December 7, 2010

  • Sovereign favor! Sovereign delight! Favor us again! Delight in us again!

    I've continued to look in and reflect on Psalm 102 and have been really blessed by the Psalm. The Psalmist is in a time of need and is interceding for Zion (v. 13, 16, 21), meaning the prayer is a primarily a prayer of intercession, prayed on behalf the people of Zion, for all the Church, and so it makes for a wonderful prayer for those of us who have been seeking God's face to revive the Church in this day.

    Psalms 102:13: You will arise and have pity on Zion;
    it is the time to favor her;
    the appointed time has come.

    I loved this when I looked up the word favor in Strong's Concordance. It is chanan (khaw-nan'). It means to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to favor, bestow; causatively to implore (i.e. move to favor by petition):--beseech, X fair, (be, find, shew) favour(-able), be (deal, give, grant (gracious(-ly), intreat, (be) merciful, have (shew) mercy (on, upon), have pity upon, pray, make supplication, X very. see HEBREW for 02583.

    Will you take time to reflect on this great favor our God has shown us, His kindness bestowed on us which led us to repentance? God who sits enthroned above the earth had pity on men and showed mercy to us while we were helpless and powerless sinners. He sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die for the ungodly.

    Consider how our Lord Himself bent and stooped in kindness to us. Who are we for God to do such a thing? God Himself took on the form of man, the King humbled Himself, left His throne in glory, our holy, almighty God condescended and stooped to show kindness to unworthy, proud and powerless sinners like us! Immanuel - God with us!

    This morning I turned to Psalm 44. (The title in my NKJV Bible is "Redemption Remembered in Present Dishonor.")

    1 We have heard with our ears, O God,
             Our fathers have told us,
             The deeds You did in their days,
             In days of old:
    2 You drove out the nations with Your hand,
             But them You planted;
             You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.
    3 For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,
             Nor did their own arm save them;
             But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance,
             Because You favored them.

    Israel's deliverance is a picture of our salvation. It is all of God's favor, it is all by God's power. Not only our justification, but our continuing sanctification – both as individuals as well as as the Church corporately. And how we must continue to plead and ask God to pour out His favor and His power on us. We can do nothing apart from Him. We must ask for His favor again, ask Him to pour down His Spirit upon us and continue to walk by the Spirit and never trust in our own power or wisdom or might.

    I looked up the word favored from Psalm 44:3, and it's actually a different word than what's used in Psalm 102:13. It's the Hebrew word ratsah (raw-tsaw'), a primitive root; to be pleased with; specifically, to satisfy a debt:--(be) accept(-able), accomplish, set affection, approve, consent with, delight (self), enjoy, (be, have a) favour(-able), like, observe, pardon, (be, have, take) please(-ure), reconcile self.

    Consider it! Consider Him! Our beautiful Lord did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but He willingly stooped down and paid the debt we could never pay. He satisfied out sin debt by becoming sin for us, despising the shame, yet looking to the joy set before Him. Christ became our passover Lamb; He gave His life as our ransom. He delighted to do His Father's will.

    So now our God is pleased with us, not because of anything we have done or we could ever have done. Christ, the last Adam, was fully obedient because we were not and could never be. His perfect righteousness is credited to us by faith, and so rather than our remaining an unclean thing and having only righteousness like filthy rags, we are favored.  He has bestowed upon us His perfect, pure, spotless righteousness. Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne! We are acceptable in God's sight only because Christ's blood covers us. Sovereign mercy poured out from above! He does not treat us as our sins deserved! O, redeemed and ransomed souls, let us delight in God for He has delighted in us!

    Consider it! Consider Him! Our Father has set His affection on us and has approved us and is delighted with us and enjoys us! The pardon is perfect and complete His love remains, His wrath is stayed not because of anything in us, but only through Christ our mediator and our advocate. Our King has done it all. He provided the Lamb who was the satisfaction, the substitutionary sacrifice rendered for us to pay our sin debt! Christ reconciled us in His body of flesh to present us holy and blameless to God.

    So then no wonder that the ESV translates this word favored (Psalm 44:3, NKJV) as delighted!

    Psalms 44:
    1  O God, we have heard with our ears,
    our fathers have told us,
    what deeds you performed in their days,
    in the days of old:
    2  you with your own hand drove out the nations,
    but them you planted;
    you afflicted the peoples,
    but them you set free;
    3  for not by their own sword did they win the land,
    nor did their own arm save them,
    but your right hand and your arm,
    and the light of your face,
    for you delighted in them.

    O, what a God we have. He saved us. He condescended to us! He showed favor to us! Even though we had nothing delightful in us whatsoever. Even though there was nothing in us to merit His favor! And yet He chose to favor us! And yet He chose to delight in us!

    Sovereign favor! Sovereign delight!

    And now today, as we look at the sad and sorry and often undelightful state of the Church today, we know this is our only plea! Let us remember our redemption in our present dishonor and cry out to God to favor us and to delight in us once again. May He honor us again for the sake of His honor.

    Sovereign favor! Sovereign delight!
    Holy God, how You have favored us!
    Holy God, how You have delighted in us!
    May we never lose sight of Your favor!
    May we never lose sight of Your delight!
    Sovereign favor! Sovereign delight!
    We praise and thank You through Jesus Christ our Lord!

    Sovereign favor! Sovereign delight!
    Holy God, Favor us again!
    Holy God, Delight in us again!
    Holy God, favor us again, do not lose sight of us!
    Holy God, delight in us again, do not lose sight of us!
    Sovereign favor! Sovereign delight!
    We pray to You through Jesus Christ our Lord.
    Amen.

    *Please add your praises and prayers as His Spirit leads you.*

Comments (1)

  • Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him. Prov.8:30

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tent_of_meeting

"he called it the tent of meeting..."

I am burdened to pray to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the reformation and reviving of Christ's church.

The phrase tent of meeting comes from Exodus 33:7: Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

This site is devoted to God first and foremost. In all that is done here, my prayer is that God is glorified and His Name magnified and Christ and Him crucified is lifted up so He might be preeminent and God might receive all the praise, honor and glory due His Holy Name. All who have come to a saving knowledge of our Father by grace through faith in the all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are welcome to enter this tent of meeting to seek the Lord.

This blog is a place for all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to come and seek God's face for revival. My intention is for this tent of meeting to be a holy place where we can enter into PRAYER together to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit leads you, please enter into prayer either here (think of "comments" as prayers) or on your own.

Habakkuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

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