)

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.

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Righteous Swordsmen

Posted on July 10, 2019 by Pete

Everything within David wanted to get into a shouting match. Insult me? I’ll insult you more! Slander me? I’ll show you what trash talking is all about! But though that was David’s natural propensity, his prayer in Psalm 141 asks for the supernatural. It reveals how a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22)–and God alone tunes hearts after His own (Ezek. 36:26-27)–responds to the temptation of the flesh to get down in the dirt with the wicked.

Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies!

(Psalm 141:3-4 ESV)

And what grabs me this morning is David’s anticipation of what that guard might look like. That while God could use His unseen Spirit to mystically watch over the door of David’s lips, He might also choose to use a flesh-and-blood swordsman.

Let a righteous man strike me–it is a kindness; let him rebuke me–it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it.

(Psalm 141:5 ESV)

Reminded this morning of the need for righteous swordsmen in our lives.

Faithful friends who can wield the sword of the Spirit, the word of God (Eph.6:17), to protect us from ourselves. Relationships with godly people that are grounded in such transparency that the Spirit can use their sanctified voice to call out our bad behaviors and wavering hearts. Those who know us so intimately, and love us so unconditionally, that they are not afraid to cut us deeply with the truth.

I fear those sorts of relationships are all too rare. In this age where we’re increasingly known by the pictures we post and the tweets we tweet, where self-esteem is built upon the number of “likes” and “follows” and “friends” we have, we find ourselves with no close friends at all. Superficiality rules the day. Transparency is something to be avoided.

In a time where, more and more, every other pursuit chokes out the pursuit of the kingdom of God. So that, when time with God’s people is now measured in how many times we gather with the saints per month rather than per week, the number of godly voices many have in their lives approaches non-existent. The voices of the world flowing in through electronic media drowning out the voice of the Spirit of God through well-known and much-trusted people of God.

But it is a kindness to be struck by a righteous friend. It is like oil for the head to be corrected by a godly confidante. How every saint needs at least one righteous swordsman in their life.

And it takes time, intentional time, to cultivate such relationships. What’s more, it takes honesty, vulnerable honesty, to open up our still-work-in-progress lives for another to see how messy that work is.

But I’m convinced it is a critical component in our sanctification. God wanting to use the voice of others to help us hear His voice. God leveraging the insights of others to help us see what He sees. God employing those who love us enough to call us out to keep us walking in the ways to which God has called us in.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend . . . (Proverbs 27:6a ESV)

Righteous swordsmen . . .

And this too by the grace of God. That we might live for the glory of God.

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