There’s a River!

Posted on February 7, 2025 by Pete

There are rivers. And then, there are rivers! Rivers that are more like large streams and almost run dry in the summer months, and rivers which, at certain points, you can barely see across as they eventually end up pouring millions of gallons of runoff into the ocean regardless of the time of year. Rivers for catching fish, and rivers for shipping containers. Yeah, there are rivers. And then, there are rivers! This morning I’m pretty sure I’m reading about the latter and not the former.

How precious is Your steadfast love, O God!
       The children of mankind take refuge in
              the shadow of Your wings.
They feast on the abundance of Your house,
       and You give them drink from the river of Your delights.
For with You is the fountain of life;
       in Your light do we see light.

(Psalm 36:7-9 ESV)

The river of Your delights . . . That’s the river I’m noodling on this morning.

Rivers are kind of a big deal in the biblical story. It began amidst a river (Gen. 2:10), and it’s gonna end around a river (Rev. 22:1-2). And in between, guess what? There’s a river. A river of God’s delights.

A river — a torrent, a flood. Of His delights — His luxurious pleasures. There’s a river and He’s made it available for the children of mankind to drink from.

What does drinking from the river of God’s delights look like? Sampling? Sipping? Conserving? Or is it, chugging, gulping, and gorging? Is it, as Peterson puts it, filling our tankards? (With non-alcoholic beverages of course)

What does it taste like? Bitter? Blah? Like taking my medicine? Or is it intoxicating? Addicting? Tasting so good that you can’t stop and run the risk of drowning in it?

Like I said before, I’m leaning to the latter rather than the former.

If it’s God’s river, there’s no scarcity. So, why am I so often more of a sampler than a swigger?

If it’s God’s river of delights, then why do I so often act like I’ve sucked on a lemon rather than plunged into something “sweeter than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Ps. 19:10)? Why is it more like sipping on hot tea after a funeral than hoisting one high at an Oktoberfest?

There is a river. A here and now river. An overflowing river. A thirst-quenching river. A river of God’s delights. A fountain of life. A river of living water.

Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” Now this He said about the Spirit.

(John 7:37b-39a ESV)

Yup . . . there are rivers. And then, there’s a river! The river of God’s delights!

So, let’s fill our tankards!

By His grace. For His glory.

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All My Bones

Posted on February 6, 2025 by Pete

The songwriter knew that only a great deliverance could rescue him from such great desperation. That only God showing up could reverse what was going down. And in the anticipation of such a great salvation, the poet could imagine a flood-like response of overflowing adoration.

Contend, O LORD, with those who
       contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me! . . .

For without cause they hid their net for me;
       without cause they dug a pit for my life.
Let destruction come upon him
       when he does not know it!
And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
       let him fall into it— to his destruction!

Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD,
       exulting in His salvation.
All my bones shall say,
       “O LORD, who is like You,
delivering the poor
       from him who is too strong for him,
       the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

(Psalm 35:1, 7-10 ESV)

All my bones . . . Those are the three words I’m chewing on this morning.

Everything within me. Every fiber of my being. All that I am. My very essence. At my very core. With all my heart and soul. Fervently. Intensely. Passionately. Wholeheartedly.

You get the idea.

Now apply the idea.

All my bones shall say,
       “O LORD, who is like You?”

Thinking this morning that people of great deliverance — people who once lived in great despair and darkness but who are now people of great life and light — will be people who, from time to time, will find themselves whispering or shouting, thinking or singing, with all my bones, “O LORD, who is like You?”

Way too easy to become way too familiar with the cross and it’s rescue. For the good news to somehow default to old news.

But oh, when the Spirit who lives within us reminds us of our redemption, when He impresses upon us afresh the wonders of our reconciliation, then, with every bone in our body, how can we not go down on our face and lift up our heart and respond with all our being, “O LORD, who is like You?”

Thinkin’ we can’t . . .

All my bones . . .

In awe of all His grace . . .

For all His glory . . .

Amen?

