Fearless Sleep

I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. 

Psalm 3:5-6

The choice is clear

I can know fearless sleep

or live with dread of sleepless fear

the question to debate: "Is God near?"

An ancient king led a nation

only to have reversal of station

his own army sought his execution

yet he could sleep like he was on vacation!

Fearless sleep came from trust

in a God Who led him to dust

and back again despite the rust

of moral failure and sinful lust.

Fearless sleep, not sleepless fear

led David to trust God Who was near

to save him from a son held dear

who sought to kill him in the clear.

So now I lay me down to sleep

praying to God my soul to keep

waking, dying, fearless faith has me

in my vulnerability God watches me.

conspiring against God

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." 

Psalm 2:2-3

When the nations rage against God it is because human selfish autonomy wants control over the authority  of God. But this is a stategy doomed for failure. It is based on false perceptions. People don't want God because they don't understand Him.

What God gives as wisdom and direction for humanity is seen as a shackle and bondage. What God does for us in His mercy is seen as restricting pain. This is the same old thinking Satan used to get Adam and Eve to fall. He successfully got them to believe that God was keeping them from become the fullest people they could be. And so often, people who do not know God find the very thought of Him to be suffocating. But they are rejecting Him not for the truth of Who He is, but for the lies they have told themselves about Him.

That is why God wants a people who will simply live in relationship with Him. This destroys the lies. When I just live as His child, naturally loving those who need God, not becoming hateful or judgmental or any thing else that God is not, then the lies that people believe about God can be shown as false in a verifiable life. And the LORD they see as a restriction can be testified to by my life as a liberation. This is what I want my life to be.

There will always be those who try to conspire against God. SIn has its rebellions always ongoing. But the time is short in the light of eternity, and all rebellions will not succeed in stopping the onfolding of God's eternal purposes. God already has shown Himself to be true in countless lives who have trusted Him and those who conspire against Him will not succeed against that.

like a tree planted by streams

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 

Psalm 1:3

This image of the thriving righteous man who loves God's Word as pictured by a healthy green tree bearing fruit by many streams is powerful. It isn't about material prosperity. It is about spiritual growth, maturity, and personal effectiveness that all bring glory to God by living out the realities of God's truth.

The first psalm has always captured my attention. In a brief bit of poetry through a powerful image, the Psalmist captures the importance of obeying the Word of God. He contrasts the simple commitments to righteousness and its attendant rewards with the sinful prospects of the wicked and their pains and punishments. And above all the contrasts there stands this towering healthy tree, rising up in the middle of the psalm as an image reminding us of the life God wants us to live.

I want to thrive by these streams of water. I want to choose right living, avoid wicked company, and delight/meditate on the great Law of God. There and only there is where I will be truly content and find flourishing life. There is where meaningful live is found. And any fruit that remains in me is found here.

 what God looks for

But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. 

Isaiah 66:2b

God reminds His people that He seeks hearts that seek Him. And there are three things God looks for in hearts that seek Him. These three things form the foundation of a life that God will use to demonstrate His glory.

GOD LOOKS FOR A HUMBLE HEART. The Lord knows that pride is often the fruit of selfish sin. Humility is the fruit of thinking correctly about ourselves and it comes after real worship. It is humbling to worship Almighty God. And He looks for humility, for in that attitude there is an emptying of selfishness that God can then fill with His work and wonder.

GOD LOOKS FOR A CONTRITE HEART. Contrition is the result of repentance. It is an attitude not only of sorrow or mourning over sin, but also of demonstation of change. Contrite hearts embrace the change that God brings. They are indicative of lives God transforms. When real contrition grabs us, we are dissatisfied with what we have done in sin's failure and we long for the righteousness of God to be known in and through us. And we do something about it.

GOD LOOKS FOR VISIBLE RESPECT FOR HIS WORD. The text here says God wants a heart that trembles at His Word. This is not a fear that comes from abuse. It is instead a respect for God's authority above all others, which we see exclusively in the scriptures. The heart that trembles at God's Word accepts the truly awesome (awesome often no longer means awesome these days, but in reference to God, it is the only appropriate descriptor) responsibility of obeying what God says. And it is the Word of God that by faith we believe for change so that God's work is known in us.

New Creation

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. 

Isaiah 65:17

When this earth is done

and all our wicked webs spun

when mankind answers for all sin

and must recount for the shape we're in

God will create of this old earth

a better and new remade earth

When the last star winks out black

the universe contracts and rushes back

when all natural things end

the created order ceases to spin

God will remake all the heaven

into a beautiful new heaven

Earth and heaven recreated

into the orginal order God created

before sin ruined it all

and we were broken by the Fall

God will create a new heavens and a new earth

just as He now gives each redeemed soul a new birth

the person God meets

From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. 

Isaiah 64:4-5a

There is only one God and all that we can perceive or know has been a part of our experience ONLY because He exists. He is the root and ground of our being. He is the reason we live in a universe He made by the power of His sheer command. There is in God an explanation of all that is. And in that knowledge we can trust Him with our lives. He will act for those who know Him.

There is a description of a God-follower in this passage that compels me to consider my motives. God promises to meet with the person who joyfully works righteousness. When a person lives rightly for the pure joy of it, God promises to be there in that action. Do I want to see God at work? Then I must joyfully embrace, encourage, and live righteously. That is the worship God desires to receive from me. I must be known for my righteous acts among people. That is the way that I will find the God Who is "from old" active in my present circumstances. I want to see God. I must serve God.

Lord,

I want to know You. And to gain that I must love righteousness and joyfully commit to doing what You love. When I do, I will see You. You will meet me in my obedience to You. Thank You for showing me that this promise lets me know You right now. Help me to cling to it in a world that works against my joy, and my commitment to righteous living.

Amen

Lord, Father, & Redeemer

For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. 

Isaiah 63:16

Israel had fallen to such an extent that Isaiah claims Abraham would not recognize their faith and Jacob (renamed to Israel) would not even know his namesake. They had completely abandoned their heritage of faith. They were a centerless people.

Despite their current spiritual condition, they could still repent and appeal to the God Who was still their Lord, their Father, and their Redeemer. Those three realities could strengthen a broken people. It could put the entire nation back together again. It could restore a people.

To be in surrender to The Lord was the first step toward reclaiming their identity as God's unique people. It meant worship and submission. It would keep them focused on God's glory and their position with Him.

To be in relationship with God as Father made the entire thing personal. It made it meaningful. It put God as close to hearts as the nearest family. And this was ultimately what Jesus would bring to the world... an intimacy with God as our Father.

And to know God as Redeemer brought salvation. God delivers from sin's slavery. He lays out a new life before His redeemed people now for His purposes. Redemption gave them new life worth celebrating. God makes all things new.