The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Tag: Devotional

March 2, 2015

Lent Devotional: Psalm 20

Psalm 20 (click here)
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. (Psalm 20:7)

Reflection
In what do we place our trust?

When our very lives are on the line, to what or who will we turn? We will turn to the resources of the world and the things in which all other people trust…things like horses and chariots…or will we turn to the Lord?

What are our modern day horses and chariots? Government? Social programs? Military might? Money? Possessions? Family?

Our ultimate trust is to be placed in none of these things, but in the only thing that can actually be trusted…the name of the Lord! “The name of the Lord” is his character…his reputation…it is everything about who he is. It’s not just a title or label. It is the very core of who he is.

I think the reason we do not trust in the name of the Lord, is because we do not know his name… we don’t know his reputation, or who he is, or what he is like. We don’t trust in the Lord, because we don’t know how strong he is, how faithful he is, how loving he is… we don’t know his history of amazing faithfulness to his unfaithful people.

We do not trust in the name of the Lord because the reputation concerning the strength of horses and chariots is larger in our minds and hearts than the reputation of the Lord’s strength.

We desperately need to know the name of the Lord! We need to see him in all his power, majesty, strength, faithfulness, love, and glory! In the light of his true name, all the horses and chariots the world has to offer look about as trustworthy as a hungry hound in a chicken house.

Do we want to trust in the name of the Lord? Then we must know his name! We must know him for who he is!

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 1, 2015

Lent Devotional: Jonah 2

Jonah 2 (click here)
For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.

…yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. (Jonah 2:3 and 6b)

Reflection
The pagan sailors cast Jonah into the sea…but they don’t get credit for it! Jonah acknowledges God’s sovereignty in his situation…the Lord is the one who cast him into the sea…even the wind and waves belong to the Lord.

God is sovereign.

Even over our difficulties, dangers, and near death experiences. This truth makes us struggle. If God is sovereign, then why do we experience suffering at all? Why does he sometimes hurl us into the sea?

There are no easy answers to questions such as these, but there is good news, namely, that because God is sovereign over the wind and waves, we know that those forces never win! Because God is sovereign over death itself, we know that death doesn’t win!

We cannot always see his purposes, but we can trust that his purposes are good. Because the Lord was sovereign over casting Jonah into the sea, he could also sovereignly save him from the sea! God brought Jonah’s life up from the pit!

God saved Jonah from the sea and, even more importantly, from his sinful self! Jonah learned that salvation belongs to the Lord, but such a lesson can only be learned when one is in need of saving.

Jesus’ disciples learned this same thing upon a stormy sea. Jesus, like Jonah, was sleeping through the storm, but for a completely different reason. Jesus wasn’t sleeping because he was running from God, but because he was God. He had nothing to fear for he was in complete control… the disciples could only learn this truth amidst the storm.

To know Jesus as the sovereign Lord over the wind and waves, we must first be cast into the storm… only then and there can we experience his sovereign salvation.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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February 28, 2015

Lent Devotional: Psalm 12

Psalm 12 (click here)
The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You, O LORD, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever. On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man. (Psalm 12:6-8)

Reflection
Do we believe the promises of God? Do we really?

I find myself questioning all the time… wrestling with… fighting the fight of faith… fighting to believe! This has been a fight since the garden. Our first parents were deceived when Satan was able to get them to doubt the Word of God… the enemies tactics have not changed.

He chips away at our confidence in God’s Word by making all our surrounding circumstances appear to contradict what God has said. This leads to our questioning… and questioning is not a bad thing in and of itself. Fighting to believe is a good thing and is encouraged all over the Bible.

“Fight the good fight of the faith.” 1 Timothy 6:12

Our questioning and wrestling is not a bad thing when we are asking the Lord to fight with us for faith. Our questioning and wrestling become problematic when we join hands with the enemy to fight against the Lord and against faith.

In Psalm 12, the psalmist fights by reminding himself of the nature of the Lord’s Word… the purity of his promises. It is only in knowing that this God and his promises are fighting for him that he can face the wicked prowling on every side.

Fight the fight of faith, but not against the Lord…not against the only one who can sustain your faith. No. Fight, empowered by the Lord, fight to trust in his Word so that we may defeat unbelief by the power he provides!

“Now to HIM who is able TO KEEP YOU from stumbling and TO PRESENT YOU blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Jude 24-25

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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