Tag Archives: Faith and Practice

Do I really need the Lord?

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“Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
Psalm 124:8

I read this week that this verse was read by John Calvin, as well as many other reformers, at the very beginning of every worship service, as a “solemn declaration of man’s helplessness.”  Calvin wrote of this verse in his commentary:
“The church cannot continue safe except in so far as she is protected by the hand of God.  The contrast between the help of God, and other resources in which the world vainly confides is to be noticed, that the faithful, purged from all false confidence, may rest themselves exclusively in his assistance, and depending upon it, may fearlessly despise whatever Satan and the world may plot against them.”

I read this verse, I read of our “solemn declaration of man’s helplessness, and I wonder, “Do I really need the lord?”  As I reflect on the things I faced yesterday, I ask myself, “Did I need God’s help?”  As I start out this morning I wonder, “What will I face today that demands His help?”

In my heart I know I need the Lord for my life and salvation, but has this dependency reached my head?  Are you convinced of your absolute dependence on the Lord, or do you still feel, like me, that there are some things for which we just don’t need the Lord?  Our rugged Midwestern independence, our stubborn Iowa pride, forbids us from admitting weakness, from confessing our dependence on someone else.

Maybe we just don’t want to bother God with the little things in our lives.  You know what I mean: the coworker who makes life miserable, the strong-willed child, the emotional rift between you and your spouse.  We say, “I’ll pray for you, but you don’t need to bother to pray for me.”  We’ll seek the Lord’s help on behalf of those around us, we’ll pray for world peace, but we don’t need God’s help for our day to day affairs.  Or do we?

How much of our lives are spent fretting and stressing over the things that we should in fact trust to God’s almighty hand?  The whole purpose of this passage, and the reason behind its frequent usage in worship, is to fill us with an assured hope that our lives are absolutely safe and secure in God’s care.  The Psalm reminds us that our help, in every situation, is in the name of the Lord.  Everything we face is subject to the sovereign and providential care of our loving heavenly Father.  The aid of this world, and the strength we possess, pale in comparison the help that the Lord provides.  Knowing this should purge us form “all false confidence [till we rest] exclusively in His assistance.”

Calvin goes on to write:
“Although all men freely and loudly confess that God is the creator of heaven and earth, so that even the most wicked are ashamed to withhold from him the honor of this title, yet no sooner does any crisis present itself to us than we are convicted of unbelief in hardly setting any value whatever upon the help which he has to bestow.”

Do I need God’s help today?  More than I know.  I believe God has and will help me through this day, to face with grace and peace all that I will encounter.  The problem is, I get so full of myself that I fail to rely on God’s strength, until a great crisis comes along to convict me of my unbelief, to purge me of my self-reliance, and to teach me to trust in God’s provision even more.

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

SDG

Are His thoughts Precious to me?

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How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
Psalm 139:17

Most of us are well acquainted with Psalm 139.  The Psalm is frequently used in worship services as a call to confession and assurance of pardon.  With familiar phrases like, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me!” or “Where shall I go from your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?” and “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” Psalm 139 is easily one of the most recognizable of the Psalms.

Still, there are times when you read a very familiar passage and God’s Spirit will show you something new.  I was reading Psalm 139 yesterday when verse 17 suddenly leaped off the page, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God.”  I’m sure I’ve read the verse before, but it never really penetrated.  Perhaps I was preoccupied by the idea of God searching me and knowing me, and I was afraid of what God would find.  Maybe I was consumed by the thought of the inescapable One, a notion that can be both comforting and terrifying (depending on what I am doing at the moment).  Could be I was feeling reinvigorated after hearing that I, too, am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Regardless, verse 17 had been overlooked, until now.

The Psalmist cries out, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!”  It is a statement of praise and adoration.  Considering the vast and immeasurable knowledge of God, especially in light of the intimate knowledge God has of our lives.  God knows all there is about me, and while such knowledge is beyond me, I praise the one who knows me and still loves me.

However, in my fresh reading yesterday, I was lead to ask myself, “How precious to me are God’s thoughts, really?”  I know what is precious in my life:

  • My family is precious to me. 
  • My health is important (especially considering the sickness we’ve had in the house lately).
  • My free time (of which there is precious little) is dear to me. 
  • I even have some gadgets – my cell phone, iPod, laptop, palm pilot – that have great value in my life. 

But are the thoughts of God precious to me?  Do I treasure what God thinks, is it of utmost importance to me?

If you look at how I spend my time and money, the answer would have to be “No” (or at least, “not as precious as it ought to be!”).  My favorite shows, the latest gizmo, the busyness of work, the frothy latte in the morning, these things all seem to take a priority in my life over God’s word; and maybe your world as well. 

Maybe this is why our world seems so upside down.  Rather than spend our time and energy on passionately pursuing the One who knows us, and therefore can satisfy our every need, we chase after the things of this world which ultimately prove themselves empty and fading.

Let us hear Psalm 139:17 anew today, and learn to value God’s thoughts over everything else.  Let us make the time to not just read, but to dwell in God’s Word; thinking about His thoughts and letting them transform and renew us.  Let us put a priority on seeking God before anything else; a priority on worship, service and sharing our faith with others – giving to God from the abundance of our lives, not the leftovers.

God, may your thoughts be precious to me.  May they have such importance in my life that I would let everything else go to know what you think, and to have you think well of me.

SDG