April 29, 2011
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In my contemplation | update 4/29/11
O, my God
In my contemplation
O, my soul takes flight
Ascends to Zion’s heightO, how to show Your loveliness
O, how to show Your life
To all who took the fatal bite
Enslaved by sin’s plightO, my God
In my contemplation
O, my soul takes flight
Ascends to Zion’s height
O how to show Your brightness
O how to show Your delight
To all who are joyless
Downcast by sin’s plightO, my God,
In my contemplation
O, my soul takes flight
Ascends to Zion’s height
O, how to show Your splendor
O, how to show Your light
To all who are darkened
Blinded by sin’s plightO, my God,
In my contemplation
O, my soul takes flight
Ascends to Zion’s heightO, Lord God
In my contemplation
O, my soul is weeping
Behold! the city sleepingO, Lord God
In my contemplation
Souls are hungry
Souls are thirstyO, Lord God
In my contemplation
Ears are stopped
Eyes are blindedO, Lord God
In my contemplation
Sent to the wilderness
I speak but am voicelessO, Lord God
In my contemplation
See the bones lying
Aroma of souls dyingO, my God
In my contemplation
Groaning, yearning
Christ in my heart burningO, my God
In my contemplation
O, my tongue is silent
Heavens above be rentO, my God
In my contemplation
Not one seed have I
Hasten to the sower supplyO, my God
In my contemplation
Loaves will you not lend
To the sowers You sendO, my God
In my contemplation
Pleading here below
Celestial wine flowO, Lord God
In my contemplation
Be merciful to the holy nation
For Your glory and celebration“The Lord furnish us all with spiritual food wherewith to feed so great multitudes.”
George Whitefield’s Journals, Saturday, May 26, 1739
Isaiah 55:10 …giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater…II Corinthians 9:10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragements. As of late I have found increasing challenges and powerful temptations, including many fears and doubts rising up in my mind in a hellish fashion. I don’t use the word “hellish” flippantly here or in an exaggerated manner. There is a battle going on for my own soul and the souls of men. But God has been faithful to meet me and strengthen me throughout. And so, once again today I am asking Him to supply what I cannot. Without Him we can do nothing. That is just not a nice Bible verse to memorize and regurgitate. It is not a trite cliché. It is the true reality of the Christian life. We have no life apart from Jesus Christ and His all-sufficient supplies.In God’s wonderful providence, as I’ve been led to focus in on Psalm 84 as a start to our women’s study (please see here for a little more on that), I’ve become even more keenly aware of the struggles we (I!) face on our Christian pilgrimage, as we (I) strive to make our (my) calling and election sure, to press onto the prize of the high calling.
I love the whole Psalm, but here are some of my favorite verses (from the NKJV):
5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
They make it a spring;
The rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
Each one appears before God in Zion.We need to continue to go back to our God – time and again – there is never a time we can stop doing so. That is our blessed privilege and calling as children of God who have been redeemed with the blood of the Lamb. We are wholly dependent on Christ for each and every step of our pilgrimage. After all, this is a spiritual pilgrimage and we are in need of spiritual supplies; earthly supplies simply will not do! They will not get us to the Celestial City! God alone is our strength and our life. He is everlasting strength and everlasting life. Apart from Him, we have no true strength and no true life. We will never be joyful or overflow with living water in the weeping and thirsty Valley of Baca unless we continue to go back to eat and drink of Christ. And if we are not eating and drinking as we ought, if we as Christians are not going from strength to strength, if we are not abiding in Christ, how will the joyless and thirsty souls in the world ever be drawn to Christ? We are sent into the dry and parched world so Christ’s living waters might bubble up from within us and flow out through us.
John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.If we aren’t drinking, how will the rivers flow?
I wrote most of the above post about a week ago, but then put it aside. I “rediscovered” it this morning and noticed how it wonderfully expressed my heart’s cry today. Plus, I was especially excited to see how it flowed from the thoughts I’d posted yesterday on my other site in my post this earthly manna ~ the Christian hedonist’s plea. (I’ll probably repost it there sometime, but I know I’ve been remiss in giving you an update here and wanted to do so…even though I know there’s a pretty big overlap in my readers.) This morning I’d opened Whitefield’s Journals to read a bit and then came across his wonderful words which helped to tie it all together.
May our God keep us hungry and thirsty for Him!
I Samuel 2:5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
Luke 1:53 …he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.Accepted in and fed and filled by the Beloved,
Karen
Related:
our insufficiency for ministry
“Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.” (Ezekiel 37:11)
a famine of hearing the words of the LORD
Where do you go when the world is unlovely? (Psalm 84 & the theology of Biblical counseling)
the pilgrim’s Assurance ~ His Sovereign pouring | letter 110 on assurance & fighting for joy
Comments (3)
Karen, God’s Spirit has certainly gifted you to remind, challenge, exhort, and encourage in a voice that is fairly unique around here. Speaking of fears and doubts, I was under severe attack this past Sunday while waiting to play a piano solo… my mind went blank multiple times and I was almost certain I’d draw a blank when I sat dowm at the piano. I tried to focus my mind on the “mission” – to glorify God and edify the congregation. I made it through okay with only one “blip” near the end – I drew a blank momentarily – but praise God I recovered and finished the piece. Maybe this is a thorn given to keep me relying on God’s power. Thanks again for this poetic post
Don ~
Good Evening Karen, the Bead of Life is always our only true source. I have mentioned my love of 2 Corinthians before. He is our Source for everything. I am sad some TV preacher hooked on to that ‘Source’ word and he ruined it for me for awhile. It is true. We really cannot do anything worthwhile without Him.
I have to go to my card table every morning and start fresh. I don’t know how Believers make it without some time in the Bible.
Loved your prose and reflections. We all struggle with sin and temptation and it can get discouraging.
Hope you and your family have a nice weekend,
frank
I love the Bread of Life! He feeds me new every morning! At His fountain I drink of the Water that satisfies my thirst.