This is part 3 of a 3 part series. You can find part 1 and part 2 here: Part 1 Part 2

(Originally published on March 7, 2016)

Practicing Priesthood

In the previous posts in this series, we looked at the need to set the culture in regards to depression, as well as provide training for the church. Now we come to the third aspect to consider, namely, we are a royal priesthood and are called to act as priests toward one another (1 Pet. 2:9). These are the trenches of one-anothering. Our maturing and training is lived out within a culture for the purpose of aiding one another in growth. A person struggling with depression feels isolated and alone. They scream out into the darkness, “Why?!” not, “How?!” He or she is not looking for steps but for meaning. We can easily err in this priestly role and try to be engineers—dealing symptomatically to restore normalcy. In walking with someone who suffers with depression, the priest seeks to help with the deeper struggle.

Recently Jennifer (not her real name), who battles depression, told me that, “It feels like I can’t live, but I can’t die either. My heart is continually ripped out over and over again.” Such words echo Bunyan’s Giant Despair in The Pilgrim’s Progress, “Why should you choose life, seeing it is accompanied by so much bitterness?” The Proverbs tell us that, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Pro. 13:12). Such hearts need voices of hope, to speak into their pain. In endeavoring to impart hope, we must ensure that the hope we impart is Gospel hope.

We can easily impart false or trite hopes in an effort to lighten spirits. Gospel hope, however, is the sustaining wind that carries us through the storm to our desired haven (Psalm 107:30).

Below are four different ways we can seek to unveil this hope:

Befriending

Just this week, I spoke with Edward (not his real name) whose neighbour committed suicide. Edward, oblivious to his neighbour’s depression, assumed his neighbour was simply avoiding relationship. While he may have been avoiding relationship, it was expressive of his isolation. But the greater our suffering, the greater will be our sense of feeling alone. Hope says, “You are not alone.” “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Pro 17:17). Befriending one who suffers, brings Christ near to them through his Body. God said he would never leave us nor forsake us (Deut 31:6). He declares us His friends (John 15:15). We can model the hope of God’s presence in befriending those struggling with depression.

Remembering

Second, when we remember people, it tells them that, even though we are out of sight, they are still in mind. In Ed Welch’s book, Side by Side, he says, “If we are affected by someone’s suffering, we will remember it, which is one of the great gifts that we give to each other” (pg. 103). The Apostle Paul certainly communicated this in his prayers for the church, “I always remember you in my prayers” (I Tim 1:3, see also Eph 1:16; Phil 1:4). Remembering communicates,“You matter.” It is certainly true that we are created for a purpose, and we are meant to be shaped by one another (Pro 27:17). Remembering brings solidarity, and there is beauty in solidarity, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them… since you also are in the body” (Heb 13:3).

Sufferers of depression often feel that they are incapable of expressing their anguish. Our remembering their anguish says that at some level, “I feel your pain.” Knowing another feels their pain helps unbolt the doors of solitude. This too is a reminder that we have a high priest who can, “Sympathize with our weaknesses” (Heb 4:15). The fact that weaknesses is plural means we cannot exclude a category of weakness (such as depression), from Christ’s sympathies.

Grace Hunting

Third, as we enter into their pain, we obtain a new vantage point. Our first response tends to be going on an idol hunt. We want to find the sin or the idol that is at the heart. Whilst there is a place for this, the depressed person is likely heavily engaged in morbid introspection and thus would be greatly helped seeing signs of God’s grace at work in them. Saying something like, “You are so courageous. God has given you grace this week to get out of bed and get the kids to school.” We want to commend manifested grace where we see it. For those who feel hopeless and alone, this is a reminder that God is near and working even in the mundane.

Jesus’ Suffering

Fourth, the suffering of Jesus is both our example and help. We may want to speak of the glories of heaven obtained by Jesus’ suffering. But there is also consolation in Christ’s suffering itself. Spurgeon, who suffered from depression, said, “It is an unspeakable consolation that our Lord Jesus knows this experience.” Zack Eswine, in his book Spurgeon’s Sorrows writes, “To feel in our being that the God to whom we cry has Himself suffered as we do enables us to feel that we are not alone and that God is not cruel.” Here we can begin to see our burden as belonging to him.

When Amy Carmichael struggled with an unbearable burden in India, she considered Christ and his burden bearing in the Garden, “Under one of those trees our Lord Jesus knelt, and He knelt alone. And I knew that this was His burden not mine. It was He who was asking me to share it with Him, not I who was asking Him to share it with me.” She found great comfort knowing that she was partaking in the sufferings of Christ. Jesus not only knows our pain, he endured it, and we kneel beside him in it.

Continuing Work

God is a redeeming God, who continually works his redemption into us. As we walk with depression sufferers, God is not only continuing to work in them, he is continuing to work in us. We mutually grow, building one another up in our most holy faith, as we await the day when all sin, sickness, and death gives way to the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:21).

This is Part 2 of a 3 part series. You can find Part 1 here:

The Church & Victims Of Depression

Providing Training

In our last post in this series, we looked at promoting culture. This is almost like saying, “Imagine what could be,” and then making steps in the direction of what could be. However, such things will never be without those of us in church leadership providing training for the saints. This is Paul’s call to the Ephesian church, so every joint is outfitted with the training they need for redemptive up-building in love (Eph. 4:11-16). These verses teach us that ministry is a participation sport.

In my experience with Anita, I began to think that people who suffer with things like depression could only be helped by highly skilled professionals. Whilst professional involvement may be needed, this should not relegate the body of Christ to the sideline. The leadership of the church can empower the church to help and not harm people further. We harm them further when we toss out trite sayings like “Let go and let God,” or “If you were trusting Jesus, you wouldn’t be depressed.” Many of these types of responses see depression merely through the lens of sin rather than the lens of both sin and suffering.

