Colin S. Smith's Blog, page 9

What to Pray When We Don’t Know What to Pray

Too often words fail me when I spend time in prayer. Do you feel your praise falls flat, and your thanksgiving is routine? How do we pray when we don’t know what to pray?

God calls us to a difficult task, to commune with the Maker of the Universe in unceasing conversation. His Holy Spirit dwells in our spirit, whispering the mysteries of God into our souls. How inadequate our words seem in response! What do we do when we can’t find the words to express the cries of our hearts?
Pray His Words
Psalm 19 tells us God’s words “are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” When our words ring dull, we can find the chord again by praying His Word. A couple of especially useful parts of God’s Word are the Psalms and the prayers of saints.

The Psalms provide rich, poetic prayers of wonderful truth. Filled with emotion, these prayers lead us to discoveries about the unfathomable character of God. Too often, lost in our own prayers, we begin to worship God as we want Him to be. By praying through the Psalms, we hear God reveal to us His character, and we can worship Him in truth. I enjoy praying Psalm 23 when discouraged, Psalm 32 when I need to repent, Psalm 103 or Psalm 104 when I need a fresh view of God, and Psalm 139 when I feel alone.

I also recommend praying the prayers of the saints. One example is found in Colossians 1:9–10, when the apostle Paul prays for a church he had never met. He asks, “that [they] may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that [they] may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” How different our faith communities might look if, along with our requests for physical health and financial provision, we echoed Paul’s prayer for the Colossians!

Find other wonderful prayers in Luke 1:46-55, 67-79; John 17:15-17; Philippians 1:9-11, Ephesians 3:14-21; Hebrews 13:21.
Sing Their Songs
Scripture encourages the devoted heart to praise God with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in our hearts toward God (Ephesians 5:19). Deepest praise seems to find its voice in song. And deep pain and sorrow unburdened before the Lord find their chorus in praise.

The ancient hymns provide us with rich prayers of praise and devotion. These songs bear witness to hearts fully devoted to the Lord and desperate for His love and loving care. By singing these hymns prayerfully or simply praying through the verses, we can share with seasoned saints praise for our all-sufficient, all-knowing, all-loving Savior and Lord.

For example, when I’m preparing to spend some extended time with the Lord, I like to pray the hymn, “Be Thou My Vision.” The song begins:

“Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou are
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.”

I sing this chorus as a prayer to the Lord, asking Him to be my vision. “Be Still my Soul” helps me praise God for my eternal security. “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go” reminds me the Lord loves me with an everlasting love. Modern hymns like “In Christ Alone,” and “Ancient of Days” keep me mindful in turbulent times that Christ is on the Throne.

Consult a hymnal or pray along with your favorite vocalists as they sing words of praise.
Echo Other’s Prayers
Like the melodious prayers of the songwriters, the rich prayers of the faithful followers lift our hearts to praise and petition the Lord in new ways. Our own prayer requests often focus on physical needs like urgent health problems, relationship issues, and economic woes. These are all legitimate needs, but how differently other heroes of the faith prayed!

In the book, Valley of Vision, editor Arthur Bennett, collected Puritan prayers and devotions. When our words are not enough, we can enjoy praying the words of these saints. Their prayers express wholehearted commitment and grateful awe in the presence of the God they both feared and adored.

In their prayers these saints also give us rich doctrine. They seem to understand and appreciate deeply all three persons of the Trinity and the roles they play in our salvation. Scripture urges us to set our minds on eternity. One such example is the devotion titled, “Trinity” which praises the Father who sent His Son, the Son who walked among us for our salvation, and the Holy Spirit who implanted eternity in our hearts.

The Puritans fully understood they were not home yet, often punctuating their devotions with a yearning for a distant shore. One such prayer entitled simply, “Voyage,” illustrates this focus so well. It ends with these wistful lines, “Let my mast before me be the Savior’s cross and every oncoming wave the fountain in His side. Help me, protect me in the moving sea until I reach the shore of unceasing praise.”
Thanks Be to God!
I’m so grateful that when we don’t know what to pray, we can turn to some precious resources. The prayers of the saints in Scripture lead us to pray truth for our own walks with God as well for those in our care, and the Psalms in particular, teach us how to worship. The words of treasured hymns confirm our faith and lift our eyes to the Lord. And the prayers of believers like the Puritan men and women loosen our tongues, lift our hearts, and liven our souls.

What to Pray When We Don’t Know What to Pray

Too often words fail me when I spend time in prayer. Do you feel your praise falls flat, and your thanksgiving is routine? How do we pray when we don’t know what to pray?

God calls us to a difficult task, to commune with the Maker of the Universe in unceasing conversation. His Holy Spirit dwells in our spirit, whispering the mysteries of God into our souls. How inadequate our words seem in response! What do we do when we can’t find the words to express the cries of our hearts?

Pray His Words

Psalm 19 tells us God’s words “are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” When our words ring dull, we can find the chord again by praying His Word. A couple of especially useful parts of God’s Word are the Psalms and the prayers of saints.

