God is Faithful

I felt that someone (besides me!) needed this today.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. Isaiah 40:8 

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Matthew 24:35 

The LORD is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. Psalm 145:13 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV) 

He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:8-9 

Although my father and my mother have abandoned me, Yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child]. Psalm 27:10 (AMP) 

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26 

Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. Jeremiah 32:17 (ESV) 

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Deuteronomy 7:9 

Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures. Psalm 119:89-90 

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 

But the Lord is faithful. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 (ESV) 

God is faithful … 1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV) 

For no word from God will ever fail. Luke 1:37 

No word from God will ever fail! 

Photo by Sheila Bair

Extreme Trust

This year God has been speaking to me about trust. So, when I saw a blog about a new book called Extreme Trust by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, it caught my eye. My first thought was that it is about radical trust in God. However, the book explores the difference in business between being trustworthy and trustable. Even so, the definition given of extreme trust spoke to me. 

“Being “trustworthy” is certainly better than being untrustworthy, but soon even “trustworthiness” won’t be sufficient. Instead companies will have to be trustable. 

..trustability is a higher standard still.  Rather than working to maintain honest prices and reasonable service, in the near future companies will have to go out of their way to protect each customer’s interest proactively, taking extra steps when necessary to ensure that a customer doesn’t make a mistake, or overlook some benefit or service, or fail to do or not do something that would have been better for the customer.” — Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, quoted by Maz Iqbal https://thecustomerblog.co.uk/2012/05/18/extreme-trust-can-honesty-be-a-means-of-competitive-advantage-part-1/  

After I read this, I thought, wow, isn’t that a perfect description of our Father God? One who goes out of [his] way to protect each [one’s] interest proactively. Trustable. 

In Psalm 21:3, David praises God, For you meet him [David] with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold upon his head. The word translated “meet” means “Precede; hence, to anticipate, hasten, meet (usually for help).”¹ David Wilkerson had this to say about God anticipating David’s need, preceding him, hastening to help: 

“This verse provides us with an incredible picture of our Lord’s love for us. Evidently, he is so anxious to bless us, so ready to fulfill his lovingkindness in our lives, that he can’t even wait for us to tell him our needs. He jumps in and performs acts of mercy, grace and love toward us; and that is a supreme pleasure to him. That is just what David was saying in Psalm 21. ‘Lord, you pour out blessings and lovingkindness on me before I can even ask. You offer more than I could even conceive of asking.’” — David Wilkerson, Victory Before the Battlefield 

It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. Isaiah 65:24, NKJV 

All through the Bible story there are examples of God’s trustability – God going ahead, preceding us, anticipating our need. His proactive interest in our welfare. 

Before he [Abraham’s servant] had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. Genesis 24:15 

And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. Exodus 13:21 

You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! Psalm 139:16-18 (NLT) 

“Do not let your heart be troubled (afraid, cowardly). Believe [confidently] in God and trust in Him, [have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going and] believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you.” John 14:1-4 (Amplified) 

Yes, God precedes us, goes before us, is proactive on our behalf. Yet, there was one part of the Peppers and Rogers definition of trustability that gave me pause: taking extra steps when necessary to ensure that a customer doesn’t make a mistake.

My first reaction to that was, well that’s not going to happen. We all make mistakes. I make mistakes all the time. For a long time, I felt all I ever did was a mistake. That my whole life was a big mistake. But then God reminded me. He has already proactively gone out of his way and preceded us there too, for what is his promise? 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:28-31 

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 

Actually, the only real mistake I can make is NOT trusting him completely. For he is completely trustable. 