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He Still Watches Me

Posted on February 4, 2025 by Pete

After reading Psalm 33 this morning, I went back through my journal and looked at Psalm 33 entries from the past. There was quite a few of them, the first being in 2008, the first year I started posting my thoughts. A number of them dealt with singing. After all, proclaims the psalmist, “Praise befits the upright” (33:1). In one entry, I noted that on a “praise-per-inch” basis, you’re not gonna get a much better bang for your buck than Psalm 33.

But then I came to the entry for 2017. That year I was behind in my reading plan. While I usually try and track a week or so ahead of plan, that year I was a few days behind. Makes sense. There was a lot going on in February 2017. It was around this time 8 years ago that we brought in hospice and entered our final vigil. My wife went to be with the Lord, February 17th, 2017. Below are my thoughts from February 13th.

Been a few more trials, different types of “deep ends”, since then. For many, our current cultural moment feels a bit overwhelming. But one thing hasn’t changed. His eye is still on the sparrow, and I know He still watches me. (Make sure to watch the video.)

February 13, 2017

Managed to get some time in my study this morning and catch up on my reading plan. Good to get some quiet time and listen. Word of God speak.

But didn’t get to my computer until early evening. Kind of the way our days have been going lately.

As I was catching up in the psalms, the following verses caught my attention and gave me something to chew on.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him,
       on those who hope in His steadfast love.    (Psalm 33:18 ESV)

The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
       and His ears toward their cry.    (Psalm 34:15 ESV)

Something about knowing you’re being watched that can be kind of intimidating . . . especially if you have something to hide! But there’s also something about knowing you’re being watched that can act as a source of courage and comfort.

I remember my kids when they were little getting ready to try something new. Something they thought was kind of risky and dangerous like jumping into the deep end of the pool by themselves. They’d walk to the deep end. Stand by the edge. Survey the leap they were about to take. Remind themselves that they were pretty sure they’d be able to swim back to the edge. And then, as a final safety check they’d look over at me and say, “Dad, are you watching?”

I was. And all systems were a go. Splash! Into the deep end they went . . . all by themselves.

Life can kind of be like a series of “deep ends.” Something new you have to experience comes along. Something hard or dangerous or simply something you don’t want to have to do. But you know you gotta. Others have done it, so can you.

So you get ready. You know God’s promises are sure and that you really can do all things through Him who strengthens you (Php. 4:13). You believe that His grace really is sufficient and that His power really is made known in your weakness (2Cor. 12:9). And so you’re ready to take that next step. But you still want to look up and say, “Dad, are you watching?”

The songwriter twice reminds me: Yes, He’s watching.

Behold the eye of Abba Father is on those who fear Him, on those who have placed their hope solely in the eternal promise of His steadfast love. The eyes of our Father are locked on His children, fully knowing how scary it is to charter into unknown and unpleasant territory. And He hears their cry.

As I was chewing on the blessedness of being watched by my heavenly Father, a segment from an old (like really old) Gaither DVD came to mind (pardon Michael English’s fashion faux pas). “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me,” they sing over and over again. It brought a smile to my face and a bit of joy induced lightness to my heart. If you have a couple of minutes, click here, sit back, and let it put a bit of a smile on your face — and some praise in your heart — as well.

Yeah, getting a bit of time in the Word and a bit more time on my computer has been a refreshing pause today. Now, back into the deep end.

By His grace. For His glory.

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My People

Posted on January 31, 2025 by Pete

Corinth. I read the word, I think of the church. The divided church. The quarreling church. The adultery in the pew church. The suing one another church. The church of a dozen questions — about marriage, about food sacrificed to idols, about spiritual gifts. The church that messed up the Lord’s supper. The church that eventually turned on Paul. Oh, I know about that church.

But then I keep reading and I’m gently rebuked. Not because I’ve misunderstood what the letters to the Corinthians were dealing with, but because I’ve misidentified the people to whom the letters were written. People, who Jesus said, are “My people.”

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. . . . And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are My people.” And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

(Acts 18:1, 8b-11 ESV)

My people . . . That’s what pops this morning.

While I might tend towards a bit of smugness as I think about that church, it’s because I forget that Jesus also knew all about that church — even before they were a church. And still, He says to Paul, “Keep preaching. Keep teaching. Keep adding to the church’s number. ‘Cause there are a lot of folks in this town who are going to believe the gospel. Many in this city who are My people.”