The Psalms provide rich, poetic prayers of wonderful truth. Filled with emotion, these prayers lead us to discoveries about the unfathomable character of God. Too often, lost in our own prayers, we begin to worship God as we want Him to be. By praying through the Psalms, we hear God reveal to us His character, and we can worship Him in truth. I enjoy praying Psalm 23 when discouraged, Psalm 32 when I need to repent, Psalm 103 or Psalm 104 when I need a fresh view of God, and Psalm 139 when I feel alone.

I also recommend praying the prayers of the saints. One example is found in Colossians 1:9–10, when the apostle Paul prays for a church he had never met. He asks, “that [they] may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that [they] may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” How different our faith communities might look if, along with our requests for physical health and financial provision, we echoed Paul’s prayer for the Colossians!

Find other wonderful prayers in Luke 1:46-55, 67-79; John 17:15-17; Philippians 1:9-11, Ephesians 3:14-21; Hebrews 13:21.

Sing Their Songs

Scripture encourages the devoted heart to praise God with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in our hearts toward God (Ephesians 5:19). Deepest praise seems to find its voice in song. And deep pain and sorrow unburdened before the Lord find their chorus in praise.

The ancient hymns provide us with rich prayers of praise and devotion. These songs bear witness to hearts fully devoted to the Lord and desperate for His love and loving care. By singing these hymns prayerfully or simply praying through the verses, we can share with seasoned saints praise for our all-sufficient, all-knowing, all-loving Savior and Lord.

For example, when I’m preparing to spend some extended time with the Lord, I like to pray the hymn, “Be Thou My Vision.” The song begins:

“Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou are
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.”

I sing this chorus as a prayer to the Lord, asking Him to be my vision. “Be Still my Soul” helps me praise God for my eternal security. “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go” reminds me the Lord loves me with an everlasting love. Modern hymns like “In Christ Alone,” and “Ancient of Days” keep me mindful in turbulent times that Christ is on the Throne.

Consult a hymnal or pray along with your favorite vocalists as they sing words of praise.

Echo Other’s Prayers

Like the melodious prayers of the songwriters, the rich prayers of the faithful followers lift our hearts to praise and petition the Lord in new ways. Our own prayer requests often focus on physical needs like urgent health problems, relationship issues, and economic woes. These are all legitimate needs, but how differently other heroes of the faith prayed!

In the book, Valley of Vision, editor Arthur Bennett, collected Puritan prayers and devotions. When our words are not enough, we can enjoy praying the words of these saints. Their prayers express wholehearted commitment and grateful awe in the presence of the God they both feared and adored.

In their prayers these saints also give us rich doctrine. They seem to understand and appreciate deeply all three persons of the Trinity and the roles they play in our salvation. Scripture urges us to set our minds on eternity. One such example is the devotion titled, “Trinity” which praises the Father who sent His Son, the Son who walked among us for our salvation, and the Holy Spirit who implanted eternity in our hearts.

The Puritans fully understood they were not home yet, often punctuating their devotions with a yearning for a distant shore. One such prayer entitled simply, “Voyage,” illustrates this focus so well. It ends with these wistful lines, “Let my mast before me be the Savior’s cross and every oncoming wave the fountain in His side. Help me, protect me in the moving sea until I reach the shore of unceasing praise.”

Thanks Be to God!

I’m so grateful that when we don’t know what to pray, we can turn to some precious resources. The prayers of the saints in Scripture lead us to pray truth for our own walks with God as well for those in our care, and the Psalms in particular, teach us how to worship. The words of treasured hymns confirm our faith and lift our eyes to the Lord. And the prayers of believers like the Puritan men and women loosen our tongues, lift our hearts, and liven our souls.

The Good Shepherd Leads Us Into Rest

“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” (Psalm 23:2)

How can you find rest in a world of relentless busyness and trouble?

David speaks about green pastures in which he can lie down. That is a beautiful picture of rest. Then he speaks of still waters where he can drink and be refreshed.

Sheep fear moving water because, if they fell in, their fleece would soak up water like a sponge, and their weight would cause them to drown. So a good shepherd will dam up a river and make a place where the sheep can drink in safety.

So here are two pictures of rest: The meadow with lush grass, with pools of still water beside.

Rest does not come easily or naturally to sheep.

Notice that David says “He makes me lie down.”

Sheep are timid creatures and the only way they can defend themselves is to run. So, they stay on their feet, ready to run at the first sight of danger. How can sheep lie down when they are so vulnerable?

Maybe you know what this is like: There is a problem that you need to solve, or a challenge you need to face, and your mind will not rest.  How am I going to get through this?  You lie awake at night, going over all that has happened, and all that could happen. You know that you need rest, but don’t know how to find it.

It’s clear from this Psalm that rest did not come easily to David, and that’s hardly surprising. He endured years of oppression on the run from Saul, and then had years of worry over his divided and dysfunctional family, on top of the weight that he carried on his shoulders as the king.

Rest did not come easily or naturally to David, but he says, “The Lord… makes me lie down” (vs. 1-2). How did that happen?