Trust (noun) 

as in assured 

: reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something  

: one in which confidence is placed  

: dependence on something future or contingent : hope  

Trust (verb) 

: to rely on the truthfulness or accuracy of : believe  

: to place confidence in : rely on  

: to hope or expect confidently  

: to commit or place in one’s care or keeping : entrust   

: to place confidence : depend  

: to be confident : hope  

Trustable (adjective) 

as in reliable 

: worthy of one’s trust 

Trustability (noun) 

as in reliability 

: worthiness as the recipient of another’s trust or confidence 

— Merriam Webster

¹Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance 

Image in the Public Domain

Finding Rest

No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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 will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:27-30 

Usually, we hear or read the first and the second parts of this passage separately – the “no one knows the Father” part, and the “come to me and I will give you rest” part. So much so, that I have missed that they are both part of one idea that Jesus is communicating here. But when I read them together this last time, I finally got the message: that knowing God and finding rest have something to do with each other. 

The Lord told Moses, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). Peter encouraged us to have peace through the knowledge of God. 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:2-3 

The Greek word in this passage translated “knowledge” is epignósis. The root of this word is gnṓsis which is defined as “knowledge gleaned from first-hand (personal) experience, connecting theory to application; ‘application-knowledge,’ gained in (by) a direct relationship.” The difference between these two words is that the prefix epí intensifies the gnṓsis  part.  

The word gnṓsis is the word Mary used, speaking of intimate sexual relations, in Luke 1:34 when she asked the angel, “How will this be [that she would conceive a son] since I am a virgin, or since I know (gnṓsis) not a man?” What could be more intense than that? 

Yet, this knowledge of God, or epignósis, that Peter is talking about, the knowledge that gives grace and peace in abundance, is even more intense. The word epígnōsis means “contact-knowledge that is appropriate (apt, fitting) to first-hand, experiential knowing. This is defined by the individual context.” ¹ (I love that! Our God is an Each of Them God.) 

The Expositor’s Greek Testament expands the definition in a wonderful way: “ἐπίγνωσις [epignósis] implies a more intimate and personal relationship than γνῶσις [gnṓsis] … Grace and peace are multiplied in and through this more intimate heart knowledge of Jesus Christ, in contrast to a mere barren γνῶσις [gnṓsis].” The Pulpit Commentary completes the meaning with this: “[epignósis] comes to mean the knowledge, not merely of intellectual apprehension, but rather of deep contemplation; the knowledge which implies love – for only love can concentrate continually the powers of the soul in close meditation upon its object.” 

Peter uses both of these words a few verses later: 

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge (gnṓsis); and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge (epignósis) of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 2 Peter 1:5-9 

I noticed that gnṓsis comes, in Peter’s list, after the basics – faith and goodness. That is a place where it’s easy to stop and settle down. I believe in Jesus and I am basically a good person. That’s the main thing. That’s good enough. But Peter says we are to add to this an application-knowledge of God and His Son. As we apply his Word to our lives, we will increasingly have the grace to do the hard stuff: self-control (dominion within, self-mastery), perseverance (steadfastness, cheerful or hopeful endurance, constancy, patient continuance or waiting), godliness (holiness), brotherly kindness (love of the brethren), and agape love (divine love, what God prefers). And this all leads, as we walk through it all with our Lord, to a more intense, deeper epignósis/love of Jesus Christ and the Father. 

So, the knowledge that Peter is writing about here is vital. It is not just barren head-knowledge. It is not only that we should know about God, but that we should know God through a personal relationship and experience. There is so much disinformation and character assassination about God. There is fear; there is distrust. There is resistance to His yoke. We, many times, end up taking our inheritance and fleeing our home, thinking that it is better/safer, even possible, to take care of ourselves. How is that going for you? For me, not so well. A disaster, every time. 

But Jesus is saying, come to me and I will show you who the Father really is, what He is like, His great heart – gentle and humble – whose burden for you is light. Whose yoke is kind – that is what the Greek word translated “easy” actually means – kind. Jesus invites to walk daily on the narrow way with Him, sharing this kind yoke, [t]ake my yoke upon you and learn from me. Jesus teaching us how to pray, experiencing God’s strengthening, sustaining presence, answering our prayers, comforting and encouraging us to keep going. In kindness, gentleness, humility. Then we will have peace in abundance. Then we will have everything we need to live a godly life. Then we will have rest. 

