Daily Thought: Has God Indeed Abandoned Me?

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."

~Psalm 42:11 (ESV)

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A Chapter of Turmoil and Hope

Before us lies a glorious statement of the hope we have in Christ amidst any storm, situation, or rut of spiritual starvation. The Psalmist has spent seemingly endless time weeping in turmoil. This chapter is filled with statements of panting (verse 1), a thristy soul (verse 2a), longing to see God (verse 2b), abundant tears (verse 3a), taunting from the unbelieving to question the goodness of God (verses3b and 10), a soul poured out before God (verse 4a), a downcast soul in turmoil (verses 5 and 11), a feeling of having been forgotten (verse 9a), mourning (verse 9b), the presence of those not for him but against him (verse 10).

This is a real, true, and intense desert. Have you not been there? Are you there now? We do not have a God Who cannot relate to our deserts, whatever they might be. Instead, we have a High Priest (Christ) Who "in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). And because of Him, we can follow the Psalmist who, in every passage of trying he wrote, always circles back to the hope we find in Who God is. He will never leave you, and that's His promise (Joshua 1:5). Listen; absorb; find hope in the character and Being of God:

"Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God."

~Psalm 7-8, 11 (ESV)

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Daily Thought: Restoration of the Ruined

"I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you."

~Joel 2:25 (ESV)

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Damage Inexplicable

Ruined. The Christian felt ruined--ruined in the sense that so much damage had been done to his faith, his zeal, and his passion for God that speaking of how he got there seemed far from an explainable story. It seemed one day he was an extremely passionate servant, rejoicing at the mercy of God and the next--a sinner wondering if he even was a Christian and if there would ever be the slightest chance of being welcomed back home to the Father.

Further adding to the pain and guilt was that this damage was inflicted not only by draining bitterness at the acts of others, but primarily at his own hand of sin. He is no victim, he is a Christian met face-to-face by his own weakness and desperate need for a Savior to trust.

I've been there; perhaps you have too.

And where is the only place hope can be found for such wretches?

HERE:

There is no human so wrecked by sin that He cannot lift up and bring to life.

There is heart so wicked that He cannot cleanse and transform.

There is no sin that His Son's death did not provide payment for.

He loves His glory; He hates our sin. And that is why He so rejoices to bring unbelievers to Himself and bring strayed children back to Himself.

Take hold of the Gospel and never forget it!

The Prodigal
You held out Your arms, I walked away
Insolent, I spurned Your face
Squandering the gifts You gave to me
Holding close forbidden things
Destitute, a rebel still, a fool in all my pride
The world I once enjoyed is death to me
No joy, no hope, no life

Where now are the friends that I had bought
Gone with every penny lost
What hope could there be for such as I
Sold out to a world of lies
Oh to see Your face again, it seems so distant now
Could it be that You would take me back
A servant in Your house

You held out Your arms, I see them still
You never left, You never will
Running to embrace me, now I know
Your cords of love will always hold
Mercy’s robe, a ring of grace
Such favor undeserved
You sing over me and celebrate
The rebel now Your child

© 2009 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP)

Recommended Resources
Sons & Daughters
Song: The Prodigal by Sovereign Grace Music

Daily Thought: God of Restoration

What's the Damage?

Our God takes the most-broken of broken people and turns them into gleaming trophies of grace. That is the nature of our God: A God of restoration.

Does not the word, "restore," mean to return something to where it once was? Surely we never dwelt in perfection worthy of Heaven. So how does He restore if we never were sinless?

Can Full Recovery Be Accomplished?

God restores the relationship held between Himself and Adam - a relationship without the skewing of sin. He looks upon us as He did Adam in that Adam originally had no sin. But is it Adam He looks upon when He looks at us? By no means! He sees His Son--perfect, flawless, righteous. His Son's becoming our sin and killing its dominion forever on the cross through death purchased for us that robe of righteousness through which the Father looks upon us.

Damage is Irrelevant to God's Ability to Forgive

So, the point and sum is this: God can take anyone, no matter how wrecked and damaged by wickedness, and turn them into a guiltless child of His.

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!"

