Distracted from Believing in God or Driven to Holiness? Do We Wear our High-Tech or His Holy Headphones?

Back in those most ancient of days when the telegraph was the fastest method of long-distance communication, a young man had applied for a job as a Morse Code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, busy office filled with noise and clatter, including the sounds of the telegraphs clicking in the background.

A sign on the receptionist’s counter instructed each job applicants to fill out a form, sit down and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office.

The young man filled out his form and sat down with the seven other applicants in the waiting area. After but a few brief minutes, the young man stood up, had crossed the room to the door of the inner office, opened it and walked right in.

Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. They muttered among themselves that they had not heard any summons yet. They believed that the brash young man who went into the office made a mistake and because of his presumptiveness would be removed from the office, disqualified.

Within a few minutes, however, the employer escorted the young man out of the office and said to the other applicants, “Gentlemen, thank you very much for your interest and for taking time to come, but the job has just been filled.”

The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and one spoke up saying, “Wait a minute, I don’t understand. He was the last to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That is so not fair!”

The employer said, “I’m sorry, but all the time you’ve been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse Code: ‘If you understand this message, then do not wait, come right in. The job is yours.’ None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. The job is his.”

Truth is: We live in a distracted world that is full of busyness and clatter.

Like those other applicants waiting in that office, people are distracted and unable to hear the message from a still, small voice of God as he speaks to them.

What about me? Am I too distracted? Am I tuned into God’s voice?

What about you? Are you too distracted? Are you tuned into God’s voice?

Do you hear him over your ultra-high-tech earphones when he speaks to you?

Are you and I distracted or are you and I listening?

Today, we are pondering this subject of “Ultra-High-Tech Holy Headphones: How to Hear God’s Voice” and the Lord and I want you to see exactly how God speaks to us through distraction so we can hear Him when He speaks to us all.

How many of you all wearing your earbuds have ever heard God speak to you?

1 Samuel 3:1-11 NIV

The Lord Calls Samuel

3 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

²One-night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. ³The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ⁴Then the Lord called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” ⁵And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

⁶Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

⁷Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So, Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

¹¹And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

I’m certain by the end of this devotion, if you’re one of God’s children, you’ll be more aware of the times when God was speaking, and more aware of when God will be trying to speak to you, and if you are not one of God’s children, then you will be more aware of how you can become one and then start to hear His voice.

The first thing you got to do to hear God’s voice is Tune In. You cannot listen to your favorite music or news program on the radio unless your radio is tuned in to those stations, can you? You can’t listen to Rock if your car radio is tuned to News, can you? Well, you can’t hear God’s voice unless you are tuned in to Him.

“He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” John 8:47

Young Samuel is lying down trying to sleep in the temple, the candles were still lit, so it’s about 2 or 3 in the morning and he cannot quite to get fully to sleep.

I believe His mind’s probably racing from everything he learned that day. You see, Samuel was perhaps 8 or 9 years old, and he was living with Eli, the priest. His mother Hannah had dedicated him unto the Lord as a baby, so Samuel as a boy learned the function of a priest under the Chief Priest – Eli.

So here Samuel is trying to get some rest and he hears somebody call his name.

He stands up, runs to Eli’s bedside and says, “Here I am, what did you want?”

And Eli’s like, “I didn’t call you, go back to bed.” So, Sammy goes back to the sack and the same thing happens. He hears somebody call his name, goes to Eli, Eli says, “It wasn’t me,” and he goes back to bed. The same thing happens a third time, and this time Eli catches on that God is the one calling Samuel.

So, Eli gives young Samuel some instruction on hearing from God and he goes back to bed, hears the voice of God, and then listens to what God has to say.

You see, at the beginning, Samuel didn’t quite know what was going on.

He believed Eli was calling him. He wasn’t tuned in to God, the Scripture says,

“the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.”

If he was tuned in to God, he would have known that it was God who was speaking to him, and he would have heard clearly all the instruction that God had for him.

So, what about you?

So, what about us?

Have we tuned in to God?

Can we or can we not tell when God is genuinely speaking to us?

A man and his friend were in downtown New York City, walking near Times Square in Manhattan. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with wall-to-wall people walking in every which direction. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were all squealing around corners, sirens were wailing, and the sounds of the city were almost deafening.

Suddenly, one of the men said, “I just heard some crickets.”

His friend said, “What? You must be crazy. You couldn’t possibly hear crickets in all of this ridiculous noise!”

“No, I’m sure of it,” the man said. “I definitely heard a bunch of crickets.”

Shaking his head, “That’s way beyond crazy,” said his friend.

The man quietly interrupted his friend listened carefully for a moment, and then walked across the street to a long cement planter where several shrubs were growing. He stopped, looked into the bushes, beneath the branches, and sure enough, he located several crickets. His friend was utterly amazed.

“That’s just incredible,” said his friend. “You must have super-human ears!”

“No,” said the other man. “My ears are no different from yours. You see, it all depends on what you are distracted by what you are hearing and listening for.”

“But that can’t be!” said the friend. “I could never hear crickets in this noise.”

“Yes, it’s true,” came the reply. “It depends on what you’re listening for. Here, let me show you.”

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a several coins, and discreetly dropped them down on the sidewalk. And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, they noticed every head within twenty feet turn and look to check their pockets to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs.

“See what I mean?” asked the man.

“It all depends on what you are hearing and what you are listening for.”

If you have ears to hear and are actually using them to listen, you can tune in to God, it doesn’t matter what’s going on around you, you can hear Him speak.

Ok, if you really, truly, genuinely, actually, actively want to tune in to God. Well, what ultra-high-tech earphones do you and God have on right in this moment?

Speak Truth: Are any of us even close to tuning into the same frequency as God?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Dear Father in heaven, your Son promised that we would see him again if we wait patiently and listen to what the Holy Spirit says to us. Illuminate our hearts and send your Spirit in. All that is yours will be ours through your Spirit. I pray that I learn to quiet my mind so I can hear the Holy Spirit. I pray that I am filled with the understanding to know how to follow its guidance for me. Amen.

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Happy Mother’s Day! God’s Priceless Legacy: The Hope of Faithful Moms.

For as long as I can remember I wanted to be an archaeologist. The whole idea of my finding something buried and unseen by others appealed to me. When younger, I could be found digging in some corner of the yard. Best thing I ever found was a big old cookie tin with three small words on it – “Love, From Mom.”

And then, one day I was playing archaeologist in my dad’s old dusty library. I looked in an old, unlocked drawer on his secretary and encountered Christ. My whole life changed, but my love for a good dig didn’t. It was simply redirected.

God placed a treasure trove of priceless jewels within reach when I removed an old torn up Bible with pages falling out everywhere. Miner’s hat? Check. Pickaxe and shovel? Check. A new-born burning passion to discover God? Check, check.

Thus began my youthful lifelong search for God’s nature. The pages which had fallen out of the old Bible were from Psalm 139. I read it but really did not know what I was reading. So, I took it to Mom who was in the kitchen baking bread.

Mom took the pages and she read them. She picked me up and put me on her lap and read them to me. In this moment of youth, I realized had stumbled across something stunningly lovely: His handiwork in fashioning my mothers’ heart.

It’s easy to miss God weaving Himself into mothers and their hearts. Man can only offer up a deep, well, totally unfulfilling definition coming from myriads of greeting cards offering vast armies of “sentimental” words feebly addressing it.

Hollywood’s script writers have spent countless millions, (if not billions by now) depicting it onscreen. Yet the very truest wellspring of a mother’s heart remains mysterious. They try to depict what cannot be depicted.

What can never be depicted is this incredible truth: Our Creator God takes great care to knitting all of Himself into who we are and will become.

In examining His deep love for us, His mothering nature is quickly apparent:

Psalm 139:13-18 Authorized (King James) Version

¹³For thou hast possessed my reins:
thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
marvelous are thy works;
and that my soul knoweth right well.
¹⁵My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret,
and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
¹⁶Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;
and in thy book all my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them.
¹⁷How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!
how great is the sum of them!
¹⁸If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand:
when I awake, I am still with thee.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Our Creator takes care to knit Himself into who we are and will become. In examining His love for us, His mothering nature is quickly apparent:

“…How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…” (Matthew 23:37 NASB)

How could God reference Himself as a protective mother, lest He’d poured His compassionate nature into the mother’s heart? His maternal temperament continues:

“…He will rejoice over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” (Zephaniah 3:17b NASB)

“Quiet in His love,” duplicates the tenderest moments between mother and child, referencing the child being fully contented and simply enjoying the closeness of its mother.

The child wants nothing more than its mother’s presence. It’s a time of very quiet love. Drawing powerful strength from her proximity alone.

Again, we see His mothering side:

“Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb?” (Isaiah 49:15a NASB)

Who better than the Designer of mothers could explain this nurturing side of Himself? The nourishing definition of Jehovah Jireh. Our Provider.

His provision in limitless care was famously spoken to Moses. Asking a yet unnamed God His true name, He replied, “I Am.” A statement begging to fill in the blank. “I AM everything. I AM infinite. I AM all powerful.”

Until my mother’s passing from a heart attack 1997, I took fullest possible advantage of my family membership and went straight to her for comfort.

I guess Dad understood my running past him to reach her arms.

With advancing years, hurts changed, but the source of my consolation didn’t.

I still went directly to Mom and her lap for comfort and my “momma hug”.

For through her deep and limitless kindness, forgiveness, and never-ending compassion, I came to feel God’s caring, hugging presence, I came to wholly trust God’s ever nurturing presence. He was easily recognizable in her and I very deeply valued God’s mothering heart woven tightly into hers.

The birthing process is God’s idea. He’s maternally given birth to the universe, birth to our planet, and birth to us. Most importantly He’s given us re-birth, calling us into reconciliatory relationships with Him.

Nicodemus needed clarification. He knew it impossible to reenter a mother’s womb a second time. God’s way was easier with no gestational period.

Being born-again in the Spirit granted restoration with the Father, enjoying unbroken intimacy.

Our Father in heaven is solidly our Father. His maternal nature guarantees attendance at every bird’s funeral. Keeps track of 7.2 billion heads of hair.

Tallies innumerable thoughts about us exceeding grains of sand. Stills our storms, heals our diseases, binds our broken hearts.