Think about it. If New Testament believers had had their acts together, we wouldn’t have a New Testament beyond Acts. If the early church was a healthy, functioning church, no reason to write letters to correct the church. So, when we talk about wanting to be like the first century church . . . ta da!! . . . we are! Yet, in all our mixed-up messiness, in all our frustrating failures, in all our confused quirkiness, hear Jesus say, “These are the many who are My people.“

My people . . . That’s the church — the whole church. Not just “the best” of the church. Not just those who have their theological i’s and doctrinal t’s crossed. Not just those who have figured out “community” and “being on mission.” Not just those who don’t need to read Paul’s letters because they don’t have the issues addressed by Paul’s letters.

No, My people is we people. Those of us who don’t have our acts (pun intended) quite together. Those of us who are still figuring out the mysteries of the ways of God. Those of us who are still fracturing the unity of the Spirit of God. Those of us who are still messing up when it comes to worshiping God. Those of us still limping along as we keep longing to know fully the kingdom of God. Those of us who are still being tripped up by sin against God. Those would be, says Jesus, My people.

I’m reminded that there is nothing that we works-in-progress can do to make God love us more. Nothing we can do that can cause God to love us less. Nothing that makes us any more, or any less His people. For while we were yet sinners — while we were yet the messed-up church to be — God showed the depths of His love for us in that Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). So that, one day, in some town somewhere, we’d hear the gospel, and respond to the gospel, and be welcomed by the Savior as My people.

Corinth. What a bunch. But Jesus’ bunch. Jesus’ people. And my people too.

Making the wonders of grace all that more wonderful.

Making the glory of God all that more glorious.

Amen?

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The Morning After the Night Before (2013 Remix)

Posted on January 30, 2025 by Pete

What a night! No sooner had they begun to revel in the “thrill of victory” after having walked out of a plundered Egypt, then they found their backs to the sea, certain they were about to experience “the agony of defeat” as Pharaoh’s armies were bearing down on them. Despite the recent experience of that first Passover, when God revealed that He was for them and nothing could stand against them, and even though the pillar of cloud was literally still in their midst, there was something about seeing the dust being kicked up by hundreds and hundreds of chariots that struck fear in the hearts of the people God had just delivered with a great deliverance. Something that made them want to go back to slavery rather than deal with what appeared to be the perils of freedom (Ex.14:10-12).

But that was yesterday. And chariots don’t float. So, as morning broke . . . as they looked back from the other side of the Red Sea . . . as they beheld the lifeless bodies of their pursuers . . . their fear of the Egyptians gave way to a fear of the LORD (Ex. 14:31). On the morning after the night before, angst gave way to awe. Thus, the cry of these former slaves of Egypt became the song of the redeemed.

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying,

“I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously;
       the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea.
The LORD is my strength and my song,
       and He has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise Him,
       my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”

(Exodus 15:1-2 ESV)

To be honest, there’s a part of me that wants to sit in judgment on the Israelites. After all, they had witnessed the plagues in Egypt. They had lived through Passover knowing the power of the blood to save. They had walked out of Egypt not only as former slaves but as rich slaves, their former task masters handing over to them abundant treasures and material goods. They were being escorted by the very presence of God Himself in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. So, how could they get so bent out of shape, how could they so quickly want to go back into bondage when Pharaoh took one last run at reclaiming his workforce?

But if I’m really honest, I know that deliverance can be a scary thing. That freedom comes with a whole new set of dangers. That being redeemed doesn’t mean being removed from the enemies of life. I get that night still falls on those who have been freed from bondage.

Yet, I’m also thinking that it’s during those times — times when your back’s against the wall (or the Red Sea, as the case may be) — that those who have been bought by the Lord are ready to be reminded to be brave in the Lord and “fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD.” When those rescued of God are ready to be shown they will be defended by God and that “the LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (Ex. 14:13-14).

There is a morning after the night before. For those delivered from slavery, there will be repeated deliverance from the storms. There’s a coming out the other side where God’s feeble, fear-filled, followers experience again the mighty hand of God acting again on their behalf.