Sheep rest when they can see their shepherd.

Put yourself in the position of a sheep. You know that you are vulnerable. Your only defense is to run, so you stay on your feet. But when you can see your shepherd, you will lie down and rest, knowing that if the wolf comes, the shepherd is there, and He will deal with the wolf.

Sheep will lie down when they feel safe, and they feel safe when they can see the shepherd.

If the shepherd was to leave the field, you would be back on your feet again, watching for danger and ready to run. But as long as you can see your Shepherd, you will be able to rest.

David says, “My shepherd… makes me lie down.” And here’s how: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). Even if the worst happens…my Shepherd is with me and when I know He is with me, I can rest.

The way to find rest is to keep the Shepherd in view.

The shepherd does not give rest to His sheep by ridding the world of danger. The wolves are still out there. But the sheep lie down because they have the shepherd in view. His presence gives them rest.

When you feel afraid, remember that you are not alone.  Your Shepherd is with you. And your Shepherd is the Lord God Almighty. The way to find rest is to keep your Shepherd in view. “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8).

—

This article is an excerpt of the sermon “He Leads Me” from the series on Psalm 23 titled The Lord Is My Shepherd.

Hope for When Circumstances Appear Hopeless

“Mom! Dad! Something keeps biting me!” one of our children yelled. We ran into the family room to investigate what was happening. As soon as I realized the cause, I froze. Fleas! Nope, no way, this was too much. Everything in me wanted to run for the hills, escape the horror we were living in, and never look back.

“I can’t take it anymore!” I vented to Jeff a little while later. The layers of trials seemed too great. We had already experienced so much suffering: the life-altering challenges with our son were all-consuming; all four of our kids and I were growing weary from a daily battle with chronic illness; we had needed to walk away from our beautiful home and a comfortable salary due to the increasing challenges at home; we were facing overwhelming medical expenses; Jeff had unexpectedly lost the lower paid job to which he’d sacrificially switched; and I was slowly losing my ability to walk. And now our rental home was infested with fleas.

Life had been incredibly hard for years, but this latest trial felt like more than I could bear. To be honest, I felt utterly hopeless. I didn’t want to live in my diseased and hurting body; I didn’t want to live in the chaos of our special-needs challenges; and I certainly didn’t want to live in a flea-infested home.

Everything in me wanted to escape, but I had nowhere to run.

A few days later, I picked up The Hiding Place, the biographical story of Corrie and Betsie ten Boom, who had risked their lives to hide countless Jews during World War Two until they were arrested and taken to a concentration camp. My own worries drifted into the background as I became engrossed in the horrors they were living.

At the point I had reached in the book, Betsie and Corrie had just been moved to a new barracks.

The “beds” were nothing more than boards stacked on top of each other and the blankets were scarce, despite the freezing temperatures. Before long, they realized that this barrack was even worse than they imagined—it was infested with fleas!

My eyes widened. “Fleas?!” I nearly laughed out loud, not because there was anything funny about the horrors that they were enduring, but because of the pure irony in light of my current situation.

There had to be a reason for this coincidence.

As I kept reading, Betsie and Corrie had somehow managed to keep a Bible hidden as the guards would do their nightly rounds. After a few days, they noticed something strange was happening: the guards had stopped checking their barracks altogether. As time went on, Betsie and Corrie gained more confidence and began reading the Bible out loud to all the women who wanted to listen in their barracks. It became a lifeline for these suffering prisoners. Regardless of what they had previously believed about God, they soaked in the hope and comfort of the words they were hearing.

Night after night, they continued, until one day Betsie realized why the guards had stopped:

“You know we’ve never understood why we had so much freedom in the big room,” she said. “Well—I found out.”

That afternoon, she said, there’d been confusion in her knitting group about sock sizes and they’d asked the supervisor to come and settle it.

“But she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t even step through the door and neither would the guards. And you know why?”

Betsie could not keep from the triumph in her voice: “Because of the fleas! That’s what she said, ‘That place is crawling with fleas!’”

My mind rushed back to our first hour in this place. I remembered Betsie’s bowed head, remembered her thanks to God for creatures I could see no use for.[1]

The words stopped me in my tracks: “her thanks to God for creatures I could see no use for.” I sure couldn’t see any use for any of our trials, let alone the fleas. But I felt a small flame of hope spark within me. If God could somehow take something as horrible as an infestation of fleas in a concentration camp and turn them into a blessing, surely he could bring something good out

of my own, much less horrifying, circumstances. I realized at that moment how personal (and humorous!) God is to somehow bring good out of something as seemingly useless as fleas.

Even more, I felt seen and cared for, unable to deny that God had arranged for me to read this exact part of Corrie and Bestie’s story at the time I most needed it. I was experiencing firsthand one of God’s promises to us in the Bible: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

Never Without Hope

There are times in life when we face something incredibly difficult, but there are other times when we feel utterly hopeless. I admit, I’ve been there more times than I can count. However, it’s also in these seasons when I’ve seen God’s presence and tangible care for me most clearly.