If we as pastors are going to shepherd well, we need to think about how we can help our congregations incarnate into people’s sufferings.

We must help them to think biblically about the role of suffering in a Christian’s life. In some cases, such as my own, I had to begin studying these things at a deeper level in order to aid my congregation. Much of this training will boil down to helping the church walk in humility, preferring one another, and walking alongside one another. One way I have learned to help train my congregation is to apply the sermons with the understanding that 1 in 5 of my congregation will suffer from depression, and the other 4 in 5 will have the opportunity to walk with someone who suffers from depression.

If we bring this struggle out of darkness into light, the sufferer is better enabled to run to Christ, and the church can help point the way. This helps give the body of Christ something to grab hold of. And since we are more alike than different, the church will learn more about ourselves as well in addition to truths we already know, just applied more deeply.

Originally published on February 29, 2016

The phone rang at 2am again. I knew who it was before answering. In recent weeks, Anita (not her real name) often called in the middle of the night.

She claimed to feel the fires of hell all over her body with no desire to live.

My wife or I would drive to her home and sit down and pray with her. We would speak to Anita and rally the church to pray for her. After a couple suicide attempts through overdoses, she was hospitalized for several months. We rallied around Anita as best we could. We would encourage her and read her Scripture, but it felt like talking to a wall. It was a discouraging time, but also a time when my wife and I felt utterly helpless. We were frustrated with Anita for not listening, and yet, grieved for her inability to listen. We felt defeated as if we had let Anita down.

Anita is not a unique case.

Although her depression was severe, 1 in 5 people in the UK will suffer depression. This highlights the importance of the role of the local church in helping sufferers of depression. But how do we help? Should we feel as helpless as my wife and I felt with Anita several years ago? There are many ways the church can approach depression.

In this three-part series, I would like to briefly look at three things we can do as the church by: Promoting Culture, Providing Training, and Practicing Priesthood.

Promoting Culture

A culture is the way in which groups of people live and think.

Everyone brings their culture into the church, and as the church, we have developed an Evangelical culture that is more based on moral excellence and stoicism than on the realities of our humanity. On Sundays, it is not uncommon for a family to be falling to pieces, yelling at one another in the car, and then walking into the church building with smiles, hugs, and handshakes. Typical church culture relegates life’s hardships and sufferings to behind closed doors. The emperor’s new clothes are “I’m ok, you’re ok.”

Any sufferer in that context can scream on the inside, but fear being viewed as inferior for having a quivering upper lip. In many ways we have an anti-suffering (and anti-depression) theology within the church.

The purpose of suffering is often not considered, and so when suffering strikes (and it will), many find difficulty weathering the storm. Suffering seems an obscure stranger, and our legalistic bent suggests that intense suffering comes upon those who are not trusting God. David Murray is right when he says in his book Christians Get Depressed Too that, “There is still a stigma attached to mental illness and to depression in particular.” Sometimes that stigma is not just that a person does not seem to be coping well, but that he/she fails to trust God.

In promoting a biblical culture, the local church must promote a culture of progressive sanctification. In other words, we are all in process.

We put on a sanctified show for others to see whilst ignoring the fact that we are not as together as we portray. Truly, we make sure the scaffolds of sanctification are erected on the inside of the building rather than the observable outside. This is why D.A. Carson wrote his book on suffering, How Long, O Lord? Carson begins by saying, “This is a book of preventative medicine. One of the major causes of devastating grief and confusion among Christians is that our expectations are false.” Suffering is a human problem, and depression is a form of suffering. People suffer from depression because of others (abuse, expectations, etc.), Adam (the curse, physiological factors, misery in work, death, etc.), and Satan (conspiring with the curse, spinning lies, etc.). These contributors work along the grain of our sinful hearts.

There is no single cause for depression.

Every one of us finds him/herself living amongst the same brokenness vulnerable to its effects. When Paul speaks of overcoming temptations, he points out that they are common to all (1 Cor. 10:13). Thus we must promote a new culture in the church—a culture that recognizes our likeness to one another. Truly, our struggles and temptations are more alike than different. That means that we are not a church that loves to help people with problems, but a church of people with problems.

In other words, we need a church culture that locates ourselves in the community of sufferers, rather than the community of the perfected.

Practicing such a culture would help invite openness about struggles, including depression, so that the sufferer receives care. In many cases, it may provide a preventative dynamic as the community can help hear and carry one another’s burdens before they break an individual’s spirit! This allows us to see ourselves included as sufferers; thus, we can enter into the world of the depressed without excluding them from our world.

“And Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.’ And the angel answered him, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time’” (Luke 1:18–20, ESV).

Zechariah was old and without children. Gone were the days when he and Elizabeth would dream of how many children they would have. As a priest, he would have administered many offerings for families after the birth of their firstborn. Doubtless, he brought many offerings before the Lord pleading for Elizabeth’s womb to be opened. Elizabeth’s tears would fill too many bottles. Their priestly lineage had no progeny. They would have felt unfruitful and the inability to generate in the presence of the God of generations (the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) would have felt like cold, hard steel thrust into their soul. Hope for children would have been abandoned. Maybe at this point Zechariah thought, “God is good to others but not to Elizabeth and me.”

But the Lord had ordained something that Zechariah couldn’t see.

As he was fulfilling his priestly duty, the Lord sent His angel Gabriel to Zechariah. God is still at work long after we have given up hope. But when Zechariah heard that his aged wife would be like Sarah, bearing a son in her old age, he doubted. Maybe there had been too many false hopes. The voices of too many well meaning friends and family made too many promises of what God would do for them, which came to naught. So, when the angel appeared, Zechariah was reluctant to believe. “Realism” (or cynicism) had set in, “My wife and I are too old. Prove it!” Zechariah was afraid of an empty promise. He knew the proverb well that reads, “Hope deferred sickens the heart.”