And in that morning moment — and it may be just a moment, for the next challenge may not be far off — praise is fitting. To exult in the victory is to know that it is the LORD who has triumphed. That it is God who is our strength. That He really has become our salvation. Fitting, thus, that He should be our song.

While it might not be the final victory — more trials to come, more seas to face, more nights to endure — to remember and reflect on those mornings after the nights before is to cling to Him as “my God.” It is to look beyond the chariots and still praise Him. To recall His faithfulness to generations of His people and exalt Him.

I need to savor those mornings after the nights before. I need to bring them to remembrance when times are good. I need to recall them when times are not so good. And, at all times, I need to be singing the song of those bought with a great price and brought out with a great salvation.

You have led in Your steadfast love the people whom You have redeemed;
       You have guided them by Your strength to Your holy abode. . . .
You will bring them in and plant them on Your own mountain,
       the place, O LORD, which You have made for Your abode,
       the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.

(Exodus 15:13, 17 ESV)

On the morning after the night before and during the night before the morning after, I will sing to the LORD!

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.

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Dealing with Some Dissonance

Posted on January 29, 2025 by Pete

Not sure I’m going to be able to adequately capture in a few words what I’m chewing on this morning. It’s one of the those “contrast” mornings where there’s conflicting, maybe even colliding observations from two of my readings.

First, I get a bit high-centered on a verse in Exodus — pausing, hovering, and meditating on the verse for a bit before regaining traction to move on.

At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.

(Exodus 12:29-30 ESV)

There was not a house where someone was not dead . . . Got stuck there. Finished the chapter and then went back to try and wrap my mind around that phrase.

Not a house! Not one, in all of Egypt, that didn’t have someone they would need to bury. How awful. It’s way too easy for me to focus solely on the deliverance of God’s people and skip over the judgment of His enemies. Too easy to think of those who walked away and forget those washed away. What was it to hear that “great cry” in Egypt that night? What was it to be one of the criers? Heavy sigh.

Then, after reading in Matthew and then Acts, but with Exodus 12 still in mind, I close my readings in the Psalms. And it’s a line in a song of David that creates the dissonance in my deliberations.

One thing have I asked of the LORD,
       that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
       all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
       and to inquire in His temple.

(Psalm 27:4 ESV)

To gaze upon the beauty of the LORD . . . That’s the phrase I want to run with. That’s the one I want to settle into. To contemplate His beauty. To behold His delightfulness. To fix the eyes of my heart on His pleasantness.

Yet, I can’t shake not a house where someone was not dead. Can’t disassociate the beauty of the LORD from the LORD who struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. Can’t compartmentalize the call to delight in the LORD while still reeling from the implications of the deliverance of the LORD. How do those two things go together?

Seems to me, it comes down to where you’re going to anchor your soul, and which verse is going to provide context for the other. To cast the LORD’s beauty in the shadow of Egypt’s judgment, or Egypt’s judgment processed in the prevailing truth of the LORD’s beauty. In light of the truth of the gospel, I’m going with the LORD’s beauty as the faith anchor for my soul.

Though hard to reconcile in the details, the same holiness that emits a gaze worthy beauty, is the holiness that demands payment for evil. The wonder of deliverance can only be realized against the backdrop of an enemy’s defeat. The Exodus horror must be viewed in light of the Psalm’s beauty. Right?

Isn’t that how faith works? Isn’t that what it means, at least in part, to trust in the LORD with all your heart (Prov. 3:5-6)? Believing that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23, 32; 33:11)? Resting in the incomprehensible reality that while God calls the wicked to forsake his ways, and though God is slow to anger and ready to wait, God, if He is God, must eventually judge the wicked when they persist to harden their hearts? That His thoughts and His ways are so much higher than ours (Isa. 55:7-9)? Isn’t that what quiets the dissonance? I’m thinkin’ . . .

So, while I can’t get evict the mental picture of Egyptian households on Passover night from my mind, it is eclipsed by my God’s beauty, the splendor of holiness (Ps. 29:2).

And so, I gaze.

Makes sense?

Because of grace. For His glory.