Corrie ten Boom knew this. She goes on to explain in The Hiding Place about a time when the women in their barracks were getting sicker by the hour. She had a little medicine dropper of vitamins that she wanted to hoard, making sure she could save enough for her sister, Betsie, who was extremely ill. But as more women came to her, pleading for a drop of the medicine, she continued to sacrificially give a drop to each of them. After a while, they began to marvel at why this little bottle never seemed to run dry. Day after day, as woman after woman approached her, a drop would somehow always appear. Corrie tried to come up with some logical explanation, to which Betsie replied, “Corrie, don’t try too hard to explain it. Just accept it as a surprise from a Father who loves you.”[2]

One day, a delivery of vitamins surprisingly came to their barracks. When Corrie went to use up the old vitamin drops first, the bottle was completely empty. God hadn’t taken away the reality of illness, but he had provided for them— in a way that showed them that he was not only a God of miracles, but was near and personally caring for their needs.

This has been true in my own life as well, often in moments when our circumstances have felt hopeless. During a season of job loss and when our needs were many, we started to pray asking God to provide what we needed. Then one morning, an unclaimed box of Christmas gifts anonymously showed up at our front door. To this day, we don’t know from whom they came.

Another time, there was an unclaimed envelope of cash in our mailbox for the exact amount we needed for a bill—one that no one else knew we had. Even the job loss itself ended up being a blessing in the long run—putting us in a position to be ready for a better opportunity that came shortly after. I could share countless times when the encouragement I needed most came at just the right time and in the most unexpected ways.

Moments like these have brought to life Jesus’ words to us: “Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!” (Luke 12:24).

Sometimes, the more hopeless our circumstances may seem, the more we become aware of God’s provision, comfort, and nearness in ways we never would have looked for or been aware of before. And when we do, our hearts are encouraged to see that God is personal and compassionate. He not only cares about our pain; he wants to show us that he’s present in it.

Friend, do you feel hopeless in your circumstances? If you do, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine the pain you must be enduring, but I want to encourage you to not lose hope. May our seemingly hopeless circumstances teach us that we should never put our ultimate hope in better circumstances, because that’s never a guarantee. Instead, may our circumstances lead us to Jesus and the hope he gives—a hope that is beyond what this world can offer.

As Betsie ten Boom was carried away to the hospital ward just before she died, she whispered to her sister, “We must tell people what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been there.”[3]

If you are feeling hopeless today, be encouraged. In this world, we will have sorrows, but when our life is in God’s hands, we are never hopeless. For “there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still.”

 

This is an excerpt of the new book Tears and Tossings: Hope in the Waves of Life by Sarah Walton.

 

 

[1] Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place (Hodder & Stoughton, 2004).[2] Ibid.[3] Ibid.

Does My Lack of Bible Reading Anger God?

Is God mad at me?

I confess that I’ve asked myself this question more times than I care to admit. It doesn’t only come when I think of reading the Word but also when I consider other things expected of a Christian, like prayer and evangelism.

I start the year excited with my reading plan, but as the days go by, work, responsibilities at home, or discouragement get in the way of my goal. Then one day something goes wrong: the car breaks down, I have a problem with a friend or I can’t solve something at work. My first reaction is to think this is God’s way of saying He is upset with me.

Ironically, what leads me to think this way is the lack of Bible reading. If I meditate on the great hope of the gospel, my perspective changes: my life does not depend on what I can do to keep God happy, but on what Jesus did on the cross to satisfy God. Our Father is not a Father who is waiting to punish us for the slightest mistake, but a Father who graciously teaches us and lifts us up through His Word.

Of course, any circumstance that keeps you from meditating on the Scriptures is worth fighting. But the reason is not that if we don’t read, God gets mad at us. Rather, if we don’t read we are missing out on three great treasures that are available to us from Genesis to Revelation.

First treasure: Knowing God.

One of the biggest risks when we approach the Bible is to think it is about us, our needs, our questions, or our personal conflicts. Although it’s true that in the Scripture we can find answers on these matters, we must be aware that the Bible has a main, glorious, and eternal objective: to make God known.

Through every book, page, and word of Scripture, God gives us testimony of Himself; the Lord gives us a window into His nature and His character through the Bible. If our heart’s desire is to attain eternal life where we will be with God forever, then we must approach His Word with the desire to know Him. Jesus put it this way in Gethsemane: “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

Second treasure: Knowing ourselves.

When we read the Scripture, we realize that the problem of being human has always been the same: living on our own terms.

The Bible is full of warnings against trusting our motivations. Our biggest problems come from believing that we can be happy being ourselves, when the gift of the Word is that we can see who we are in God’s eyes.

Many today claim that the Bible is outdated or irrelevant. This is not true. Being inspired by God, the Scripture is alive (2 Timothy 3:16–17). When we read it, our sin is exposed (Hebrews 4:12). As we search the Scriptures by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will see our deepest darkness and find glorious hope in the Savior.

Third treasure: Knowing how to live.

