041213 Thinker

William Bridge in his work, A Lifting Up for the Downcast, offers us these thoughts:


Nine things there are, which usually are grounds and occasions of the discouragements of God's people.
I.  Sometimes their discouragements are drawn from their greater and grosser sins.
II.  Sometimes they arise from the weakness of grace.
III.  Sometimes they are taken from their failing in and non-acceptance of duty.
IV.  Sometimes they are draw from their lack of evidence for heaven, and non-assurance of the love of God.
V.  Sometimes they come from their temptations.
VI.  Sometimes from their desertions.
VII.  Sometimes from their afflictions.
VIII.  Sometimes from their unserviceableness.
IX.  Sometimes from their condition itself.

For Bridge as well as other Puritans being "downcast" was not a sin but rather a common result of the redeemed living among the unredeemed and striving to be in but not of the world.  Downcast-ness comes in every battle and we must accept that we are in a continuous battle - every moment of every day.

Now we must pray that we appreciate our downcasted-ness and respect it as a very real and clear evidence of our "otherness."  We are a colony of the redeemed living on foreign shores among peoples utterly opposed to us and our Master.  

Downcast-ness should not provoke despair.  Despair is a sense of futility - even a sense of vanity and we must claim the fact that, although we may not see the why or how of it, our lives are - cannot be - futile or vain if they are lived for Him and by Him.

It is, from my perspective, the insidious spirit of covetousness - comparing our selves to others and/or the "norms" of the culture - that is the most common poison that casts us down. 

Paul writes:

2 Corinthians 4:7-9, 11 NASB
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; [8] we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; [9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; [11] For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Note:
afflicted - not crushed
perplexed - not despairing
persecuted - not forsaken
struck down - not destroyed
delivered over to death - Jesus made manifest

This is our lot here.  Jesus Himself told us so.  Are we willing to forgo the comfort of this world so He might be seen?  

Do we long for heaven?  Heaven has been described many ways but a true picture is that heaven is the utter and complete absence of sin.  Do we ache for our sin and the lostness of others?  Do we long to be where sin is not and can never be?  Then we will, at times, be downcast - but we are so only for a short time and then we will never be able to be downcast again.

Long for heaven and await His pleasure of calling you there.  As long as you wake up, regardless of how downcast you may be, He has something for you to do for Him.  You may not see it - you may never know you did it - but He uses us all for His name's sake.

Being of more value. 012413b

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?   (Mat 6:26)

Continuing His lesson Jesus gives us an example from nature.

He asks us to consider our "value," to our Father.

Birds can't sow, reap or gather - yet they are provided for.

If you can't sow, reap or gather - does thin not suggest that God will feed (provide for) you?

Is this just about food?  I think not!  This is about value.

Actually I believe it's about who we look to in order to determine our value.

Birds?  I'm of greater value that birds?  Actually the idea here is that we are "of so much MORE value" than birds. 

Birds have a role in God's creation no less critical to the sustaining of that creation than anything else.  God maintains everything they need to fulfill their role in His creation.  There are lots of birds - that takes a lot of maintaining.  It's not a simple thing nor is it insignificant!

Then there is "us."  We were God's viceroys in the Garden.  Note:


Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 
(Gen 1:26)

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 
(Gen 2:15)

God's intention for us was to be His means of maintaining His creation.  We were to work and keep the garden which in turn would provide for all the creatures of the creation.  Pretty important stuff!  

Now, in this fallen world our role has changed.  Now we are called to show forth His glory, to be holy as He is.  We are his witnesses, living testaments to His glory and goodness.  How much value can we put on that?

Consider:

". . . . when He comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed."   (2Th 1:10)

Whose "value" do we choose accept?  His or the world's?  Who do we look to?  How do we measure it?  

The redemption of the creation - the birds - cost Him His Son.  However the price was demanded for our sin not for the birds' sins (birds don't sin they just suffer its effects).  So He paid the demanded price - for OUR sin - that He might redeems His creation.

Where in our fleshly spectrum of value do we really put that?  Is it first or just a close second?  Do we really accept that we are valuable enough for God to give His Son?  Are we willing to accept that his love for us was so great that he sent His Son to be a man, to suffer and be tempted as a man and then be killed as a criminal?  How valuable does that make us?

Are we willing to accept and live with Jesus as our total net worth?  Are we willing to be rejected and scorned and put down by the world so that we might live out His gracious gift for and to us?

Or do we play with the world's criteria for worth and value measuring our lives by their standards?  And how well have those standards served Him or His creation?  How cruelly have the standards of the world dealt with the world?

Think on what God has done for and in you.  Consider what you might be tempted to trade it for.  In times of weakness and suffering it is not uncommon for us to fall into "if only," and to see ourselves as worthless failures.  It is a struggle to cling to God's love and the value He has given us - He has made us ultimately valuable - He has given us a worth beyond words - Pray and think on that.

Father,

In these tough times I see my sin and my errors.  I see how I have been deceived and schemed by the world, the flesh and the devil.  Now, in my distress those three cruel enemies taunt me and pour shame upon me.  Help me Father, to cling to Your gracious gift as the only thing that matters.  Let the cruel accusations and aspersions of those three enemies drop from my mind and heart.  Deafen my ears to them, let me be comforted and let by Your Word and Your Spirit as I seek to  follow You in whatever circumstance I find myself in.

Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, "Who is the LORD?" or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.   (Pro 30:7-9)

In the name of Jesus and for His glory, amen.