The most potent attribute of His mother’s heart is His lavish forgiveness of our sins. Dark sins, washed in red blood, producing robes of white righteousness.

Like the mother that deliberately forgets her child’s shortcomings, He casts our sins directionally as far as the east is from the west, and as far as the north is from the south, until sinking to the absolute floor of the Sea of Forgetfulness.

Simply stated, He is Father God with a mother’s heart.

Waiting to wipe every tear; sitting up with us through the night; and listening to our troubles—solving them while we are yet wounded, suffering, speaking.

The mother’s heart is best defined by her unselfish generosity in ongoing, unconditional giving and raising her family to become loving parents too.

Proverbs 22:6Authorized (King James) Version

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go:
and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Psalm 119:9-16Authorized (King James) Version

ב Beth

⁹Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
¹⁰With my whole heart have I sought thee:
O let me not wander from thy commandments.
¹¹Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against thee.
¹²Blessed art thou, O Lord:
teach me thy statutes.
¹³With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
¹⁴I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies,
as much as in all riches.
¹⁵I will meditate in thy precepts,
and have respect unto thy ways.
¹⁶I will delight myself in thy statutes:
I will not forget thy word.

Pastor Billy Graham is quoted as saying, “Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.”

Now listen to these other quotes you may find of particular interest:

“All I am I owe to my mother; I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.” George Washington

“All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Abraham Lincoln

“I cannot tell you how much I owe to the solemn word of my good mother.” Reverend Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Only loving relationships provide lasting legacy and hope.

Today, Mother’s Day 2022, we will celebrate and encourage all moms in their contributions to legacy…to being that character forming mother!

Plus, we will remind each of us—parents, children, teens, and young adults, of the importance of pursuing God’s plan for relationships.

Questions for Moms and Dads

What hope do we have that our children will stand by their faith and live by their values?

What or who do you trust to impact their lives?

What are you hoping will produce relationally healthy followers?

Who had a profound effect on Jesus? (Proverbs 22:6).

What legacy are we leaving?

We certainly can’t hope for perfect children like Jesus because our children are just like us—imperfect people. But where do they go for guidance does matter.

Do they go to God’s Word?

Do they seek guidance from attentive parents?

Both Parents, even Grand-Parents must continuously pursue relationship with their children so they will “earn the right” in their child’s eyes to speak God and Jesus Christ into their lives as they begin to make their own choices.

Could you join with me and every mom here today in this hope?

Look square into your mom’s face and tell her:

“I praise God for you and Psalm 127:3 Behold children are gifts from the Lord”

Let’s fervently hope and pray that…

Our children are raised by Godly principles drawn directly from the Word of God. (Romans 15:1-6, Ephesians 6:1-3, 2 Timothy 3:10-17, Hebrews 4:12)

• Our children are more influenced and shaped by their parents and their faith than by the world.

• Our teens and young adults remain open to our input and continue to be open about the details of their physical, emotional and spiritual life.

• Our adult children want to be around us, and we regularly enjoy being around them!

Some of us may also champion the simple, but profound, hope our current family could be a little healthier or a more functional than our own childhood family.

Thank God for creating motherhood!

Today we celebrate all moms who pay the price for making a difference in us!

Thank you, Mom, for letting me feel God’s love radiate through you.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Lt us Pray,

A Child’s Prayer for their Mama’s on Mother’s Day

Dear God, My Creator …

I just want to say, “Thank you for my Mama!”

Thank you for the woman who gave birth to me and has loved me ever since.

I’m grateful for her impact on my life, for her presence, for her love.

Thank you for every moment she was there to pick me up from school, and every moment she helped me heal from heartbreak.

Thank you for every phone call, hug, compliment, even complaint.

Thank you that she cares.

Thank you that despite us not always getting along, our love has endured.

I’m grateful for Mama, and pray that you help me to better honor her every day.

Show me how I can express appreciation for what she has done.

Help me to see all that she has done. God, please help me practice patience when I feel like she’s being too much, or too bossy, or too much like a mom.

Honestly God, who would I be without my Mama?

I pray to you now, God, asking you to bless the remainder of her life.

Please bring her comfort when sickness and body aches occur. Please give her continued direction for her life. Keep her mind renewed.

God, I ask the remainder of her life may be enriched, that she would still feel like she has purpose to fulfill, despite having accomplished so much already.

I pray for those Mama’s who have found their eternal reward with you. They have earned their place of rest by your side, and I know you will keep her safe.

Rest well, Mama, from your labors. One day we shall worship God together!

In the name of Jesus,

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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“When upon this earth, when my life is all said and done, God, let me have the only true desire of my heart……” My God Honoring Words and my God Honoring Thoughts. – Psalms 19:14

In the beginning of all things, God spoke into the darkness. Underneath those first spoken words which remain beyond our knowledge and comprehension I can imagine is God’s not so subtle prayer the darkness would relent of its efforts to prevent the light of life from shining, from distracting the light away from revealing the absolute glory of God in creation to all created generations.

I can imagine too, God knowing fully what God is going to do in the life of the humanity He Himself formed (Psalm 139:1-18), likewise subtly prayed that humanity would one day come to the same knowledge of God and also believe.

I can imagine David, at any given time and season in his life and turning his yes and his soul deep into the heavens, trying to count all of the stars and praising God for the complete failure in his efforts to do so. The utter majesty of God!

David raised his soul, offered up a psalm of praise to God, then concluded with these words about his words and thoughts. And they are my prayer as well.

Psalm 19:14 Amplified Bible

¹⁴
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable and pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, my [firm, immovable] rock and my Redeemer.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

So many of the psalms of David rejoice our hearts, as he pours forth a harmony of poetic praise to God for His merciful forgiveness and extraordinary favour.

It does not take very long for one to conclude, perhaps more than any other worship song from Israel’s great psalmist, Psalm 19 reminds us of the never-ending wonders of God’s mighty works and ways, the glories of His creative wisdom, and His most gracious acts towards the rebellious children of Israel.

The heavens above do indeed declare the beauty and splendour of our Heavenly Lord, and His magnificent handiwork is most certainly reflected in the glorious works He has performed by the might of His power.

The diverse language of nature and the spoken and unspoken poetry of the heavens above and the earth beneath, pour forth a never-ending message of unyielding worship and praise, as it proclaims the wonderful works of God.

So many of the sacred words that have been penned by Israel’s shepherd-king are prayers that have been rehearsed on the lips of many saints over centuries of time, who have found comfort, grace in his pleadings to the Lord.

From the very first utterances of those very first Words, God’s truth is revealed and forwarded into eternity for all to come to belief. For the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; and all of the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

David was a man after God’s own heart, for he realized it is not only the outside of a cup that needs to be clean and unsullied, but God desires an inner purity, which stems from a heart of flesh which is cleansed, humbled before the Lord and from whom will stream rivers of living water.

Words of worship flowing from a proud, rebellious, or unrepentant heart, are undoubtedly like an open and festering sewer to the Lord, but worshipful words flowing forth from a heart, soul and life which is pure in thought and in motive, word and deed, ascend unto the Father’s nostrils as a fragrant, sweet perfume.

And so, as David’s exuberant praise for the Lord climbs into an ever-increasing crescendo of worship and exaltation, his heart and his soul are suddenly moved into hushed prayer of submissive surrender and deep devotion, as he recognizes his own human limitations in contrast to the magnificent glory of God and cries out unto the Lord, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer.”

Imagine a heart (how about your heart) that meditates on the glory of the Lord and lifts up the person of the Lord Jesus, is the one that exhibits an inner grace and beauty, for such a one is willingly being transformed into the likeness of the Christ, for out of the mouth come thoughts that are conceived in the heart.

David not only understood the need for an inner cleansing and purity on a day-by-day basis, where God Himself governs and sanctifies the thoughts of the heart and the words of the mouth, but he had come to an understanding that his future promised royal Son- the coming King, the Promised Messiah – the divine days-man of Job – and the coming Seed of the virgin woman, would be the true, everlasting strength of his life, the only true Kinsman-Redeemer for his soul.

May we, like David, in true humility of heart, sanctify the words of our mouth, the meditation of our heart, the thoughts of our minds, and the motives of our inner most being so that all we say and all we do, will be pleasing and acceptable in the sight of our precious Lord and Savior, our Rock, our Redeemer and friend.

My prayer is that the words that come out of my mouth would be pleasing to God. Not just the words I speak when I am gathered with the church. But also when I am socializing with friends. When I am talking about politics or other social issues. And when I am in debate, or dispute, with another person. May my words be filled with grace and honoring to God.

And may my thoughts also be pleasing to God. Not just when I am meditating on the words of the Bible. But also, when I am fighting traffic. When I am also stewing over some wrong done to me, or someone close to me. I pray that my thoughts always be respectful of mankind’s diversity, God honoring and pure.

The earlier part of the Psalm gives us instruction in how to accomplish this.

Immerse yourself in God’s Word. Let it fill you and root out the sin and error in your life.

The Bible has great value for those who will dwell in it.

Allow it to fill your heart and your soul. And then you will surely and certainly find that your words and thoughts will more and more be pleasing to the Lord.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Loving Father, the heart that meditates on the Lord and lifts up the person of the Lord Jesus, is the one that exhibits an inner grace and beauty, for such a one is willingly being transformed into the likeness of Christ.

I know that out of the mouth come thoughts that are conceived in the heart, and so I pray that, like David, in humility of heart I would sanctify the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart, the thoughts of my mind, and the motives of my inner being so that I too am pleasing and acceptable in the sight of my precious Lord and Savior, my Rock and Redeemer. In His name I pray, AMEN.

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Encouraged to Believe. Motivated to Believe. Inspired to Believe. Desire to Believe. Make Me Acceptable in Your Sight, O LORD (Psalm 19:12-14)

As the children of God, our goal in life is to be sinless.

That means we are seeking to be imitators of God, to follow and live out the example of His Son Jesus in the ways and truths the Bible communicates. As Christians, we are all disciples of Christ and we therefore seek to imitate him, his life, truth, his attitudes and his desire to always do the will of the Father.

We are all aware that this is a lofty goal and that we will fail at times. (In fact, the more we recognize the holiness of God, the more we realize how far short we fall of being like him.) The good news is that as long as this is our goal and we are striving every day for that perfection, we confess our weakness, and our sinfulness and by His grace and mercy God promises to continue to forgive us.