Some suggest that the Bible cannot be a foundation for our lives because it does not deal with the current problems of humanity. However, when we read the Scripture, we realize that the problem of being human has always been the same: living on our own terms, looking for answers where there are none.

In the words of C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity: “All that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

The Bible is God’s testimony to present Himself to the world. At the same time, by grace, He offers us a way—the only Way, Jesus and His sacrifice—to reconcile with Him. Once we embrace the gospel, we should do nothing but walk as what we already are in Christ: children of God. That requires that we live under the authority of the Scriptures and their Author.

The Real Question

In order to persevere in reading the Bible (and in all that it means to be a Christian) we need to change our perspective. We need to take our eyes off ourselves and put them on Jesus. To achieve this, we must then change the questions we ask ourselves.

Pastor John Piper helps us find the right perspective:

“The fight of faith — the race of the Christian life — is not fought well or run well by asking, ‘what’s wrong with this or that?’ but by asking, ‘Is it in the way of greater faith and greater love and greater purity and greater courage and greater humility and greater patience and greater self-control?’ Not, ‘Is it a sin?’ but, ‘Does it help me run? Is it in the way?'”[1]

The correct question is not “Does God get angry if I don’t ___________?” What we must ask is: Does the way I am walking lead me to know God (and therefore myself) better so that I can live in a way that brings glory to His Name?

We all fall short in doing what God demands of us, but the way to please the Father is not in seeking to do it our way, but in walking in the truth of His Word that makes us free to obey.

Take your Bible, open it, and pray that the Holy Spirit will show you the joy and delight there is in knowing God through every word. May your prayer be that of the psalmist: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Ps 119:18).

 

—

 

This article first appeared in Spanish at Coalición por el Evangelio.[1] John Piper shared these words in the sermon “Running with the Witnesses” https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/....

Does My Lack of Bible Reading Anger God?

Is God mad at me?

I confess that I've asked myself this question more times than I care to admit. It doesn't only come when I think of reading the Word but also when I consider other things expected of a Christian, like prayer and evangelism.

I start the year excited with my reading plan, but as the days go by, work, responsibilities at home, or discouragement get in the way of my goal. Then one day something goes wrong: the car breaks down, I have a problem with a friend or I can't solve something at work. My first reaction is to think this is God's way of saying He is upset with me.

Ironically, what leads me to think this way is the lack of Bible reading. If I meditate on the great hope of the gospel, my perspective changes: my life does not depend on what I can do to keep God happy, but on what Jesus did on the cross to satisfy God. Our Father is not a Father who is waiting to punish us for the slightest mistake, but a Father who graciously teaches us and lifts us up through His Word.

Of course, any circumstance that keeps you from meditating on the Scriptures is worth fighting. But the reason is not that if we don't read, God gets mad at us. Rather, if we don't read we are missing out on three great treasures that are available to us from Genesis to Revelation.

First treasure: Knowing God.

One of the biggest risks when we approach the Bible is to think it is about us, our needs, our questions, or our personal conflicts. Although it's true that in the Scripture we can find answers on these matters, we must be aware that the Bible has a main, glorious, and eternal objective: to make God known.

Through every book, page, and word of Scripture, God gives us testimony of Himself; the Lord gives us a window into His nature and His character through the Bible. If our heart's desire is to attain eternal life where we will be with God forever, then we must approach His Word with the desire to know Him. Jesus put it this way in Gethsemane: “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

Second treasure: Knowing ourselves.

When we read the Scripture, we realize that the problem of being human has always been the same: living on our own terms.

The Bible is full of warnings against trusting our motivations. Our biggest problems come from believing that we can be happy being ourselves, when the gift of the Word is that we can see who we are in God's eyes.

Many today claim that the Bible is outdated or irrelevant. This is not true. Being inspired by God, the Scripture is alive (2 Timothy 3:16–17). When we read it, our sin is exposed (Hebrews 4:12). As we search the Scriptures by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will see our deepest darkness and find glorious hope in the Savior.

Third treasure: Knowing how to live.

Some suggest that the Bible cannot be a foundation for our lives because it does not deal with the current problems of humanity. However, when we read the Scripture, we realize that the problem of being human has always been the same: living on our own terms, looking for answers where there are none.

In the words of C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity: "All that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

The Bible is God's testimony to present Himself to the world. At the same time, by grace, He offers us a way—the only Way, Jesus and His sacrifice—to reconcile with Him. Once we embrace the gospel, we should do nothing but walk as what we already are in Christ: children of God. That requires that we live under the authority of the Scriptures and their Author.

The Real Question

In order to persevere in reading the Bible (and in all that it means to be a Christian) we need to change our perspective. We need to take our eyes off ourselves and put them on Jesus. To achieve this, we must then change the questions we ask ourselves.

Pastor John Piper helps us find the right perspective:

"The fight of faith — the race of the Christian life — is not fought well or run well by asking, 'what’s wrong with this or that?' but by asking, 'Is it in the way of greater faith and greater love and greater purity and greater courage and greater humility and greater patience and greater self-control?' Not, 'Is it a sin?' but, 'Does it help me run? Is it in the way?'"[1]

The correct question is not "Does God get angry if I don't ___________?" What we must ask is: Does the way I am walking lead me to know God (and therefore myself) better so that I can live in a way that brings glory to His Name?

