Four Things Part 1 082514

As we cast our eye over it, we observe that what Elijah needed to be taught was (1) dependence on God; (2) fellowship with man in his sufferings; (3) confidence in God’s plans ; and (4) a sense of their essential and broad mercifulness.       Warfield, B. B. (2013-11-13). Faith & Life (Kindle Locations 66-67). GLH Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Warfield beautifully explains the curriculum of God’s school as it can be applied to Elijah and to ourselves.  Though I encourage to get and read the book Faith and Life by Warfield I’d like to sent some time reflecting of the four things God was teaching Elijah as they might be applied to our lives.

Keep in mind that Warfield has explained the as far as we can tell from the record, Elijah was in a grueling course of “on the job training,”  He was learning as he went and the key thing to remember is the he “went.”  That is fundamental if not essential for all of us to understand.  “Following,” is the key to discipleship.  Not observing the Master, not evaluating the Master but following the Master is the key.  We will be taught when we need to be and as we need to be.  That is the promise we find again and again in the lives of God’s people in the Word.

The fist lesson, and the lesson that if not learned nullifies all the others is, I think, two fold.  First we must learn that God is dependable and second we much learn to depend upon Him.  Neither lesson is easy to truly learn.

Certainly we can see in the evidence of the Word that God has demonstrated His dependability.  But for many of us it is a dependability that is abstract.  We see that He is dependable in the lives of others but that’s no guarantee we will really see Him as dependable in our own lives.  It a tough thing to go from seeing God’s faithfulness to Israel to seeing His faithfulness to us - to ME.

One reason I think we struggle so much with that old, “I know He is faithful, but...” is that we are so very used to considering faithfulness in terms f big things that we miss the commonness of His faithfulness.  He is “commonly” faithful is so may mundane way that are so easy for us to ignore. It is in the really tough times when we discover both His faithfulness and our tottering dependence upon Him.

“God is dependable and I depend upon Him,’ is a great statement but really, ask yourself, how TRUE is that statement in your mind and heart?  Do you really believe that He is dependable?  Are you willing to surrender your plans, ideas, schemes, etc., and yield to His providence in all things?

I know I thought I was but I learned real quick how flighty my faith - my dependence - my trust in Him was.  The past year and a half have taught me just how unreasonable, prideful and self-absorbed my dependence upon Him was (and still is to some extent).  Nothing in the past year and a half has gone according to our plan and yet as we look back we can see that it certainly has gone according to someone’s plan - we of course assume it was His plan.

We have learned to calmly suffer chaos and confusion because we have see Him provide and direct in the midst of the chaos.  He didn’t make the chaos go away He simply acted within it to bring about blessings and peace.

So how do we grow in our dependence upon Him - upon the conviction that he is dependable?

Ahhh, well that’s for the future - we’ll get to it next.

God and our enemies 100513

John Owen writes:
"God has amazingly various and effective ways of stifling their {{our enemies}} purposes.  He can put a stop to their fury when He pleases (Psa. 76:10).  When they have vented as much of their wrath as shall advance His praise, He can set up a power greater than the combined strength of all sinning creatures to restrain the rest.  Some He will cut off and destroy, some He will terrify, but He will restrain the rage of them all.  He can knock them on the head, break out their teeth or chain up their wrath; and who can oppose Him?"

More good news!  We have a God who has no sense of humor when if comes to those who would injure His servants.  They will all get what they deserve and if they don't them they will have become our dear brothers and sisters with whom we will then share enemies.

Have you seen His hand in this in your life?  I have and hope to see it more and more.

We need to pray that He will indeed, "knock them on the head," for our safety and protection.  There is nothing wrong with this.  I see it as an obligatory part of my prayer life.  Why?  Because it is not my place to knock them on the head regardless of how my flesh encourages it.

Remember, He calls admonished us:
Romans 12:18 ESV
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Peace and the sense of peace. 091313

Romans 5:1 ESV
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Of this passage, William Bridge wrote:  There is "A fundamental peace which does naturally arise and flow from their justification.  And there is an additional peace, which arises from the sense of their justification."

That we are justified and hence at peace with God is a fact.  From this fact we may draw comfort and peace.  But it is our sense or experience of your justification that we draw a second if not special peace.

But sense being subject to the ups and downs of our living this peace may seem all to transitory and fleeting.  We may struggle to be at peace while our senses are pulled and twisted by the world, our flesh and the devil.

Perhaps we rely too much on sense and not enough on the truth found in the Word.  There is always something to twist or other wise hinder our senses.  It is in our senses that the flesh finds its best target as when we confuse our felt needs with our real needs and our felt condition with our true condition.

We d ourselves no good when we seek to live on some "sense" of our justification.  The evidence that we do not deserve it and are not worthy of it is just too overwhelming to our senses.  But we will still seek to attain that "feeling" of justification.

Consider this;  the only place I can see where we can truly gain a sense of our justification is in our sense of our sinfulness.  Apart from that justification has no meaning and certainly no sense.  It is the same old story.  It is only at the cross looking upon the price paid that we can have the solid and appropriate sense of justification.  For we are justified from our sins and there only.

If I desire to have a sense of the peace wrought by my justification I must see my sin and it's cost and accept that He has redeemed me from it.  There is no other place from which my justification makes sense or gives sense than at the foot of the cross.

There in lies the lesson

M

Finger Thinking 091113

Psalm 73:25-26 ESV
Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. [26] My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

How often is this a statement that we make or even consider?  It is so very easy to get caught up in the everyday to the point that we forget the only hope that we have.  It is so very easy for us to become numb to this truth.

Caught between the World and the Devil our flesh is so easily empowered and our hearts so easily benumbed.  It is only in those providential acts of merciful affliction that we desire to cry out as David does.  It is only in the loss or hindering of His mercies that we see how very precious they are.

There are no small blessings, so insignificant mercies and yet we are so very prone to treat them so.  We miss so very much of His wonder and lovingkindness simply through inattention and diversion.  We hope for heaven and miss the awesomeness of His providence in the everyday.

It does us little good to determine to not be diverted - there is little strength in our determinations.  It does us less good to approach Him as though it were some business or social goal we have set for our selves.

No, it is only in His strength that the distractions of the World and the Devil can be dispelled and we can regain the sight we need to whole-heartedly adore Him and see the value of all the mercies He pour out upon us moment by moment.  

We are to live in and by the Spirit and not the flesh - but this takes - no, demands a submission, a humbling that we are not prone to give.  We are so very oriented to achievement, to works that we bow not our knees for the common and the ordinary.  We have been fooled into thinking that we can deal with those things and only need Him for the "big things."

There is none in heaven for us but Him.  There is truly nothing here of any comparative value.  But we don not live that out in the everyday.

Pray that He will strengthen your heart, your soul, to bend your knees for the common and everyday things we have seen as the products of our efforts.  Do not be fooled into thinking that you accomplish anything apart from His providence.  

There and there alone will we find the peace He has for us.