Recommended Resources
Pending.

Daily Thought: Persevering Through Pain

Varying Trails of Life
There are many trails to endure, enjoy, weather, and persevere through on the Christian journey. Each trail is part of a main road leading to Glory. Never will any of your pain, or your happiness for that matter, be in vain if the direction of your perseverance be toward Him. Never will the end of a heavy trial alas find you in defeat if your strength be drawn from Him. Never will He raise up a child only to let him go.

In this life, there are trails of pain--the pain of broken relationships, of shattered dreams, of cumulative daily troubles, of death and loss, of discipline.

There are trails of rejoicing--the joy of reconciliation, of Godly dreams come true, of resolved troubles, of new life, of undeserved gain, of the fruit of discipline.

Never will he leave you amidst either--or ever. Never will He forsake thee in thy pain. Never will He abandon His servants while they are yet rejoicing. By the promise of His own tongue, He will never, ever forsake thee.

Be comforted.

Amen.

"Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you" (Joshua 1:5)

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Daily Thought: Corrosive Acid

Meant for One Thing

Corrosive acid, such as the powerful muriadic acid, will only do one thing when applied to an object or surface: Corrode. Some acids, like the fore-mentioned, are used to clean nearly impossible stains (such as skid marks from pavement). You cannot use it to water your plants, for you (nor they) would gather even a moment's pleasure from that. You cannot use it to quench your thirst, for it is poison and would quickly destroy you. You cannot use it to wash your car, unless you don't want any paint and would eventually enjoy holes in your car. You cannot use it to cleanse tender surfaces such as your hands - for it would leave non-curable scars. This acid does one thing: Corrodes.

So it is with sin. We cannot take sin and use it for something good. We cannot live in sin and experience continued life! It is impossible. Sin destroys the Christian's life. It weakens the Christian's faith. It attacks and destroys families and marriages. Why? Because sin does one thing: pulls us away from the Father. And that's the worst place any person can be. Sin does one thing: Corrodes.

The Father's Words on the Matter

Listen to what Scripture says as to the attempt to use sin in this way and the only way we can and will experience life: Obedience.

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:1-4 - Emphasis added).

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Challenge and Application Questions

• Are you tempted to or do you rationalize sin?
• What does "taking advantage of grace" look like in the life of a believer?
• What are God's words on this?
• What should be our response to God's words on this?

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Daily Thought: So Distant Now

Does the Father's face seem distant to you now? Does the embrace of His love and warmth that you once experienced and held dear seem as a distant memory? Is your race as a Christian seen through your eyes as nothing but a heap of lost hope?

Fear not, for we have a Savior Who knows our weaknesses and in fact sympathizes with them. Further, He experienced them as we have:

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).

So passionate is He for His glory that He is not willing to hide His face from you. He will let His mercy shine forth with the light of countless mid-day sun upon you. He will grasp your soul and fill it with truth to shake sin at its root and see it tremble to the ground as you do in awe of Him. Take heart, Christian! Your road it excruciating. But your hope is not in ease of pain, but peace of soul found in free, saving grace.

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Recommended Resources

Song: The Prodigal

Daily Thought: Nothing to Say

Are not His Words sufficient? Yes, expound on the Scriptures. By all means, write down your own reflections upon it! But remember, it is His Word that:

• has ultimate and unrivaled authority
• contains no flaws
• is complete without any holes
• is the very words of God

What can I say in return for such a gift as that of God's Word. Right now? I have nothing to say--I want to see what He says! Then I am certain that many Words of praise shall naturally flow from our mouths as is the effect His Word, through which He speaks to our souls, has.

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Daily Thought: "I Get Off Here"

The enemy of our soul will always tempt us, threaten us, and try to strike up fear in us by way of end-time lies. Her will tell us...

• "You may as well give it up now--God will not take you back after your blatant sin."
• "The prodigal son was just an exception--he came back to God quicker than you, so God accepted that wanderer back."
• "You've sinned greater than all others" (which is true), "so you're the one 'black sheep' He'll condemn on the last day. You're out of reach of His forgiveness" (which is not true)!
• "God's forgiveness can only go so far and then He is unforgivingly angry with you. Don't you think you've reached His 70 times seventh forgiveness by now? You have already repeated this sin so many times!"
• This Christian life was once an enjoyable ride, but the restrictions and suffering you've experienced to follow this 'God'--is it really worth it? You may as well get off the train here and come enjoy pleasure. Give it up!

