Lent 2016 – Day 30

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Dr. Logan's Blog

Lent 2016 – Day 30

1 Kings 8:54-66

 

When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven. And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else. Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.”[1]

 

The king, as he finishes praying, rises from his knees, spreads his hands toward heaven and blesses the people. Think about that for a moment. The king, not the high priest, not a prophet, not someone from the Levitical priesthood, not only prays fervently for the people, but then blesses the people. In most nations of the world, it is almost inconceivable for a head of state blessing the nation. Can you imagine the Queen of England, the President of the United States, the Prime Minister of Germany or the head of any nation you can think of blessing the people, let alone publicly praying for it? Yet, that is precisely the role Solomon plays here in this text.

Our world is in the midst of an incredible moral crisis. From the highest levels of government to the very dregs of the earth ethics and morality is on shifting sand. That which was once known to be sinful, and therefore taboo, has become increasingly acceptable and less offensive. Now those who protest the cultural shift taking place right before our eyes are the ones considered to be out of step and in a strange way somehow sinful according to prevailing attitudes and accepted morals. It would be absolutely incredible for the head of state to buck the downwardly spiraling trends and challenge an entire nation in the manner Solomon in this text does, and yet that is perhaps exactly what our nation(s) need. Leadership that is more than just governmental, but moral as well. Well it is a thought and perhaps a plea as well.

 

Lord Jesus, You see and know the moral dilemma in which we find ourselves, our nation, and our world. Our very world has been turned upside down. We barely know what to do, say, or even feel. Help us Lord as we humbly bow before You. Help us to commit to a different kind of life that honors of You. In the name of Jesus we ask it all and pray. Amen.

 

 

 

[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), 1 Ki 8:54–61.

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Lent 2016 – Day 31

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Dr. Logan's Blog

Jeremiah 32:6-15

And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, buy for yourself my field which is at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.’ Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the Lord and said to me, ‘Buy my field, please, that is at Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for you have the right of possession and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. I bought the field which was at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle’s son, and I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver. I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. Then I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy; and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle’s son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. And I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time.” For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”[1]

In times of national crisis people tend to change their patterns of behavior. When they are confident in the economic fortunes of their country they buy and sell, but when they lack confidence they do not. Jeremiah had been prophesying the coming siege of Jerusalem and its eminent overthrow by Babylon. He prophesied that not only would the nation be given over into the hand of the Babylonian king but that Judah’s king would be captured and stand judgment before him. It was a bleak picture Jeremiah painted and it did not go unnoticed; but he also prophesied that life would eventually return to normal. Buying and selling land then became a ‘put up or shut up’ proposition for Jeremiah because he said, “Houses and fields and vineyards will again be brought in this land.”

There is no mistaking the fact that we are living in very perilous times. We are seeing things we never dreamed we would live to see. The state of our world has the capacity to cause people to lose hope for the future. But we forget that this world does not belong to the prince of darkness. This is my Father’s world and He is the One that said these things must come to pass. We can marvel then in the assurance that God will always have the last Word. There is no need to lose our confidence because ultimately God is in charge. Things may look bleak for you right now, but remember, the darkest time of the night is just before the breaking of dawn.

Dear Gracious Heavenly Father, You have made and redeemed this world. You ransomed it with Your own shed blood, and You are ever faithful to Your Word to perform it. We rejoice in the knowledge that this is Your world and that You have the final Word. Give us confidence and hope for the future. Reassure us this day that regardless of the trial or the test You still sit on the throne and are still in charge. Amen.

[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Je 32:6–15.

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Lent 2016 – Day 29

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Dr. Logan's Blog

1 Kings 8:46-53

When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; if they take thought in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly’; if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and pray to You toward their land which You have given to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name; then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You, and make them objects of compassion before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them (for they are Your people and Your inheritance which You have brought forth from Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace), that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and to the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You. For You have separated them from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, as You spoke through Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers forth from Egypt, O Lord God.[1]

“There is no man who does not sin!” Solomon continues his prayer interceding for the people not if they sin, but when they sin. We may not be able to appreciate the intensity of Solomon’s prayer because it is not our reality. We do not have nations carrying us off into captivity because of their sin as Israel did, but the effect of our sin and rebellion is the same. The consequences of our sin see us trapped in places where never intended to be, doing things we never intended to do. We never intended to be trapped in addiction when we began using recreationally. We never started out to be enslaved by inordinate desires when we let ourselves go for a quick moment. But before we knew it we were captive in the midst of our sin. It is really the same as the Israelites held captive in the land of their enemy.