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3 

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16 

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 

¹Discovery Bible 

Photo, Oxen Yoke, by BarbaraLN https://flic.kr/p/eztbDK  

You Are Good

And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 2:16-17 

Why did God say you will certainly die? What’s so bad about knowing what is good and what is evil? Isn’t that a good thing? Looking at the word in Hebrew translated “good” I noticed something, though. The first seven times this word is used in the Bible, it is God deciding and proclaiming that something is “good.”  

The created light was good. (Genesis 1:4) 

The separation of the dry land and the seas was good. (Genesis 1:10) 

The bringing forth of grass and herbs and trees that produce fruit was good (Genesis 1:12) 

The creation of the sun and moon and stars was good (Genesis 1:18) 

The creation of the birds and sea creatures was good (Genesis 1:21) 

The creation of livestock and land animals was good (Genesis 1:25) 

All that God had made was good, indeed, very good (Genesis 1:31) 

The eighth time the word is used, it describes God’s evaluation of the trees of the garden he had made: 

The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9  

(God also decided that something was NOT good: The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18) 

God made the tree in the middle of the garden pleasing to the eye and good for food. But the serpent introduced into the minds of Adam and Eve doubt. Doubt about God’s goodness, wisdom, and integrity. 

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5 

So, when Eve looked at the tree, she concluded that the fruit of the tree was “good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom.” Did you see that? Eve added something to God’s evaluation of the tree: desirable for gaining wisdom. After Adam and Eve ate of the fruit and their eyes were opened, they suddenly decided that running around naked was not good. That being clothed was good. Doubt in God’s goodness led them to take over their own care and welfare. To act as if they knew better than God. Though, from their hiding place, I think they knew they had taken a wrong path, pride prevented them from turning back. What would have happened if they had fallen on their faces and repented right then? They did not, only making excuses and shifting the blame. But God in his mercy sacrificed animals to make coverings for their nakedness. Just as Jesus died for us, a sacrifice for sin, when we were yet sinners, and He covers us. 

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7-8 

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5 

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Galatians 3:26 (ESV) 

After all that he has done for me, can I trust that God knows what is good for me? Can I trust God in my hard times? Or do I entertain the doubts? Can I trust God to decide what is “good” or “evil” in my life? This has to be a faith thing, because more often than not it is only looking back that we can see his loving hand at work in our lives. It took Joseph 22 years in exile, after his brothers sold him into slavery, to be able to say: 

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20 

David and Paul also were able, after years of trial and suffering, to proclaim: 

It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. Psalm 119:71 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 

“To trust the Lord with all our heart is to no longer rely on our own understanding, will, abilities, and resources.  It is to submit all our living to our God no matter how scary or confusing that may be.  To completely let go so that we can let God be God over us and all our living.” — Timothy Denney, One Pursuit  https://1pursuit.org/2022/08/18/trust/ 

Lord, help me not to entertain, even for a moment, doubts about your goodness. Help me to trust that you are always working for my good and the good of my loved ones no matter how bad things appear. Help me to be able to say some day with David, “It was good.” 

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13 

You are good, and what you do is good … Psalm 119:68 

“I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24 

Image, free photo from pixy.org

Heart Squeeze

From heaven the Lord looks down and sees … he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. Psalm 33:13, 15 

God forms the hearts of all. According to the Strong’s definition, he forms, shapes, molds, fashions our hearts as a potter. But the part of the definition that stuck with me the most is: squeezing into shape.  

I believe that God uses our suffering, our circumstances, our pain to squeeze our hearts into shape. The God-shape of Love. Have you ever felt your heart squeezed? I’m not talking about romantic or sentimental feelings as in this definition: 

heartsqueeze That feeling caused by intense longing, nostalgia or heartwarming which is really intense and feels like someone or something has reached into your chest and is squeezing your heart. “Terry gets massive heartsqueeze every time she sees photos of her old cats.” (Urban Dictionary)

No, the feeling I’m talking about is more like having a heart attack. 