Christian runner, do not shrink God to a limited reverser of His Word as Satan would have you do. Satan's words are filled with lies and techniques that would use truths as arguement for fallacy (see the third bullet above).

For you, even you, to be out of reach of His forgiveness would be to say...

• The Gospel isn't sufficient for forgiveness of all sin.
• Christ died for no reason.
• God is a liar.
• The last words of Christ on the cross before He died, "It is finished!," were false and nothing but a dramatic ending to a pointless life.

None of which are true.

Have full faith in His faithfulness to forgive! Let His mercy drive you to repentance. Our God is the Awesome God and forgiver of the worst! Amen!

Daily Thought: Indifference

What does the Bible say about indifference to sin?

Of us, the corrupt, in Romans 1: "those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them" (Verse 31).

Only, this sounds like it's more than indifference: It's another reminder that our hearts are an active attack factory on the glory of God. We have "exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man" (Verse 23), known God but "did not honor him as God or give thanks to him" (Verse 21), have been "filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice" (Verse 29), and are more than guilty of being "gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless" (Verses 29-31).

So what is this to say? (1) God is passionate about His glory and will not see it stolen. (2) It takes a big God and infinitely-great mercy for a God so offended to forgive such wicked sinners. And He has. Can you say, "how great is our God?" Can you shout, "Amazing Grace?" Amen!

Daily Thought: Expectations

Here's a self-check: Often, and let's venture to say usually, our recognition and judgement of the apparent sins and shortcomings of others is sadly merely the product of our own self-righteous expectations of that person or group, high standard that lacks room for grace, an outlook and opinion of ourself that is all too high, and/or deep-rooted bitterness. We forget how much grace God, the most harshly offended Party in the universe and the most-gracious forgiver in the universe) has shown us. We fail to remember that indeed we are the greatest of sinners and the most-wretched--and far more than those we erroneously judge.

Has a person or a group of persons offended you? No surprise. People are human, and groups of people increase the weaknesses and possibility of offense. But at the same time, grace is provided to do mighty things through any circumstance, shortcoming, sin, or offense.

How truly amazing the grace of God is!

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Even while reading this excellent book there is the possibility to not pursue peace by accusing others of not keeping it. We've all failed to keep it, and that's why we need this book. Let's get the plank out of our own eye and not worry about the spec in another's eye at the moment. Because when we are humbled and accept human weakness and extend the grace we have received to others, we will be able to speak the truth in love.

Daily Thought: New Year's Resolutions

A new year's resolution is not wrong, unless it fails to be grounded in asking for grace to do it. New year's resolutions may well be a self-sufficient statement before God that says (as Josh Harris put it), "I'm going to do better this year."

Again, they are not wrong, and the can be made with the proper motive of course. However, let us be encouraged to daily seek the face of the One Who provides all grace to do anything that matters on earth and in eternity.

In fact, be encouraged to have goals for the year; life is chaos without a plan! But at the same time, remember that God is not limited by times range (i.e. years) and will do as He pleases in your life in Hi perfect timing and for your good.

Daily Thought: Use of a Hammer

The use of a hammer, as many tools, by design takes many swings--many repetitive motions to get the job done. In rare circumstance will you swing a hammer once and complete your task. Instead, you swing again and again until you have pierced a surface with the full length of a nail.

So it is with sin. We all may wish that sin could be defeated and thrown out of our lives in a snap--that we could turn from it cold-turkey style. But the more we live, the more we are able to accept that that's just not the way God designed life. Killing a sinful habit takes fleeing time and time again. Putting a sinful trap out of our life takes taking the hammer to sinful opportunities and desires again and again.

So don't give up, soldier. Don't lose hope in a battle that's already been won by the nails in our risen Savior's hands. He has won it--He has provided everything you need to win.