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Vindication

Posted on January 28, 2025 by Pete

As I hover over Psalm 26 this morning, what I’m chewing on is a thought that justification and vindication are two different things. I’m thinking that if justification deals with sin, vindication deals with the unfounded accusation of sin. If justification deals with making right wrong acts, vindication is making known sincere intentions. That’s what David wanted — vindication.

Vindicate me, O LORD,
       for I have walked in my integrity,
       and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
Prove me, O LORD, and try me;
       test my heart and my mind.
For Your steadfast love is before my eyes,
       and I walk in Your faithfulness.

(Psalm 26:1-2 ESV)

All David wanted was his name cleared (MSG). Specifically, some suggest, in the matter — or supposed matter — of his ill-will towards Saul (1Sam. 24:9).

David’s appeal to the LORD wasn’t to stamp all his actions and deeds as perfect, but wanted God to bring to light that his motives were pure. He had walked in integrity, in innocence and simplicity, when it came to serving Saul. Though he knew the throne would one day be his, he wasn’t jockeying for position or planning some treacherous coup, but instead had determined to trust in the LORD without wavering. Though there may have been missteps and misunderstandings along the way, David’s heart was to serve Saul as he followed the LORD, walking in God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.

But David wouldn’t trust his own heart to diagnosis his own heart. Instead, he invites the LORD to prove him, to try him, and to test him. “Search me, O God,” he would sing in another song, “and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24). And then, having had his heart searched and His thoughts known, having dealt with any grievous ways, David would ask of the LORD, “Vindicate me. Clear my name.”

We don’t always get what we want. Vindication before others might just have to be seen as a “nice to have.” But to be known by the LORD, tested of the LORD, and vindicated in His sight — to confidently wash our hands in innocence and boldly come before His altar with thanksgiving (Ps. 26:6-7) — is the far greater prize. Our vindication, though not the same as our justification, possible only because of our justification, Christ’s atoning work on our behalf and His imputed righteousness to our account.

Vindication.

Might it be so, Lord.

By Your grace. For Your glory.

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Poor is Where You Want to Be

Posted on January 27, 2025 by Pete

Okay, not gonna lie! I get pretty pumped when I can remember something I read six months ago and the impact it had on me then (hey, in these days of my sixth decade I’m excited that I remember stuff from last week). Such is the case this morning reading in Matthew as I recall that I read the same thing in Luke last June (here’s the thinking then).

It’s an “one-of-these-things-is-not-quite-like-the-other” observation.

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

(Matthew 11:2-6 ESV)

See it? The thing that’s not quite like the other things? The thing that stands out?

So, what’s the thing? The poor have good news preached to them.

The blind see and the lame walk. Lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. Even the dead, when they encounter Jesus, realize a great reversal as they are raised up. But the poor? What do the needy who are poor get when they get to Jesus? Money? Riches? A pre-loaded debit card? Nope. They get a sermon. They get the good news preached to them.

Chew on that for a bit. I am. For the second time in six months. (Did I mention that kind of pumps me?)

And it kind of hits me that being poor is the great equalizer for all those in Jesus’ healing line. In that day and culture, someone who was blind ended up being a beggar. So, after being touched by Jesus, they became a seeing beggar. Same for a leper who had been a leper for any length of time. Or someone deaf. Maybe the dead guy (or dead gal) raised to life had some local notoriety, but this was well before the ability to publish an “I Was Dead and Then Alive” memoir or cash in on daytime TV interviews. Guessing the dead guy (or dead gal) who came back ended up coming back to whatever socio-economic status they had before. I’m thinking that it’s possible that all of these, after the miracles they experienced, were now where the poor always were — ready to hear some good news preached to them.

After all, when it comes to the economics of eternity, poor is exactly where you want to be.

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him?

(James 2:5)

Poor is where you want to be — where you need to be — when it comes to picking up what Jesus is laying down. ‘Cause having nothing is the perfect position to be in when it comes to being given everything. But we’re not talking worldly riches. Rather, we’re talking eternal riches, aka treasure in heaven (Matt. 19:21).

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich.

(2Corinthians 8:9 ESV)

I said it six months ago (actually Jesus said it two thousand years ago, but I’m just jazzed that I can remember quoting Him six months ago), “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20).

