Daily Thought: Never a Dull Moment, Never a Day Off

"The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin."

~Proverbs 5:22 (ESV)

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Never a Dull Moment

Come to ponder it, there is no moment in the human life not surrounded by lies and temptation to believe something other than what God declares true and right.

• In the morning we are tempted to complain about getting up.
• At work we are tempted by slow computers, poor management, level of income.
• In leisure we complain that we do not have more of it.
• In sickness there is a bounty of temptation to complain about the way we are not (i.e. in good health).
• In marriage we are tempted to believe there is more available to us sexually than we're getting (when all else beside our spouse is forbidden).
• When loss of money or possessions occurs, we are led to believe God is punishing us.
• When loss of a loved one occurs we are tempted to believe God is not sovereign and is harsh and uncaring.
• When we are struggling to make financial ends meet or are jobless, we are tempted to believe God has disregarded our situation.
• When our friends fall away we are tempted to believe God does not want us to flourish.
• When worship is dry we are led to believe God is disappointed with us.
• When tempted to lust we are tempted also to believe that another person has something more satisfactory than God and is more satisfactory than God.
• ...and many other things.

But should all of these things even cease to exist, we remember the words of the Psalmist:

"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you." ~Psalm 73:25 (ESV).

Truly, there is none so wonderful, none so kind, none so just, none so merciful and forgiving, and none so satisfactory as Him! But can we believe this with ease? Because of our sinful, doubting, blind hearts, no. But that is why we are invited to expose ourselves to His Word every day and to:

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!." ~Psalm 73:25 (ESV).

Never a Day Off

Our first step of action, then, is this: Ask the Giver of all good things: "Convince me of this, Lord. Convince me that you are God and you are infinitely good!"

It is an every-day, never-ending, constant battle we fight to keep God's goodness before us and flee the trap of sin--to resist the aimless wind of the world and end up sitting stagnant and unsatisfied in tangled net of ungodliness. But when we truly taste and know Him, we will be convinced that He is better than anything in the universe!

Amen.

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Challenge and Application Questions

• What lies are constantly coming at you?
• As constant as the lies are, how can you (or do you) more constantly remind yourself of the pleasure found in God?
• How are you striving to know God better?
• What passages from God's Word do you delight in to resist sin and love God more?
• How can and why should you cultivate delight in His Word more?
• Want to share with others for their benefit too? Start the conversation!

Recommended Resources

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: 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: No Pleasure So Great

There is no pleasure so great as Him--only our flesh would tell us anything but, and our flesh often wins. However, we are not bound to this depressing case, we are bound to Him. His children are no more bound to sin than the wind is bound in one place. But we are as bound to Him beyond a bond no mind can illustrate.

Daily Thought: Heavenly Saints

Were we to view the pleasure and peace that God can give in the moment of temptation as the pleasure and peace we think that sin will give and take hold of Him as many or more times than we take hold of sin, we would be more heavenly saints indeed!

The Four Woes of Luke 6 - Woe 2: Against Filling Up with the World

"'Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.'"

~Luke 6:25a (ESV)

<Read Part 1 | Read Part 3>

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John Piper often talks of how humans are far too easily satisfied. A young kid would enthusiastically take satisfaction in making mud pies because he can't imagine what is meant by holiday at the beach.

The word "full" here in the Greek is "ěmpiplēmi" or "ěmplēthō" (^[1]) which means to fill in or up and to satisfy. One base Greek word implies "filling to the max." It is not talking about for food per se, but an overall filling of one's self that "makes no room" for anything else because one's satisfaction is in the here and now.

But Jesus mercifully warns us of this. If we fill ourselves with earthly treasures and think that the height of satisfaction, that is the height of ignorance for soon we shall realize, "If this is all there is to life, this is pathetic! I have no more dreams!" Soon the entertainment, fame, drugs, friends, possessions, relationships, immorality, money, or anything else we try to fill ourselves with other than Christ Himself--it will fail us and prove as an ugly deception. Worldliness and lust are ugly deceptions that do nothing but harden our hearts toward God, hinder the pursuit of God, and dull our sensitivity to the Lord's leading. Settle not for them! They lie to us! They do not deliver as advertised!

