The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart (Psalm 19:8)
Everybody wants to find true happiness. Yet we are prone to do that which does not result in our happiness. The biblical formula to true happiness is “Freedom in Christ + Faithfulness to God + Fulfillment of Purpose = Happiness.”
“Statues” refers to God's Spirit, His standards, His character. The joy here is a result of knowing God and pleasing Him according to that knowledge. I'm convinced that it is no co-incident that his statues precede his commandments in the next clause. One can never properly perceive His commandments without knowing his statues.
We assume that God’s way cannot possibly result in our happiness. How can turning the other cheek result in happiness? How can giving up your cloak to the same person who took your coat make you happy? How can going two miles for the person who makes you go one mile, loving your enemies, praying for those who despitefully misuse you, returning good for evil. How can these values bring about true happiness?
Today it is erroneously taught that the return on righteousness is health and wealth in this life. Yet this is so contrary to the life of Christ, His Apostles, and New Testament saints. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Those saints seemed to go along rejoicing all the way.
The psalmist says righteousness brings happiness; it rejoices the heart. The end of a righteous act is always and without fail vindication and justification by God. Right will always win, but not always immediately. …And that’s our problem. We want the return on righteousness to be micro waved, faxed, emailed… However, this is not how the economy of God works. Doing right is a seed sown. Paul says, “Be not weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Why is there a danger of fainting? The return requires temperance and patience. The martyred souls under the altar cried out, “How long Lord?” God did answer them, not by instantly avenging them, but by supplying them with white robes. That is, by granting their names to be great and noised about among the surviving saints as sure and faithful men and women of God. This seems to be saying, be happy in doing right for righteousness sake for now, knowing you are free from judgment, pleasing to God, having fulfilled your purpose. No righteousness will not rejoice the flesh immediately, yet knowing that even fleshly resolve is certainly on the way can and will rejoice the heart.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Making Wise the Simple
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. (Psalms 19:7b)
Unquestionable, yet it calls our understanding into question. In Christianity, there is no such thing as a wise testimony. Light is simple; darkness is complex, winding, twisting and elusive.
And darkness cannot comprehend light; the natural cannot receive the spiritual; belief cannot cohabitate with unbelief. So where men are exalted and God is minimized, His testimonies only confound, confused bewilder and baffle. It is pearls before swine and the holy before dogs.
People cannot accept the testimony God changed my life; because, it does not fit. They cannot embrace the testimony God healed me; because, it does not fit. They will not hear that prayer made a difference; because, it does not fit. It does not fit into the little box of human wisdom. It defies mere horizontal logic based in laboratory data.
Yet the Psalmist says it is “sure”. That is sound, certain, lasting, and real. And that is the only test of the Lord’s testimonies. Gamaliel said it plainly, “For if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it” In great humility, he resolved to let men be men and God be God.
Paul put it plainly, God is passed finding out. He is passed exploration and discovery. He is passed experimentation and empirical observation. He is subject to no law, no principle, and no standard; for He’s the author of every righteous law, every true principle, and every lofty standard.
To comprehend God is to be God. The assumption that one has comprehended God is the highest position of arrogant ignorance. And that is it: we were converted from wise to simple. What we thought took hard work only took faith. What we thought demanded ambition only demanded patience. What we thought took knowing the world only took knowing Him. When we thought our testimony would be the complexities of what we did ultimately became the simplicity of what God did. The songwriter captures the essence of the simple testimony when he wrote…
Yes, God is real
Real in my soul
Yes, God is real
For He has washed
And made me whole
His love for me
Is like pure gold
Yes, God is real
For I can feel
Him in my soul
Unquestionable, yet it calls our understanding into question. In Christianity, there is no such thing as a wise testimony. Light is simple; darkness is complex, winding, twisting and elusive.
And darkness cannot comprehend light; the natural cannot receive the spiritual; belief cannot cohabitate with unbelief. So where men are exalted and God is minimized, His testimonies only confound, confused bewilder and baffle. It is pearls before swine and the holy before dogs.
People cannot accept the testimony God changed my life; because, it does not fit. They cannot embrace the testimony God healed me; because, it does not fit. They will not hear that prayer made a difference; because, it does not fit. It does not fit into the little box of human wisdom. It defies mere horizontal logic based in laboratory data.
Yet the Psalmist says it is “sure”. That is sound, certain, lasting, and real. And that is the only test of the Lord’s testimonies. Gamaliel said it plainly, “For if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it” In great humility, he resolved to let men be men and God be God.
Paul put it plainly, God is passed finding out. He is passed exploration and discovery. He is passed experimentation and empirical observation. He is subject to no law, no principle, and no standard; for He’s the author of every righteous law, every true principle, and every lofty standard.
To comprehend God is to be God. The assumption that one has comprehended God is the highest position of arrogant ignorance. And that is it: we were converted from wise to simple. What we thought took hard work only took faith. What we thought demanded ambition only demanded patience. What we thought took knowing the world only took knowing Him. When we thought our testimony would be the complexities of what we did ultimately became the simplicity of what God did. The songwriter captures the essence of the simple testimony when he wrote…
Yes, God is real
Real in my soul
Yes, God is real
For He has washed
And made me whole
His love for me
Is like pure gold
Yes, God is real
For I can feel
Him in my soul
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