Where Security and Joy Come From

‎"I have set the LORD always before me;
because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure."
- Psalm 16:8-9

David, the writer of Psalm 16, is telling us the secret to living a life of joy and security. He makes it plain for us:

1. I have set the LORD always before me.

We must look straight at Christ and fix our gaze and our direction toward Him. Notice this is not setting who we believe the Lord to be in front of us. No, the Lord God is active and living and reveals Himself through the Word of God. We cannot set our perception of who we believe the Lord to be in front of us, because then it is moving as we move. There is no direction.

Instead, we set the Lord God as revealed through scripture in front of us in all we do so that He is the desire of our life and the object of our affection. Hebrews 12 paints a beautiful picture of this:

“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”
- Hebrews 12:2-3

Look to Jesus Christ and walk as He walked, follow the narrow way that He has made.

2. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

Not only should our gaze be constantly fixed on Jesus, at the same time He is right beside us. If we have been granted life-altering belief in Christ as our Lord and Savior, He is right there beside us! He sends His Holy Spirit to dwell within us and promises that He will never leave us or forsake us. This leads the psalmist to say, “I shall not be shaken.”

This reminds me also of Hebrews 12 and the analogy that the author there uses of God shaking the earth and only those who cannot be shaken shall remain. If your gaze is fixed on Christ, He is at your right hand – He is right there with you – and you will not be shaken! Hallelujah.

You could end the psalm there and it would be amazing, but it gets even better.

3. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices.

With the direction, fellowship, and security that come through knowing and following Christ, there flows another wonderful thing: joy. When we look to Christ and realize He is with us, our fear is gone, our hearts fill with joy because if God is for us, who can be against us? With Christ before us and beside us, we cannot help but overflow with joy.

I love that David says “my whole being rejoices.” Everything in me shouts for joy to God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – For the saving work and fellowship with Jesus Christ. Body, mind, and soul – all rejoice!

So if we do not feel secure or joyful in life, the message is clear: look straight ahead to Christ in full belief, enjoy the security of knowing He is with you, and let Him overflow you with joy unspeakable.

Hebrews: What It Taught Me About Studying the Word

Here it is, the last of the Hebrews posts, although there’s no doubt that many posts in the future will have some relationship to Hebrews. I spent over a month in the book of Hebrews, reading each chapter several times, taking notes, listening to sermons on the passages. I even checked out a Bible commentary on Hebrews from the library but honestly had no idea what I was looking at so that didn’t last long.

Believe me, I’m not sharing this to say “oh, I’ve got it figured out.” I had it all wrong for a good long while and it was only by God’s grace that he led me to Hebrews and opened my eyes to His Word. It’s all God. I’m just hopeful that what I’m sharing here may offer you some encouragement. I’m sure there are plenty of people who could tell you more about studying the Bible than I could. I’ve barely even begun. But I do think I may have a unique perspective since I’ve never even considered seminary or preaching or anything like that. I’m pretty much an everyday normal guy who’s a Christian and is learning what that means and trying to be pliable and let the Word of God mold him. That’s me.

But somehow when I dug into Hebrews, God used that to make me fall head over heels in love with His Word and now I just can’t get enough of it. So I’m hopeful to discuss here what changed and what practical things we can we do when we open our  Bibles to see more than just old words on a page.

First some background: I grew up in the church and ever since I could read I was encouraged to read the Bible every day. Eventually, at some point several years ago, it started to feel pointless. I would trudge through a chapter each day with my mind a million miles away on what I would be doing that day or whatever. So for awhile, I stopped reading my Bible on any sort of regular basis. I sometimes wondered why I got nothing when I read the Bible.

This past fall God seriously got my attention and made me see my need for Him and His forgiveness. I knew that I needed to be reading the Bible so I picked it up and started trying again. And there definitely was a difference between then and my previous experience. I still struggled with my mind drifting, but the fact that I actually wanted to hear what God had to say generally meant that something would stick out each time I read that provided food for thought.

Then my friend David and I decided that we would read a book of the Bible and discuss it together a few weeks later. He picked Hebrews (which I had just read a few weeks prior and had almost the entire thing fly right over my head). David’s been through seminary and will soon be the associate pastor at our church so I figured he definitely had a big head start on me in understanding Hebrews, so I tried to just jump in and learn as much as I could.

