Senior Elder Steve's Blog

It was a very difficult period for the people of God. They were in a very dry period and miserable. Under the thumb of their captors they were robbed of their freedom to worship God. They were so discouraged that the musicians hung their harps in the Willow trees. The scene is not unlike us sometimes. We endure hard times, rejection, difficult days, dry seasons. The enemy comes and speaks to us and after a while we believe what he says. Before long the spirit of worship is gone. Misery sets in and we begin living in a rut. We hang it up.

We all, at one time or more, experience these periods in our life. There are times we experience it as a corporate body. Reading the bible, you see it in many of the accounts of others. Yet, behind all this is a purpose. Job found that out. Through his ordeal he discovered the greatness of God and emerged in great blessings. His life was changed. God saved him and then prospered him. God’s people lived in captivity, but they were saved and came out. Their lives were changed.

Guess what. God wants to do the same for you. It doesn’t matter why you have been through, even if it is by your own doing. It’s time to stand up and see our God. It is time to reach up and take the harps down from the tree and lift our voices glorifying God.

It’s time to kick the enemy out of our lives and homes. It’s time to declare we are the children of God and rest on his promise that he shall never forsake or leave us. It’s time to gather together under the shade of his tree.

Yes, it is time to rise up. Can you hear the voice of God calling you? Your father says come home, all is well. Come and worship.

Verses: Psalm 137:2; Psalm 23:6; Psalm 26:8

Do you have a deep yearning for more of God? You should. We experience the Spirit of God and his presence everytime we worship. Worship is to draw us to an intimacy and deep expression of our love for him. We are created to worship in his presence and we should worship him every day of our life. It should be an integral part of our being to worship; as David expresses, ” I love the house where you live…” and, “…this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”

God created us and set eternity in our hearts. That is why there is a yearning in us for more. He put that seed in us and it cannot be fulfilled except through him. And, that yearning is deep in us. It is sad how we try to fulfill that yearning through seeking today’s pleasures. In the end, it never completely satisfies us. Cornelius Plantinga (President of Calvin Theological Seminary) really hits the nail on the head. He writes:

“The truth is that nothing in this earth can finally satisfy us. Much can make us content for a time but nothing can fill us to the brim. The reason is that our final joy lies “beyond the walls of this world,” as J.R.R Tolkien put it. Ultimate beauty comes not from a lover or a landscape or a home, but only through them. These earthly things are solid goods, and we naturally relish them. But they are not our final good. They point to what is higher up and further back…Even if we fall deeply in love and marry another human being, we discover that our spiritual and sexual oneness isn’t final. It’s wonderful, but not final. It might even be as good as human oneness can be, but something in us keeps saying “not this” or “still beyond”…What Augustine knew is that human beings want God…God has made us for himself. Our sense of God runs in us like a stream, even though, because of sin, we divert it toward other objects. We human beings want God even when we think that what we really want is a green valley, or a good time from our past, or a loved one. Of course we do want these things and persons, but we also want what’s behind them. Our inconsolable secret, says C.S. Lewis, is that we are full of yearnings, sometimes shy and sometimes passionate, that point us beyond the things of earth to the ultimate reality of God.” [1]

Do you desire more and more of the Lord in your life? Chronicles says, “Bring an offering and come before him; worship the Lord in the spendor of his holiness.” Let’s go to the house of the Lord.

Endnotes:

Scriptures: Psalm 26:8; 27:4; John 4:24; Ecclesiastes 3:11; 1 Chronicles 16:29

[1] “Already Not Yet” blog; Higher Up and Further Back, by Tullian Tchividjian