As an essential part of that goal, we seek to make the words of our mouths and the thoughts of our hearts pleasing in the sight of God. Our actions begin with our thoughts and our thoughts are controlled by what we put into our minds.

So, to walk in his light, we must fill our minds with His light, the things of God, the things which are right, pure, wholesome and lovely. This means we must be ever so very careful of spiritually dining on the things of this world; the ungodly entertainment that fills the radio, television, internet and other forms of media. As a man thinks in his heart; so is he. As his heart beats so his life beats away.

We are covenanted by God to daily desire more and more of Him in our lives. As we make this our greatest desire, our most sincere effort, our heart is changed. It beats not in tune with the godlessness of the world but with God’s true life.

Is that not what we should most desire – a heart which beats to keep us upright and living? A sin corroded; sin sickened heart will die and leave us in our graves. There has to something, someone, somewhere to be more desired than a grave.

David provides us with his insights through these final verses from Psalm 19.

Psalm 19:12-14 English Standard Version

¹²Who can discern his errors?
    Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
¹³Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
    let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
    and innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

So far, we have looked at what Psalm 19 teaches us about how creation recounts the glory of God and we have looked at and studied what Psalm 19 teaches us about the other book God has written, the Bible. Specifically, David praises the beauty and the perfection of the Law in Psalm 19, which raised an important question for us: As Christians, how should we read and understand the Law?

I recently heard someone helpfully explain the Law like this: Before we came to Christ, the Law was our enemy because it exposed our sin and our guilt before a holy and righteous God. But after we came to Christ, the Law became our friend because we have no better teacher than the Law for learning how to desire God to the utmost and to please the God whom we have come to know and to love.

This is what David explains in the final verses of Psalm 19

Let’s break this down into a few guiding principles to help us interpret this.

David Uses the Law to Expose His Sin, Not to Forgive It

The first thing I pray we each recognize about what David does in this prayer is that he isn’t citing the Law as evidence for his innocence.

He isn’t pointing to the Law and saying, “O LORD, my rock and my redeemer, I am innocent from hidden faults and blameless before you!”

He understands that he hasn’t yet achieved perfection under the Law.

In fact, he assumes that he has faults that are “hidden” from him.

The word used here for “errors” describes a sin that is committed in ignorance (e.g., Lev. 4:13 or Job 6:24).

The fact that the sin happened unintentionally doesn’t make it acceptable, but that kind of sin wasn’t judged as harshly as sins that were committed willfully.

David’s relationship to the Law is to use it as a “diagnostic tool” to find out where he is still guilty, and not as justifying tool to proclaim himself innocent.

This is the main contention of the New Testament writers to write strongly against the wrong use of the Law. It is not that they are rejecting the Law altogether, but they absolutely reject any idea that we can use the Law as a platform to declare ourselves righteous. The Law simply doesn’t work that way.

The only way for anyone to be saved—at any point throughout salvation history—is through their sincere heartfelt confession faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.

People like David didn’t necessarily know or comprehend the details of who Jesus would be, so they were required to have faith that God would fulfill his covenant promises, but we do know what God has done to save his people.

He sent his Son Jesus to be born under the Law so that he could fulfill the Law, perfectly obeying the Law in ways that we could not and suffering under the full weight of the curse of the Law in our place, as we ever so righteously deserved.

Jesus is our only hope for salvation—not the Law.

David Longs for Communion with God

So instead of misunderstanding David as a legalist, let’s listen more closely to his real desire.

David wants to be blameless…

In these final verses, he pleads for God to help him to discern his ignorant sins so that he can be declared innocent from hidden faults.

(The word for “hidden” is the same word used to describe how there is nothing “hidden” from the sun’s heat in Psalm 19:6.)

Then, he asks God to graciously hold him back from presumptuous sins. And finally, he pleads that every word of his mouth and meditation of his heart would be “acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

But why? What’s David’s motivation behind his desire for blamelessness?

Quite simply, David longs for everlasting communion with God.

In the context of the whole Psalm, here is what is happening.

David is first standing in awe of God’s majesty and glory as he listens to the praises of creation.

Then, as he reads, studies and prays Yahweh’s Law and finds it to be perfect, reviving, sure, etc., he wants nothing more than to know the God of creation who has crafted such a perfect Law.

There is wisdom found here, and David wants to know the wise God who gave this Law—to know this God is the great reward David mentioned in Psalm 19:11.

David wants to be accepted by this God: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” He wants to be embraced by God and to know him better and better.

Union vs. Communion

This isn’t the same thing as being justified by God.

David doesn’t embrace the Law in order to make himself righteous before God, because he knows only God can make sinners righteous, by grace through faith.

Our union with God was established perfectly at the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the ebbing and flowing of our obedience and holiness before the Lord can do nothing to affect it.

Theologians, however, make an important distinction between our union with God and our communion with God.

Think about it like a marriage.

If you had an affair, that wouldn’t automatically sever your union with your spouse. Legally, you would still be considered married to your spouse unless you both went through the divorce proceedings to break that union.

But an affair would absolutely destroy the communion you have with your spouse. Even if you tried to cover it up, that violation of your spouse’s trust would be an onerous burden on any kind of relational intimacy you might have otherwise had until you were both able to somehow work with God through it.

Our union with Christ is inviolable, and there is nothing that we could ever do to destroy it. Even the most severe spiritual adultery is something that Jesus Christ has already died for, and he extends grace to us through the victory he won over sin through his resurrection.

Shout this to whoever will hear it:

There is more than sufficient grace for even the very vilest of sinners! Nothing you do can separate you from the love that God has for you in Jesus Christ!

But our communion with Christ can absolutely change over the course of our lives. Sin clouds our intimacy with him, and what David teaches us here in these verses is to learn to love the Law of God as a tool for exposing our hidden faults as well as illuminating the imminent danger of presumptuous sins.

David is not interested in blamelessness for its own sake, or for the sake of trumpeting his own “not so high and mighty” righteousness to the world.

His goal is simply this, he wants to be blameless so that nothing at all will stand between his heart, his soul, his God—that is, between his Rock and Redeemer.

Or as Charles Albert Tindley would later write … (1906)

1. Nothing between my soul and my Savior,
naught of this world’s delusive dream;
I have renounced all sinful pleasure;
Jesus is mine, there’s nothing between.
Refrain:
Nothing between my soul and my Savior,
so that his blessed face may be seen;
nothing preventing the least of his favor;
keep the way clear! let nothing between.

2. Nothing between, like worldly pleasure;
habits of life, though harmless they seem,
must not my heart from him ever sever;
he is my all, there’s nothing between.
(Refrain)

3. Nothing between, like pride or station;
self or friends shall not intervene;
though it may cost me much tribulation,
I am resolved, there’s nothing between.
(Refrain)

4. Nothing between, e’en many hard trials,
though the whole world against me convene;
watching with prayer and much self denial,
I’ll triumph at last, there’s nothing between.
(Refrain)

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

O Lord, my God and my Father, I thank you for revealing your Living Word. Lord of wisdom, I sometimes finding understanding the Bible to be difficult. I know you want me to apply your word to my life. I thank you for giving me your word so I can grow in my relationship with you. Help me grasp what you want me to know as I read your revealed word. Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions. Be my teacher, so I can live and obey your word. Thank you for your wise advice. Amen.

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Motivated and encouraged, and now, Inspired to Believe in God. What then may be the Next Step for us? “Delight Yourself in the Lord” Psalm 37:4-6

I have always wondered what Psalm 37 4 means.

Have you asked yourself what it really means to delight yourself in the LORD?

If you are even .01% like me, then the answer is almost certainly yes, then you have been brought by GOD to the right place.

Today, let me try to discuss the real meaning of Psalm 37:4-6 which most people either do not know about or care or reach out, dare to know about!

Psalm 37:1-6 NASB

Security of Those Who Trust in the Lord, and Insecurity of the Wicked.

A Psalm of David.

37 Do not get upset because of evildoers,
Do not be envious of wrongdoers.
²For they will wither quickly like the grass,
And decay like the green plants.
³Trust in the Lord and do good;
Live in the land and ^[a]cultivate faithfulness.
⁴Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
⁵Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
⁶He will bring out your righteousness as the light,
And your judgment as the noonday.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

For however long we have been a Christian, a short time or for a long time, there are those certain words and phrases which have a subtle tendency to settle into your vernacular, become commonplace, and lose their potency.

Any new believer, well-versed believer is certainly familiar with and, truthfully has probably memorized, David’s beautiful invitation in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.”

But what does it mean to delight yourself in someone—especially ‘the Lord’?

We’ve all had those days. “Do I believe in God?” “Why should I believe today?”

Circumstances go from bad to impossibly worse, creating an undercurrent of fear so strong that it tugs at your hope and threatens to pull you under. While you and I are trying to believe, to stay afloat on God’s promises, guilt sets in.

“Joy in the midst of trials is the mark of a true Christian,” you tell yourself.

In enters doubt with all the what-ifs that make your burden heavier.

You pray and put your trust in God. Now what?

You need a distraction to ward off anxiety.

Work, phone, binge-watching, ministry, mission—any of these should do.

But they don’t.

Somehow, they just seem to fall of the steepest cliffs into the deepest abyss.

Why does the call to ‘delight yourself in the Lord’ seem so distant in times of trouble?

What Does It Mean to ‘Delight Yourself in the Lord’?

Think back to a specific moment in time when you freely enjoyed the company of a loved one.

What made that moment special and memorable?

Did you laugh or cry together—like good friends often do.

Did you bond through the thrill of a shared experience? Did you boisterously celebrate a long-awaited victory together? Or perhaps you sat with each other in loving silence, grateful to know you didn’t have to carry a burden alone.

To experience deep, satisfying fellowship is a gift like no other.

But that kind of connection doesn’t happen overnight.

It’s silly to think we could find heartfelt delight with a stranger.

The same is true when it comes to delighting ourselves in the Lord.

What is the Psalm 37 4 meaning?

Psalm 37:4 is no doubt one of the most popular passages in the book of Psalms.

Why not?

After all, it is a wonderful promise from God that many people hold on to.