It is easy to find ourselves discouraged because of unchanging circumstances. While the circumstances are unchanging, sometimes we can find ourselves changing, not for the better, but for the worse. But God is a God who works by grace. He doesn’t require perfect faith from Zechariah to fulfill His purposes. Gabriel reframed Zechariah’s perspective. God fulfilled His purposes in His time, not our time. By not having what every other Jewish couple had at this stage in life, Zechariah wasn’t missing out. God had a greater purpose. We far too easily settle for the status quo, but God was working something greater.

Zechariah was going to discover that some of God’s greatest blessings are born in our sufferings.

Thus, God sends the blessing of good news to Zechariah. The word used for good news in verse 19 is the word for gospel (euangelion). This dry tree would become fruitful (Isaiah 56:3-5). Although the promise of good news was given, Zechariah couldn’t see how he could have the strength to bring it about. But therein lies the beauty of good news. The good news is good because it doesn’t depend on human ability. If it was dependent on his ability, he was already well beyond good news. The gospel is the good news about what God does in spite of our weakness, not what we do in our strength.

As a result of Zechariah’s lack of faith, God graciously gives him space to meditate in silence. He was furnished with an opportunity to be still and know that the Lord is God (Psalm 46:10). This good news had to become real in his heart, before it could ever be real in his words, for the gospel is a message of changed hearts before it inhabits our words.

But that word would go forth with power through this good news, for Zechariah’s son would become the voice who would proclaim the message of the Word made flesh.

May this Christmas be one where all of our struggles, fears and discouragements give place for a God who makes all things beautiful in His time. He is a God who is at work, even in the dead silence of struggles. Trust Him that His good news is good because it is not dependent on your ability, but upon His own promise.

A couple months ago, someone approached me regarding a situation where they felt I hadn’t responded in a pastoral way. Of course, such statements hold a sting to them, and they may not be entirely accurate, but I have found that usually there is some truth in the criticism that we need to heed.

It shouldn’t surprise us that people see mistakes and failures in us, but sometimes it does.

With that as a backdrop, I was reading through John 10 around that time. I was meditating on the Good Shepherd and how He is unlike the Pharisees. He lays his life down for the sheep; they do not (in the previous passage, they cast the blind man out of the synagogue rather than care for him). The Pharisees are shepherds like those in Ezekiel 34:4: “The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.”

As I wrestled with the above criticism, I began to feel more like the Pharisees than Jesus (again this shouldn’t surprise me). Jesus loves and cares for His flock. He gives them life abundantly (John 10:10).

I was becoming discouraged, reading the passage of the Good Shepherd! Why? Because somehow, I had replaced Jesus with myself. I read about the Good Shepherd and lamented rather than rejoiced. I am not the good shepherd.

But as I read and reread, everything turned around. John 10:3 tells us this: “To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” The penny dropped when I read John 11:43! “When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.””

What a shepherd!! Lazarus who was dead heard the Good Shepherd’s voice! He calls them by name and leads them out. His voice called Lazarus by name, and Lazarus came out. The call of Lazarus was like the balm of Gilead on my soul. As a shepherd, I can never call and lead people with life-giving power. I was reminded that I am not the Good Shepherd.

Even if someone or something falls through the cracks of my shepherding hands, Jesus’ hands have no gaps.

This was an encouragement because even in my failures, God does not fail. I was reminded afresh of the gospel that I believe and affirm, but in the moments of life, I can forget. The gospel tells me that it is God who saves, God who grows us in godliness, God who shepherds His flock. It tells me that it is God who will grow me and shepherd me.

Of course, as an under-shepherd, I am to be like Jesus. God is faithful to expose our short comings and failures, and to direct us to His empowering grace. The gospel of John ends with that great call to Peter to shepherd the flock (John 21:15-19). The Good Shepherd shepherds the shepherds, both humbling them and enabling them to shepherd the flock of which He has made us overseers.

The slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On” was developed during World War II during the Nazi terror (Blitz) attacks on London, when Germany was radicalized by an ideology. When it comes to national tragedy, this truly does describe the British resolve to keep on. I remember being here in London when the 7/7 attacks happened. Yesterday I was in Westminster with my wife and four kids one mile away from the attack! The police presence was heightened, Westminster’s tube station was closed, but London was going to keep calm and carry on. I have a deep admiration for Britain’s ability to keep moving forward in the wake of such tragedy.

The Dangers of Radicalism

The police are working under the assumption that the assailant was a radicalized Muslim, an extremist. There will be much conversation and discussion over the next few days about radicalization. In conversations in the work place or in the pubs, people will be talking about how important it is to not believe something too strongly.

A few years ago, while I was a police chaplain, I went through counter-terrorism training (not as “Jack Bauer” as it sounds), and we were told how people are radicalized; and how the country needs to be protected against radicalization. Anti-radicalism is considered a virtue. Who can blame people for holding such a view when they see and experience the things that such extremism produces? My heart aches for the loss of lives and the injured in yesterday’s attack.

The Roots of Radicalism

The word radical comes from the Latin word for root (radix). It means to get closer to the root/source of something. We are told today that we shouldn’t be radical about our beliefs. But the real question shouldn’t be whether we should be radical. The real question is: What is the root of belief that we are getting closer to? The narrative will say that people should be less radical about their faith. I want to challenge that narrative. Jesus said that if the root is bad, the fruit will be bad (Matthew 7:18).

