He Does Not Keep Silence

Psalm 50:1-6

The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.

Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest.

He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

“Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”

The heavens declare his righteousness; for God himself is judge!

The Psalmist declares that our God does not stay silent.

He speaks.

He speaks through creation, leaving us without excuse as we perceive His handiwork in the created order (Romans 1). We see the declaration of His goodness and His care all around us.

He speaks through the power of His word, through the prophets and the psalmists, in all these scriptures and songs and stories.

Most of all, He speaks to us through His only begotten Son, the Living Word at work in the written word, at work in our hearts.

And we enter into silence in the confidence that He speaks to us still.

He is no worthless idol with nothing to say.

He is the Living God.

As Habakkuk declared, The Lord is in His holy temple; therefore, let all the earth keep silence before Him.

Because our God does not keep silence.

He has something to say.

Of course, we may not always like what we hear when He speaks. The Psalmist declares that He is also the judge. And judges render rulings. No doubt, His rulings are fair and just. But the Judge might just upset the world I’ve created for myself. Nevertheless, He has something to say.

May we be found faithful when the Lord our God speaks.

And if we are not, may we heed His call and be obedient to His word.

For our God does not keep silent.

How We Grow: Silence

Miguel de Molinos was a Spanish thinker and writer in the 1600s. He wrote about three kinds of silence: the silence of words, the silence of desires, and the silence of thoughts. These silences are unique and yet they are also connected. There is a progression to these silences. Each one leads to the next.

When you quiet the external voices around you, entering into a period of fasting from words and sound, a funny thing happens: you begin to notice all of this noise on the inside. You begin to notice all of the noise within you related to your desires. And that can be an overwhelming amount of noise. Those desires feed a noise of thought that borders on relentless. Even when we are quiet externally, we notice the cacophony of our internal noise.

If you’ve been practicing silence this week, you’ve likely noticed this.

Madame Guyon was a spiritual writer who lived during this same period of time. She wrote, “Outward silence develops inward silence. It is impossible to live in your inmost being where Christ lives without loving silence.”

We are right to begin by silencing our words. Only then can we attend to silencing our desires and silencing our thoughts. But this requires help from the Lord.

This is how we reach a place of obedience to the command of Psalm 46:10, Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Most Christians are familiar with this verse, although we appropriate it in an odd way. It calls to mind moments of tranquility. We think this is a verse for morning coffee on the back deck of the chalet we’ve secured for a mountain getaway with our family. But the immediate context is warfare. The preceding verse states, He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire.

The idea here is that we can stop all of our striving, all of our pushing and warring and bickering and battling. The phrase “be still” has a connotation in Hebrew of “release, letting go, going limp.” This is a text about conflict. And all our conflict can be released in the knowledge that God is sovereign. We can trust, as the verse says, that He WILL be exalted.

THIS is what it means to be still and know that He is God.

In this way, this verse is about silence — or more pointedly, about all the noise warring within us.

Outward silence is the first step toward inner quietude.

This makes silence a vital discipline. It keeps us living out of the center, living out of the sanctuary of the heart where the word of Christ dwells richly within us.

We often use our words to wield control. We use language to influence outcomes, to produce results, to persuade. (It’s not lost on me that I’m doing this even as I write these words.) But in silence, we give up that control. We release. Such silence is predicated on the conviction of Habakkuk 2:20, The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. Being silent before the Lord puts us in the position of not being in control. We are just keeping silence before Him.

And we are giving the Lord a chance to speak.

As you enter into silence, notice what’s going on. Notice what’s going on inside of you. Notice how much internal noise you hear.

Distractions will occur. That doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong; it simply means that you’re human.

I heard a story once about a young man who was speaking to his spiritual director. He was telling the director about how often he was distracted whenever he was praying in silence. In frustration, he said, “A thousand times I was distracted!”

The spiritual director replied, “Praise God! A thousand times you returned to God!”

That’s what we do in silence: we give God our undivided attention until our attention is divided. And whenever we find that our attention has drifted away from God, we gently turn our focus back toward Him. Even if we are distracted a thousand times, a thousand times we return to God! When you notice those distractions, gently redirect your attention back to the Lord and thank Him for the grace to be able to do so.

Silence will also be awkward at first. But we notice this as well. If you notice awkwardness, gently ask yourself, “Why exactly is this awkward? Why do I feel more comfortable when the room is filled with words? What does this say about me? What does it say about my relationship with God?”

I believe the Holy Spirit has a rich time in store for you as you enter into silence before the Lord.

The Demands of Critical Social Theory (Wokism)

I’ve been thinking about the recent spate of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses and airports and highways / bridges across the country. As always, opinions about such events are wide and varied. It seems to me that the commentary reveals the fault line of typical political discourse. Progressives laud these protests as vital forms of activism in the name of free speech with the idea that remaining silent somehow makes a person complicit in the whole affair. “Silence is Violence” signs are ubiquitous at these rallies and sit-ins. Thus, the calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

On the other hand, plenty of conservative voices have voiced opposition to this view, particularly noting how blockading public highways disrupts the lives of thousands of innocent Americans. I read a report about a number of organ donor patients in the San Francisco Bay area whose care was limited or altogether nullified because these protestors blocked the Golden Gate Bridge for hours last week. In their view, these “protests” are more like domestic forms of terrorism.

