Moving!

Please note that as of today, I will be moving my blog to a new site. Note the change and update your links if you so desire. All new posts will be found at Occupied With the Word.

It's All About...

"Lord, you were favorable to Your land;
You restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of Your people;
You covered all their sin.
You withdrew all Your wrath;
You turned from Your hot anger."

At first glance it is clear that Psalm 85 is a prayer to God concerning Israel. It speaks of "Your land," "Jacob," and "Your people." How then are we to apply this song in the 21st century? It begins with understanding that this is not spoken directly to us, but to a specific group of people. Following that, we understand from the layout of the text that the psalmists are stating what God has done for His people. To say it simply, this is praise. The writers of this prayer are beginning with statements of praise to God for what He has done.

What is it that He has done? What does the text say?
1. God was favorable.
2. God restored fortunes.
3. God forgave iniquity (sin).
4. God withdrew His wrath.
5. God turned from His anger.

These are all items that the writers placed in song for the nation of Israel to sing as reminders of what God had done for them. Indeed, couldn't we say some (or perhaps all) of these things? The first portion of this song is about the greatness of our God. We can see from this that He does not change (Malachi 3.6)--He still judges sin as well as forgives sin; He is favorable to His people. Christ became the propitiation (the satisfaction of God's righteous anger against sin) for us and God's wrath has been withdrawn from those who come by faith to Him.

While this Psalm is directed to Israel, when we begin to understand what is happening in the song it does not seem so far away. In fact, in many ways we could write similar things. The first paragraph of this particular song details praise to God for His wondrous works. We could do the same (even using the exact same words and phrasing)--no, we should and must do the same. Let's take time to do that today, learning from Psalm 85.

Psalm 85

This song is one of the Psalms with which people sometimes have difficulties. The difficulties lie not so much in understanding the meaning of the song, or its intended interpretation, but in the "so what" category. What is the "so what" category? It's my shortened form of "So what does this mean for me?" In other words, some people have told me that they don't enjoy reading the Psalms because they find them difficult to apply to their own lives.

Psalm 85 is a case in point. The song was written by the sons of Korah as a prayer to God. The prayer centers on seeking God's favor for the nation of Israel. How does one apply this prayer for God's chosen people to modern believers who constitute the body of Christ? In the next four posts I will seek to answer this question, and hopefully show that every Psalm can, in some way, be applied to modern believers.

Much of the problem in my estimation stems from biases that people have in place when coming to the text. For example, some may say even before beginning to read, "I'm not going to get anything out of this." In order to stem that rising tide we must begin with verse 8 of Psalm 85:

"Let me hear what God the LORD will speak...."

Before entering into our study, let's take some time to make sure that we are prepared to hear!

Prayer [still] works

The communities of Lubbock and Rockwell, Texas, recently took their desire for rain to God. After suffering through an extremely dry spring and early summer these communities passed referendums calling on their citizens to pray for rain. In spite of the media taunting, God answered.

Some three and a half inches of rains fell in the town over the Labor Day Weekend alone, overflowing some reservoirs and spillways.

Jody James from the National Weather Service recalled: "We were dealing with red flag warnings, fire danger, and extremely dry conditions earlier in the year."

Without mentioning the prayer requests, Channel 11 KCBD reported: "Looking outside, you'd never guess a month ago that Lubbock was described as parched, and in serious drought conditions."

Husbands love your wives

Ligon Duncan posted something so good on Ephesians 5:25 that I couldn't help but post it here.

While looking at Eph. 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her," we asked -- so what does that love look like? How are we supposed to love? Paul doesn’t leave us without an answer. He points to the cross. What is Christ’s love for the church like? Look at the cross.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones taught me something about Ephesians 5:25 that I had never before grasped. How many times have I read, and preached, this verse and missed it? Then I read his pastoral words of application: "How many of us have realized that we are always to think of the married state in terms of the doctrine of the atonement? Is that our customary way of thinking of marriage?. . . Where do we find what the books have to say about marriage? Under which section? Under ethics. But it does not belong there. We must consider marriage in terms of the doctrine of the atonement." (Life in the Spirit, 148)

That means, by the way, that every time we hear a sermon on the atonement, we as Christian husbands are being shown and taught by our Lord how to love our wives. Yes, certainly, above all, whenever we hear atonement proclaimed, we are always first to consider the matchless work of God on our behalf. The atonement always and foremost is to evoke in us wonder, love, gratitude and praise for saving grace freely given to us at the cost of the Father’s only and beloved Son. It is about what God is doing for us, for our redemption, outside of us, without any assistance from us, or any input from us, or any contribution from us. For the atonement is the awesome display of the stunningly surprising saving love of God at work on our behalf. It is never a mere example of love. It is never a mere illustration. It is never merely a means of moral influence.

But here in Ephesians 5:25b, Paul bids Christian husbands to look at the cross, to look at how Christ gave himself for his people there, to look at how he gave himself totally, to look at how he gave himself to the uttermost, to look at how he endured the shame and suffering, to look at how he died – all for his bride, all for his people, all for the church.

And then the apostle Paul applies the atonement to Christian husbands. "Men," he says, "Christ lived, suffered and died for the eternal good of his bride – now, you go love your wives like that. Love your wives like Christ loved the church. Love your wives like Christ gave himself for the church. Love your wives in light of the atonement."

So next time you are wishing that the preacher would talk about something practical, and he’s up there again preaching about the cross, preaching about the atonement, just remember the triple practicality of it – (1) he’s not only teaching you about the love of God, a love so deep you’ll never see to the bottom of it in all eternity, (2) he’s not only teaching you about the glorious work of redemption by penal substitution, a work without which you would not and could not have been saved from an eternity in hell, (3) he’s teaching you as a Christian husband how to love your wife – Christ lived, suffered and died for his bride; you live, and if necessary suffer and die for your wife’s good.