The first step to knowing God is to know His Word.  He has revealed Himself to us in the written Word.  Without the Bible, we would have very limited knowledge of Him … Some people will go around the world to find God’s will for their lives, but will not go to the next room to read their Bible.

- M. David Sills, “The Missionary Call: Find Your Place in God’s Plan for the World“

“In the end, I have learned that the anchor to my faith is the resurrection of Christ. Christ is not Lord because he rescues people from cancer, saves the depressed, or brings dogs back to life. He is Lord because Christ is risen. It is that simple. I will have many other anchors and so will you. But none of them compares to the anchor that is the resurrection of Christ. Hold on to those other anchors loosely, knowing that God is involved and can be praised in all things, but not necessarily in our interpretation of all things.”

- Michael Patton

The eyes I’m born with are no good, I need corrective lens
I need the lens of Jesus Christ, the grace which saves from sin
Lord give me grace to see through Christ the ways in which I’m blessed
And keep me from my selfish greed, to always see Your grace

I get so needy, and so wanting, contentment is not mine
It’s always something somewhere else for which my wanting pines
Lord help me see Your wondrous ways, Your grace in Christ Your Son
Though life is hard, it is not lost, our battle Christ has won

I look on Jesus, and I see, that He is all I need
He’s mighty, powerful to save, He’s greater than my greed
My All in all, He owns my life, I’ve never been my own
My life is for the glory of my God who’s on His Throne

When waves come crashing, smashing down onto the sandy shore
When winds come ripping, slashing in and blow a little more
When homes are thrown and torn in two and some are left to stand
When lives are changed for good or ill, we know we’re in God’s Hands

When little boys get very sick, so that they might soon die
When parents see their children ill, and watch their young ones cry
When tests are done, and bad news comes, with surgeries galore
When hope seems lost, and death seems near, we know we serve our Lord

When dearest friends go through life’s throws and find it hard to stand
When Christian sons and daughters true are weak in God’s strong Hand
When our good God does see it fit to give and take away
The solemn cry “Blessed be His Name” is what our hearts must say

When life goes up and then comes down, when side by side it flies
When all the future once so sure just seems to up and die
When we don’t know what life next holds, when nothing is real sure
When we despair and question God, we see the One Who’s Pure

When God’s Good Will just seems so vague, and it is hard to trust
When we lose faith and hope seems lost, into His arms we’re thrust
For God protects and holds His own, the Children of the Lamb
The Unknown has now been made Known, because God is I AM

We do not need to know what comes today or in the morn
We trust in Christ who loves His sheep, He has His Grace well shown
We do not need to fret the things that in this life seem hard
For all are in our God’s Strong Hands, His Grace He does impart

So when we want to doubt and fret about all things unknown
We must remember that we serve the God Who’s on His Throne
He Rules and Reigns, and knows all things, for He’s our Sovereign Lord
We know the Unknown is made Known, His Grace is on us poured

(set to the tune of “There is a Fountain”)

Lord when it’s hard to live for Christ
And when it’s hard to stand
Help us to fix our Gaze above
To our Eternal Land
To our Eternal Land, to our Eternal Land
Help us to fix our Gaze above
To our Eternal Land

Lord God it’s by Your grace alone
That we are justified
Please give us comfort in Your Blood
The Love in which You died
The Love in which You died, the Love in which You died
Please give us comfort in Your Blood
The Love in which You died

Lord give us grace to know Your Truth
You’ve given us Your Word
By it we know of Jesus Christ
By it we call You Lord!
By it we call You Lord, by it we call You Lord
By it we know of Jesus Christ
By it we call You Lord

Lord give us hope in Who You are
Our Maker and our Friend
Our Sovereign King, and Savior Sweet
Whose Mercy has no end
Whose Mercy has no end, whose mercy has no end
Our Sovereign King, and Savior Sweet
Whose Mercy has no end!

I got this from Tom Ascol, who got it from Dr. Wyman Richardson.  Thought-provoking to say the least.

1. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, Jesus will still be King.
2. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our responsibilities as Christians will not have changed one iota.
3. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the greatest agent for social change in America will still be winning the hearts and minds of men and women through the gospel, not legislation.
4. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my primary citizenship will still be in this order – (1) the Kingdom of God, (2) America, not vice-versa.
5. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the tomb will still be empty.
6. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the cross, not the government, will still be our salvation.
7. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our children will still be more concerned with whether or not we spend time with them than with who is President.
8. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my neighbor will still be my neighbor, and loving him/her will still be the second greatest commandment. (Do you know the first?)
9. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see abortion ultimately overturned will still be winning men and women to a high view of life through the gospel of Christ.
10. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see gay marriage ultimately defeated will still be winning men and women to a biblical view of marriage through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
11. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my retirement will still not match my treasure in Heaven.
12. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, “Jesus Is Lord” will still be the greatest truth in the Universe.
13. True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, we will still know that God is in control.

Also, excellent thoughts and words by Justin Taylor and the Internet Monk.

“It is impossible to get exhausted in work for God. We get exhausted because we try to do God’s work in our own way.”
-Oswald Chambers

I don’t know where the video clips are from, but this is the best full version of the song I could find on YouTube.

Anyways, “Sometimes by Step”, sung by Rich Mullins with over-dubbing done by Bebo Norman.  Great stuff.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2ugTc4bJ-o]

Lyrics:

Sometimes the night was beautiful
Sometimes the sky was so far away
Sometimes it seemed to stoop so close
You could touch it but your heart would break
Sometimes the morning came too soon
Sometimes the day could be so hot
There was so much work left to do
But so much You’d already done

CHORUS:
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You’ll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that, no less than he
And on this road to righteousness
Sometimes the climb can be so steep
I may falter in my steps
But never beyond Your reach

CHORUS

And I will follow You all of my days
And I will follow You all of my days
And step by step You’ll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days
And I will follow You all of my days
(Sometimes the night was beautiful)
And I will follow You all of my days

As promised, we have live video up at:

Reformation of a Messenger Boy

or here:

UStream.tv Live Video Feed

Also, I’m live-twittering.

I’ll have a post regarding the current Devotional Psalm once the session is done.

In my reading this morning I read Psalm 62.

For God alone^(B) my soul^(C) waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
^(D) He only is my rock and my salvation,
my^(E) fortress;^(F) I shall not be greatly shaken.

How long will all of you attack a man
to batter him,
like^(G) a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
They only plan to thrust him down from his^(H) high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
^(I) They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse.

Selah

For God alone, O^(J) my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
^(K) He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my^(L) salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock,^(M) my refuge is God.

^(N) Trust in him at all times, O people;
^(O) pour out your heart before him;
God is^(P) a refuge for us.
Selah

^(Q) Those of low estate are but a breath;

those of high estate^(R) are a delusion;

in the balances they go up;

they are together lighter than a breath.

Put no trust in extortion;

^(S) set no vain hopes on robbery;

^(T) if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

^(U) Once God has spoken;
^(V) twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
and that to you, O Lord,^(W) belongs steadfast love.
For you will^(X) render to a man
according to his work.

-Psalm 62

During the rest of this election season both candidates will promise us a better economy, better national security, better health care, and a generally better life.

As such, we would do well to remember the words of Psalm 62.  John McCain and Barack Obama are but a breath.  They’re a vapor.  In and of themselves they are simply vanity.  But the Lord, He is our refuge and our trust.  No matter who wins this presidential election, we are assured of this, that the Lord is still reigning, that God is still ruling, and that His Purposes will never be thwarted.

For God alone , O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

“We are not our own: let not our reason nor our will, therefore, sway our plans and deeds. We are not our own: let us, therefore, not set it as our goal to seek what is expedient for us according to the flesh. We are not our own: in so far as we can, let us, therefore, forget ourselves and all that is ours. Conversely, we are God’s: let us, therefore, live for Him and die for Him. We are God’s: let His wisdom and will, therefore, rule all our actions. We are God’s: let all the parts of our life, accordingly, strive toward Him as our only lawful goal.”

- John Calvin

Being a human being, I’m a sinner.  And, being a sinner, I sin.  And, one of my sins that I commit is discontentment.  And, being a human who is a sinner, and thus sins by being discontent, I am also prone to envy.  I don’t think that this is necessarily a sin that I have some corner on.  In fact, I would wager to think that there are a fairly large amount of people who are also humans and sinners and discontent-ers and envy-ers and thus it is a problem somewhat common among members the human race.

