Over the past few years I have been on a journey with some other guys. A journey towards honesty and humility and recovery and towards my Father. Bringing sin out into the light is unbearable and is absolutely no fun. Doing so in a safe environment with guys who push me to the Gospel is not much easier. It would be much easier to go the journey alone. Easier, at least, in the moment. But journeys aren’t meant to be had alone. The wilderness will drive you mad if there isn’t someone to share it with. Read the rest of this entry »
If you’ve read a post of mine in the past, you know my affinity for Charles Spurgeon. This one in particular is in keeping with the theme from my last post on Psalm 97, “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice”. By the grace of God which was with me, over the past four days I have had the privilege to meditate on that phrase over and over again. I have heard an illustration before that when you first begin to dive into the greatness of God, it feels overwhelming, but as you continuing pushing on you begin to realize that at the beginning stages you were merely in a small creek which sweeps you into a much larger stream which becomes a raging river which flows into a vast ocean. The more time I have spent meditating on “The Lord reigns”, the more I get the feeling that I have merely been stepping on rocks trying not to fall in the creek. There’s something scary about being swept away.
Below is Spurgeon’s blog from a hundred years ago about the obvious next step to meditating on the Sovereignty of God in all of life. So, “dive in and go deep” (for my friends who are familiar with Steven Curtis Chapman).
“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name.”—Psalm 29:2.
The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice! Tucked away at the beginning of the 97th Psalm is the key ingredient to authentic worship. The Lord reigns. True, authentic worship cannot be attained without a real and experiential understanding of this truth. The Lord reigns. He reigns when the cancer comes back for the fourth and final time and all the hours in prayer have not yielded the results we had hoped for. He reigns when our hearts are broken yet again by a womb that will not bear a child. He reigns when thousands die at the hands of men who are dependent on their own sacrifice and the accompanying deaths to secure a place for themselves and their relatives in the presence of the god of Ishmael and Mohammed. My wife and I have never been through anything like that personally, Read the rest of this entry »
Spurgeon Nails It
“Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.”—Psalm 51:14.
IN this SOLEMN CONFESSION, it is pleasing to observe that David plainly names his sin. He does not call it manslaughter, nor speak of it as an imprudence by which an unfortunate accident occurred to a worthy man, but he calls it by its true name, bloodguiltiness. He did not actually kill the husband of Bathsheba; but still it was planned in David’s heart that Uriah should be slain, and he was before the Lord his murderer. Learn in confession to be honest with God. Do not give fair names to foul sins; call them what you will, they will smell no sweeter. What God sees them to be, that do you labour to feel them to be; and with all openness of heart acknowledge their real character. Observe, that David was evidently oppressed with the heinousness of his sin. It is easy to use words, but it is difficult to feel their meaning. The fifty-first Psalm is the photograph of a contrite spirit. Let us seek after the like brokenness of heart; for however excellent our words may be, if our heart is not conscious of the hell-deservingness of sin, we cannot expect to find forgiveness.
Our text has in it AN EARNEST PRAYER—it is addressed to the God of salvation. It is His prerogative to forgive; it is His very name and office to save those who seek His face. Better still, the text calls Him the God of my salvation. Yes, blessed be His name, while I am yet going to Him through Jesus’ blood, I can rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The psalmist ends with A COMMENDABLE VOW: if God will deliver him he will sing—nay, more, he will “sing aloud.” Who can sing in any other style of such a mercy as this! But note the subject of the song—”THY RIGHTEOUSNESS.” We must sing of the finished work of a precious Saviour; and he who knows most of forgiving love will sing the loudest.
RT @coachmarkfox: My 9yr old was asked if he had go 2 college @ Florida or GaTech where would he go. His answer: “I’d become a fireman & not go to college”
HE is my dwelling place, my rest
Posted: February 28, 2010 in God, Spurgeon, Theology, UncategorizedEvidence of my previous post. From Spurgeon.
“Thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation.”—Psalm 91:9.
The Israelites in the wilderness were continually exposed to change. Whenever the pillar stayed its motion, the tents were pitched; but tomorrow, ere the morning sun had risen, the trumpet sounded, the ark was in motion, and the fiery, cloudy pillar was leading the way through the narrow defiles of the mountain, up the hillside, or along the arid waste of the wilderness. They had scarcely time to rest a little before they heard the sound of “Away! this is not your rest; you must still be onward journeying towards Canaan!” They were never long in one place. Even wells and palm trees could not detain them. Yet they had an abiding home in their God, His cloudy pillar was their roof-tree, and its flame by night their household fire. They must go onward from place to place, continually changing, never having time to settle, and to say, “Now we are secure; in this place we shall dwell.” “Yet,” says Moses, “though we are always changing, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place throughout all generations.” The Christian knows no change with regard to God. He may be rich to-day and poor to-morrow; he may be sickly to-day and well to-morrow; he may be in happiness to-day, to-morrow he may be distressed—but there is no change with regard to his relationship to God. If He loved me yesterday, He loves me to-day. My unmoving mansion of rest is my blessed Lord. Let prospects be blighted; let hopes be blasted; let joy be withered; let mildews destroy everything; I have lost nothing of what I have in God. He is “my strong habitation whereunto I can continually resort.” I am a pilgrim in the world, but at home in my God. In the earth I wander, but in God I dwell in a quiet habitation.
Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening seldom disappoints. Hope you enjoy this link as much as i have. http://ow.ly/1bZSH
From Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, February 9 morning edition.