Subversive Radicalism

I suggest a different radix (root). Jesus taught us things like love your enemies and to pray for your persecutors (Matthew 5:44). He taught us to serve others and lay our lives down for others (Mark 10:43-45). I would humbly suggest that we do not need less radicalism, rather more of a Jesus radicalism, a subversive radicalism! This is a radicalism that the world is not anticipating. It’s a radicalism that says, to believe in something strongly can be the best type of belief. Those who are radicalized for Jesus, throughout the centuries have served others, offering their own lives. Radical Christians do not take lives, but give their own lives for others. They give up worldly comforts and use their time, talent and treasure selflessly and seek to share with the world about a radical love that is not life taking, but life imparting. The question isn’t whether we should be radical, the question is: What should we be radical about? I pray that people radicalized by Jesus would offer their lives up in loving service of their enemies. They would bring that love to those who are hurting. That their radical message of Good News that redeems humans from their sin and restores their relationship with God would bring extreme healing to this great city of London as well as the rest of the world suffering from extreme terror.

“Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (Genesis 8:20).

A Great Offering

As I am reading through the passage on Noah, I am struck at how God provides for Noah’s worship. He calls Noah to take seven of all the clean animals (Genesis 7:3). Then in Genesis 8:20, Noah builds an altar and offers up a sacrifice.

As far as resources go at this point, they are scarce. In Genesis 7:3, God tells Noah to take two of every kind of animal and seven of every clean animal. Every animal is a highly endangered species. Imagine there were only seven of some animal left on the earth, and some of them were offered up as a burnt offering! I wonder what Noah was thinking at this point. Did the thought cross his mind that maybe he should wait until those seven multiplied into 49? It can be so easy to put off costly worship of God because of scarcity. But God is a God who provides. He provided the animals before they were scarce. The number Noah would have at his disposal was God’s plan. Scarcity was in the plan of God. Worship was meant to be costly. But God provided the animals to sacrifice from the start.

However, I do not think Noah was reluctant to offer up this sacrifice of worship to the God who had just delivered Noah and his family from the judgment they deserved. God had shown grace to Noah (Genesis 6:8). The only resource Noah had that he could offer to God already belonged to God! Noah only gives back to God what was God’s.

A Greater Offering

As sacrificial as offering up some of seven may be, imagine the sacrifice of offering up one of one! Although God prepared for Noah’s sacrifice beforehand by giving him seven of each clean animal, God prepared for a far more significant sacrifice.

The only begotten Son (not after judgment in Noah’s case but before the judgment), came down as an offering. The Son who is unique. The one and only Son, the Father offered up on behalf of our sin. Ever since Genesis 3:15, where the prophecy of the serpent crusher is given, we see God had been providing and preparing the greatest sacrifice ever offered.

Our Offering

God shows us that He will take care of all our needs by giving 100%, His own dear Son. When you feel the pinch of sacrifice, remember that a greater and total sacrifice was made for you. “If God did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). What sacrifice can you make to God that He did not prepare beforehand? Even a scarce resource (like some of seven, which is greater than 10%).

Time: Time is a scarce commodity in our lives. We find that we live under the sway of demands, but all our time is given by God. Can we offer up our time to worship Him?

Talent: Wherever there are abilities, there are opportunities. It can be easy to feel others have more to offer in regards to talent (gifting). Even if the talent is scarce, where can you offer up that ability in worship to God?

Treasure: Most people do not consider themselves to have an abundance of money. In fact, most of us would tend to view it as scarce (or at least, less than we would want to spend). But how can you use the scarce money God has given you as you worship?

Father, thank you that though sacrifice is costly, You have provided for it. You offered up Your own Son for our redemption, and so often I can be slow to offer up costly worship to You because I feel that I am losing something in the offering. Help me see that I am actually gaining. When Jesus was offered up, I gained eternal life. I have no lack because of Your sacrifice. I can sacrifice freely, liberally, joyfully because my Father will always provide. Amen.

Often, everyday life reminds us of great truths. Last summer, when I was in Washington, I was driving my dad’s pickup truck with a 35-foot trailer in tow. It was only a few weeks later I was towing a 20-foot trailer in England on narrow roads. Both were a learning curve for me, but I soon discovered something—the trailer followed behind the car. Okay, that’s a bit obvious, however, sometimes when we are reading God’s Word, it seems less obvious, and we get the trailer before the pickup. Imagine if the trailer pulled the pickup truck? Although that sounds absurd, we all tend to make our works and effort the driving force and view God’s deliverance and blessing as a follow-on.

The Scriptures have a flow to them. God does/says something, then the people respond to what God does/says. The repeated pattern in Scripture is God leads/initiates and people follow/respond.

But so often we think that God responds to our initiatives.

Let me explain…These words will help us in our approach to Scripture:

Indicative – indicates information
Imperative – a command

When we read the 10 Commandments, we often read them as the things we are supposed to do to acquire God’s blessings.

After all, they are commands (a command is known as an imperative). But what precedes these commandments? Exodus 20 is where we find the 10 Commandments, and it begins with some information that points out the context for the commands (this is called an indicative). Exodus 20:2 tells us, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Verse three then tells us, “You shall have no other gods before me.” In other words, they were not saved because they kept God’s commandments. God had already saved them, and then He calls them to walk in His commandments.

It is easy for us to reverse the order of the indicatives and the imperatives.

We often think that we acquire God’s blessings based on what we do. But the Scripture tells another story: We do because we have God’s blessings already.

How often do you look to your achievements for God’s blessing? How much you gave this month, or read, or served or didn’t complain? God is not a reluctant blesser. The problem is we are reluctant obeyers. But if we could stop and consider all that God has already done for us, maybe our obedience wouldn’t be so reluctant. Maybe it would follow as naturally as a trailer follows behind a pickup truck.

“And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul” (Jeremiah 32:38–41, ESV).