Well, this morning in my daily Bible reading I came across verse 2 of Judges chapter 13:

“There was a certain man of^(C) Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah.^(D) And his wife was barren and had no children.”

Up until about 5 months ago I would have read that and promptly moved on.  After all, the nice little headers that the NASB translators put on my study bible said that this was a chapter on Samson, and being a man who used to be a little feller who used to sit in Sunday School, I was fairly familiar with Samson and his prodigious and legendary strength (Samson also had an awesome Cool Factor going for him).  But, since I got married 5 months ago, and thanks be to God me and my wife got pregnant very quickly, pregnancy has been a fairly huge part of our life for practically our whole marriage.  Thus, when I got to verse 2, I paused for a moment.

I got to thinking about Samson’s mom.  This was a gal who was barren.  And being barren was not a good thing.  I’m quite sure that she probably had a good amount of friends who either had been pregnant, or were pregnant, and I’m also fairly sure that she probably felt left out a good deal of the time.  In fact, seeing as she was a sinner and being a sinner, sinned, she probably dealt with at least a small measure of discontent.  And, since she was a sinner who did indeed sin who was also discontent, she probably experienced at least a little bit of envy of all of her friends.

So, I realized that Samson’s mom and I have something in common!  We both struggle[d] with discontent and envy!  Well, whoop-de-freakin’-da.  Thankfully, we have the rest of chapter 13 and 14 and 15, and we see that though Samson’s mom was barren, she not only gave birth to Samson, but she gave birth to a legend (flawed as the man was…).  But then, I though of Hannah and Elizabeth, mother’s of Samuel and John and I realized that those two ladies probably struggled with the same envy, yet look how the Lord saw fit to use the sons they ended up having for His purposes!  Heck, if you wanna go back even further, you see how the Lord used Sarah and her barren womb to birth the child of promise, Isaac!

Does this mean that if we’re in a place where we’re discontent that God will do something miraculous and use us in a super-duper mighty way?  Na, not necessarily.  But, we can take comfort from the fact that He is working even in the midst of our discontent and that His purposes are never thwarted or swayed.

So Joshua took all that land,^(Y) the hill country and all the Negeb and^(Z) all the land of Goshen^(AA) and the lowland^(AB) and the Arabah and the hill country of Israel and its lowland ^(AC) from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as^(AD) Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon below^(AE) Mount Hermon. And he captured^(AF) all their kings and struck them and put them to death.  Joshua made war^(AG) a long time with all those kings.  There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except^(AH) the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle.  For it was the LORD’s doing^(AI) to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed,^(AJ) just as the LORD commanded Moses.

-Joshua 11:16-20

It is rather stunning to read through the chapters of Joshua where the Israelites are marching throughout the land of Canaan and to note just how dominating that army was.  No one could stand before them.  They slaughtered everyone.  They left none alive.  No mercy was shown, and all were completely and utterly destroyed.

It might be easy to look at Joshua and note how courageous and faithful a leader he was.  After reading through chapter 12, I was reminded of the fear that the ten spies had of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, and how it was only Joshua and Caleb who had faith that the victory could be attained.  You think of the fear that those 10 spies had, and then compare that to the great victory that Joshua achieved, and you might be tempted to glorify Joshua.  But, reading through the book of Joshua, you note a common refrain.  “The Lord delivered them into the hands of Israel”  It was only and completely by the sovereign power and faithful hand of God that Israel was allowed to enter and conquer the land that had been promised to Abraham.  Throughout their history after Egypt, Israel proved themselves time and time again to be faithless and cowardly.  Yet, God continued to have mercy upon them and still allowed them to enter the Promised Land.

It was the Lord who hardened the Canaanites hearts.  It was the Lord who delivered the 31 kings into Joshuas hands.  It was the Lord who allowed the absolute domination by Israel of the nations that Israel destroyed.  The Lord was faithful, the Lord was merciful.

Thus, the lesson for us:  no matter what we do, not matter what we want, no matter what we try, if the Lord don’t Will it, it ain’t gonna happen.  It is by Him that we “…live and move and have our being.”  He is God, we are His people, and may He ever be glorified and made known!