“A pressing, squeezing, or crushing pain, usually in the chest under your breastbone.” — Johns Hopkins Medicine, Angina Pectoris 

I’m talking about the gasping, doubled over, feel-like-you’re-dying pain that wakes you up sobbing and causes you to cry out, Why? How long? Where are you? David knew this heart squeeze well. 

How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Psalm 13:1 

I am bent over and racked with pain. All day long I walk around filled with grief. Psalm 38:6 (NLT) 

Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? Psalm 43:2 

My eyes are blinded by my tears. Each day I beg for your help, O LORD; I lift my hands to you for mercy. Psalm 88:9 

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? Psalm 21:1 

This is the kind of heart-squeezing pain that comes from seeing children leave the faith and wander off into enemy territory. From loved ones committing suicide. From watching family members suffer decades with a debilitating illness, loneliness and depression and nothing ever changing, just getting worse. From the trauma of abuse and neglect cycling down through the generations. From being so beat down you are just waiting for the next horrible thing to happen. From the crushing pain of feeling/knowing that you have failed loved ones and God. 

Elizabeth Elliot, who experienced the pain of the squeezed heart, said this: 

“Suffering is a mystery that none of us is really capable of plumbing. And it’s a mystery about which I’m sure everyone at some time or other has asked why. If we try to put together the mystery of suffering with the Christian idea of a God who we know loves us, if we think about it for as much as five minutes, the notion of a loving God cannot be possibly be deduced from the evidence that we see around us, let alone from human experience.” 

Yes, God’s purpose in our pain is something that is beyond our minds to grasp, bigger than we can comprehend. It is tempting to paint God with human characteristics, smearing him as self-serving, capricious, even sadistic. Brennan Manning called God’s silence in our pain a scandal, and yet also a passage. 

“The scandal of God’s silence in the most heartbreaking hours of our journey is perceived in retrospect as veiled, tender Presence and a passage into pure trust that is not at the mercy of the response it receives.” — Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust 

Jesus knew the squeezing of the heart, he knew the silence of his Father God as he hung on the cross, and he cried out Why? I don’t know, maybe Jesus allowed himself to be blinded for a time to God’s purpose in his life so that he could experience fully the suffering we suffer. The agony of feeling abandoned, forsaken, forgotten. So that he could show us how to choose the ruthless trust, the even though, the yet. The though-He-slay-me decision to keep going on walking with our Father, to keep believing in his all-things-work-together-for-good loving character, his goodness and wisdom, his very heart-essence.  

“If your faith rests in your idea of how God is supposed to answer your prayers, your idea of heaven here on earth or pie in the sky or whatever, then that kind of faith is very shaky and is bound to be demolished when the storms of life hit it. But if your faith rests on the character of Him who is the eternal I AM, then that kind of faith is rugged and will endure.” — Elizabeth Elliot, Suffering is Never for Nothing 

I’m sorry, I don’t have any stunning conclusions or answers. I am shaky. I cry out in the agony of God’s silence. Yet, I am committed to pressing on. Because I trust the hands of the One who is doing the squeezing. I trust his character and essence. I trust his great heart. I can’t put myself on the level of Paul, but I say with him, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able (mighty, powerful, able, strong, capable; makes all things possible).”

Lord show me the way, lead me through the Narrow Gate, the passage into pure trust in You.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. Psalms 139:23-24 

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! Psalm 27:13-14 

Trust in Him at all times, O people, pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah. Psalm 62:8 

Photo free download from Pexels, by Belle Co

Is the Lord Among Us Or Not?

Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. Exodus 16:4 

And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” Exodus 17:7 

Reading the two verses above together was mind-blowing to me. The Hebrew word translated “test” in each of these verses is the same word. It is nasah (נָסָה) which means to test, assay, prove, tempt, try.  

It seems like there is a lot of testing going on in Exodus, God testing his people and his people testing God. I remembered Jesus, who being tested in the desert by the devil, quoted another verse which uses the word nasah, Deuteronomy 6:16.  

‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ Matthew 4:5-7  

And, I suddenly had the thought: if God tested the Israelites to see if they would follow his instructions, when we test God are we seeing if he will follow our instructions? Am I trying to hold God hostage to my agenda? 

Do not put the LORD your God to the test as you did at Massah. Deuteronomy 6:16 

And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” Exodus 17:7 

One of the definitions of nasah is to “assay.” According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary online, to assay something is “to determine its purity,” and “to judge the worth of.” Think about those meanings when applied to the Holy God. 

When bad things happen to us. When we find ourselves in the life-sucking desert with no water – is the Lord among us or not? Is he the Holy God who cannot lie? Is his promise good? Is he worthy of my trust? 

When the devil “tested” Jesus in the desert he challenged Him to believe God’s promise.  

Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You, and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”  

The devil must have thought he had Jesus now. If Jesus jumped, he would be playing the devil’s game, giving him power and indirectly, worship. And most likely Jesus would go splat, since jumping off the temple was not the will of God for Jesus. If Jesus didn’t jump, he would be admitting a lack of trust in God’s promise, right? See, the devil was trying to get Jesus, and the Father God, to follow his instructions. But instead of playing the game, Jesus held firm to the instructions he had been given by the Father. 

Jesus replied, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Matthew 4:5-7 

Jesus didn’t have to prove or assay his Father. Jesus had complete confidence in God’s promises and in his will. Jesus didn’t have an agenda. He didn’t have to prove his Lordship or his value or power. He didn’t come to be a big success or to be prosperous. He actually came to be nothing, a humble servant, following and completely fulfilling the instructions given to him by a God whom he knew to be good and loving and faithful all the time, even in the desert times of testing. And even so he wants me to follow after him. His instruction for me is to trust that He is with me here in the dry, deadly places, the impossible, bleak, and heart-gutting places. The places where I see no hope or way out. The times when everything I hoped for is gone, my agenda is shredded and I am reduced to nothing.  

Do you ever wonder what would have happened at Massah and Meribah if the Israelites had trusted God and waited for his salvation instead of despairing and turning against him? What would God have done? What amazing things could he have done? But instead, God let what happened happen for us! Speaking of the Israelites in the desert Paul wrote: 

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.  1 Corinthians 10:11 

Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. Psalm 95:8-9 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4 (ESV) 

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will (His instructions) for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 

Photo free download from Pexels, Great sand dunes in desert at sundown, by Chris Clark 

This God (Psalm 48)

Great is the Lord 

and most worthy of my praise 

my vehement praise 

The city where He lives, 

invites me to live, 

 is joy 

It will last forever 

This God 

He has shown Himself to me 

Fortress 

Unfailing love 

Righteousness 

Justice 

His Name, Ha-Shem 

and His praise,  

The Hallelujah! 

Is over 

is above 

comes down and touches 

all the earth 

I hear it and I see it 

and I will tell it 

to the next generation 

For this God 

This God 

Fortress 

Unfailing love 

Righteousness 

Justice 

is my God 

forever everlasting 

And He will lead me 

He will carry me 

even until 

the end

… let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24 (ESV)

Photo by Sheila Bair

The Bassline

“The deeper our troubles, the louder our thanks to God, who has led us through all, and preserved us until now. Our griefs cannot mar the melody of our praise, we reckon them to be the bass part of our life’s song, ‘He hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.’” — Charles Spurgeon 

I read this quote by Spurgeon in a little devotional.¹ I wondered, what did he mean when he said our griefs are the bass part of our song? It inspired me to learn more about the bass part (also called bass line or bassline) in music. 