I love this passage! I love this passage because it reminds me of something that is remarkable. God says “With all My heart and all My soul, I will rejoice in doing them good.” Imagine! God’s design for our lives is doing us good, not half-heartedly but with a full heart! It is easy for me to read the first reference to good “for their own good and the good of their children after them,” and to consider it like being given a bitter pill accompanied with the words, “This is for your own good.” We can take this as if God interacts with us with a form of stoicism, presuming He is an emotionless God calculating what will be good and acting accordingly. But the truth is quite different from that. He rejoices in doing us good. It pleases Him to do good to His creatures. It is not a half-hearted action required by God’s moral obligations; it is extravagant grace, displayed through His benevolent perfections.

God not only acts toward my good and the good of my children after me—this is His delight!

What is man that you are mindful of him (Psalm 8:4)?! How can the Creator of the universe have pleasure in doing good to a sinful creature? I should expect that since God is just, His rejoicing here would be in pouring His wrath (which I deserve) upon me. How can He rejoice with all His heart and soul to do good to me? Is it not true that as a just God, He rejoices in justice? Is it not true that the judgment of sin is the delight of a holy God? Is it not true that the removal of sin is a glorious thing? Yes, yes and yes! So how do we square this circle? How can a God who is just and rejoices in righteousness and truth, also rejoice in doing good to those whose very nature stands in opposition to God’s righteousness and truth (see Jeremiah 17:9-10)? We find the answer to this in the cross of His only begotten Son, our Savior.

Here, righteousness and peace kiss (Psalm 85:10). God has satisfied His justice on His Son so that we can know His favor. In Christ, God truly does rejoice to do us good because He rejoices to do His own Son good. In Christ, we not only have what is good for us, but we have a Father who rejoices with all His heart and all His soul to do us good. I am so thankful for a God who, although I deserve His wrath and judgment, takes great pleasure in doing me good.

Father of all that is good. Thank you that Your goodness toward me is not merely a sense of moral duty; it is something that brings You pleasure. My mind cannot understand why You take pleasure in doing good to someone who must repent daily. Although my understanding is lost in wonder, my heart thrills at this reality. When I do not think that I can be more in awe of who You are, I see Your character displayed in Your Word and am again humbled by Your undeserved favor. Your Son bore my judgment that I might now bear His favor. Help me today, when I am tempted to forget that even the challenging moments of my day are incidents of You doing me good. For this is an occasion of Your pleasure, to do good to Your redeemed. Help me today to rejoice in You, just as You rejoice to do me good, for such rejoicing is good for me. Amen.

“Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever” (Psalm 86:11–12, ESV).

I love this Psalm, particularly these verses in it. This is a cry of David for his gracious God to answer his plea. He is in distress, and that distress is because people are seeking his life. There is a flood of thoughts, “what if” scenarios—fears that cause worry. But David turns his attention to the God who answers the plea for grace (v.7-8). Although his thoughts are scattered everywhere, he must be of a single heart, for although many concerns grow so huge, they begin to obtain god-like status. David acknowledges in v.10 that, “…You alone are God.” When our heart is pulled in several directions, what can we learn from this prayer of David, particularly in v.11-12?

1. We Must Pray for God to Teach Us

“Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth” (Psalm 86:11a, ESV). David is aware that he is in need of instruction. You see, often our problem is we listen to the monologue in our heads or the poor counsel of other people. However, what we need to hear is the counsel that comes from the Lord. “There is a way that seems right to a man…” (Proverbs 14:12), and because that way seems right, it is easy to go along with it. What we need more than anything is instruction from the Lord. We must be taught His way, so that we can walk in His truth.

I remember when we moved house nine years from a town called West Molesey to Leatherhead. I had been driving home from Kingston, and I found myself pulling up to the house we moved out of the previous week. What happened? I was on autopilot. I wasn’t thinking about where I was going. I was merely following the well-worn path. I didn’t question where I was going or why I was turning at a particular roundabout. How great would it have been to have a passenger with me that could say, “Matt, why are you turning here?” I needed a voice to break the monologue, the well-worn way that seemed right to me. We must pray for God to teach us His way, so that we might walk in His truth.

2. Our Fears Divide Our Hearts

“Unite my heart to fear your name” (Psalm 86:11b, ESV). David acknowledges that he has competing fears. He is self-aware that the reason he wanders is that he is responding to the wrong fears. There is division in his heart, and thus, he asks God to unite it.

I can’t speak to your experience, but I can speak to both my experience, and what Scripture teaches us about the human heart. I can desire to fear God and serve Him. After all, “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever…” (Psalm 19:9). Still, I have other things that I fear, which are in conflict to the fear of the Lord, such as the fear of man. Have you noticed that it is hard to fear the Lord when you are preoccupied with what people think of you? What about that feeling of failure, which many of us avoid at all cost. Have you noticed that the drive to succeed is at war with the fear of God in our hearts? Since the heart is deceitful and since we are blinded to much of what happens in our hearts (Jeremiah 17:9), God must search out our hearts (Jeremiah 17:10). My heart is not something I can unite. I know, I’ve tried. I have given myself stern pep-talks, “Stop being so concerned with how people might respond Matt!” But God is the one who has the power to dispel all unclean fears that my whole heart might unite in the fear of God.

3. God Answers This Prayer

“I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever” (Psalm 86:12, ESV). Notice how David prays in the very next verse. He prays for God to unite his heart, then he gives thanks to God with his whole heart. A whole heart is a united heart. In other words, David expects that such prayers honour God and are in agreement with God’s purposes for him. He has been praying along the grain of the heart of God, causing his heart to come into alignment.

Such a prayer does not see overnight fulfilment. However, this is a prayer of faith as our great Redeemer finishes the work He began (Philippians 1:6). He will faithfully expose the areas of our heart that are rogue, so that we may address those areas with the Gospel by God’s empowering Spirit. While it is not true that my heart is without fault or wickedness today, it is true that God has faithfully worked in it, so that it is more united today than it was last month or last year. And one day, on that final day, He will answer this prayer in its entirety!