Psalm 37 is a psalm of David in which he reassures the righteous not to be dismayed at the sight of evildoers. In this Psalm, David explains what will happen to the wicked, but at the same time, what the righteous should also do.

Since the fate of the wicked is already prophesied and understood, the righteous should not worry about them anymore, rather they should place their sole focus on their relationship with God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

That’s where Psalm 37 verse 4 comes in.

Psalm 37:4 is just one of the instructions David mentioned in Psalm 37.

As you can read:

Verse 3 – Trust in the LORD and do good
Verse 5 – Commit your way to the LORD
Verse 7 – Rest in the LORD
Verse 8 – Cease from anger, and forsake wrath

These are just some of David’s admonition in Psalm 37.

As you can see, Psalm 37:4 is part of a greater list of instructions.

But for now, let us focus on the meaning of Psalm 37:4.

What does delight mean in Psalm 37:4?

The first thing we need to ask is, what does the word “delight” mean?

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/psa/37/4/t_conc_515004

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h6026/kjv/wlc/0-1/

It came from the Hebrew word, “anag,” which means to be happy about and to make merry over.

So, basically, delight means to take pleasure, to be happy, joyful, and excited.

The next question we need to ask is, to whom should we delight ourselves?

Psalm 37:4 clearly states that we must delight in the LORD.

LORD here is Yahweh, the personal name of God.

He is the ever-living, eternal, and supreme God of the entire universe. But at the same time, He is our loving, caring, and merciful Father.

If we put everything together, Psalm 37:4 tells us that we must take pleasure, we must be joyful, we must be excited about Yahweh.

It means our only source of joy and happiness should be our Heavenly Father.

Is it the right time to confess our real truth? Exactly Who or what is our source of delight?

However, as we look around us, where do people get their happiness?

Where do people usually take delight from?

They take delight in worldly and sensual things. They take delight in watching inappropriate and immoral entertainment. They take pleasure in material possessions. They take pleasure in people. Worst, they take pleasure in sin.

Now, it is not wrong to enjoy the blessings that God has given us as long as it does not lead to sin. Nevertheless, our ultimate source of delight must be God!

But the absolute bottom line truth be told – we ALL fall impossibly short.

This utterly dismal failure on our parts must not go unaddressed – otherwise, it will very definitely, very decisively not go unnoticed and unpunished by God.

Mark 1:14-15 NKJV

Jesus Begins His Galilean Ministry

¹⁴Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel ^[a]of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God ^[b]is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Out of the most indescribable act of Love known, God acted, God sent His Son.

Sent to save the World, NOT TO CONDEMN IT as would be His right to do so.

Salvation in no other name or condemnation in no other name?

Absolute Delight in YAHWEH or Absolute delight in the World?

These realities are ever before every one of us – if we acknowledge them!

Some choose to acknowledge, come to believe – their delight is YAHWEH.

Others, refuse to acknowledge, do NOT make the decision or flat refuse the invitation to believe and subject to condemnation – delight – the World.

We must examine ourselves, then.

How about us?

Where do our joy and delight come from?

If we look at our activities and schedule for the day, can you find God in it?

Can you honestly say that you are delighting in God?

Does the very thought of studying the Bible make you excited?

Or do you simply make it an optional thing, that you only do it when you have extra time?

Do you still find time for prayer and meditation? Or are you too busy that you don’t have time to pray?

Does preaching and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ make you happy and blessed? You think it’s boring and useless? Divisive or politically incorrect?

Is your mind filled with God’s word, peace, and love? Or are you filled with worries, anxiety, and fear?

The answers to these questions would determine whether you truly delight in Yahweh or not.

How Psalm 37:4 changes your life?

Now, here’s something you need to realize.

Psalm 37:4 is a life-changing verse.

It literally changes your perspective in life.

If you delight in Yahweh, you take on a new mindset.

No matter what happens in your life, as long as you delight in God, you are still at peace.

You are still filled with Joy.

You still feel blessed.

I strongly believe we, as individuals, need to delight in God more than ever.

As we go through these Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 times and seasons under the sun, we are coerced, forced to make many difficult moral choices and ethical decisions.

Choices and decisions which no one can claim would be delightful or desirous.

If we don’t delight in God, we all can easily drift away. We can all easily become weak in faith and eventually, forget about our brothers and sisters in Christ.

But as we continually delight in the Eternal, what then become the possibilities?

Connection of Psalm 37:4 to gratefulness

Here’s another important key we should not forget about delighting in God. It is being grateful both for the things we have and the things that we don’t have.

Take note of this:

No one can never truly delight in Yahweh without FIRST and FOREMOST being grateful and you can’t be truly grateful without delighting in Yahweh.

That’s why we must always be thankful for whatever situation we might be in.

Think about this, we might not have everything, but we always have something.

We never come to a point where we have nothing.

So, stop murmuring or complaining.

Instead of complaining that you don’t have shoes, be thankful you have feet.

Instead of complaining that you eat almost the same thing every day, be thankful you still have something to eat.

Instead of complaining about how hard your work is, be thankful that you still have a job.

Instead of complaining about how unfair life is, be thankful, you’re still alive.

What I’m telling you is that people who truly delight in God see His blessings.

These blessings move them to be more grateful and worship God.

All these are part of delighting yourself in the LORD.

Psalm 37:4 and the REAL desires of our heart

Now, what happens when we delight in Yahweh,

we read the rest of Psalm 37:4, “He will give you the desires of your heart.”

This verse does not mean that if we delight in God, He will give us any desires of our hearts!

Now, that’s a dangerous teaching.

Why?

Because not all desires that we have are good for us!

You see, friends, it doesn’t mean that if you delight in God, you will become rich, you will have a new smartphone, you’ll have a big house.

You’ll have a lot of money in the bank.

It doesn’t mean that everything you want would be given to you.

No, that’s not how it really works.

Listen to this very carefully:

If we truly and genuinely delight in Yahweh, the desires of our hearts will eventually align with God’s will and purpose in our lives.

This means that your ultimate desire will not be limited in this world anymore, but it will be God’s desire.

The problem with so many people, and that includes you and me, is that we determine our desires first before we delight in God!

Instead, what happened should be is that we FIRST delight in God so that we will have the right and proper desires in our hearts.

I hope that we come to the point that whether we receive what we ask from God or not, we are still thankful and would still delight in God.

If God gives what we’ve asked, then, praise God!

If God doesn’t give it, then we still praise Him because you know that He has your best interest in mind.

That’s exactly what it means to delight in God.

It is never conditional.

Whether God grants our prayers or not, we still choose to delight in Him.

God has become our ultimate source of happiness, joy, and peace.

So, friends, let me end this devotional by reading Psalm 37:4 again:

“Delight yourself in the Yahweh, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

What does Psalm 37:4 mean?

In conclusion,

Psalm 37:4 means that we must delight in Yahweh, the supreme Ruler of this vast universe.

It means that the object of our gladness, joy, and delight should be God.

Psalm 37:4 should remind us that the ultimate Source of our joy should be our Heavenly Father.

When we delight in God, He will give our desires, but our desires have already been in line with His will and purpose in our lives.

Romans 8:28New King James Version

²⁸And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

My ABBA, My Heavenly Father, forgive me for the times when I have delighted myself in wrong things. Keep me from fretting over much over evildoers in this increasingly confusing world and help me to keep the eyes of my heart on Jesus and to delight myself in the things of God.

Align my thoughts to Your thoughts, I pray, and my will to the will of God. May the desires of my heart unite with Your perfect will and eternal purposes, for Your everlasting praise and glory. This I ask in Jesus’ name, Alleluia! AMEN.

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I am Encouraged and Motivated and Mightily Inspired to Believe in God. The Law’s Lesson: Come, Fully Desire God in the beauty of his Holiness. Psalm 19:7-11

It was Francis Bacon who wrote:

God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called creation.

This incredibly insightful sentiment arises directly from Psalm 19.

In our latest devotions, we looked at the incessant, universally reaching message in God’s book of creation in Psalm 19:1-6.

Theologians call this the witness of creation general revelation, because God has revealed something about himself in what he has made.

In particular, creation endlessly focuses on recounting the glory of our Creator God and the wonder of his handiwork (Psalm 19:1).

But natural revelation is not the only way in which God has revealed to us something about himself.

When God speaks to us directly in his Word, theologians call that special revelation, which gives us an altogether different quality of revelation.

Differently from general revelation where we can only infer certain aspects of God’s attributes, in special revelation God speaks directly to us—through His covenant name to us.

We should not miss the transition from Psalm 19:1-6, David speaks of what creation teaches us about “God,” to Psalm 19:7-11, as David now speaks of his understanding of the LORD, Yahweh, which is God’s covenantal name.

As we go forward, pay very close attention to the intimate, personal reflections David offers about the Law as he turns his attention from the Book of Nature to the Book of Scripture in Psalm 19:7-11:

Psalm 19:7-11 New King James Version

⁷The law of the Lord is perfect, ^[a]converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
⁸The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
⁹The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the ^[b]honeycomb.
¹¹Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia1 Amen.

This is a fascinating meditation on the Scripture that in many ways anticipates the more extended reflection on the Law in Psalm 119.

But for now, there are three aspects of this passage that I want to highlight.

The Law Gives Us the Wisdom that Adam and Eve Sought from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

One of the very first things that David says about the Law is that it is “sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7).

In the book of Proverbs, the “simple” are those to whom Lady Wisdom calls out, pleading with them to turn in to her so that she can make them wise (Proverbs 8:5; 9:4); however, the “simple” are also those whom Dame Folly targets and seduces to their destruction (Proverbs 7:7; 9:16).

However, the wisdom that David has in mind here is more precisely the wisdom which both Adam and Eve sought out in the Garden of Eden from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

God had told them not to eat of that Tree, promising them that they could eat of the Tree of Life if they obeyed him.

The decisive reason that they had disobeyed God, however, was Eve judged the tree to be “to be desired to make one wise” (Genesis. 3:6).

Instead of trusting God, Adam and Eve chose to seek out wisdom according to their own understanding—listening to the snake rather than God.

Because of their sin, they died to their sin, along with the rest of humanity after them.