Solomon implores God to hear their prayer and their cries for deliverance when they return to Him “with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive;” and maintain their cause and forgive them. The critical piece here is he asks God to do this not after they have come out of where they are, but while they are still captive. A trapped person cannot always get immediately out from where they are trapped. Sometimes it takes some time and effort in order to be extricated, so God forgives and delivers from what put one in captivity in the first place while they/we are still trapped. He does it because we are His people and His inheritance, a people separated from all other peoples of the earth. Glory!

Gracious Father, You know our hearts and our minds. Your know the desires of our hearts. You know how we long to love and serve You, and how we get distracted and lose our way. We bow humbly before repenting of all the ways we have sinned and acted wickedly against You. Hear our cries for help. Come quickly and deliver us from the hands of our enemies. Hear our prayer, O Lord! Incline Your ear to us and grant us Your peace. Amen.

[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), 1 Ki 8:46–53.

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Lent 2016 – Day 28

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Dr. Logan's Blog

1 Kings 8:30-40

Listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive. If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house, then hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness. When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, if they turn to You again and confess Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers. When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel, indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Your land, which You have given Your people for an inheritance. If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands toward this house; then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men, that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You have given to our fathers.[1]

This passage is just a small portion of the dedicatory prayer Solomon prays at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem. It is a heartfelt prayer that covers far more than just what we are accustomed to hearing at dedications today. It is a prayer that implores God’s intervention into the affairs of His people in every aspect of their lives; when they are at war, in times of famine or pestilence, all of which have come as a result of their sin. It is intercession at its best acknowledging that God alone knows our hearts. It is the kind of prayer and praying that is often missing from the western church today. Prayers have become so perfunctory that they are devoid of passion and power. No wonder we see so few miracles in the west today.

What has happened that we place so little confidence in prayer today. Is it our opulence? Is it our self-sufficiency? Or is it simply our lack of faith? It is interesting that one can call for a season of prayer and fasting and reach the same faithful handful, but sponsor a musical program and the venue will fill to capacity. We want God to move on our behalf but we don’t want to talk to Him. Sounds like a very unequal relationship to me.

Dear Heavenly Father, You know our circumstances better than we could possibly know ourselves. Your know the breadth and depth of our need and our desire. You also know the defect of our faith that prevents us from diligently seeking You. Forgive us for coming to You only when we are in trouble. Change our hearts so that we will seek a deeper relationship with You, and in so doing surprise us with Your glory for the sake of Your Kingdom and glory. Amen.

[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), 1 Ki 8:30–40.

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Lent 2016 – Day 27

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Dr. Logan's Blog

1 Kings 8:1-11

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the city of David, which is Zion. All the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. Then all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. They brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils, which were in the tent, and the priests and the Levites brought them up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen they could not be counted or numbered. Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles from above. But the poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; they are there to this day. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.[1]

What a marvelous picture of worship. Much of the magnificence of it is lost on a 21st century audience because it is so far out of our frame of reference. But note how significant this event is in the history of Israel. Prior to this day worship had been confined to the Tabernacle (the Tent of Meeting), which was portable. During the years the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness the Ark of the Covenant was carried by the Levites and placed in the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle. Whenever Moses would enter to speak to the Lord the pillar of cloud would settle down on the tent while the men of Israel waited in the flaps of their tents for Moses to emerge. But now, years after Israel’s nomadic life has ended, the Tent of Meeting has been supplanted by a permanent structure, Solomon’s Temple, called one of the seven wonders of the world.

What is striking about this text is not just the elaborate nature of the worship, offered as the Temple is dedicated, but what happened as a result of their worship. Angels spread their wings over the place where the Ark was to be set, and when it was set the same angels made a covering over the Ark. Most significant is what happened when the priests came from the Holy Place in the Tabernacle: a cloud filled the house with glory. There was so much glory, in fact, that the priests could not stand to minister. Wow, wouldn’t be incredible to experience such worship in our time; a worship so powerful that the presence of God was palpable to the point that worshipers were spiritually paralyzed?

O Lord, our worship is woefully lacking when it comes to commitment and dedication. We look to others to thrill and entertain us rather than giving ourselves selflessly to you. We want an experience of Your presence like what we read in Your Word. So, please come Lord and fill our worship with Your presence and power until we are unable to move and minister. Amen.

[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), 1 Ki 8:1–11.