The Cambridge Dictionary defines the bass as “the lowest range of musical notes.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines the bassline as “[a] musical part consisting of a sustained series of the lowest pitched notes in the piece or composition.”²  

Hmmm, if the bass part is our troubles, sometimes it seems that the low part has been sustained for a very long time. But look at this quote from an 1880 book on the history and science of music: 

“the bass part… is, in fact, the foundation upon which the melody rests and without which there could be no melody.” — by Robert Challoner³ 

Wow, if you think of the melody as our praises and the bass part as our afflictions, “the bass part of our life’s song,” that is a startling thought. There could be no melody without the bass part. It is the “sturdy foundation.” 

“Our basslines have to provide the rhythmic and harmonic foundation; the bassline provides the high-end with the structure and foundation to create interesting melodies… A bassline is the foundation on which the melody rides. With the sturdy foundation of the bass and other rhythm section instruments, the melody is free to do all sorts of things.” — Andrew Pouska⁴  

Esther Murimi goes even further, saying that the bass completes the music, adding a fullness: 

“Try listening to music without bass and one with it and you’ll notice the difference. For more clarity, if you have a sound system, you will notice that the music is complete when the bass is enhanced and sounds hollow without it.” — Esther Murimi⁵  

Finally, Wikipedia notes that the bassline bridges a gap: 

The bassline bridges the gap between the rhythmic part played by the drummer and the melodic lines played by the lead guitarist and the chordal parts played by the rhythm guitarist and/or keyboard player. — Wikipedia, Bassline 

“[T]he rhythmic part played by the drummer” to me is like the part played by the Holy Spirit. We are encouraged to keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). “[T]he melodic lines,” Spurgeon would say, are the melody lines of our praise. The bassline bridges the gap between these two. When you think about it, this intimate connection and teamwork between the Spirit (beat/step) and the bass (afflictions) makes sense. We come to know God through our afflictions. Our praise would be rote, would be hollow without having known His Presence and comfort through our afflictions.  

The hard times in our lives are the times that God has allowed to refine and purify us and to make us the place where His glory dwells. The baseline working with the (heart)beat of God gives the music of our lives richness, fullness, the reason to sing the melody, the joy, the with-all-my-heart passion. 

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy’ Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:2-5 

Do you hear the beat? … suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Still using the metaphor provided by Spurgeon, I see that the love of God is the heart/drum beat and our sufferings are the bassline. And from these, through the knowledge of the character of God and trust in His goodness, the assurance that He is with us always – from these come our hope, and from that hope rises a pure melody of praise. 

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:25 

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest (sits down, settles, consummates the marriage, dwells, abides in) the praises of Israel. Psalm 22: 3 (KJV) 

For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63:7-8 (NAS) 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 

Yet take thy way; for sure thy way is best:  
Stretch or contract me thy poor debtor:  
This is but tuning of my breast,  
To make the music better. -- George Herbert, from The Temper (I) 

¹Devotional Classics of C. H. Spurgeon, June 9, by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. 

²American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.  

³History of the Science and Art of Music: Its Origin, Development, and Progress 

By Robert Challoner, 1880. Full text available on Google Books https://books.google.com/books?id=dwctAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false 

⁴StudyBass https://www.studybass.com/  

⁵The Scientifically Proven Importance Of Bass In Musical Performances, Merriam School of Music https://www.merriammusic.com/school-of-music/importance-of-bass-in-performances/  

Image, detail from How Firm a Foundation, hymn attributed to George Keith 1787.

Our Father Revealed in The Word

This is an addendum to the series on the Lord’s Prayer that we have been camping out in. I think it is very revealing and encouraging to see all in one place what the Word says about Our Father. I think I have found all the places where “Our Father” appears. Let me know if not.