Look at a couple of other ways in which David alludes back to the first chapters of Genesis here in Psalm 19:7-11 …

In verse 8, David says “the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” In Genesis 3:5, the serpent had promised Eve that when she ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, “your eyes will be opened,” and one of the factors for disobeying Yahweh was Eve had judged the Tree to be “a delight to the eyes” (Genesis 3:6).
In verse 10, David describes the rules of the LORD as “More to be desired are they than gold…” As mentioned earlier, Eve judged the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil “to be desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6). Eve desired the wrong source of wisdom.

The Law Outlines for Pure and Righteous Living

But David also describes a different angle on the Law—that the Law gives us a blueprint for what pure, righteous, and holy living should look like.

In these verses, David says that the Law is “perfect,” “sure,” “right,” “pure,” “clean,” “true,” and “righteous altogether.”

If you want to know what God loves and what God hates, look to the Law. God poured out the burdens of his heart into the Law, establishing guidelines for seeking justice and for living righteously in his sight.

The Law is More Desirable than Anything on Earth

It’s important to understand, then, David loves the Law because he loves God.

David understands that pleasing God through obeying the Law is far better—and “more to be desired”— than gold, or “even much fine gold” (Psalm 19:10).

The Law is not only better than absolute finest gold, but it’s “sweeter also than the sweetest honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” And finally, David envisions, recognizes there is “great reward” by keeping the Law—implicitly, that the Law offers a far better reward than any other reward he might seek.

The Lesson of the Law: Desire God in His Holiness

Honestly, this kind of “love” language makes Christians a little uncomfortable.

We get squeamish when we read people in the Bible praising the Law because we worry about becoming legalists. If we praise the Law, are we suggesting that we can be saved apart from the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?

If we do, then we have completely missed the beauty of the Law.

The New Testament teaches very clearly that the Law does not have any power to save us, but we also learn in the New Testament that the Law is good.

Jesus insisted that he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill every iota and dot of it (Matthew 5:17-20).

The Apostle John insisted that only those who keep God’s commandments abide in God, and God abides in them (1 John 3:24).

Even Paul, who so fiercely contended for the doctrine of justification by faith alone, insisted that “the law is good, if one uses it lawfully” (1 Timothy 1:8).

What the Law teaches us, then—and what David tells us at every turn in Psalm 19—is that God is holy, and that his holiness is the most desirable thing that we could ever hope to possess for ourselves.

The Law is perfect, reviving, sure, wise, right, joyful, pure, enlightening, clean, everlasting, true, righteous, valuable, sweet, and rewarding.

Who wouldn’t want to know the ‘Way, Truth, Life’ God whom the Law reveals?

So how does the Law fit into the life of the Christian?

How are we to understand the Law and relate to it as people who find our justification only in Christ by grace and through faith? We’ll talk about that more tomorrow as we finish out Psalm 19 with verses 12-14.

But, until then, get yourself a jar of the sweetest honey you can find, grab a spoon and get ready to dip that spoon deep down into that jar of honey.

Then pick up your Bibles and dig in deep and deeper still into the Word of God.

Read and Study and Pray over those verses which the Holy Spirit reveals to you.

Taste and see of the absolute goodness of the LORD, YAHWEH.

Magnify your APPETITE, your desire for the WISDOM OF LORD YAHWEH ….

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

I have Come into this sacred space to worship YAHWEH
whose teaching is perfect;
whose directions are sure.
I have Come into this holy place to worship YAHWEH
whose standards are right;
whose commandment is clear;
whose judgements are true.
I have Come with holy fear –
to be given life, and made wise,
to have my heart stirred and my eyes opened wide.
I have Come with a desirous heart— let me now worship YAHWEH.
Let the words of my mouth and the faintest whisperings of my heart
be according to your will, O’ YAHWEH. My Redeemer. Amen.

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I am so Encouraged and Motivated to Believe in God. If The Heavens and the Earth Declare His Glory, What Do Yours and Mine Eyes See? Psalm 19:1-6

If the heavens declare GOD’S GLORY, today, what do your eyes behold?

If the Earth declares GOD’S GLORY, today, what do your eyes behold?

Psalm 19:1-6 Complete Jewish Bible

19 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. A psalm of David:

²⁽¹⁾The heavens declare the glory of God,
the dome of the sky speaks the work of his hands.
³⁽²⁾Every day it utters speech,
every night it reveals knowledge.
⁴⁽³⁾Without speech, without a word,
without their voices being heard,
⁵⁽⁴⁾their line goes out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world.

In them he places a tent for the sun,
^6 (5)which comes out like a bridegroom from the bridal chamber,
with delight like an athlete to run his race.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

If the heavens and the earth declare HIS GLORY, today, what do our eyes behold? What do we see with our eyes? What do we hear with our two ears? What gets our hearts and our souls pumping and thumping deep within us?

I pondered this thought as I was outdoors enjoying the new colors of Spring and began thinking and praying about the bigger picture of the whole cycle of the tree from death to life to bud, blossom and bloom, to leaf then fruit and the colorful changes of the Autumn season, then of the inevitable course, the falling leaves for the food and nourishment for the next generation or season of life.

For everyone who has ever lived, this is a grand design of the Great CREATOR, HIS Masterpiece spread out all over the earth for the world to see HIS GLORY.

Too many times in life we only look at the season we are facing and miss out on the bigger picture. We narrow our vision of God, the breadth of His handiwork.

I love the verse(s) so often repeated throughout scripture that says, “and it came to pass” repeated 463 times throughout the bible’s pages in the AKJV.

https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=And+it+came+to+Pass&version=AKJV

We need remember to envision this: whether facing mountain top (full color) experiences or the shadows of the deepest darkest depths of winter. HE is there shaping our lives to HIS purpose in History. And all these things will soon pass.

But it’s what we do with our vision of that moment, whether we learn or turn, whether we remain steadfast and faithful or deny HIS presence. HE said in HIS WORD, I will never leave nor forsake you, then God gifted to us all of complete length and breadth and height and depths of all Creation as His LIVING proof!

Thus, saith the Lord our God, this is MY Handiwork, and This is MY Promise….

God is 100% TRUE! HE will continue to do the work HE has started in us.

We can trust our God given; God gifted senses. We can live the 100% full life HE offers if we would only surrender to HIS will, power and presence in our lives.

So today as I look at the brilliant colors of Spring, I see HIS GLORY. As I think and pray through each season in the life of a tree, as I slowly ponder my own existence… as I go through these seasons in my life, I so thoroughly believe I still see HIS GLORY in my very own life. I very much believe HE is molding me with HIS personal touch as the Potter with the Clay, Sharpening me with the two Edges of HIS WORD.

Leading me by the still small voice of HIS HOLY SPIRIT.

Showing me HIS GRACE AND MERCY and LOVE by HIS own blood on the cross.

I so thoroughly believe MY GOD in whom I utterly trust has everything I need.

In the beginning God spoke into the chaos and chaos gave way to new creation. Chaos could not resist the voice of GOD, could not resist GOD’s creative hands.

Whether it is our springtime, our summer, our autumn or our winter season, living life with all our mistakes, the sins we bare, we must fully rely on Jesus as HE commands us to put our burdens upon HIM and take HIS yoke, HIS leading.

Some people say, “all I need is Jesus”,

but when it comes to HIS forgiveness and HIS presence in my life, MY abilities, MY capabilities, and HIS promise of HIS Eternal life to all who believe in HIM.

I return to the Words of the Psalmist David; I humble myself by what I see:

Psalm 19:1-6 Amplified Bible

The Works and the Word of God.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

19 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And the expanse [of heaven] is declaring the work of His hands.
²
Day after day pours forth speech,
And night after night reveals knowledge.
³
There is no speech, nor are there [spoken] words [from the stars];
Their voice is not heard.
⁴
Yet their voice [in quiet evidence] has gone out through all the earth,
Their words to the end of the world.
In them and in the heavens He has made a tent for the sun,
⁵
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
⁶
The sun’s rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Reading, pondering and praying these words what I’ve come to realize is this…

All I ‘have’…

is this vision of God my Father and Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit!

Without Trinity, I ‘have’ no vision of any future thing I want any part of.

No forgiveness, no mercy, no grace, no hope, no life, no love and no future.

NO FAITH AND FINALLY NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO 100% BELIEVE IN!

So, therefore, if I have nothing, I ‘am’ therefore, nothing.

Yet, I believe I realize with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I ‘have’ everything.

I ‘have’ it all and more than what I could ever imagine.

My life is completed by HIM. Therefore to ‘have’ Christ, is to ‘have’ everything.

If I have everything, then my life is important here.

AND I AM SOMEBODY!

John 1:9-13 The Message

^9-13The Life-Light was the real thing:
    Every person entering Life
    he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
    the world was there through him,
    and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
    but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
    who believed he was who he claimed
    and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
    their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
    not blood-begotten,
    not flesh-begotten,
    not sex-begotten.

And in CHRIST JESUS, I have and am to Declare HIS GLORY.

HIS GLORY IS ALL I HAVE NEED OF IN MY LIFE.

And in that day when I enter into HIS Presence in ETERNITY, I will know and experience the fullness of HIS GLORY.

Today,

I am encouraged and I am motivated ….

I strive to ‘see’ HIS GLORY revealed by HIS GRAND DESIGN all around me.

Today, HIS BLESSINGS AND GLORY encompass and surround you…run, walk, stand, sit, lie down and rest in it.

Today, I pray you too will be likewise encouraged and motivated ….

Be Blessed in your spirit today…

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

GOD, author of all Creation ….

The Heavens declare your Glory,

The Earth we walk on declares your Glory,

The warmth
of the sun’s embrace
the gentle breeze swept in
by incoming tide
the rhythm of seasons
of new birth
death and recreation
All these speak so clearly
of your love
your power
and your beauty
All are expressions
of your creativity
and more importantly of yourself
As an artist might share his personality
within each brushstroke
so within the myriad colours
of a butterfly’s wing
you share the exuberance of your love

That we can glimpse you
within creation is a beautiful thought
but also tells us
that you desire to be seen
to be found and known
Open our eyes, Lord
as we walk through this world
feel the wind and sunshine
see the majesty of creation unfolding before our eyes
Help us
to see you.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Motivated and Encouraged to Believe in God. Evidence which God Revealed that Proves He Exists. Believe God is revealing Himself through NATURE. Psalm 19

Get up early in the morning and witness the sunrise. Stay up late at night and behold the colors of the sunset arrayed against the far, untouchable horizon. The magnificence of the immense universe declares the wonderful handiwork of our Creator God. It forever tells of the amazing work of His creative hand.