And so off I went and I was in the book for more than a month, reading pretty much every night. I normally approached it something like this:

• Read the next chapter straight through without worrying about taking notes, just trying to get a feel for it.
• Read the chapter again trying to understand somewhat the overall theme.
• Read the chapters from the Old Testament that are referenced in the chapter. There are lots of references in Hebrews so I found myself in everything from Deuteronomy to Psalms to Jeremiah to Exodus as I tried to gain some context for what the author was saying.
• Read the chapter slowly, paragraph by paragraph and underline any thoughts or phrases that strike me.
• Read through the chapter slowly again, perhaps underlining more things. But at the end of the paragraph write a summation in the margin of the key things that God is showing me in that paragraph.
• After pretty much marking up the whole chapter, I read through it one final time, reading my notes alongside it.

Of course, this is a lot more work than just breezing through a chapter and moving on with your day. So how did I get so much out of Hebrews? Here are some things that I think made the difference:

1. Confession. I could not truly want to hear from God or be able to hear from God with sin in the way between us. There were times when I came to Hebrews and started to read and just wasn’t feeling it and pretty much every time it was because there was something I needed to confess to God and make right with someone – spouse, child, friend, whomever. Sin stands between our minds and God’s Word and we needed to confess our need for God before we can expect to be able to understand anything that He says in an applicable way.
2. Prayer. I prayed before reading that the Holy Spirit would speak to my heart through the Word of God. I believe if that if we desire to hear from God, He absolutely honors that request.
3. Desire. I wanted to understand what God was saying in what I was reading. I’d go further than that to say I desperately wanted to  understand. And when you want it really bad, you search hard, you look at phrases to try to soak every last drop out of the Word of God. You read a chapter as many times as needed until the meaning starts to come out and soak into you.
4. Saturation. Reading nightly was great and thoughts of what I read often went through my mind during the day. But I also found that memorization was a huge help in meditating on the Word. So I found verses that seemed to be a bit more than I could grasp and I memorized them, then thought about them during the day as I drove to work or heated up my lunch. The more that those words ran through my mind, I found the Holy Spirit revealing meaning that I did not understand when I read them before. I also listened to a sermon series on Hebrews by John Piper which helped bring outside perspective. Really, I found that the more ways that I could get into Hebrews and have it in my mind the more that I was able to understand – the more it became a part of me.
5. Sharing. As I saw and was convicted of truth, it was hard not to want to share – and that’s because God’s Word is meant to be shared! So I often found myself bubbling over to the point where I had to let Tiffany know what I just saw or incorporating the lessons of Hebrews into Ian’s bedtime Bible story. And of course this blog came about because I wanted to have somewhere else to share. God’s Word when it is alive and active in us is designed to be spread.

At the end of reading Hebrews, I felt compelled to write a letter to God at the end of the book (the last page was mostly whitespace so it worked out well). I want to share that with you just so you can see what this Word can do:

Heavenly Father,

Thank you beyond all words for the truth You reveal of Your Self in this book and for the warnings, exhortation, and encouragement that You give. Through this book I see:

1. You will shake the heavens and earth in final judgment (chapter 12), leaving only those who cannot be shaken.
2. Jesus Christ, forever priest (chapters 7 and 8) is the only unshakeable foundation. Only those who enter through His priesthood remain.
3. To enter through Christ’s priesthood into the unshakeable Kingdom of God we must draw near to God (else we shrink back and are destroyed).
4. The sacrifice of Christ provides forgiveness of sin and cleansing of conscience so that we may have confidence to draw near to God.
5. It is only through faith that the sacrifice is applied to us, forgiving our sin, cleaning our conscience, and giving us trust in the everlasting city that is to come.

Now we are sojourners on this earth. Soon we will reach the everlasting city. We must persevere and run to win, believing that soon we will obtain it.

Shaken or Standing Firm?

I wrote this post a few weeks ago, but waited until now to publish it. I believe this is the next-to-last post I will do from Hebrews.

I'm convinced that God works in amazing, mysterious ways and it seems that one of those ways is quite often timing. I've been trying to study through Hebrews at night and hoped to really dig into chapter 12 last night, but was way too tired so I only made it through a couple paragraphs. In my morning quiet time I've been reading through the Bible chronologically and today's reading started with Exodus 19 which turned out to be exactly what the seemingly cryptic words toward the end of Hebrews 12 were drawn from. Between those two passages we get a fear-inducing, awe-inspiring picture of God and great appreciation for His work in our lives. The picture makes it clear why the message in the book of Hebrews is so important: so that we will hold fast to Jesus Christ, our strong foundation.