Do you struggle with finding time to spend in God’s presence on a regular basis? If so, you are not alone. Many Christians do not have a daily time of focused, personal worship of God. Some call this daily worship a quiet time, devotions (or devos), the closet, etc. In my experience, although many Christians desire this gracious routine, they struggle to get started. Here are 10 tips to help you get started.

1. Rise: The Morning Calls.

Maybe you’re not a morning person, so let me explain. In fact, I’ll let Psalm 90:14 explain, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” The Psalmist’s joy and gladness all his days is connected to his experience of God’s steadfast love each morning. When we start our day apprehending the truth that God’s Word reveals, we are fortifying our mind (Romans 12:1-2). We are setting the tone of how we will engage with whatever happens in the day. If we begin with hearing God’s message, then we are less likely to be swayed by the billions of competing messages that flood our eyes, ears and thoughts throughout the day. We are also less likely to have that window snatched from us by the competing demands of our busy schedules. In fact, for some of you it may be worth putting that time into your calendar.

2. Ready: Being Prepared Beforehand.

Plan tonight for tomorrow morning. With all the digital screens that are in front of our eyes, we tend to stay up later, thus getting up earlier is more arduous. Try going to bed a little bit earlier, knowing that your alertness tomorrow morning may depend on what you do tonight. Another way to prepare the night before is to prepare where you will have your time of personal worship. If a messy room is a distraction, clean it up the night before. Put everything you need for the morning where you want it. Put your coffee maker on a timer. Do everything you can the night before, so that when you get up in the morning, you can maximize those precious minutes.

3. Recognize: Know who You’re Meeting with

Don’t forget that you are meeting with your Father, King, Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer. The God of gods, King of kings and Lord of lords is welcoming you into His presence. Don’t let the familiarity and convenience of access diminish the magnitude of who you are meeting with. Recognize Him for who He is. To help give perspective here, meditate on Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4.

4. Remove: Things that Distract

It is great having the Bible on my smartphone. But smartphones can be a distraction. If you are tempted to check the news, email or social media before or during your time of personal worship, then don’t turn on your device until after you are done. Use one of those good old-fashioned analogue Gutenberg style Bibles, you know, the kind made out of paper. Also, it is not uncommon for your mind to be filled with thoughts about the things that require your attention that day. Having a pen and notepad available means you can quickly jot those things down, so you don’t have to hold onto them in your mind. You can trust that you will not forget to deal with that thing, project, job because you have made a note of it.

5. Read: Read the Bible

This may sound obvious, but it’s not. Daily devotionals are great. I love reading Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening and the puritan prayers in The Valley of Vision, but they are not Scripture (this also goes for the notes in your study Bible). Do not let a devotional replace your reading of Scripture. If you have time to read one of these, by all means do so, but do not let your reading of the Bible be replaced by reading what someone else has to say about the Bible.

6. Routine: Having a Bible Reading Plan

If you don’t have a plan, you will flip around and dip into passages of Scripture, but never immerse yourself in its life-giving flow. On days that you don’t feel like reading, a reading plan is a healthy discipline. Since the Bible is an unfolding drama, we should have something sequential. You can create your own or use one of the several great reading plans out there. I have used various ones over the years. Currently, I am using The Bible Project’s Reading Plan, and I am loving it!

7. Respond: Pray with an Open Bible

We tend to read, then close the Bible, then pray. Respond in prayer about what you read as you read it. It has been said that prayer is a dialogue, not a monologue. Some of my richest prayer time in the morning is the time I take to pray the Psalms. In the Psalms I not only pray through inspired truth, but I also learn how to pray in any given circumstance as the Psalms are themselves prayers to God.

8. Record: Have a pen and notebook in hand.

To not have this is to say, “I don’t expect to hear anything from God worth writing down.” If my expectation is low, I can trust that anaemic expectation will be met. Let us have a high expectation of a God who desires to reveal Himself, as we seek Him in His Word, as well as ourselves being revealed by His searching Word. A pen and notebook says, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”

9. Realistic: Don’t Bite off More than You Can Chew.

Gung-ho intentions can get the best of us. Remember that we are to grow in these things. Choose an amount of time that is both attainable, but also a challenge. Otherwise, your good intentions will produce an indomitable wall of failure that will leave you discouraged and deflated. Better 15 minutes a day, than zero minutes with the intention of 120 minutes. If you begin with 15 minutes, you can add five minutes, then another five a week later, as you exercise this discipline of grace.

10. Reveal: Share with someone what God is speaking to you.

Let what God is speaking to you bless others. This will both encourage you, as you see God use you in the lives of others and encourage you that God is indeed revealing Himself to you.

Recently, I wrote articles about being servants and being sons. The vastness of our relationship with God is beyond human ability to describe. Thus we grasp at metaphors and analogies, attempting to see with clarity that which is greater than the human mind can fathom. However, these relational depictions are radically helpful in getting a sense of who we are in relation to God. Think of these as each adding a dimension to our understanding. Seeing our relationship as servants, sons and the Bride give us a 3D perspective. Do you understand that we are the Bride?