We all fall short in doing what God demands of us, but the way to please the Father is not in seeking to do it our way, but in walking in the truth of His Word that makes us free to obey.

Take your Bible, open it, and pray that the Holy Spirit will show you the joy and delight there is in knowing God through every word. May your prayer be that of the psalmist: "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law" (Ps 119:18).

—

This article first appeared in Spanish at Coalición por el Evangelio.[1] John Piper shared these words in the sermon "Running with the Witnesses" https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/....

Are You Discouraged? Run to the Word of Christ.

We have not seen Jesus with our eyes. We didn’t follow Him during his ministry like Mary Magdalene, or have our feet washed by Him like the disciples. Yet Jesus says we don’t need to physically see Him in order to trust Him and love Him.

So what does believing Jesus look like for us today? What does it look like to depend on Him when we’re tired with discouragement, when life itself gives us many reasons to weep and fear and doubt?

The apostle John tells us: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

These are written. Jesus gives us his Word. The Bible on your nightstand or coffee table or bookshelf is no ordinary book, but a precious gift from Him. We grow in trusting Him as He reveals Himself to us there, speaking straight to our hearts about who He is and all He has accomplished to serve and love his people into resurrection life.

His speaking to us does at least three things: strengthens our faith, increases our joy, and makes our hearts like his.

Scripture Strengthens Our Faith

Jesus gives you his Word to strengthen your faith in Him. In your doubts, do you need to remember who God is today? In your discouragements—in all the trials that make life hard, that make you forget how loved you are, that bring you to suspect God of holding out on you—do you need to remember all the ways Jesus has served you?

In the mad rush, it’s easy to let our Bibles collect dust on the shelf. Perhaps this is because we haven’t yet been convinced of the life-giving, faith-strengthening nature of God’s Word. As bread sustains our bodies, so his words sustain our souls (Matt. 4:4). We need Scripture so our faith does not wither, so we do not remake God in our own image, and so we become people who can discern truth from error.

Maybe the thought of reading the Bible overwhelms you. Start small. Read a few verses, or one chapter at a time. Read in the margins: while eating with your family, during naptime, while waiting in the car line at school, or during your lunch break. Or listen to it on speakerphone as you’re getting ready in the morning or driving. Join a Bible study or small group at your church.

You don’t necessarily need to wake up at the crack of dawn to meet with Jesus. There are no rules here, only priorities and a great promise: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).

Scripture Increases Our Joy

Jesus once spoke to His disciples about staying close to Him, promising them that the effect of this abiding is joy. “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).

My joy. What exactly is Jesus’s joy like? He is referring to the perfect, infinite love shared between Father, Son, and Spirit. And their joy is the joy Jesus is talking about:

Unconditional, indestructible, unending relational happiness.

Sweet fellowship, perfect companionship, and satisfaction in God.

This is precisely what He offers us in giving us Himself through His Word. I can’t put it any better than John Piper does: “Who can tell what measures of joy in God are possible . . . if we give ourselves utterly to the word of God?”

At the end of the day, when you sink into the couch exhausted, a Netflix show may help for a moment, but what our souls truly long for and need most is life-giving, lasting, unshakeable joy in a risen Savior who walked out of His grave. We need eternal, living hope, a reality check that lifts our eyes and hearts off our circumstances to the unseen kingdom of Christ, who is alive, and is with us by His Spirit, and is working out all His purposes—even the hard ones—for His own honor and our joy.

Scripture Makes Us Like Jesus

Jesus also gives you His Word to make your heart like his.

So, we push back despair and discouragement and sadness. Rather than retreating into our own dark thoughts or the incessant messages of a million people on social media, we turn to our Bibles. We open our hearts to the love of Christ because faith comes from hearing, and hearing through His Word.

And His Word is not like any other book. It is alive because its Author is risen.

It is a fount of truth to drink from (Isa. 55:1–3).It is the sword of the Spirit to fight with (Eph. 6:17).It is a living seed that bears eternal fruit (Luke 8:11; 1 Pet. 1:23).

And the more we steep our hearts in it, the more our hearts begin to absorb His heart; and by the help and power of His Spirit—the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead—we are changed. We are brought from death to life.

Even when we can’t discern it, God’s Word is doing His work.

And our affections, perspective, motives, and actions increasingly look like his.

Are you discouraged today? Do you need to fight sadness, doubt, even despair? To whom shall you go? He has the words of eternal life (John 6:68).

So run to the living Word of the living Christ.

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This article is adapted from the book Humble Moms: How the Work of Christ Sustains the Work of Motherhood .

 

When Hope Began for a Dying Thief

What follows is an excerpt of the book Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross by Pastor Colin Smith told from the perspective of the thief.

 

 

Hope began for me in the strange words of Jesus that at first had filled me with hate: ‘Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.’