Let's look at Exodus 19 first. Some back-story to begin: God has redeemed His people from slavery in Egypt, destroyed the Egyptian army as the Hebrews crossed the Red Sea on dry land, and provided food and water despite constant grumbling from the Hebrews. Now The Lord is going to give the people His Law (the 10 commandments). But first we have a chapter of vivid description about the setting:

⁹And the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever." When Moses told the words of the people to the LORD, ¹⁰the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments ¹¹and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. ¹²And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, 'Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. ¹³No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.' When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain." ¹⁴So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. ¹⁵And he said to the people, "Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman."
Exodus 19:9-15

So we have some very clear specifics from God here for what the people should do and what will happen if they disobey. The Lord is going to reveal Himself on Mt. Sinai - the particulars here are important. He does not want the people to perish. He wants them to receive His law, but He is a holy, righteous God. They are a sinful people. If they come near Him, they will surely die. But the point of all this is in verse 9: "that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever." This is a day that is intended to stick in the minds of the Hebrews for the rest of their lives. They will see God descend on the mountain and speak.

¹⁶On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. ¹⁷Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.¹⁸Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. ¹⁹And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. ²⁰The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
Exodus 19:16-20

Can you imagine how terrifying this must have been for the people? They know that God is powerful - they've seen what He has done to the Egyptians. But now He is demonstrating Himself to the Hebrews for the purpose of filling them with fear and awe. If I close my eyes and picture the scene - the thunder and lightning, the earth shaking, and fire descending on the mountain it certainly brings the conclusion: this the living, all-powerful God.

Surely this passage had a great effect on the author of Hebrews because it's the image that he reaches for as he crescendos toward the end of Hebrews to show why everything he has written up to this point is so important.

¹⁸For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest ¹⁹and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.²⁰For they could not endure the order that was given, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned." ²¹Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear." ²²But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Hebrews 12:18-24

^{Wow. The picture in Exodus 19 is a shadow of the heavenly reality. The Hebrews who were led out of Egypt saw an all-powerful, all-loving, all-judging God descend to the mountain. We will see that same God some day. But we see more! We see "Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant" (verse 24) who makes it possible (as we've discussed prior) for us to draw near to God, to actually be in His presence and live. And not just live as we are accustomed to living on this earth, but to truly live in the city of the living God!}

^{I don't know about you, but that is what I want! The book of Hebrews with it's glorious depiction of Christ and of our struggles makes me more than ever cling to Christ because He is the only way to live in the city who builder is the living God. But we continue...}

²⁵See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. ²⁶At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." ²⁷This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:25-29

This is what Hebrews is about: preparing us for what is going to happen. The same God that brought (and still brings) the thunder and lightning and shook the ground at the mountain in Exodus is going to shake the whole earth and the heavens. The judgment that came on those who disobeyed God and touched the mountain is small in comparison to those who "reject Him who warns from heaven" (verse 25).

In verse 27 we see that when God shakes this world those who can be shaken will be removed. They will be gone. All that will last is what cannot be shaken. And there is only one thing in this world that cannot be shaken: the kingdom of God. If we are truly a part of that kingdom, we cannot be shaken (verse 28). Hebrews is about ensuring that we are actively living in that kingdom! If we aren't living in it, we aren't in it.

We see how important a strong foundation is. So how do we hold on to this strong foundation?

¹⁸God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 6:18-20

Jesus Christ is the answer (isn't He always?). We look to Jesus. A great place to start is this book of Hebrews to read about the amazing thing that Christ has done in sacrificing Himself and becoming our high priest to make the way for us to draw near to God. And as you look to Jesus, pray that the Holy Spirit would draw you close to God, to give you confidence in the unshakable, firm and secure anchor for your soul: Jesus Christ.

Faith Part 2: Endurance

This is part 2 of my posts about faith. Previously we looked at Faith and Belief.

In looking at the tremendous examples of faith in Hebrews 11, one of the characteristics that clearly sticks out is that the faith that these men (and women) had was an ongoing, difficult challenge. Their faith was not true without endurance.