It speaks to every single person who has ever lived on this terrestrial globe… of a caring God, Who, in the beginning, created the heavens; formed the earth and spoke, fashioned all that was made in those six astonishing days of creation.

Not one person could be indifferent to the heavenly glories of the day-time sky and the countless wonders of the stunning night-time sphere… as we gaze on the sun and moon and countless array of twinkling stars, which God in His own grace placed into the heavens on the third day of creation.

And God placed them there for signs and seasons… for endless days and for years. They were created to shed their radiant glow and life-giving warmth onto the earth. They were fashioned to rule the day and establish the night, as a perpetual reminder of God’s eternal goodness and His immeasurable greatness.

I need no other encouragement or motivation to know with all of my heart and with all of my soul and all of my mind and strength – to 100% believe in God.

Psalm 19:1-6 Authorized (King James) Version

Psalm 19

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

¹The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
²Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
³There is no speech nor language,
where their voice is not heard.
⁴Their line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
⁵which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
⁶His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
and his circuit unto the ends of it:
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Psalm 19 is one of the more well-known, beloved psalms—it’s been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember. After studying it a bit more closely, I came away with not only a better appreciation of the psalm itself, but for the true glory of God, which is the David’s whole reason for writing the psalm.

In this psalm, David sits down against the whole backdrop of his native land, from sunrise to sunset he contemplates everything which is before him, listens to what all of creation says about the glory of God, what the Scriptures teach us about the righteousness of God, and how we ought to respond in our prayers.

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

David opens his psalm by observing the ceaseless speech of creation to glorify God:

¹The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
²Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
(Psalm 19:1-2 ESV)

The ESV has a great English version of Psalm 19, but there is always a lot lost in translation, no matter how faithful you can be to the text.

Look at the tremendously vivid verbs David selects to describe how creation announces the glory of God:

“The heavens declare the glory of God…” would be more literally translated recount, because it’s the word used for actual counting and numbering. When you say that someone recounts a story, however, there’s a sense that they are including every part of the story, bit by bit. All of the heavens have not merely declared the glory of God; they are enumerating every single wondrous detail of God’s glory.
“Day to day pours out speech…” is a very good word equivalent, because this word is used in Proverbs 18:4 to describe a flowing river.
“Night to night reveals knowledge…” property means “breathes out.” The exhaled breath of the night’s speech forms a gentler parallel image to the rushing water of the day’s speech.

Overall, the point of the first two verses is to declare the ceaseless nature of creation’s speech. There is never a silent moment during day or night when creation ceases to pour forth and breathe out its unified witness to God’s glory.

So, we might ask a brief question at this point: Why don’t we hear it? Is this speech bottled up in some kind of soundproof area so that we can’t hear it?

Not at all. Over the next few verses, David insists that the reach of creation’s voice is universal, so that there is no one who fails to hear it.

Creation’s Voice Praises God Through All the Earth

David continues his psalm:

³There is no speech, nor are there words,
     whose voice is not heard.
⁴Their voice goes out through all the earth,
     and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
     ⁵which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
     and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
⁶Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
     and its circuit to the end of them,
     and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
(Psalm 19:3-6 ESV)

Notice the insistence on the reach of creation’s voice:

“There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard” (v. 3)
“Their voice goes out through all the earth” (v. 4)
“Their words [go out] to the end of the world” (v. 4)
The course of the sun “is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat” (v. 6)

If creation’s single message is to announce the glory of God, and if creation’s voice reaches to the ends of the earth and beyond—so that there is absolutely nothing hidden from its reach—question then, how is it that we go through our lives mostly numb and oblivious to what creation is shouting at us at all times?

Certainly, there are points in life where a sunrise or a sunset catches our breath, or where we experience the overwhelming joy of looking out across a region of mountains after hiking to the top of one of the peaks, or perhaps where we are humbled to feel small in comparison to the vastness of all the world’s oceans.

But I believe that David clearly (heavenly) has something more in mind here.

All of creation is always declaring to us God’s glory. Every single microscopic organism and every furious tornado recounts the detail, creativity, and power of our Creator. For those who have eyes to see. for those who have ears to hear, let them be thoroughly still, to hear this sermon of praise to our God in heaven.

Why Christians Should Love God’s Creation

If this is true, then here are a few things we should consider in response.

First, this probably means that most of us need to get outside more often—and I’m thinking primarily about myself.

I’d much prefer to be in the artificially created comforts of my heated and air-conditioned home, sheltered from the rawness of nature, but I should probably consider how that short-circuits my ability to understand God.

Creating a carefully tamed environment to live out my days probably is not the single best teacher for understanding God as he is.

Second, this is a great motivation for Christians to pursue science, especially younger Christians who are trying to decide what to do with their lives.

In the current intellectual climate, many Christians are inherently suspicious of science, but Psalm 19 gives us a firm theological foundation for doing science, because science is the systematic exploration of God’s glory in creation.

In point of fact, the scientific revolution would never have happened without Christianity, because it was Christian theology that drove many of the first scientists to desire to discover horizons, exploring God’s world more closely.

The confusion today is that too many scientists actually promulgate a kind of philosophy (or even a religion) which takes as its first principle the belief that Psalm 19 isn’t true—that creation has nothing to do with proclaiming the glory of God. But as Bible believing Christians, I pray we know differently. Our science enlarges possibilities, expands our reach, view of God rather than shrinking it.

Finally, we need to make a mental note to allow ourselves to listen to creation’s praise of God. We are so busy in our lives that we fail to notice some spectacular beauty and wonder and terror within creation most of the time. Every second of every minute of every hour of every day and every night Creation is preaching to us a sermon every day of the week, if we would but listen to it – we’d know God!

As Christians, we should love creation, because creation is God’s handiwork.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, when I look into the heavens and see the splendour of Your handiwork and the glories of Your creative power, I am moved as was David to proclaim Your glory and to declare the wonderful works of Your mighty hand. But when I look to the cross of Calvary and see Christ: – born, died, buried and resurrected to life… so that by faith in Him I might be reconciled back to God; be forgiven of my sins and become Your child and heir – I am lost in wonder love and praise, speak to me again and again, enlighten, illuminate me once more. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.

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What about our Preaching the Gospel? Who has Believed our Message? What of our Excuses for not preaching, not speaking God’s Word? Romans 10:16-21

May the Word of God speak unto “Our Excuses and Our Mighty Mouths”

All of us attempt to justify our actions at one time or another with excuses. When people give an excuse, they give a reason or explanation to defend or justify an action or an inaction, a fault or offense; Usually we will give others a reason for NOT doing something, or a reason why something went wrong.

“Excuse” comes from the Latin meaning “out of cause”: We offer a cause or a reason for not doing something that we should…. we give a bizarre “excuse.”

Billy Sunday, the baseball star turned evangelist who lived from 1862 – 1935, said that “An excuse is the Skin of a Reason, Stuffed with a Lie.” Today, we are going to look at a few excuses Apostle Paul states Israel used for not believing.

Romans 10:15-21Disciples’ Literal New Testament

¹⁵And how may they proclaim if they are not sent-forth?— just as it has been written^[a] [in Isaiah 52:7]: “How beautiful are the feet of the ones announcing-good-news–of good things!” ¹⁶But^[b] they did not all obey the good-news, for Isaiah says [in Isaiah 53:1], “Lord, who put-faith-in our report?” ¹⁷So^[c] the faith^[d] comes from a report-hearing^[e], and the report-hearing through a word^[f] about^[g] Christ.

But It Is Not As Though Israel Did Not Hear

¹⁸But I say^[h]— it is not that they did not hear^[i], is it ? On the contrary: “Their voice went-out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” [Psalm 19:4].

And It Is Not As Though Israel Did Not Know

¹⁹But I say— it is not that Israel did not know^[j], is it? First, Moses says [in Deuteronomy 32:21] “I will provoke you to jealousy over what is not a nation. I will provoke you to anger over a nation without-understanding^[k]”. ²⁰And Isaiah is very bold and says [in Isaiah 65:1] “I was found by the ones not seeking Me. I became visible^[l] to the ones not asking-for Me”. ²¹But with-regard-to Israel He says [in Isaiah 65:2], “I held-out^[m] My hands the whole day toward a disobeying^[n] and contradicting^[o] people”.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The most meticulous and thorough presentation of the glorious Gospel of Christ is found in the book of Romans. It also meticulously details man’s own depravity, humanities estrangement from God and man’s reconciliation back to God. The book of Romans could be called the seedbed for all Christian doctrine… giving us a systematic, step-by-step teaching of the fundamentals of our faith.

Paul pounds home the truth that God’s gracious offer of righteousness is by faith. He points out that it is equally accessible to Jew and Gentile alike… for all are sinners and have fallen short of the Glory of God (Romans 3:23).

All have the sentence of death over their heads.. and without exception, all of us need a Savior. Paul points out that no-one, Jew or Gentile alike, is exempt from God’s condemnation for all have sinned and are in need of a Savior – all need to be justified by grace, through an abiding faith in the Son of God – Christ Jesus.

It baffles the mind of those that have taken up God’s free gift of salvation.. that His offer of reconciliation should be quickly, summarily rejected by so many.

It is astonishing that so many refuse to believe on His name and be rescued from condemnation and an eternity in hell.

And yet throughout the old and new testaments we discover with no small amount of astonishment.. the foolish depravity to which the human race has fallen and man’s arrogant refusal to accept God’s free gift of salvation.

Prophets like Jeremiah grieved at the unbelief in the heart of man when his call for Israel to return to the Lord was treated with such blind, malicious contempt.

Isaiah mourned at the hardness of men’s heart, when he wrote:

LORD: who has believed our report?’

Who has believed the saving message that God has tried to deliver through so many prophets?

Who has believed the word of the Lord and who is willing to admit that there are none that are righteous – not even one.

How few see the need to turn from their sins and believe on the Word of the Lord – and the gospel of grace?

In the first part of chapter 10 of Romans, God tells us what happens to a heart that calls on, believes in, and confesses the name of the Lord Jesus Christ .