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Lent 2016 – Day 26

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Dr. Logan's Blog

2 Peter 1:3-11

Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust. So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books. So, friends, confirm God’s invitation to you, his choice of you. Don’t put it off; do it now. Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. (The Message)[1]

It is easy to compromise and accommodate with the world. It happens almost without knowing and certainly without intention. What is the problem? Peter addresses the same issue in this second letter. First, he says, build diligently on what we have been given. What has been given? Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God. Second, compliment your faith. The word ‘compliment’ means literally: “to provide something in addition to what already exists.” Add o your faith: Good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. Third, confirm God’s choice of you. Its just like anything else in life, when you have been promoted or elevated you have to confirm that the promotion or the elevation was warranted. Fourth, don’t put it off; do it now! With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus . . . Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

There is no time to delay. The situation in which we find ourselves is critical. The forces of darkness are on a roll. They sense they have the body of Christ on their heels. They are emboldened by their string of successes and are even right now boldly advancing their agenda. There is no time to feel sorry for ourselves. There is no time to delay while we try and get it together. We have to do it now!

Dear Lord, You called us to be salt and light but we have allowed the immorality of this age to sway and seduce us, so much so that there is often little appreciable difference between the world at-large and the Church. We, Your people, look the same, walk the same, talk the same and value the same things as the world. You called us to be people of faith but we place more trust in what  we can see and touch, in what we can prove. Forgive us, O God, and enable us to mature in our knowledge of You and not delay in Jesus’ name. Amen.

[1] Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), 2 Pe 1:3–11.

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Lent 2016 – Day 25

Posted on March 5, 2016 by Dr. Logan's Blog

Psalm 86

Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me; for I am afflicted and needy. Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man; O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to You I cry all day long. Make glad the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; and give heed to the voice of my supplications! In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You, for You will answer me. There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like Yours. All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your name. For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God. Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify Your name forever. For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. O God, arrogant men have risen up against me, and a band of violent men have sought my life, and they have not set You before them. But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth. Turn to me, and be gracious to me; Oh grant Your strength to Your servant, and save the son of Your handmaid. Show me a sign for good, that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, because You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.[1]

What a marvelous blessing knowing that when we pray God hears and answers our prayer, especially in the time of trouble. The psalmist writes: “In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You, for You will answer me.” Times of trouble are generally the occasions when most people call upon the Lord and still He is so loving that He answers. We can glory in the knowledge that the God we serve does great and wondrous things, but why do we confine them to answers to our desperate pleas? Should we not offer unto Him prayers of thanksgiving for the marvelous things He has already done, for the things we tend to take for granted?

Perhaps our challenge lays in not knowing or understanding God’s ways. Perhaps the psalmist could make the assertions he does because he had learned how God operates, what He loves and despises, and how He moves. He writes, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify Your name forever.” Knowing who our God is and how He operates opens for us a plethora of God opportunities. It helps us to know just how great God’s loving kindness is toward us, and that knowledge causes us to glorify His name forever. It causes us to know that He is that One that saves, delivers, and redeems us; and, for that we can be eternally grateful.

 

O Lord, incline Your ear to us and hear our earnest plea. We are so thankful that you are merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness and truth. Teach us Your way so that we can walk in Your truth and we will forever glorify Your name. Amen.

[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ps 86:1–17.

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Lent 2016 – Day 24

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Dr. Logan's Blog

Psalm 85:1-13

O Lord, You showed favor to Your land; You restored the captivity of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. You withdrew all Your fury; You turned away from Your burning anger. Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your indignation toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not Yourself revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your lovingkindness, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will say; for He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones; but let them not turn back to folly. Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth springs from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. Indeed, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its produce. Righteousness will go before Him and will make His footsteps into a way.[1]

Psalm 85 is a prayer of mercy for the nation. The psalmist recounts what the Lord has done for His people and yet, in his estimation, the nation is not yet restored. He reasons that the cause of this delayed restoration is that God is still angry and wonders how long this anger will endure. What does restoration look like for the psalmist? Restoration has come when God speaks peace to His people. It has happened when “truth springs from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.” It has happened when the Lord has given what is good and the land has yielded its produce.

Restoration is the rallying cry too of many today, and like the day in which the psalmist lived and wrote, it is just as elusive. It is not uncommon to hear the desire expressed to return to a romanticized time when things were perceived to be somehow better. The cry is for a return to a time of family values, or a time when morality was stronger, more excellent. It is surely debatable whether times were any better in the past than they are today. The answer surely lays in individual perception. Perhaps one’s energy is best spent not in longing for a past era that may have never been as good as they remember, but instead seeking for why things are not better. The psalmist concluded that the obstacle to restoration was the sin of the people and implores God to Himself revive the nation again so that the people may rejoice in Him. It sounds like a more than worthy plea for any generation, especially for the one in which we live.

