God My Shepherd - Thursday, July 30, 2009

Thursday is the day I remember that God is my Shepherd.

"Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my load is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

This is where Jesus gives his wonderful, compassionate invitation to come to him:

• Any who are broken and weary enough to admit they need him.
• That he will give me rest.
• That he will place a guiding yoke upon me so that I can focus on learning from him.
• I can trust him: he is gentle and humble.
• I will find deep rest—in my soul.
• His restraint is pleasant and fitting for me, and his demands are easy.

These benefits also imply that we already have yokes, burdens, are trusting something or someone who is not humble or gentle, that we are seeking rest and not finding it, and that we are being restrained and carrying burdens that are oppressive and heavy. Give them up, Jesus says—all at once. Don’t ponder it. In the prior verse (27), Jesus establishes his authority. Based on that authority, he then he turns and offers this wonderful, shepherd-like invitation. That’s the kind of Lord I have. What a comfort today. What a model for how to treat others, too.

--Charlie

God My Redeemer - Wednesday, July 29, 2007

Wednesday is the day when I remember that God is my Redeemer.

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Psalm 51:12)

In his book Whiter than Snow, Paul Tripp talks about God’s approach to our sin. He uses the analogy of an old house. You can judge what repair work is going on with the house by the tools you see. If you see a big crane, then the house is going to get demolished. But usually, the work is more subtle. Craftsmen work carefully inside or out to restore or modify the old house.

This is usually how it is with God towards me. He works at me carefully to restore me to the beauty that I never really experienced. Since l was born a sinner, only God’s soul-restoring work can make me look like the someone God made me to be. But it is work, and it may hurt a bit sometimes. The key is that I must cooperate. I must not fight his small, but sometimes painful redeeming strokes. In fact, I should learn to recognize these painful little strokes as God’s loving hammer of restoration. No, I probably won’t praise him in the middle of it. But recognize it, and patiently bear up under the trial knowing that I am still an ugly sinner and God is trying to make me beautiful.

-- Charlie

God My Judge - Tuesday, July 28, 2009

“O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps,
O LORD, correct me, but with justice;
Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing”
(Jeremiah 10:23-24)

This is the day I remember that one of God’s characteristics is justice: he is my Judge. It’s not a happy thought. But here is why it leads to a deeper appreciation of the happy and wonderful characteristics of our salvation:

“As the heart is more washed, we grow more sensible of its remaining defilement; just as we are more displeased with a single spot on a new coat, than with a hundred stains on an old one. The more wicked people become, the less ashamed they are of themselves; and the more holy people grow, the more they learn to abhor themselves.” John Berridge, 18th century minister, Church of England

Yes, I take greater satisfaction in having God examine my sinful life and remedy the problem, than gaining all the approval people of the world could offer.

-- Charlie

God My King - Monday, July 27, 2009

“Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
For the LORD Most High is awesome;
He is a great King over all the earth.”
(Psalms 47:1-2)

God is my King, and I am his ambassador in this world. I need to keep that in mind as I go about my day. In the midst of all the problems, mundaneness, and even self-exalting things that may come along, remember that God is my king and I am to act accordingly.

-- Charlie

God My Father

Friday is the day when I remember that God is my Father.

"As a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust." (Ps. 103:13-14)

God calls me his child and himself my father. He has compassion on me because I honor him. He knows how I am - that I am frail and easily troubled in this fallen world. He know this, and is always watching out for me.

-- Charlie

God My Shepherd

Thursday is the day I focus on God My Shepherd. He provides for me all I need. Because of this, I need nothing else. He provides, protects, feeds and leads.

"I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, 'Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.'" (Psalms 89: 1-2)

I need to lighten up today. Be childlike. Know that God thinks of me as very needy, and he is more than willing and able to take care of me.

-- Charlie

God My Redeemer

Wednesday is the day of the week when I focus on God my Redeemer.

"Is My hand shortened at all That it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?" (Isaiah 50:2)

"And the redeemed of the LORD shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away." (Isaiah 35:10).

On Tuesday, I remember that God judges sin. I am accountable for my sin and must confess it.

But on Wednesday, I remember that God is my redeemer. He has executed his privilege to buy me out of slavery to sin by forgiving me. He can forgive, and still be just, by the fact that Jesus paid the price for my sin instead of me.

These passages in Isaiah remind me that God, from the beginning, has proclaimed himself to be a redeemer of helpless sinners. In these passages, he reflects delight in doing so. I don’t need to beg or feel ashamed. He knows my helplessness and need of a powerful, strong hand reaching out to me and pulling me in to himself.

Praise him!

-- Charlie

God My Judge

Tuesday is the day of the week when I focus on another attribute of God: my Judge. Yes, if we really want to train our minds and souls in the full character of God, we need to remember that he is the judge of our souls and we are accountable to him. Tomorrow is a day to focus on his mercy, but today it’s about accountability. But—in spite of this nature of God, I cannot bear to think of him only as my judge. I cannot bear a moment, not to mention an entire day, of thinking only of my accountability for my sin. I can only confess my sin before God if I know I’m approaching a merciful God. And I am glad for similar counsel from Paul Tripp on p. 53 of his book Whiter than Snow:

"...according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy..." (Psalm 51:1)

"If you and I are at all willing to humbly and honestly look at our lives, we will be forced to conclude that we are flawed human beings. And yet we don’t have to beat ourselves up. We don’t have to work to minimize or deny our failures. We don’t have to be defensive when our weaknesses are revealed. We don’t have to distract ourselves with busyness or drug ourselves with substances...Isn’t it wonderful that we can stare our deepest, darkest failures in the face and be unafraid? Isn’t it comforting that we can honestly face our most regretful moments and not be devastated? Isn’t it amazing that we can confess that we really are sinners and be neither fearful nor depressed?

"Isn’t it wonderful that we can do all of these things because, like David, we have learned that our hope in life is not in the purity of our character or the perfection of our performance? We can face that we are sinners and rest because we know that God really does exist (as judge and mercy-giver)."

1. Are there places where your living still portrays an unhealthy fear of God’s anger, judgment, and rejection? Do you ever doubt that he could love a person like you?
   
   
2. Is there a place in your life where you are still holding on to regret even though God has forgiven you and does not respond to you based on your past performance?

-- Charlie

God My King

Each day of the week, I focus on a different attribute of God. Monday is the day when I focus on God my King. I am his ambassador in his kingdom.

"But Peter and John answered and said to them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard.'" (Acts 4:19-20)

Throughout the day, I try to remember who I am: an ambassador of Jesus Christ in this world.

-- Charlie

Avoiding Pain

"Oh...that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" (1 Chronicles 4:10)

Read "Avoiding Pain" by David Jeremiah

A Note from TIF Bible Study

Lisa and I often marvel at what God has done in our little (now not-so-little) Tuesday night [bible study] group. The one thing that stands out is how close and supportive we are of each other. I look forward to what God will do with us individually and together as He works out His salvation in our midst.

This morning, I was meditating on Matthew 7:13-14 and a short commentary on it by Oswald Chambers:

“If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all noble things are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but the difficulty of it does not make us faint and cave in, it rouses us up to overcome...God’s salvation tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is bringing many sons unto glory, and God will not shield us from the requirements of a son. God’s grace turns out men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the noble life of a disciple of Jesus in actual things. It is always necessary to make an effort to be noble.”

As I considered this, it was encouraging to me. We can become so weary after a while. I hope you find these thoughts encouraging today.

Blessings, Charlie