We concluded with the prophecy which was first fulfilled in Christ and now is fulfilled in us as the Church in Romans 10:15: “Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS (the Gospel) OF GOOD THINGS!” (Quoted from Isaiah. 52:7)

The Lord Jesus set His feet on this earth from His Heaven and proclaimed the Gospel in His Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension.

His Ministry of miracles and healing proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, that no one but God could do those things! He proved over and over again HE WAS MESSIAH, THE ONE PROMISED from God, who would DIE FOR OUR SINS.

But, still, there was disbelief, there was unacceptance of the Gospel message.

Excuse #1: A Hearing Problem?

WHO COULD POSSIBLY REJECT THE Power and Clarity of the GOSPEL of God’s Grace in Jesus Christ?

Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit continues in Romans 10:16: “However, (UH-oh!) they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?”

The truth is that VERY FEW believed the report. Israel killed the prophets who preached God’s Word, and then they killed THE ONE, the LORD JESUS, which the prophets had foretold. But that does not change the way that God works:

Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” 18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they?”

Paul is saying: With such clear and powerful prophecy, could it at all be possible that Israel never heard the MESSAGE of the Gospel? Could it be possible that MOST of Israel had a “self-centered” hearing problem? Can Israel honestly stand up and give the excuse: We didn’t hear the message of salvation?

Paul responds with the second half of verse 18: Indeed they have; (NO WAY! NO EXCUSE; THEY HAVE HEARD THE MESSAGE) “THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.”

Here Paul quotes Psalm 19:4: “Their sound has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world.” Psalm 19:1 begins: “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” Day and night, CREATION SPEAKS LOUDLY AND CLEARLY of the Glory and the power and the work of the Almighty God.

The excuse does not stand because Creation sings the Father’s song:

Romans 1:18-23Disciples’ Literal New Testament

God’s Wrath Is Upon All Sin

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness^[a] and unrighteousness^[b] of people holding-down^[c] the truth in^[d] unrighteousness.

Because God Revealed Enough of Himself In Creation For The World To Be Without Excuse

¹⁹Because the thing known of God is evident^[e] in^[f] them, for God made it [self] evident to them. ²⁰For His invisible things— both His eternal power and divine-nature— are clearly-seen, being understood since the creation of the world in the things made, so that they are without-excuse.

And Having Known This Truth About God, The World Did Not Honor Him As God

²¹Because having known God, they did not glorify Him as God or give-thanks, but became futile in their thoughts, and their senseless heart was darkened.

They Turned From The Glory of The Immortal God To Their Crafted Images of God

²²While claiming to be wise, they became-foolish ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for a likeness— an image of a mortal person and of birds and of four-footed-animals and of reptiles.

If you go back to the beginning of Romans, read Romans 2-3, you find that NO ONE IS RIGHTEOUS and there is not one single usable excuse, and everyone is liable! No one can say: I don’t believe because I never heard.

Excuse # 2: Lack of Understanding?

Here’s excuse number two:

Romans 10:19 “But I say, surely Israel did not KNOW, did they?”

OK let’s bury deep the first excuse: We can admit Israel heard the word, but maybe they just didn’t UNDERSTAND (know) the Word. Could that be valid?

That they heard it but didn’t understand it? Could Israel’s excuse be that over the long course of years, “we just didn’t understand the message of salvation?”

Paul’s response Romans 10:19b is:

“First Moses says, “I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER. (YOU)”

Paul’s response comes from:

Deuteronomy 32:21-22 New American Standard Bible

²¹They have made Me jealous with what is not God;
They have provoked Me to anger with their ^[a]idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
²²For a fire has flared in My anger,
And it burns to the lowest part of ^[b]Sheol,
And devours the earth with its yield,
And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

In essence, Israel caused God to be jealous by going after other gods, so God’s hope is to arouse jealousy within them, not by rejecting them, but by drawing other people outside of Israel to come to His Salvation.

How could anyone possibly not understand the message of salvation?

Not only did God give Israel the general revelation which He gave to EVERY CREATURE on this planet, but He gave to them HIS WORD and LAW, and they still disobeyed and followed other Gods.

We looked at the first part of Psalm 19 where the theme of God’s General revelation in creation is explained.

If you look at the second half of Psalm 19, you hear that Israel received the Perfect WORD and LAW of God, and they STILL rejected God.

So both of Israel’s excuses are groundless: They HEARD and UNDERSTOOD and still rejected God’s Grace. God’s response is heard in Roman 10:20:

Romans 10: 20 And Isaiah is very bold and says, “I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.” (from Isaiah 65:1: “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ To a nation which did not call on My name.”

The overwhelming majority of the nation of Israel both heard and understood the message of God’s salvation of justification faith, but did not believe God’s promise, and when His Promised ONE arrived, they rejected and crucified Him.

They would NOT admit they needed God’s salvation nor submit by faith and grace. They were offended by the hearing and understanding of God’s Word and Grace and by a righteousness which comes by faith.

They were quite content to remain in their own self-righteousness and sin.

Their response to Deuteronomy 32 was basically: “Go ahead, give your grace to the Gentiles; at least we have our Judaism and we’re happy with that! We don’t want or need anything else.”

Romans 10:16 Disciples’ Literal New Testament

¹⁶But^[a] they did not all obey the good-news, for Isaiah says [in Isaiah 53:1], “Lord, who put-faith-in our report?”

What a disheartening thing to know that not everyone will accept Christ Jesus as Lord. Eventually they will confess this with their mouths (Philippians 2:11) but the timeframe to accept this gospel message is while we are in the world.

Christ came to redeem the world, although he knew, not everyone would accept him.

John said,

John 1:11-13 Disciples’ Literal New Testament

¹¹He came to His own things, and His own ones did not accept Him. ¹²But all who did receive Him, He gave them— the ones believing in His name— the right^[a] to become children of God, ¹³who were born not of bloods^[b], nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a husband, but of God^[c].

Jesus came first to the nation of Israel and proclaimed peace between them and God. However, they received him not.

Paul says the same thing in today’s passage,

“not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” (Romans 10:16).

Isaiah foretold that the Israelites would reject Jesus.

Paul is quoting from Isaiah 53, which is a passage about Jesus. This is one of the most powerful chapters in the entire Old Testament.

It foretold everything Jesus would suffer on the cross. Isaiah starts out this beautiful word with saying,

“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:1-3).

Christ knew that his own people would reject him and esteem him not. Yet he still came to redeem them, what a marvelous thing.

Why did the 1st Century Israelites reject Jesus?

For us, in 2022, we can look back through the Hebrew (Old) Testament with Jesus as our filter and identify every passage that was spoken about him. We can even read these passages out loud to others without telling them where they were found and the listener can tell you that it is talking about Christ, often the assumption is that the passage is actually the New Testament.

However, the Israelites read these same passages but looked for something entirely different than what Christ turned out to be.

They were looking for a warrior king and not a servant.

When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, that Word fell on deaf ears, fulfilling what Isaiah prophesied about them.

” ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10).

Jesus spoke about the same truth in the parable of the Sower of the seed.

There are four kinds of soil to sow and depending on the condition of the soil is whether or not the seed grows and bears’ fruit. Jesus spoke this parable to this nation and when the disciples asked him what was meant by it, he quoted this passage in Isaiah. He spoke to them in parables because of the condition of their heart which kept them blind and deaf to these amazing truths. If their heart would have been ready to hear it, he would have turned and healed them.

The Israel of the 1st Century in this case was the first kind of soil.

The farmer went out to sow seed, but it fell upon the path and the birds ate it up quickly. When Jesus told this parable to the disciples, he explained…

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved” (Luke 8:11-12, Mark 4:13-18).

Jesus told in Matthew’s version the reason the seed is quickly stolen,

“When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path” (Matthew 13:18-19).

Now the condition of the soil made it easy for the seed to be eaten up by the birds, because the soil fell upon a path. A worn path is hard and compacted. In many cases it is impenetrable by something like a seed. For a seed to germinate it has to get down into the soil. But when it falls upon hard ground germination is not possible. The seed can be easily eaten because it is lying upon the surface.

Jesus said the seed was the word of God and Satan comes to steal it. If we don’t understand the word and the word falls upon deaf ears and the condition of the heart is impenetrable than stealing the word takes no effort.

In this case, 1st Century Israel was the first kind of soil. They were expecting a Messiah that was entirely different than Jesus, so their notions blinded them to the truth of God’s word.

Like Isaiah said, their hearts are calloused, their ears dull and their eyes are closed (Isaiah 6:10). As Jesus spoke to them, Satan walked right behind him and picked up the seeds of eternal life that he spoke.

They allowed him to steal the word of God that had the power to save them because they had not prepared their hearts to receive it.

What a discouraging thing this must have been.

But this stands as a warning for us.

Paul said in the very next verse of Romans 10 that “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

This is how faith comes, by hearing the gospel and believing and receiving it.

This message comes from Christ and just like the hard condition of the heart blocked the words of life, the fourth kind of soil received it with gladness and produced an abundant crop.

“But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (Matthew 13:23, Mark 4:20, Luke 8:15).

When called, separated by God, we will always have our excuses to either act on that calling or not act on that calling. Invariably, our first choice is to reject the Word of the Lord as Samuel did, but with help and guidance from others, we will respond to God as He needs, requires us, to respond. (1 Samuel 3:1-10)

The Word of God is the Word of God. The seed is the seed, but the condition of the soil determines the abundance of the crop or even whether it sprouts at all.

Praise God the message of salvation continues to be equally efficacious for Jew and Gentile alike, and in his epistle to the Roman followers, the Apostle Paul presents in minute detail every aspect of God’s righteous condemnation of sinful man… and his gracious offer of reconciliation through the death burial and resurrection of Christ our God and Savior.

Let us undertake to read, mark, learn, inwardly digest its truth and tell others the message of reconciliation and redemption – although sadly the are likely to be those who do not obey the message through pride, unbelief and rebellion.

This is a good word for us today; we can hear the Word of God; we can prepare our hearts to receive the Word of God, then speak of them. It is my prayer that we keep your heart soft and pliable before the Lord ready to receive his word.