Our end is to hunger without satisfaction if we settle for less than God. The word "hunger" in the Greek, "pěinaō," means to famish--to crave and be hungered ^[2]. So what we think now to be our satisfaction other than God will leave us dying in starvation.

May we remind ourselves that Christ died to save us from this deceit! What a blessed relief! The Holy Spirit has opened our once darkened eyes to see what really matters and live life in the FREEDOM of the only satisfaction, Jesus Christ. Amen!

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Challenge and Application Questions

• What things less than God most beg to be known as and claim to be satisfaction in your life?
• Do you remind yourself of the Gospel and that Christ died to save you from that deceit when you are tempted to seek satisfaction outside of God?
• In light of the Gospel, have the deceitful things of the world dimmed and been exposed for what they really are?
• How are you applying the Gospel to your Christian life of discernment?

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1. Strong's concordance (KJV), Greek Dictionary 1705. (Back to reading)
2. Strong's concordance (KJV), Greek Dictionary 3983. (Back to reading)

Only Jesus

"Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you."
~Psalm 73:25 (ESV)

"Lord, take me deeper into the glories of Calvary."
-Sovereign Grace Music, The Glories of Calvary

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What else have I?
Whom is there in the Heavens but You?
You are my First Love
My only love
My only desire
How I need You now!

What love is this that You have shown!
What grace beyond sweetness to the soul!
Jesus, You are my heart's cry
Jesus, You are Who I am desperate for
I am settled when I know Your nearness
And unsettled when I fail to savor You

"With every breath, Lord, how I long
To sing and sing of Jesus Who died for me!"
Show me Your glory, Lord!
I want to go deeper!
Closer and closer to You

I cannot do without more of You
Without more and more of the Bread
That satisfies my hunger, yet increases it
That quenches my thirst yet proves it unquenchable
With all satisfaction, I adore Thee, My Lord!

To You I sing a song of glory
Glory to the One to Whom all glory is due
Glory to the Only One deserving of WORSHIP!
I ascribe all glory to You...

The Great Initiator of lost souls
The only qualified Savior
The God of Grace and mercy
The Creator with sovereign arm
The One to be feared with mighty arm of strength
The limitless God of love
The Bread of Life
The Living Water
The only One for me
The only Joy

The only satisfaction

Hunger that Satisfies

"Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied."
~Luke 6:21a (ESV)

"The more I drink of Your love, the more I thirst for You."
-Telecast

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Those who are hungry for the Lord's presence, the Lord's Word, the Lord's ways, the Lord--they shall be satisfied. The believer who counts that which is hungered for in Godliness as indispensable and as far greater than and more important even than food for the stomach recognizes their need and shall be satisfied. Indeed, the very definition of Godliness is one who genuinely hungers for God and delights in His Savior at all times and in all things. There are many other aspects of Godliness, but the desire and hunger cannot be absent. Godly hunger cannot be separated from Godliness. Godly hunger is inclusive in the word "Godliness" and without it the word "Godliness" becomes meaningless and void and a mere scrambling of letters.

So do not separate Godliness and Godly hunger, for until we die and on to eternity, we need more of God and will always hunger for Him. However, the intent of this verse, as when Jesus said, "whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again" (John 4:14) and "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst" (John 6:35), those who partake of Him will never go thirsty and will never go hungry. We will never go hungry when we long for Him and seek after Him by the means of grace He has given. "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you" (James 4:8). This is a promise straight from the mouth of God! We will be in an eternally satisfying state of hungering for more of the supremacy and presence of Christ, OUR SAVIOR.

So, neither separate Godliness from Godly hunger and so deceive yourself into thinking you can be Godly and not hunger, and do not separate satisfaction from Christ. Only in Him will the Godly longing of the redeemed be satisfied.

For we know the more we know You God, the more we shall hunger for You.