Sunday

Sunday is back.

For a while now I have had to work on Sundays and so missed out on Sunday School and church. But no more. I have new work now and will able to get to Sunday morning services.

There is a longing present in me when I am unable to be with God's people on Sunday and I am grateful for it. I think there was a time in my life when I would no have felt it. In years gone by I have practiced a sort of Lone Ranger faith that pridefully assumed I could practice Christianity all by myself. Thankfully, those days are over. I find now that I long to be in worship on Sundays and I need it. It is good for me.

So, it's not so much that Sunday is back, but that I am. And that's a good thing.

Pearls Lie Deep

 1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!

2 O Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive

to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

 3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

 4 But with you there is forgiveness,

that you may be feared.

 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

and in his word I hope;

 6 my soul waits for the Lord

more than watchmen for the morning,

more than watchmen for the morning.

 7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!

For with the Lord there is steadfast love,

and with him is plentiful redemption.

 8 And he will redeem Israel

from all his iniquities.

Hear Mr. Spurgeon concerning Psalm 130:
"Out of the depths" is the leading word of it: out of those depths we cry, wait, watch, and hope. In this Psalm we hear of the pearl of redemption, verses 7 and 8: perhaps the sweet singer would never have found that precious thing had he not been cast into the depths. Pearls lie deep."

Encouragement: The Day After

And so, the day after being encouraged by Psalm 130.

I feel better and so the natural tendency is to let up. And it is also natural to want the feelings to come back, too. It has been my experience that, the feelings just cannot be replicated, at least, not in the same manner. God may reach down to touch me again, but not because my performance is right, or because I said the magic words, or because I am remorseful enough. No. I cannot act right and thereby cause the feelings to return. More plainly, you and I cannot make God do anything.

What I can do is earnestly seek Him again because "His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning." (Lamentations 3:22) I can seek Him again by faith, believing that "He is a rewarder of those who seek Him". (Hebrews 11:6) And if He touches me today, I will know He has come and has given Himself to me, and that will be the reward. God Himself is the reward. But it will not be true because I have some feeling. It would be true because He Himself is near and has let me know it. Then I feel something.

Unbelief: A Distrust in the Character of God

The good news in Hebrews 11:6 is that with faith we can please God. But this verse gets us there through a double negative: "without faith it is impossible" to please Him.

Why does the author put it this way? He's driving home the point that the normal song of the human heart isn't the song of faith. Although it works out in different ways, Christians and non-Christians share a similar struggle. We both struggle with unbelief.

Unbelief is serious - the writer of Hebrews has already labeled it toxic when he warned us against "an evil heart of unbelief" (Heb. 3:12, KJV). So we shouldn't get to Hebrews 11 and find a lot of sympathy for unbelief.

The writer there tells us that without faith it's "impossible to please" God. Not tricky, not difficult. No, it's impossible!

I don't think we tend to feel as strongly about unbelief as God does.

Unbelief is a decided distrust in the promises and character of God. Spurgeon describes unbelief as a "mistrust of the promises and faithfulness of God."

- Dave Harvey, from his book, "Rescuing Ambition"