Forgiveness! If Jesus could offer forgiveness to His torturers, perhaps He would offer forgiveness to me. At first this had sounded like the very weak­ness I despised, but at that moment it seemed to open a glorious and unexpected window of hope.

Get your copies of Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross and Heaven, So Near – So Far: The Story of Judas Iscariot this month for a gift of any amount.

Forgiveness was scarce in the legalistic, moral world my mother spoke of so often. To her, the universe was an unbreakable system of cause and effect, regulated by a rules-oriented God. ‘Do good, and all will be well. Do bad, and you had better watch out.’ There was no hope for a person like me in that.

If you honestly measure your life by the commandments of God, I suspect you will come to the same conclusion. Reaping what you sow is not good news for any of us. Forgiveness is.

If Jesus remembered me when He came into His kingdom, there might be some hope for me. But what would be in it for Him? I couldn’t think of anything. If He took an interest in me, it would not be because of anything I had done or anything I could offer. If He remembered me at all, it would be an act of undeserved mercy and kindness.

But that was exactly what He offered to the soldiers who crucified Him. He showed them mercy and kindness. Would He do the same for me?

 

Get your copy of Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near – So Far this month for a gift of any amount.

 

Hear Pastor Colin talk about the thief’s story: Why No One Is Good Enough to Enter Heaven

Four Things People Often Miss About Judas

James tells us that the “double-minded man [is] unstable in all of his ways” (James 1:8). That is a very good description of Judas. He was double-minded, and in the end, the faith that he once professed he abandoned completely. Here are four things that are commonly overlooked when it comes to Judas.

The Commitment He Made

Judas had made a commitment to Jesus. There was no reason to think he was anything but sincere in his faith. Like the rest of the disciples, he had left everything to follow him. Judas had been actively involved in ministry. He had been given remarkable spiritual gifts.

Luke tells us, “[Jesus] called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal” (Luke 9:1-2).

Judas was a gospel preacher! He had been given a special gift of healing. He had exercised authority over demons. Active involvement in ministry is a good and a wonderful thing, but it is not, in itself, a sign of spiritual life or spiritual health.

The Opportunity He Was Given

Get your copies of Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross and Heaven, So Near – So Far: The Story of Judas Iscariot this month for a gift of any amount.

Judas walked with Jesus for three years. He saw the greatest life that has ever been lived, up close and personal. You can’t have a better model of faith than Jesus or a better environment for forming faith than Judas had in walking with Jesus.

He was a direct witness to the miracles. When Jesus fed the 5,000, Judas was there. He took the bread and distributed it along with the other disciples. When Jesus calmed the storm, Judas was there. And he was there when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. You can’t have better evidence for faith than Judas had.

Judas heard all of the teaching of Jesus. He heard the Sermon on the Mount, so he knew that there is a narrow road that leads to life and a broad road that leads to destruction. He heard the warnings that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, so he knew that there is a hell to shun and a heaven to gain. He heard the parable of the prodigal son, and he knew that Christ was ready to welcome and forgive those who had wasted themselves in many sins.

With his own ears, this man heard the finest teaching. With his own eyes, he saw the clearest evidence. In his own life, he had the best example. And yet this man betrayed Jesus.

How deep the problem of the human heart is! It “is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick;” (Jeremiah 17:9). Do you understand your own heart?

Can you understand how a young person who is raised by godly parents in the context of a healthy church, taught the truths of Scripture from an early age, and grounded in apologetics can end up abandoning the faith that he or she once professed?

There is an important truth here for parents, leaders, and friends who grieve over someone you love who has abandoned the faith they once professed. You say, “Where did we go wrong? What more could we have done? Did we fail in our teaching? Did we fail in our example? Should we have immersed our son or daughter or friend in a different environment? Perhaps that would have made a difference.”

This story is telling us that even the finest teaching, the best example, and the most compelling evidence—the ultimate environment for incubating faith—cannot, in and of themselves, change the human heart.

The Choice He Made

Satan made a relentless assault on the soul of Judas, as he makes a relentless assault on everyone who chooses to follow Christ. There is nothing unique about the experience of Judas here.

“Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot…He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them” (Luke 22:3, 4).
“The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son to betray him” (John 13:2).
“Satan entered into him” (John 13:27).

The Bible’s clear statements about Satan’s activity have led many people to say, “Well, poor Judas, he didn’t have a chance. Satan entered into him. What could he do about that?” But that evaluation overlooks the fact that Judas opened the door of his life to Satan.

Judas had been stealing from the bag. And when he kept this sin secret, Satan entered into him. He made a deal with the chief priests and then sat down at our Lord’s Table with a known sin that he would not confess, and Satan entered even further into his life. Unconfessed sin always opens the door to Satan’s power.

Satan does not gain a foothold in the lives of people who are walking in the light with Jesus. He only has access when we open the door. Klaus Schilder says, “It is the peculiar majesty of Jesus that He can conquer man without man’s first approaching Him. But Satan’s frailty is proved by this, that he cannot approach a soul unless that soul has first turned to him” (Christ in His Sufferings, 185).