Amen?

By His grace. For His glory.

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A Door of Faith

Posted on January 23, 2025 by Pete

It had been between 4 and 10 months since they left Antioch. Antioch, the place where the church submitted to the Spirit’s leading to “set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:1-2). They left in early or late spring, they returned in the fall.

And boy, did they have a story or two to tell concerning their missionary journey. Stories of the word proclaimed in synagogues and before governors (Acts 13:4-12). Of the word of God believed and belittled. Of encounters with demon-possessed magicians (Acts 13:10) and stone-throwing mobs (Acts 14:19). Of how the message of salvation had created division, with some becoming disciples of Jesus who were urged to continue in the grace of God (Acts 13:43), and of some, filled with jealousy, becoming detractors who thrust aside the gospel, judging themselves unworthy of eternal life (Acts 13:44-46).

But, as Luke meticulously records, while Paul and Barnabas relayed their tales of trial and triumph, they made sure that what was known was that whatever had been accomplished for the kingdom of God over the previous few months had not been their own doing.

They sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

(Acts 14:26-27)

All that God had done . . . That’s what Paul & Co. talked about.

Sure, what had been done on their missionary journey had been with them, but what happened over the course of those months — the demons that were denounced, the bodies that were healed, the souls that were saved, the believers who were added — all that God had done. And all that could be summarized in a phrase that’s captured my thoughts this morning, He had opened a door of faith.

The preaching and proclaiming, the healing of the crippled and the hushing of the critical, the calling of disciples and the castigating of detractors, whether to Jew or to Gentile, it was all about opening a door. A door of faith.

A reminder this morning of how anyone, and how everyone, is saved. It’s by going through a door. A door opened not “of the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God” (Jn. 1:13). A door of faith, “and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

The door not only by which we were saved, but also the door by which we are being saved (1Cor. 15:1-2). Our sanctification not our work but His. Our desire to be disciples not stories of what we are doing, but of what God has done. Not tales exalting our efforts, but confessions of but walking through a door continually opened to us, a door of life-giving, life-sustaining faith.

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

(2Corinthians 5:7 ESV)

It’s time to go through that door again today. Amen?

Only by His grace. Only for His glory.

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The Joy of His Face

Posted on January 22, 2025 by Pete

Hovering over a verse in one of David’s songs, this morning. Tempo’s up beat. Lyrics are uplifting. It’s a song written when the going’s gone good, when the battle’s been won, when the enemies have been defeated. It’s a song of rejoicing.

But what grabs me is that David’s joy is not ultimately sourced in being given “his hearts desires” (v.2), nor is it that he’s been met with “rich blessings” (v.3) — though, I’m sure that doesn’t hurt. No, David’s gladness is not solely found in his circumstance but ultimately in God’s countenance.

For You [O LORD] make him most blessed forever;
       You make him glad with the joy of Your presence.
For the king trusts in the LORD,
       and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.

(Psalm 21:6-7 ESV)

The joy of Your presence . . . that’s the circumstance negating, season of life equalizing phrase I’m chewing on this morning. Literally, it’s joy by Your face.

How can joy not be known if it’s true that, for those who trust in Him, the LORD gives us His face and not His back? How can a sense of well-being not be well-experienced if we truly know that the sovereign God of creation is engaged and not indifferent? How can the things of earth not grow faintly dim in the light of His glory and grace, supplanted by the invasion of Almighty occupancy? Yes Lord, You make me glad with the joy of Your face!

His face seen through the revelation of the Scriptures. His face seen in knowing Jesus. His face illuminated through the inner agency of the Holy Spirit who works within us to experience 20/20 spiritual vision.

“Lift up the light of Your face upon us, O LORD!”      (Psalm 4:6 ESV)

Your face, Lord, show us Your face! In times of victory, in times of defeat. In seasons of elation, in seasons of sorrow. For then there will be gladness with joy.

O, to know always the joy of His face. To know the blessing God has for His people.

The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make His face to shine upon you
       and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up His countenance upon you
       and give you peace.

(Numbers 6:24-26 ESV)

By His grace. For His glory.

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