⁷By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
- Hebrews 11:7

No doubt, constructing an ark was not a quick, easy thing. We don't know exactly how long it took Noah, but it likely took from 90-100 years. Can you imagine the ridicule and doubt that Noah must have endured during that time? To spend every day building a gigantic boat when there was no water around for miles? Noah's faith was so grounded in God's word, that it stood the test of time. He kept on building and endured. And then one day God's promise came true and the floods came. The thing that Noah had worked on for almost a century was proven to be worthwhile and because of Noah's faith humanity was saved. Amazing.

¹¹By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. ¹²Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
- Hebrews 11:11-12

Here's another story of faith in the face of a long, seemingly impossible wait. God promised Abraham and Sarah a son. He did not promise them how long it would take. Can you imagine the conversations Abraham and Sarah must have had during the time between God's promise and its fulfillment. No doubt they each had days where it felt like they would never have a son - surely it seemed impossible. But together they held tight and clung to God's promise because it was all they had. Together their faith endured. And one day it happened. Isaac was born and through his lineage God blessed the entire world.

I have recently been learning of this kind of faith of necessity. Near the beginning of this year God called Tiffany and I to adopt a child. We have no doubt that God placed the desire in our hearts and confirmed it in many ways. We worked hard and did all the paperwork, interviews, etc. God provided (amazingly) all of the money needed for the adoption. Everything that we can do has been done. And yet there is no baby yet. We wait, knowing that any day we could get the phone call announcing that there is a baby for us to bring home or an expectant mother to meet. That call could come tomorrow or next week or next month or next year. We don't know. We just have to wait.

And as we all know waiting is hard. But it doesn't mean that God isn't coming through on His promise. It means that He is coming through in His time for His glory and our good. Honestly, this time has made me dig deeper into God's word, seeking out His will and His promises. And the one thing that the Holy Spirit has consistently been reminding me of through God's word is the importance of endurance. Endurance is the shoe leather side of faith.

³⁴For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. ³⁵Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. ³⁶For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
- Hebrews 10:34-36

We have need of endurance, which comes only through confidence in Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. We need endurance in times of waiting, in times of difficulty, in times of suffering to know that through Christ we have a better, abiding possession and a great reward. But notice what verse 36 says: we have need of endurance so that when we have done the will of God we may receive what is promised. I believe it means that enduring in faith in God's promise is the will of God. Yet at the same time it takes endurance to carry out what God desires, whether that is adoption or building an ark.

But notice the sequence of thought in verse 36: we need endurance to do the will of God to receive what is promised. Through enduring faith we do what God desires. As we do what God desires (in obedience) we receive what is promised. And based on all that we have looked at my conclusion is that faith works like this:

1. God makes a promise.
2. We believe the promise and live for that promise.
3. We endure, believing that promise through whatever difficulty may arise.
4. God's will is done in our life for it is His will that we endure in faith.
5. God's promise is carried out.

Honestly, in looking at it in that sequence the fulfillment of God's promise is amazing, but is it any less amazing that He grants us to endure in faith and carries out His will in our lives making it possible?

So we see the importance of endurance and the role of endurance in faith. Also (thank God) Hebrews 12 shows us how to endure:

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
- Hebrews 12:1-3

There are two key points that I gather from this passage that show how to endure to the end:

1. Get rid of everything that holds you back from living (running for) the reward. It's important to notice the wording "let us lay aside every weight and sin" meaning that there may be things in our lives that are not sin per se, but are weighing us down and keeping us from wholeheartedly following God. The things that come to mind for me (your list may be different) are entertainment - television, sports, video games, etc. It could be things like worry or arrogance. Or it could be sin. There could be idols with deep footholds in our lives that are keeping us from running with endurance. These must be thrown off so that we can have enduring faith.
2. Look to Jesus. Three simple, but all-important words. Pick up God's word and look how Jesus endured the cross and endured hostility from sinful men. He endured to do the will of God to secure for us what is promised! If Hebrews 10:34 looks distant and impossible from where you stand, look to Jesus. He made the way! He endured through faith to become the founder and perfecter of our faith. When in doubt look to Jesus, look to Jesus, look to Jesus, and when you finish doing that look to Jesus!

We can, no we must, trust God that He is faithful in what He has promised. That happens through faith, believing and enduring so that we may see God's will done in our lives and His promise fulfilled.