“And David enquired of the Lord.”—2 Samuel 5:23.
WHEN David made this enquiry he had just fought the Philistines, and gained a signal victory. The Philistines came up in great hosts, but, by the help of God, David had easily put them to flight. Note, however, that when they came a second time, David did not go up to fight them without enquiring of the Lord. Once he had been victorious, and he might have said, as many have in other cases, “I shall be victorious again; I may rest quite sure that if I have conquered once I shall triumph yet again. Wherefore should I tarry to seek at the Lord’s hands?” Not so, David. He had gained one battle by the strength of the Lord; he would not venture upon another until he had ensured the same. He enquired, “Shall I go up against them?” He waited until God’s sign was given. Learn from David to take no step without God. Christian, if thou wouldst know the path of duty, take God for thy compass; if thou wouldst steer thy ship through the dark billows, put the tiller into the hand of the Almighty. Many a rock might be escaped, if we would let our Father take the helm; many a shoal or quicksand we might well avoid, if we would leave to His sovereign will to choose and to command. The Puritan said, “As sure as ever a Christian carves for himself, he’ll cut his own fingers;” this is a great truth. Said another old divine, “He that goes before the cloud of God’s providence goes on a fool’s errand;” and so he does. We must mark God’s providence leading us; and if providence tarries, tarry till providence comes. He who goes before providence, will be very glad to run back again. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go,” is God’s promise to His people. Let us, then, take all our perplexities to Him, and say, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Leave not thy chamber this morning without enquiring of the Lord.
Psalm 55:22 – Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you;
CARE, even though exercised upon legitimate objects, if carried to excess, has in it the nature of sin. The precept to avoid anxious care is earnestly inculcated by our Saviour, again and again; it is reiterated by the apostles; and it is one which cannot be neglected without involving transgression: for the very essence of anxious care is the imagining that we are wiser than God, and the thrusting ourselves into His place to do for Him that which He has undertaken to do for us. We attempt to think of that which we fancy He will forget; we labour to take upon ourselves our weary burden, as if He were unable or unwilling to take it for us. Now this disobedience to His plain precept, this unbelief in His Word, this presumption in intruding upon His province, is all sinful. Yet more than this, anxious care often leads to acts of sin. He who cannot calmly leave his affairs in God’s hand, but will carry his own burden, is very likely to be tempted to use wrong means to help himself. This sin leads to a forsaking of God as our counsellor, and resorting instead to human wisdom. This is going to the “broken cistern” instead of to the “fountain;” a sin which was laid against Israel of old. Anxiety makes us doubt God’s lovingkindness, and thus our love to Him grows cold; we feel mistrust, and thus grieve the Spirit of God, so that our prayers become hindered, our consistent example marred, and our life one of self-seeking. Thus want of confidence in God leads us to wander far from Him; but if through simple faith in His promise, we cast each burden as it comes upon Him, and are “careful for nothing” because He undertakes to care for us, it will keep us close to Him, and strengthen us against much temptation. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.”
Wa sei! (That means wow in Mandarin). We landed in China around 2:00 PM on Saturday. It has become reality now. Noone looks like me here. Noone speaks like me here. After picking up our bags we headed to purchase our domestic tickets to get to Chongqing. We had purchased these previously but lost those tickets due to our delay in the States. So Charles met up with a Chines guy in a jumpsuit and a handheld credit card scanner to purchase some new ones. Shady in the States i suppose but par for the course here. Everyone was staring at us. I don’t mean just looking at us, but staring. We were later told that is normal, but it was a bit unnerving when we first experienced it. I stepped outside the airport to take a picture of a small piece of Shanghai. The delay would force us to miss our time there. We headed to Chongqing after a couple of hours in the terminal.
It was a much different flight. No in-flight movie. Tiny unspacious seating. Chinese food served for a meal. No Americans on the flight. I was able to meet a young Chinese couple – Sky and Wendy were their American names – who were sitting next to me. We had a fun conversation which ended when Sky pulled up an episode of 24 on his computer. I offered my portable speakers and Sky, Wendy and I watched Jack Bauer knock off a few terrorists. Nothing like Jack Bauer to bridge the gap between culture right? 
We landed in Chongqing and realized that what we thought was China back in Shanghai, wasn’t China at all. Now we were in the heart of the country and it was evident that much fewer Americans visited here. There was much less marketing to westerners. The airport wasn’t as nice. And we were met with an aroma which we have come to know as a distinctly Chongqingian one. We grabbed our luggage, I said goodbye to Sky and Wendy and we headed to meet Jeff, our friend who lives here. It was great too see someone who can speak both languages. He hailed two taxis for us and we began our journey to the district of Jie Fang Bei where our hotel is. The taxi ride was amazing in itself. There were lines on the highway, but they seemed to simply be suggestions, even the divider lines in the middle of the highway were not heeded. Again, “wa sei”!!! But, we arrived at our hotel safely, unloaded everything and headed out to get our first real “taste” of Chongqing – the food. Jeff took us to a “dishes” restaurant and proceeded to order 8 dishes for us to try. It was spicy! We washed it down with some Chongqing beer which was really more like alcoholic water. It was really bad. We finished dinner around 10:30 PM and walked around the area for a bit. Amazingly similar to an American city, there were two Starbucks within 1/2 mile of each other! New China is not like Old China. Time for bed. Big day tomorrow. Finally get to meet some Chinese people!