Gracious God, our nation needs revival in the most desperate way. We have chased after other gods, and gone our own way. We have arbitrarily pronounced that which You despise good, as if morality is determined by public opinion. We have not obeyed Your commands, laws, or decrees, and we have failed to love You or our fellow humanity. You are justified in Your anger, but we ask that you relent from Your anger and provoke revival in our time and our land so that we Your people may rejoice in You again. Amen.

[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ps 85:1–13.

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Lent 2016 – Day 23

Posted on March 3, 2016 by Dr. Logan's Blog

Psalm 84:1-12

How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. The bird also has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You. How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion! Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; the early rain also covers it with blessings. They go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; Give ear, O God of Jacob! Behold our shield, O God, and look upon the face of Your anointed. For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You![1]

This psalm is one written by the sons of Korah and is a psalm of longing for the worship of the temple. It is a lament written out of the obstacles they encountered as they tried to get to the temple. The tribe of Levi was responsible for serving before the Lord in the temple and because of it’s size various families had their assigned times they were to serve. The sons of Korah lived on the other side of the Jordan and it is thought that at the time they were to serve the river had swollen to the point it was impossible to pass. This psalm is then written out of their massive disappointment not just because they were unable to fulfill their assignment but also because of the value they attached to serving in the temple.

It is hard to miss the stark difference that exists between the longing they expressed in their day and the ambivalence at best and total disinterest at worst that is expressed in our day. Something has gone terribly wrong that most people who go to church cannot claim to wanting so desperately to be in the house of the Lord that they would gladly serve as a doorkeeper or an usher. But the longing is not just to be in the temple of the Lord, it is even more of a longing to be in the presence of the Lord. Perhaps the problem lays in the realization that many do not feel they are in the presence of the Lord when they enter His house, and perhaps do not know what it means to get in His presence in their personal times of devotion. The expression of the psalmist should remind us that in the presence of the Lord “is the fullness of joy; in [His] right hand there are pleasures forever” (Ps. 16:11). May we all discover this joy and pleasure for ourselves.

Dear Lord, we confess that we have made so many things in our lives of higher priority that dwelling in Your presence. We confess that we have no real basis with which to truly appreciate the sentiments expressed in this psalm. But we want to share in the longing they express. We want to have an experience with the Lord that will fill us with longing and joy for even more. So, draw us closer so we reorder our priorities and our hearts and flesh sing for joy. Amen.

[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ps 84:1–12.

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Lent 2016 – Day 22

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Dr. Logan's Blog

Psalm 80:1-19

Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth! Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your power and come to save us! O God, restore us and cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. O Lord God of hosts, how long will You be angry with the prayer of Your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears, and You have made them to drink tears in large measure. You make us an object of contention to our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. O God of hosts, restore us and cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. You removed a vine from Egypt; You drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground before it, and it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shadow, and the cedars of God with its boughs. It was sending out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River. Why have You broken down its hedges, so that all who pass that way pick its fruit? A boar from the forest eats it away and whatever moves in the field feeds on it. O God of hosts, turn again now, we beseech You; look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine, even the shoot which Your right hand has planted, and on the son whom You have strengthened for Yourself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down; they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance. Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. Then we shall not turn back from You; revive us, and we will call upon Your name. O Lord God of hosts, restore us; cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.[1]

“Restore us; Cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved,” is the continuing refrain in this psalm. The psalmist contends that God has been angry with the prayers of His people, fed them with the bread of tears, and made them an object of contention to our neighbors. As a result, Israel’s neighbors laugh among themselves. How the enemy of our souls must be laughing as the people of God suffer under the weight of the consequences of their sin. Only God can step in and bring restoration. Only God can change the downward spiral of His church’s fortunes. Such was the realization of the psalmist as he implored the Lord to restore them and cause His face to shine upon them.

Isn’t that exactly what our Heavenly Father did when He sent His Son down through forty-two generations. He was causing His face to shine upon His people and paved the way for His people to be saved. God answered the plea of His people. He did what the psalmist asked Him to do, now the spotlight is on the people themselves. Will we be saved? Will we be saved?!

Lord, thank You for hearing the earnest plea of Your people. Thank You for sending Your Son to be with us and save us from our sin. Open our eyes and unblock our ears so that we will cease being seduced and misled by the allure of our world that makes promises it cannot keep. Bring great conviction upon us so that we will step out of the dark into the marvelous light and be saved. Amen.

[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ps 80:1–19.

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