The Bride Becomes One with Christ

The two shall become one (Genesis 2:24). God creates the first human relationship as a marriage. The marital union was designed by God to be a fruitful intimacy. That is, through their closeness, they become one (this is worthy of its own post). In marriage, we are caught up into the life of one another. My decisions affect my wife and vice versa. We are no longer independent, rather interdependent. Ephesians 5:22-33 gives some wonderful teaching on marriage, but then Paul tells us that marriage is an illustration of the deeper more profound reality of our corporate union with Christ. We have entered into a covenant with Him, and He has joined Himself to us. Thus what God has joined, let no man separate (Matthew 19:9). In fact, marriage entails a combining of assets and liabilities. Consider a man having great assets and the woman he marries having great debt. What happens when they tie the knot? All her debt and liabilities become his and all his wealth and assets become hers. As the Bride of Christ, we are so one with Him that He takes on all our debt of sin, death and hell and gives us His riches of grace, life and salvation! He brings nothing but assets to the marriage, and we bring nothing but liabilities. But since His assets always exceed our liabilities, we are wonderfully benefited. Martin Luther says it well, “For his righteousness rises above the sins of all men; his life is more powerful than all death; his salvation is more unconquerable than all hell.”

The Bride Is Already and Not Yet

We are already the Bride, but we have not yet entered into the fullness of what that means. Paul says that we have been betrothed to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2-3). Betrothal was an ancient marital practice. Remember, Joseph was betrothed to Mary (Matthew 1:18). Betrothal is more than engagement. It was regarded as marriage. To break off a betrothal would require a divorce. The full joys of their commitment still awaited consummation, when the bride would move in with the bridegroom on the wedding day. But until the day when the virgin bride and groom come together, their marriage (betrothal) experience is partial. As Christians, we are betrothed/married to Christ, but the wedding has yet to commence. The marriage supper of the Lamb is yet future (Revelation 19:9). It is at that point that we will know even as we are known (1 Corinthians 13:12). Until that time, although we have all of Christ now, our experience of Him while living in a fallen world is limited. The best is yet to come!

The Bride Is a Corporate Not a Private Identity

In the Old Testament, God referred to Himself as Israel’s Husband. The New Testament describes us as the Bride. The inference is that the Bride is not simply you or me, rather it is we. When we think in terms of being the Bride, this is a challenge to our individualistic culture. Jesus prayed for us in John 17:11, “That they may be one, even as we are one.” That means that my future is your future. My hope is your hope. Our holiness cannot increase if we ignore one another’s need for holiness. Ultimately, your growth and godliness is connected to mine, for we are being prepared as a Bride without spot or blemish.

How Should We Respond?

1. Live today in light of our lives being joined with Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:14-17 tells us that we are one with Christ, and that uniting ourselves with sin is, in essence, bringing Christ into our spiritual adultery. Our oneness with Christ should cause us to live lives that reflect this great union, remembering that through Christ, we have all the assets we need to overcome sin and temptation.

2. Look ahead to the future. We go through seasons in this fallen world in these broken bodies where we do not always sense the Lord’s nearness. At times we suffer from a lack of right desire. Look ahead toward the future. There will come a day when the betrothal will transform into the full privileges of marriage. What lies ahead for us is exceedingly greater than what we can now fathom or experience.

3. Love the Bride. Sometimes we can become so skilled at criticizing the Bride of Christ, rather than seeking to beautify her. Rather than criticizing the spots and wrinkles in the wedding garment, endeavor to be instruments of the Bride’s beautification. Lovingly encourage and exhort one another as that Great Day approaches. Jesus loves His Bride, and we should love her too.

Oh, that we could begin to explore what it means to be in relationship with God. We have several metaphors that together help us gain an understanding of who we are in relation to God. Jesus called us servants, but if that was as far as it went, all that is emphasized is God’s sovereignty and authority over us. Our relationship doesn’t stop there, it progresses into at least two other significant realms, namely as sons and the bride.

Jesus is the True Son

God is a Father. In fact, His primary role is as Father. Before He created, sustained or redeemed, He and His eternal Son were always in loving relationship. When we speak in the category of being sons, we must recognize that there is only one begotten of the Father, and He is full of grace and truth (John 1:14). From the beginning, the Son has been with the Father. He is one with Him in nature and substance. He is the exact image of God (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). If you have seen the Son, you have seen the Father (John 14:7-9). Who else can claim such a sonship!? Jesus is the true Son.

Every Other Son Fails

Throughout Scripture, God has given the title son to others, beginning with Adam (Luke 3:38) but also of the children of Israel (Exo 4:22) and even King Solomon (2 Sam 7:14). But as you read through Scripture, you see how each of these sons fail to reflect God as their Father. Adam ate the forbidden fruit, Israel wandered in the wilderness with stubborn hearts, and Solomon went after the gods of his wives. As far as being true sons go, they fell terribly short.

We Are Sons by Adoption

This is the beauty of the gospel of Jesus the true Son. He is well pleasing to the Father, and the Father loves Him supremely (Matthew 3:17; 17:5). This is where it becomes mind-blowing for us. Although we were children of wrath because of our rebellion (Ephesians 2:3), we receive the adoption as sons (Galatians 4:5). Now this is the key to the whole thing: Our sonship is not simply our own; it is Jesus’ Sonship. Think about this for a second. We have Jesus’ Sonship! Galatians 4:6 tells us that, “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts…” That means that the Sonship we have (unlike Adam, Israel or Solomon) is the relationship of Jesus the Son to the Father! The inheritance that belongs to Jesus is ours too (Romans 8:17). We truly live out the life of God’s Son (Galatians 2:20), and thus the Spirit graciously applies the pleasure of the Father on the Son to you and me. The intimacy of the Son is given to us, that we may cry “Abba Father!” Do you know that you are sons? Now you ladies may struggle at being called sons, but know that this term has to do with the Sonship of Jesus applied to you, and know that us men have to deal with being called the Bride.

How Should We Respond?

1. Learn to relate to God as Father not based upon your perfect obedience, but the Son’s perfect obedience on your behalf.

2. You can address God as your Father in every struggle. “Abba,” a term that is intimate, which is the simplest word to pronounce on the youngest of lips is yours to utter to God. The title Abba appears three times in Scripture once on Jesus’ own lips during His Gethsemane temptation (Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6).