Our Father is our Redeemer (Isaiah 63:16) 

Our Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48) 

Our Father sees and hears what is done and prayed in secret (Matthew 6:4-6, 18) 

Our Father knows what we need before we ask (Matthew 6:8) 

Our Father is in heaven (Matthew 6:9) 

Our Father will forgive our sins when we forgive (Matthew 6:14, Mark 11:25) 

Our Father sees us as valuable (Matthew 6:26) 

Our Father knows all our needs (Matthew 6:32, Luke 12:30) 

Our Father gives us good things (Matthew 7:11) 

Our Father is pleased to reveal the hidden things to His children (Matthew 11:25-26, 16:17, Luke 10:21) 

Our Father is Lord of heaven and earth (Matthew 11:25, Luke 10:21) 

Our Father was revealed to us by Jesus (Matthew 11:27, Luke 10:22) 

Our Father alone knows the day and hour of Jesus’ return (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32, Acts 1:7) 

Our Father can do anything. All things are possible with Him (Mark 14:36) 

Our Father is merciful (Luke 6:36) 

Our Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Luke 11:13) 

Our Father delights to give us the Kingdom (Luke 12:32, 22:29) 

Our Father loves the Son and has given Him all things (John 3:35, 5:20, 10:17, 15:9, 16:15) 

Our Father seeks true worshipers (John 4:23) 

Our Father is always working (John 5:17) 

Our Father raises the dead (John 5:21) 

Our Father judges no one, but has given judgement to the Son (John 5:22) 

Our Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself (John 5:26) 

Our Father sent Jesus and commanded Him what to say (John 5:36-37, 6:57, 8:16, 18, 12:49-50, 20:21) 

Our Father has placed His seal of approval on Jesus (John 6:27) 

Our Father gives us Jesus, the True Bread from heaven (John 6:32-33) 

Our Father has given us to Jesus and we will not be rejected (John 6:37) 

Our Father draws us to Jesus, we cannot come on our own (John 6:44) 

Our Father glorifies Jesus (John 8:54) 

Our Father knows the Son and the Son knows Our Father (John 10:15) 

Our Father is greater than all and no one can snatch us out of His hand (John 10:29) 

Our Father and Jesus are One (John 10:30) 

Our Father set apart Jesus as his very own and sent Him into the world (John 10:36) 

Our Father is in the Son and the Son is in Our Father (John 10:38, 14:10) 

Our Father will honor those who follow and serve Jesus (John 12:26) 

Our Father has put all things under Jesus’ power (John 13:3) 

Our Father is glorified in Jesus (John 14:13) 

Our Father loves those who love and obey Jesus, and Our Father and Jesus will come to them and make their home with them (John 14:23) 

Our Father sends the Holy Spirit (John 14:26, Ephesians 1:17) 

Our Father is greater than Jesus (John 14:28) 

Our Father is the Gardener (John 15:1) 

Our Father is glorified when we bear fruit (John 15:8) 

Our Father loves us (John 16:27) 

Our Father was with Jesus to the end and did not leave Him alone (John 16:32) 

Our Father is holy (John 17:11) 

Our Father is righteous (John 17:25) 

Our Father gave Jesus the cup to drink (John 18:11) 

Our Father is “Abba, Father,” to whom we cry by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6) 

Our Father is the one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live (1 Corinthians 8:6) 

Our Father is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:3, 11:31, Ephesians 1:3, 1 Peter 1:3) 

Our Father is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3) 

Our Father is the glorious Father (Ephesians 1:17) 

Our Father is the God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:6) 

Our Father loves us and by his grace gives us eternal encouragement and good hope (2 Thessalonians 2:16) 

Our Father treats us as His children (Hebrews 12:7) 

Our Father has lavished great love on us, that we should be called children of God (1 John 3:1) 

Our Father sent the Son to be Savior of the world (1 John 4:14) 

Our Father willed that Jesus give himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age (Galatians 1:4) 

Our Father gives grace and peace (Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, Colossians 1:3, Philemon 1:3) 

Our Father loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace (2 Thessalonians 2:16) 

Our Father gives grace, mercy, and peace (1 Timothy 1:2) 

Our Father in his great mercy has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3) 

But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. Isaiah 63:16 

Image, Baby’s hand, by Fruity Monkey on flickr https://flic.kr/p/99tqDR

Our Father

I was trying to pray and I felt so inadequate, so un-able. I asked God to teach me how to pray right. I could feel His smile as He said, “I already have.” Oh yeah, I thought. I started to pray the Lord’s Prayer but I couldn’t get past “Our Father.” I broke down crying at that. Our Father. 