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence..." ~2 Peter 1:3 (ESV)

Recommended Resources

This little book is an easy read for the not-easy things of life such as: Remembering the Gospel daily, escaping condemnation, being free from the paralyzing bondage of guilt. This is among my favorite read-and reread books!

Daily Thought: Mistreatment

We, as Christians, can, by grace, withstand any kind of mistreatment because:

1. There was no one more unrightly and horribly mistreated than the Son of God (Jesus)
2. We (all people) are the one Who mistreated and killed Him
3. He has forgiven us the greatest debt that will ever exist, the one we earned by killing His Son.

Therefore, our reaction to harsh bosses, unruly family members, persecutors, and the unkind should be distinctly different from the world.

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Daily Thought: Shunning

"The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost."

~1 Timothy 1:15 (ESV)

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"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Christ Himself came to associate with those who were most against Him and least likely to be labeled saints. Biblically, then, we have no justification for the self-righteous sunning of an unbeliever--any of them.

And let us not forget the next part of that Verse, "of whom I am the worst." This reveals to us one thing: We are those people--most against Him and least likely to be labeled saints. He has saved even us. Thank goodness.

Daily Thought: Laid Down Glory

Is it not radical that the One (and only One) worthy of all glory in all the Heavens and the Earth is the One Who laid it all down by coming down from the Heavens to earth? Truly this is an amazing mystery!

Daily Thought: Hope for the Most Wretched

Do you think alas as you observe your own sin that you are the most wicked? A just and right conclusion that is indeed! I am the most wicked sinner. I cannot see anyone's sin as greater than mine for mine is so present and blatant. A shame my sin is.

But moment by moment and day by day, God provides the oxygen of hope to me in the form of this: "Your sins are forgiven. And to remind you, I give you a picture of my Son in a stable, living His way to the cross and death for you--rising up to raise you, and reigning and inviting you to reign with Him as an heir with Christ" (Romans 8).

Recommended Resources

The Enemy Within: Straight Talk About the Power and Defeat of Sin

Daily Thought: Worshiping When You Don't Feel Like It

I heard one of my all-time favorite speakers, John Piper, expound on something most brilliant and encouraging: Pleading for a heart of worship is an act of worship. When our hearts are so incredibly tired and our souls weary that we cannot even muster up the desire to worship, we can, from the ground on our backs, plead to our God for a heart that loves to worship and in that act, worship Him. We can say, "Father, I desire not to worship your holy name, though you are worthy, and I am so sorry. Forgive me and raise up passion for you in this weary soul."

Further, should you not desire His Word, we can ask: "Father, incline my heart to Your Word."

Thank God for this hope!

Daily Thought: Escape

What do we do in the midst of a battle that is so seemingly unescapable--when the enemy has surrounded the village from all sides and has begun to burn it? The point of an enemy surrounding is to keep that at the center from any direction and means of fleeing and to overwhelm the subject to the point of exhausting all means of fighting.

The battle of the saint in sin is the same, but there is more. The battle of all Christians has this unique hope: In every temptation, He will provide a way out. "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it" (I Corinthians 10:13).

Daily Thought: From the Grave

From the depth of the grave I write - the pits of despair where there is no light, no hope. All good is lost and I have destroyed it. All life is gone for I have wasted it. But then I hear...

I hear the deep rumblings of a Voice not common -- none other like it in fact. This voice peirces through the dark, the deep, and the lies of condemnation. This voice tells me, "For that darkness you have seen, you shall see me all the more brighter. For that despair you have known, my hope shall be sweeter. For that sin you have done, I have given my Son, and you are forgiven. Come. Come, my son. Come."

Daily Thought: Not the End - He Calls the Prodigal

This is not the end. Soul, this is not the end. Though you struggle and lose to sin seemingly more blatantly than ever you have in your life, this is not the end. Repent, my soul, for your sin is serious and His grace is great. Turn from wickedness because there is grace given to turn. Turn to Him because His arms are wide open with welcome. He will kill the fatted cow for you, young one--or old one. He will celebrate with all Heaven when you return. So make haste to the throne! He is calling you now! "Come home!"