Sometimes in the church, we get this the other way around. We are afraid that Satan will somehow have secret access to us, but Jesus, he can do nothing unless we ask him to. No, the Bible teaches us precisely the opposite.

The Outcome He Embraced

Judas went out into the darkness he had chosen, “and it was night” (John 13:30). When you get close to Jesus, one of two things will happen: Either you will become wholly his, or you will end up more alienated from him and more antagonistic toward him than if you had never known him at all.

Among those who hate Christ the most are not a few who once professed to trust him. Christ’s claims are so exclusive, and his demands so pervasive that, in the end, you must either give yourself to him completely or give him up altogether. There is no middle ground.

Only those who have never known him can remain indifferent to him. For those who get close, the only outcomes are full devotion or eventual antagonism and every day, each of us is heading in one direction or the other.

Worth Any Cost

In a day when many people are abandoning the faith that they once professed, the story of Judas warns us to guard our hearts, lest we drift away. The story of Judas also equips us to reach out to others who may be close to walking away from faith. Christ calls us to “be merciful to those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire” (Jude 22-23). Finally, the story of Judas reminds us that nothing good can come from giving up on Jesus Christ. He is of supreme value, and following him is worth any cost.

 

Get your copies of Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross and Heaven, So Near – So Far: The Story of Judas Iscariot this month for a gift of any amount.

 

[This article originally appeared at The Gospel Coalition.]

Wholly Owned by the Good Shepherd

“The Lord is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1)

Sheep are added to a flock by being bought or being born. A shepherd can breed sheep or he can buy them and, in farming, one or the other of these is true. In God’s flock both are true. Every Christian has been bought and born into the flock of God.

You Were Bought

Karen and I have been watching a series called This Farming Life – it’s about sheep and cattle farming in Scotland. One of the features of the farming year are the sheep auctions. Farmers will buy rams for breeding or ewes to grow the flock.

Before the auction, the farmers walk round the pens and look at the sheep, deciding which ones they want to buy and how much they want to bid.

The Lord Jesus Christ purchased you and the price He paid was the laying down of His own life. “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price,” (1 Cor 6:20). The Lord is now your Shepherd and that is why you will not want.  All that you need will be given to you because the Shepherd has made you His own. And having given Himself to purchase you, you can be sure that He will give you all that you need (Romans 8:32).

You Were Born

Sheep are either bought or born into a flock, but both are true of you. “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God,” (1 Peter 1:22-23).

The Spirit of God moved over your dead soul just as He moved over the dark and dead waters in the beginning. He brought you to life. He awakened you to your need for a Savior, and He opened your eyes to the glory of Christ.

Not only did He bring you to new life, He sustains you in this new life. For all your doubts and fears, for all your unanswered questions, for all your many sins and failings, you still love Christ and the Lord is still your shepherd.

Having bought and bred us into His flock, the Good Shepherd lives with us and we are the constant focus of His care and attention.

Rebels By Nature

The relationship of a shepherd to the sheep is first and foremost one of ownership. The Shepherd owns the flock because He bought them, and He birthed them. You see this in the words of Jesus.  He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees (John 10:11-12).

You may find yourself asking, Do I want to be wholly owned? Something in us rebels against that thought.  Satan tempted Eve by saying to her, “You shall be as God,” and something within us persists in believing that life will be ours if we can take the place of God ourselves.

One of the most barefaced expressions of being your own god came from the actress Shirley MacLaine, who said, “I know that I exist, therefore I am. I know that the god-source exists, therefore it is. Since I am part of that force, then I am that I am.” When I read these words, I feel sorry for Shirley. If you are your own god you are completely alone. You have no one to look to but yourself.

Nothing could be more tragic than sheep without a shepherd. Other animals can hunt, but sheep need to be fed. Left to themselves, they will soon go hungry. Sheep need a shepherd.

Wholly Owned by the Good Shepherd

When Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion on them for they were like sheep without a shepherd. Sheep without a shepherd will soon be in a desperate state. They will wander off and become lost. Their wool will grow long and exhaust them. Wolves will come and destroy them.

For sheep to be without a shepherd would be disastrous but for sinners like us, it would be worse. The worst that can happen to sheep without a shepherd is that they die. But the worst that will happen to sinners who choose to be their own god, is not that they die, it is that ahead of them stretches a dark hell in which they are alone forever.

But David is not on his own. He can say “The Lord is my shepherd.” My shepherd owns me. His goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. When I die, I will not go into outer darkness. My shepherd will welcome me home and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

It is a marvelous thing to be wholly owned by the Son of God! To know that because you have been bought and born into His flock, you are His in life, in death and forever. To know that because He owns you, He will lead you, restore you, protect you, feed you and love you all your life. To know that even the darkest valley is made safe for you by His presence, and that you have a glorious future in His eternal home.

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This article is an excerpt of the sermon “He Owns Me” from the series on Psalm 23 titled The Lord Is My Shepherd.