Maybe it is because I just lost my dad in May of this year and am feeling bereft. Maybe it’s because I am going through a tough time in my life and I long for a father’s comfort and care. Maybe it is the Spirit wanting me to dig deeper. But I am going to camp out in “Our Father” for a couple of weeks. I am going to look at it from the point of view of a child. His child. And I will share what I find with you in case you need to camp out there too.  

First of all, Jesus called God Our Father (Matthew 6:9). Jesus taught us to pray a prayer which has become known as the Lord’s Prayer, and He started it by addressing God as “Our Father.” The word for father is patḗr in the Greek:  

“the one who imparts life and is committed to it; a progenitor, bringing into being to pass on the potential for likeness … He imparts life, from physical birth to the gift of eternal life through the second birth (regeneration, being born again). Through ongoing sanctification, the believer more and more resembles their heavenly Father – i.e. each time they receive faith from Him and obey it, which results in their unique glorification … [patḗr is] one in ‘intimate connection and relationship.’” ¹ 

There is so much here to meditate on. He imparts life to us and is committed to us. Stop and think about that for a minute! He passes on the potential for likeness that grows each time we receive faith from Him and obey Him. We, His children, can resemble our heavenly Father. He is in intimate connection and relationship with us. Hallelujah! 

Next, Jesus addressed Our Father who is in heaven (Matthew 6:9). That may make it sound like God is far away, but, for me, it is comforting to think of Him being over me, standing over me, over everything, in charge, in control, yet leaning down to hear my feeble voice. I can imagine standing with my back to Him, leaning back against Him, feeling His strength. When I look up to Him, as a child looks up to her father, His face is near. There is no distance, only glory. He is in heaven but in intimate connection and relationship with me.  

Third, Jesus said that Our Father’s name was to be hallowed. Hallowed be your name (Matthew 6:9). We honor the Name, ha-Shem, of the Father. We recognize and affirm that His name is Holy, His name is the essence of the Father imparted to us. Jesus made the name known to us. “O righteous Father … I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:25-26). Psalm 75:1 says that His Name is near. And Proverbs 18:10 says, The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.  

God told Moses that His name was YHWH and to tell the Israelites that I AM THAT I AM had sent him. I think that this means that His name is more about who He is than a title. And the name Our Father in particular reveals his character and nature. 

“What is that name of God which the revealing Son declares? Not the mere syllables by which we call Him, but the manifested character of the Father. That one name, in the narrower sense of the word, carries the whole revelation that Jesus Christ has to make; for it speaks of tenderness, of kindred, of paternal care, of the transmission of a nature, of the embrace of a divine love. And it delivers men from all their creeping dreads, from all their dark peradventures, from all their stinging fears, from all the paralysing uncertainties which, like clouds, always misty and often thunder-bearing, have shut out the sight of the divine face. If this Christ, in His weakness and humanity, with pity welling from His eyes, and making music of His voice, with the swift help streaming from His fingers-tips to every pain and weariness, and the gracious righteousness that drew little children and did not repel publicans and harlots, is our best image of God, then love is the centre of divinity, and all the rest that we call God is but circumference and fringe of that central brightness.” — Alexander MacLaren² 

Creeping dreads, stinging fears, paralyzing uncertainties surround me every day. I always have wondered how a name could be near, how one could run into a name. But I can say with the psalmist that His name is near and is a strong tower, because when he says that he means that God, in His tender love, is near, that Our Father God is the strong tower.  He is right here near me. I can run into my Father’s strong arms and feel safe.  

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. Psalm 103:13 

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 1 John 4:16-17 

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 

Until next time rest in the embrace of His divine love. 

¹HELPS Word Studies by Discovery Bible 

²MacLaren Expositions of Holy Scripture 

Image by Andrés Nieto Porras https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nuevas_aficiones_%287984692236%29.jpg