Be the fourth kind of cultivated soil and receive this word with gladness. Let this seed penetrate and germinate in your heart yielding much eternal fruit, amen.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God, from the beginning, you were the word. You sent your only son to save us all and he even allowed himself to be tortured and crucified to obey you. Bless me with the gift of understanding and of unshaken faith in you. Let me know the meaning of your words in the Bible and how to live accordingly. Open up to me the door of my heart and fill me with your light and understanding. Amen.

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The Heart Believes and it is Justified, the Mouth Confesses and is Saved. Is Public Confession Necessary or Even Essential for Salvation? Romans 10:9-10

In the back of my mind, I have always wondered but never questioned, can a person be saved without a public demonstration, such as walking down an aisle, raising their hand, standing, kneeling at an altar, or signing a commitment card? Romans 10:9–10 is often used to indicate that a “public profession” is essential to salvation. Having a clear understanding of these verses is vital.

Romans 10:8-10 Disciples’ Literal New Testament

⁸But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”, that is, the word of ^[a] faith which we are proclaiming, ⁹that^[b] if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is believed with the heart resulting-in righteousness, and it is confessed with the mouth resulting in salvation.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

As in all serious Bible study there are three things we always want to do:

Study the contents of the passage. To do this, we ask, “What is in the verse or verses under consideration?” We want to be careful not to overlook anything.
Study the context of the passage. What is the setting of the verse or verses I am studying? What is the subject? What has the writer been discussing? To whom is he speaking?
Study all other related passages. This involves a disciplined study of the topic under consideration as it is discussed throughout the Bible.

If we are serious about knowing what the Bible teaches, we dare not be in a hurry. Rushing to a conclusion without the careful and prayerful study of the Scriptures nearly always proves to be disastrous. Folks tend to resort to hurry-up methods when preparing for a Bible class or in “working up” a sermon.

Whenever we approach the Bible in that way, we are trivializing it, and will one day give an account before God for such a slipshod treatment of His holy Word.

Now let’s discuss Romans 10:9-10.

Verse 9

⁹that^[a] if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Considering the Contents

I have concluded that the key word in Romans 10:9 is “and”.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/rom/10/9/t_conc_1056009

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2532/kjv/tr/0-1/

The word “and” in this verse is a translation of the Greek word kai. Depending on the context and the author’s purpose, kai may be variously translated. It has more than one use and more than one meaning in the New Testament.

Kai is usually translated “and” when it is used as a simple connective word.

For instance:

Matthew 2:11 Disciples’ Literal New Testament

¹¹And having come into the house^[a], they saw the Child with Mary His mother. And having fallen down, they paid homage to Him. And having opened their treasure-chests, they offered gifts to Him— gold and frankincense and myrrh.

All four occurrences of kai in this verse are used to connect each thought.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/mat/2/11/t_conc_931011

This is the common way we use “and” in English.

Kai is also used to indicate contrast.

We see it used this way in John 16:13 Disciples’ Literal New Testament:

¹³But when that One, the Spirit of truth, comes— He will guide you in all the truth. For He will not speak from Himself, but He will speak whatever He will hear. And He will declare to you the things coming.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/jhn/16/13/t_conc_1013013

A third use is seen when the intention of a passage is to emphasize something. This emphatic use is clear in

2 Corinthians 11:1 King James Version:

11 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed, bear with me.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/2co/11/1/t_conc_1089001

Finally, it is important to note that kai is used at times when the Holy Spirit wants to give some additional explanation to what has just been said.

When used in this way kai is generally translated “even”, as in 1 Corinthians 2:10: “For the Spirit searches all things, even [kai] the deep things of God.” In this instance “all things” particularly includes “the deep things of God.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/1co/2/10/t_conc_1064010

Now, how does all of this apply to our verse from Romans 10:9?

Simply this: I believe kai in Romans 10:9 should be translated “even” — so that it would read: “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, even believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Applying this usage, “confess with your mouth” is further explained to mean “even believe in your heart.”

What has brought me to this conclusion?

Two things primarily (other than the actual contents of the verse): context and the testimony of all other Scripture on the same subject of salvation.

I will try to illustrate.

Considering the Context

The emphasis in Romans 10 is twofold:

righteousness by faith in contrast to righteousness by works (especially the works of the Law), and the recognition of Jesus as Lord, that is, His deity.

Righteousness by faith

Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:1-4

The Lordship (deity) of Christ

That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus [literally, Jesus as Lord] … For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:9, 10:12-13

These were the very two things the Jews of the day refused to do: yield to a by-faith righteousness provided by God through Messiah Jesus (see Romans 9:30–33) and recognize the full deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Also, in the context it is essential for us to notice that in Romans 10:9 Paul places confession with the mouth before believing in the heart which follows the order stated in verse 8.

The word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach).
Romans 10:8

But in verses 10 and following Paul gives the order of actual experience, and we see that believing comes before confession.

This is verified in verses 13–15:

For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
Romans 10:13-15

The “confession” in verses 9 and 10 is the “calling” in verses 13 and 14.

Notice the order as we work our way backwards from verse 15 to verse 13:

How shall they preach unless they are sent? Which comes first, the preaching or the sending? The sending.

How shall they hear without a preacher? Which comes first, the hearing or the preaching? The preaching: otherwise, there is nothing to hear.

And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?

Which comes first, the believing or the hearing? The hearing comes first, as stated in verse 17. Without the hearing there is nothing to believe.

How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?

Which comes first, the calling or the believing?

The believing. The mouth confesses what the heart has already believed. So, the call of verse 13 is a call to the Lord (not necessarily to people) springing from a heart that already believes.

Considering the Testimony of All Scripture

The united testimony of Scripture on salvation is that God offers salvation to the lost on one condition and only one condition — belief in Christ.

To be justified we must have God’s righteousness credited to our account:

But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
Romans 4:5

In the first five chapters of Romans, God carefully explains that salvation is by faith in Christ, plus nothing else. This agrees with 160 New Testament verses.

After giving the most detailed explanation of salvation by faith found in the Bible, Paul would not then teach there is something more that must be done for one to be saved; namely, verbal confession.

There is also the further testimony of those who were genuinely saved but who did not publicly declare their faith.

They were, at least for a time, secret believers.

Nicodemus is described as he who “came to Jesus by night” in all references to him in the Scriptures (John 3:1–2, 7:50, 19:39).

He did not actually demonstrate he had already believed in Christ until after Christ’s crucifixion when he brought the weight of spices for Jesus’ burial.

Joseph of Arimathea, “being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews” (John 19:38). We must accept this testimony of God’s Word as being valid.

The “MANY” in John 12:42:

Nevertheless, even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.
John 12:42

Some choose to declare these were not genuine believers, but who shall we believe, men or God?

The verse says they “believed in Him with their whole heart.”

So, public confession of Christ, though expected by God and normal for the believer, it is not a condition for receiving eternal life, nor is it the subject of Romans 10:9–10. Public Profession of belief was quite literally dangerous in those first century times. “Lest they should be put out of the Synagogue!”

The subject of this verse? “Private, inward Profession of Belief in Him.”

Then absolute trust and belief and sight and hearing and judgment of God!

King David’s Prayer from Psalm 139:23-24 (Amplified version)

²³
Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart;
Test me and know my anxious thoughts;
²⁴
And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

God’s Sovereignty over our hearts 1 Samuel 16:6-7 (Amplified Version)

⁶So it happened, when they had come, he looked at Eliab [the eldest son] and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.” ⁷But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks ^[a]at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Let those who have eyes to see – those who have hearts which beat – Pray –

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Mighty God, your Son is my Lord and my Savior. I love him and praise him for his redeeming sacrifice. I thank him for his conquest of the grave. I marvel at his sacrificial and triumphant grace. Jesus is Lord. I know it sounds sweet in your ears, so I say it again, Jesus is my Lord. Thank you for being so great that you would be so sacrificial. In the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus the Son of God, my heart and my soul quietly shout and offer to you these thanks. Amen.

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1 Samuel 3:1-11 NIV

The Lord Calls Samuel

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Psalm 139:13-18 Authorized (King James) Version

Proverbs 22:6Authorized (King James) Version

Psalm 119:9-16Authorized (King James) Version

ב Beth

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Psalm 19:14 Amplified Bible

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Psalm 19:12-14 English Standard Version

David Uses the Law to Expose His Sin, Not to Forgive It

David Longs for Communion with God

Union vs. Communion

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Psalm 37:1-6 NASB

Security of Those Who Trust in the Lord, and Insecurity of the Wicked.

A Psalm of David.

What Does It Mean to ‘Delight Yourself in the Lord’?

What is the Psalm 37 4 meaning?

Is it the right time to confess our real truth? Exactly Who or what is our source of delight?

Mark 1:14-15 NKJV

Jesus Begins His Galilean Ministry

How Psalm 37:4 changes your life?

Connection of Psalm 37:4 to gratefulness

Psalm 37:4 and the REAL desires of our heart

What does Psalm 37:4 mean?

Romans 8:28New King James Version

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Psalm 19:7-11 New King James Version

The Law Gives Us the Wisdom that Adam and Eve Sought from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

The Law Outlines for Pure and Righteous Living

The Law is More Desirable than Anything on Earth

The Lesson of the Law: Desire God in His Holiness

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Psalm 19:1-6 Complete Jewish Bible

Psalm 19:1-6 Amplified Bible

The Works and the Word of God.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

John 1:9-13 The Message

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Psalm 19:1-6 Authorized (King James) Version

Psalm 19

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

Creation’s Voice Praises God Through All the Earth

Why Christians Should Love God’s Creation

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Romans 10:15-21Disciples’ Literal New Testament

But It Is Not As Though Israel Did Not Hear

And It Is Not As Though Israel Did Not Know

Romans 1:18-23Disciples’ Literal New Testament

God’s Wrath Is Upon All Sin

Because God Revealed Enough of Himself In Creation For The World To Be Without Excuse

And Having Known This Truth About God, The World Did Not Honor Him As God

They Turned From The Glory of The Immortal God To Their Crafted Images of God

Deuteronomy 32:21-22 New American Standard Bible

Romans 10:16 Disciples’ Literal New Testament

John 1:11-13 Disciples’ Literal New Testament

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Romans 10:8-10 Disciples’ Literal New Testament

Considering the Contents

Considering the Context

Righteousness by faith

The Lordship (deity) of Christ

Considering the Testimony of All Scripture

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