3. You can trust your Father to strengthen you as the true Son lives through you in all your temptations today?

4. As sons, we do not derive our relationship with God through our service but through the Sonship that is applied to us.

I was sick to my stomach again. It happens every time I read through the book of Judges and get to the last few chapters. Especially chapter 19 where the Levite who ministers before God has a concubine that he treats like a mere object. The story only gets worse and worse, and that feeling of disgust and nausea increases in my stomach.

The Bible is gritty, especially the book of Judges.

The very point of the book is to show us what God’s people are like when they are not under God’s rule. They behave like the men of Sodom in Judges 19. They behave like the Canaanites of Ai (Judges 20), and their acts of “justice” (Judges 21) seem shockingly unjust. They are incapable of doing what is right. In fact, this is the running strapline of Judges, and it is how the book ends in Judges 21:25, “In those days there was no king in Israel Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

That feeling of disgust and sorrow is appropriate. It should cause us to cry out for God’s righteousness to be exalted in the earth. I find myself crying out for God’s King to come and rule. Hannah, the mother of Israel’s last Judge, Samuel, echoes this longing in her song in 1 Samuel 2:10, “The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” The word “anointed” is the Hebrew word Messiah. God will strengthen His King and anoint His Messiah. What hope is there for a nation whose ways are so worldly and whose leaders are so corrupt?

God will strengthen His King and anoint His Messiah.

As I think about the coming election and the blaring character flaws of both leading candidates, I am reminded not to lose hope. Our hope is King Jesus. We are waiting for the King, but He has already come and will come again. How I long to see His righteous Kingdom established here on earth. But as long as His people live for His glory, then His rule and His Kingdom will be visible. We have the opportunity in these politically dubious days to show people a greater Kingdom. We can complain ad nauseam about the state of things, or we can show the world a better Kingdom. “The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his King and exalt the horn of his Messiah.”

“And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”” (Joshua 24:15, ESV).

How often have you heard the words of Joshua 24:15 in an evangelistic sermon? “Choose this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Certainly, it’s a fabulous text to call people to put their trust in the Lord. It is a worthy passage for such exhortations. But I think sometimes we miss something in this passage that connects not just to a moment of salvation but the continuing work of God in our lives.

For we often take this passage as an application of where we place our faith, which is good, but there is more here. Faith never functions in solitude. Faith demands expression.

A faith that is solely an adherence to creeds, tenets or statements of faith is not a biblical faith. Faith should work itself out in service.

This is the call to which Joshua is calling the people. Let us not miss the simplicity of this text that would teach us that faith in YHWH will produce service to YHWH. In fact, in this chapter the Hebrew word “serve” is used 17 times, the final time as a noun, pointing out that Joshua was a servant.

You Are a Servant

In reality, everyone is a servant. Joshua 24:15 poses a question, “Choose whom you will serve.” He doesn’t say, “Choose if you will serve.” Joshua assumes that we are already serving someone. It looks like Bob Dylan got something right in his song, “Gotta Serve Somebody.” If we can get our head around the fact THAT we are servants, then we can consider WHAT/WHO we serve.

You Serve in the Direction of Your Heart

The idea that you are already serving someone may strike you as odd. Maybe that is because your choices are already in line with your heart. You are doing what your heart wants. Joshua 24:14 says that our service should be sincere and faithful. Sincere means genuine or with integrity. In other words, our heart is in our service. That doesn’t mean that service is easy. Think of the Apostle Paul when he said, “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” (Colossians 1:29, ESV). Serving along the grain of our new heart is not effortless, it can be toil. However, the key to that service is where our heart finds its joys. Our hearts will serve where we find our love. If my love is positioned on my comfort, my heart will toil to serve me to be comfortable (serving the god of comfort). If my love is positioned on recognition, then my heart will toil to serve others to be recognized (serving the god of the praise of men). But if my love is centered on God, then my heart will toil in loving service to God and others out of gratitude for who He is and what He has done.

Your Service has Other People in View

We are called to serve God in every area of our lives, but one of the greatest ways we can serve Him is serving other people. This is one way we love God and neighbor. God has called us to serve Him in the church. Let us not miss the profoundly overlooked aspect of “Choose this day whom you will serve.” That is the word “serve.” Service is practical and tangible.

Since faith and service belong together, why is 90% of the service in most churches done by 10% of the people? I have yet to speak to a pastor who says, “Every area of ministry is sufficiently covered.” Joshua’s call to serve the Lord is a call to active faith. Certainly, Joshua is not suggesting that serving only happens amongst the congregation. However, let us not excuse this arena of service from our lives.

You Are the Recipient of Service

We will never understand the value of serving God unless we see Him as having served us. Joshua 24:16-17 tells us the reason they served God, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…” They serve because God served them with deliverance. The very next verse (v.18) tells us they serve the Lord because He drove out the people from the land. God had served the Old Testament Church, and they responded with sincere service to God.

We see the final note of this passage in Joshua 24:29, “After these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old.” Joshua was a servant. Of course, we know that another Joshua (Jesus in Greek) was a Servant to us. He served unto exhaustion that He slept in a boat in a storm! Jesus served by washing the disciples’ feet. And of course, He served you by taking the burden of your sin upon His shoulders being nailed to a cross. Our God and King has served us well!

How Should We Proceed?

Here are four things to consider:

1. Consider how greatly God has served you. He delivered you from the slavery of your sin at great cost to himself on the cross.

2. Count the cost of service. Service takes time and energy. You may have to change your schedule to find adequate time to serve.

3. Contact your church leaders about serving. Prayerfully ask where the needs are in your church.

4. Commit yourself to serving. The greatest needs in your church may not be where you particularly feel gifted, but that’s ok.

God doesn’t gift us so we can have an excuse not to serve in other areas.