Nehemiah

  • O That the Lord Would Guide My/Our Ways (Isaac Watts)

    In last Sunday's worship, we sang Isaac Watts' "O That the Lord Would Guide My Ways." I thought the hymn was a wonderful prayer that fit beautifully with my current posts on Nehemiah, where the people are in distress over their sin, they have confessed and repented of it, but then rather than relying on Christ wholly, they forget the covenant He has made with them and they make promises they can never fulfill apart from His power.

    I've adapted Watts' hymn into first person plural from first person singular (yes, with that some of the rhyming was lost ), as I have also adapted the Bible verses below into first person plural, so we might pray those verses and the hymn together corporately today.

    May our Lord keep us ever mindful of our dependence on Him from first to last, for He is the author and finisher of our faith, and without Him we can do nothing...

    * * *

    Lord God, we could do nothing to come to You in the first place, and we can do nothing to remain in You. Our salvation is all of You, to the praise of Your glorious grace alone. The works we do are all of You, all from You, all through You, all to Your praise, honor and glory alone.

    I Corinthians 1:30  He is the source of our life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 31  Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

    Lord God, our boast is in You alone. You are the source of our life. We are dead apart from You.
    Any good we have done and can ever do is all of You.
    For of You, and through You, and to You, are all things: to You be glory for ever. Amen.
    Praise be to You, O loving Father, for Your glorious grace freely poured out on us through Your Son & Spirit!
    We confess we are prone to wander. Hedge us in, guide our ways to keep Your statutes.
    Continue to be gracious to us, for Jesus' sake, pour out upon us grace upon grace.
    Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

    Philippians 2:12  Therefore, my beloved, as we have always obeyed, so now, may we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, 13   for it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

    Lord God, our boast is in You alone. You work in us to will and to work of Your good pleasure.
    Any good we have done and can ever do is all of You.
    For of You, and through You, and to You, are all things: to You be glory for ever. Amen.
    Praise be to You, O loving Father, for Your glorious grace freely poured out on us through Your Son & Spirit!
    We confess we are prone to wander. Hedge us in, guide our ways to keep Your statutes.
    Continue to be gracious to us, for Jesus' sake, pour out upon us grace upon grace.
    Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

    II Thessalonians 2:11  To this end we always pray for one another and ourselves, that our God may make us worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power, 12  so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in each of us, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Lord God, our boast is in You alone. You fulfill in us every resolve for good by Your power.
    Any good we have done and can ever do is all of You.
    For of You, and through You, and to You, are all things: to You be glory for ever. Amen.
    Praise be to You, O loving Father, for Your glorious grace freely poured out on us through Your Son & Spirit!
    We confess we are prone to wander. Hedge us in, guide our ways to keep Your statutes.
    Continue to be gracious to us, for Jesus' sake, pour out upon us grace upon grace.
    Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

    Hebrews 13:20  Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21  equip each of us with everything good that we may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

    Lord God, our boast is in You alone. You equip us with everything good to do Your will.
    Any good we have done and can ever do is all of You.
    For of You, and through You, and to You, are all things: to You be glory for ever. Amen.
    Praise be to You, O loving Father, for Your glorious grace freely poured out on us through Your Son & Spirit!
    We confess we are prone to wander. Hedge us in, guide our ways to keep Your statutes.
    Continue to be gracious to us, for Jesus' sake, pour out upon us grace upon grace.
    Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

    I Corinthians 15:10  But by the grace of God we are what we are, and His grace toward us was not in vain. On the contrary, we worked harder than any of them (and let us continue to work harder), though it was not we, but the grace of God that is with us.

    Lord God, our boast is in You alone. We work but it is Your grace that works in us.
    Any good we have done and can ever do is all of You.
    For of You, and through You, and to You, are all things: to You be glory for ever. Amen.
    Praise be to You, O loving Father, for Your glorious grace freely poured out on us through Your Son & Spirit!
    We confess we are prone to wander. Hedge us in, guide our ways to keep Your statutes.
    Continue to be gracious to us, for Jesus' sake, pour out upon us grace upon grace.
    Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
    "O That the Lord Would Guide My Ways"

    (by Isaac Watts, 1719, adapted)
    Psalm 119:5

    O that the Lord would guide our ways
    To keep His statutes still!
    O that our God would grant us grace
    To know and do His will!

    O send Thy Spirit down to write
    Thy law upon our hearts!
    Nor let our tongue indulge deceit,
    Nor act the liar’s part.

    From vanity turn off our eyes;
    Let no corrupt design,
    Nor covetous desires, arise
    Within these soul of ours.

    Order our footsteps by Thy Word,
    And make our hearts sincere;
    Let sin have no dominion, Lord,
    But keep our consciences clear.

    Our souls hath gone too far astray,
    Our feet too often slip;
    Yet since we've not forgot Thy way,
    Restore Thy wand’ring sheep.

    Make us to walk in Thy commands,
    ’Tis a delightful road;
    Nor let our heads, or hearts, or hands,
    Offend against our God.


    Please add your PRAYERS below as the Holy Spirit leads...


  • "we are in great distress" (Nehemiah 9:36-37) ~ May this great distress turn us to Christ

    I've been posting for quite some time on Nehemiah, with my last posts focused on Nehemiah 9 and 10. My last post was an exhortation for us to praise God for the unilateral covenant He makes with us through Jesus Christ because any and all covenants we make with God will fail. Prior to that, I reminded us that we ought to be examining ourselves and confessing our sins, yet as we do so, we can be tempted to despair and resort to our own power, to earthly means to be holy, rather than relying wholly on God's Holy Spirit to do so.

    As I reread portions of Nehemiah 9 once again, verses 36 and 37 really hit me, particular the phrase: we are in great distress.

    36  Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. 37  And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.

    We see the people of God were living so far below the life God had for them, and they had seen that. They got to the point where they cried out to Him that they were in great distress.

    However, instead of casting themselves on God's covenant love, mercy, grace and power (as they had just recounted prior to that confession: see all the references in the previous verses in Nehemiah 9 to God's continuing love for them in spite of their sin and rebellion), Israel went ahead and made a series of resolutions to do better. They made promises they could never keep in their own power, and we read of their total inability to keep those promises (see Nehemiah 13).

    We may shake our heads at Israel, but don't we so often do the very same thing? We see God's holiness, and we see our sins and failures in contrast. Then we begin to despair. We resolve and promise to do better. We forget our absolute powerlessness to walk in God's ways and our utter dependence on God's strength to do anything good. And we will fail. Time and again . . . and again . . . We will fail like Israel. We foolishly forget the unilateral covenant God has made with us in Jesus Christ.

    As I reflected on this section in Nehemiah, I began to consider it was somewhat similar to where Paul was in Romans 7:

    14  For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15  I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17  So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

    21  So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22  For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23  but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24  Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

    Hadn't Paul gotten to where, like Israel, he was saying, "I am in great distress"?

    But unlike Paul, Israel did not really see they were totally dependent on the Lord God for their salvation from beginning to ending. That's why they began making all those promises and resolutions (Neh. 10) – even though they'd just professed God as

    the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love,

    Israel really didn't understand the extent of the covenant God had made with them. They didn't understand God's greatness, God's might and God's awesomeness. They did not really understand God was a God who keeps covenant. They did not understand the steadfastness of God's love for them. So they went back and began to resort on their own feeble abilities, rather than resting in His covenant and relying on His mighty power.

    How often do we do the same? How often do we try to live the Christian life in our own power and our own abilities? Do we really understand God's greatness, God's might and God's awesomeness? Do we really understand the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the God who keeps covenant with us for Jesus' sake? Do we really understand the breadth and length and height and depth of God's love for us in Jesus Christ? How often do we forget that God's covenant mercies in Christ are wholly sufficient to save us from both the penalty of sin as well as the power of sin!

    25  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

    Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6  To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

    O, Lord God,

    How often do we fall into the same trap Israel did? We see our sin keenly. We see our failures. We see our great distress. And we are grieved. As well we should be. But then, instead of turning to Christ, we turn to ourselves and our own abilities. We resolve to do better. We make a zillion promises. We mean well. We try to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. But our best and noblest and cleverest efforts in the flesh will never be pleasing to You. Like Israel, we have a zeal for You, but not according to knowledge. Forgive us, O Lord.

    We are in great distress. May this great distress turn us to Christ!
    If we have found grace in Your sight, show us Your way, that we might know You that we might find grace in Your sight.
    You, O God are great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love.
    O LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, may we receive of Your fullness.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your greatness.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your might.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your awesomeness.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your covenant mercies in Christ.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know the breadth, length, height and depth of Your steadfast love for us in Christ.

    We have received Christ's righteousness as Your free gift to us by faith, but then we confess we so often begin to lapse back into works-righteousness and put ourselves into bondage. We forget the mighty and awesome power and freedom You have made available to us through the gift of Your indwelling Holy Spirit. We forget that Jesus Christ is all-sufficient for our sanctification as well as our justification. We often profess we have Christ's blood covering our sins and we have Christ's righteousness credited to us by faith. But how often do we forget we have Christ's very Spirit, imparted to us, so we might walk in Your will and in Your way for us, to be holy as You are holy? Holy Father, You have given us all we need to walk in Your ways and Your will for us. All! We are partakers of the divine nature! We have Your very resurrection power dwelling in us through Your Spirit! That is why You tell us Your commandments are not burdensome for we have been given the very power we need to obey them. Christ's yoke is easy and His burden is light. But Your commandments will continue to be burdensome and wearisome to us when we resort to working in our own flesh. Not only that, but whenever we attempt to live a holy life apart from Your power, we are robbing You of Your glory.

    We are in great distress. May this great distress turn us to Christ!
    If we have found grace in Your sight, show us Your way, that we might know You that we might find grace in Your sight.
    You, O God are great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love.
    O LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, may we receive of Your fullness.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your greatness.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your might.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your awesomeness.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your covenant mercies in Christ.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know the breadth, length, height and depth of Your steadfast love for us in Christ.

    Merciful Father, Hear our cries. We are in distress. We are Your children by grace through faith in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Look upon us for His sake. We are in great distress today. We confess this freely to You today. We confess we are so like Israel. We confess we want to walk out a holy and righteous life all by ourselves, all in our own power. We confess we want to take pride in our own ability and strength. Forgive us, Lord God. You will not share Your glory with any other. You alone are God. Humble us and show us our total inability to do anything good, so we might rely wholly on You as we ought and bring You the glory You alone deserve.

    We are in great distress. May this great distress turn us to Christ!
    If we have found grace in Your sight, show us Your way, that we might know You that we might find grace in Your sight.
    You, O God are great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love.
    O LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, may we receive of Your fullness.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your greatness.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your might.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your awesomeness.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your covenant mercies in Christ.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know the breadth, length, height and depth of Your steadfast love for us in Christ.

    Author and perfecter of our faith, in our distress today, we are here and casting ourselves wholly on Your glorious grace just as we did at the beginning of our life in You. We had nothing then and today we still have nothing apart from that which You give us. All we have is all a gift from You, coming from Your covenant mercies and grace showered on us through Jesus Christ. In and of ourselves we confess we are unworthy. But through You we are made worthy. In and of ourselves we confess we are wretched. But through You we are blessed. In and of ourselves we confess we are impotent. But through You we can do all things. Help us to continue to walk in Your Spirit so we might not fulfill the lust of the flesh but walk in Your holy ways, in thought, word and deed. Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Vine; we are the branches. We confess that without You, we can do nothing. Help us to abide in You and You in us so we might walk in Your Father's commandments as You did and bear the fruit to His glory and have fullness of joy.

    We are in great distress. May this great distress turn us to Christ!
    If we have found grace in Your sight, show us Your way, that we might know You that we might find grace in Your sight.
    You, O God are great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love.
    O LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, may we receive of Your fullness.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your greatness.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your might.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your awesomeness.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know Your covenant mercies in Christ.
    Grant us grace upon grace, that we might know the breadth, length, height and depth of Your steadfast love for us in Christ.

    Please add your PRAYERS as the Holy Spirit leads you.

  • Israel's fallible covenant (Nehemiah 9:38-10:39); God's infallible covenant mercies in Christ

    In Nehemiah 9, we read how Israel engaged in corporate confession of sin, and in my last post based on that confession, I asked: Are we separating ourselves and confessing our sins?

    Right after Israel confessed their sins and iniquities, they made a covenant with the Lord (Neh. 9:38-10:39).

    Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

    We read how Israel specifically entered

    into a curse and an oath to walk in God's Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord and his rules and his statutes. 

    Specifically, this promise fell into three main areas: Israel made a covenant not to intermarry, to keep the Sabbath day and the Sabbath year holy and to bring offerings for the support of the house of God.

    Then, sadly, several years later (Nehemiah 13), we see how Israel failed miserably to keep that covenant.

    Any covenant sinful men ever make with a holy God is bound to eventually fail. Even the best of men. So too with us.

    For all who have received Christ and believed on His Name, we can give praise and thanks to God that when we are faithless, our God remains faithful to us for Christ's sake! Praise God for His infallible covenant mercies to us in Christ! (No, this does not mean we are free to sin that grace may abound...God forbid! See Romans 6:1ff.)

    Thanks be to God that His covenant with us in Jesus Christ is a unilateral commandment; in other words, it does not depend on us. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Those who are God's adopted children have been born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Jesus tells us we did not choose Him, but He chose us.

    Thanks be to God that He loved us first! Thanks be to God that we have been saved from the curse and from His just wrath and condemnation through His unmerited favor shown us in Jesus Christ:

    Galatians 3:13  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14  so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

    I John 4:10  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

    Romans 3:19  Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20  For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

    21  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22  the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25  whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

    Romans 5:6  For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11  More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

    We see such a unilateral covenant portrayed Genesis 15. There we find God and Abram, and the animals have been cut and laid out, and the covenant is about to be cut. But then look and see what Abram is doing when the covenant is actually being cut. Abram is in a deep sleep, while God Himself, in the form of the smoking firepot and flaming torch, walks through the cut animals, meaning that He Himself was making the promise to be put to death for Abram's inability to keep the covenant.

    What a wonderful picture of God's perfect provision for our salvation through Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God! Our Lord suffered and died for our sin in our place because we could never keep the law, because we could never fulfill our promises to be good, because even our most noble resolutions would eventually fail. No matter how hard we tried! We would fail as Israel did after she had made her covenant with the Lord.

    Let us remember that even if we were to keep the whole law but offend in one point, we would be guilty of all. We have all sinned and we have all fallen short of the glory of God. We were all under a curse, we were all children of disobedience, all under wrath, all under condemnation, all declared guilty, and yet God sent His only begotten Son to become a curse, to bear the punishment for our sin and die for in our place while we were yet sinners! For all who are in Christ, we who once did not know mercy are now objects of God's mercy, even though we should have known wrath!

    O, bless the Lord, the author and finisher of our faith, He who did for us what we could never do for ourselves!

    O, bless the Lord, the author and finisher of our faith, He who does for us what we could never do for ourselves!

    We boast in You alone, O great God, the author and finisher of our faith! We give thanks and praise and blessing and honor and glory for Your infallible covenant mercies freely given to us in Jesus Christ!

    II Corinthians 5:21  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

    Ephesians 2:1  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7  so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

    Galatians 3:13  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14  so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

    Jesus Christ took the just punishment for our sin and He fulfilled the law perfectly in our place. For all who believe, all our sins have been forgiven and Christ's perfect righteousness has been credited to us by faith. The curse has been lifted once for all! It is finished! Alleluia! Amen!

    Today I would like us to reflect on Christ's wondrous work for us and render thanksgiving, praise, blessing, honor and glory to our infallible God for His infallible covenant mercies to us in Jesus Christ through Augustus Toplady's hymn "A Debtor to Mercy Alone" (1771).

    A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing;
    Nor fear, with Thy righteousness on, my person and off’ring to bring.
    The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do;
    My Savior’s obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view.

    The work which His goodness began, the arm of His strength will complete;
    His promise is Yea and Amen, and never was forfeited yet.
    Things future, nor things that are now, nor all things below or above,
    Can make Him His purpose forgo, or sever my soul from His love.

    My name from the palms of His hands eternity will not erase;
    Impressed on His heart it remains, in marks of indelible grace.
    Yes, I to the end shall endure, as sure as the earnest is giv’n;
    More happy, but not more secure, the glorified spirits in Heav’n.

     

    Let us bow before God and give Him thanks and praise for His covenant mercies in Jesus Christ.

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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