But this also reveals something much deeper than one’s political leanings. This is also the outworking of the ideology of critical social theory — known more colloquially as “being woke” — which is held with religious-like fervor in the circles of academia today. In the new world order of intersectionality, the more oppressed an individual, the greater access to truth she possesses. According to this worldview, Muslims outclass Jews in terms of oppressed identity, which is historically inaccurate but fuels the anti-colonialism you’re seeing on these college campuses. And when you adopt this worldview, full blown antisemitism is just a step away — as we’ve seen on the campus of Columbia University, for example, as Jewish students have been harassed to the point that the Orthodox rabbi on campus issued a message urging Jewish students to return home until the situation improves.

This is what the new religion of our age demands.

How We Grow: Solitude and Silence

For the past few weeks, we have been talking about the spiritual disciplines. We’re thinking about these practices God uses to grow our souls. These practices overlap and they build on one another. We began our series by talking about prayer because prayer really undergirds most of these practices. From there, we moved on to fasting because fasting is connected to several of these as well. Today, I’d like for us to spend some time thinking about the disciplines of solitude and silence.

• Solitude is fasting from interactions with others.
• Silence is fasting from speech.

In our hyper-connected world, solitude and silence are as vital as they have ever been.

As in all things, we look to Jesus as our model. And when we look to Jesus, we find Him practicing the discipline of solitude.

Luke 4:42-44

At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

As you can see by looking at the preceding verses, Luke is describing a moment when the ministry of Jesus is really flourishing. He is teaching in the synagogues of Galilee. He is healing people of their diseases and He is casting out demons, pushing back the borders of the enemy’s kingdom. But in the middle of all of that activity, Jesus does something strange. He seeks solitude with the Father.

• Jesus goes to a solitary place. That word most often refers to the wilderness or the desert.
• Jesus goes out into this quiet place, away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds. To do what? Well, we know that He spent considerable time in prayer in the wilderness. Mark adds this detail in his account of this same story.
• But in a broader sense, Jesus went into the wilderness seeking solitude with His Father. Jesus was fasting from the presence of others as a way of prioritizing time with God. He removes Himself from those external pressures of teaching and healing and He retreats into solitude to tend to His interior life. He was simply spending time with His Heavenly Father.

This time of solitude was clearly a time of reflection — to circle back to a previous discipline, it was a time of meditation. This solo time with the Father kept Jesus grounded. It kept Him focused on His mission. When the people try to keep Jesus from leaving — they just want to keep Jesus all to themselves — He refuses them by saying, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.

Times of solitude will keep us grounded, too. In the midst of all the daily pressures we face, solitude and silence help us keep our sanity. They keep us focused on the mission God has given us.

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Years ago, Klaus Issler wrote a great little book about all of this entitled, Wasting Time with God. And that’s such a great title because it really expresses Issler’s thesis. He encourages us to seek times of solitude and silence with the Lord apart from any agenda. He talks about this idea of spending time with God in a way that reflects friendship with God.

Does that concept sound foreign to you? Is God your friend?

Years ago, when I was in college, I was a summer youth intern at my home church. That’s where I met Corey Trevathan, who would go on to be one of our youth ministers here at Mayfair. Corey and I were teaching the youth group class together one night and Corey talked about the idea of friendship with God, how Abraham was friends with God and that this was an example for us — God wants to be your friend, too. One parent approached us afterward and he was really upset that we were talking about this. He said, “God is holy and righteous. He’s the Creator, the Judge — but He is NOT my friend!” He felt that this image of God somehow detracted from God’s holiness and His “otherness.” Friendship with God sounded too ordinary.

And some of us might feel something similar this morning. Maybe there’s a little pushback you’re feeling in your heart and your soul as I’m talking about friendship with God.

But the idea of friendship with God is biblical. In fact, you find this idea in both the Old and the New Testaments.

• Jehoshaphat prays these words in 2 Chronicles 20:7, “Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?”

• Isaiah 41:8, But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend.

• James 2:21-23, Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” — and he was called a friend of God.

The Bible repeatedly puts forth Abraham as a model for our faith — and Abraham was called a friend of God. That means friendship with God is possible for us as well.

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One key component of friendship is spending time together. And that’s the significance of solitude and silence. These are ways of prioritizing our time with God, our friend.

For many of us, I think our concepts of efficiency and productivity get in the way of spending time with God. Even the title of Issler’s book is difficult for some people: wasting time with God? Number one, how is time spent with God “wasting time?” Moreover, many of us loathe the idea of wasting time. I was taught from an early age NOT to waste time, but to be really intentional about how I use my time. Now we turn around and talk about wasting time? For many of us, that just sounds wrong.

Maybe it’s helpful to instead think about spending time with God apart from any agenda. Spending unhurried time with God. We’re not talking about spending time with God in prayer — at least not the kinds of prayers where we rattle off all the names of all the people we want God to heal. We’re not talking about spending time with God studying some passage of Scripture. We’re talking about spending time with God in leisurely friendship. It’s not time when you’re trying to make anything happen; you’re just enjoying time together. That’s what Issler is getting at with this phrase “wasting time with God.”

When I was a child, we would go over to visit my grandparents on most Sunday afternoons. My mother was one of six children and Sunday lunch was a time when many of my mother’s siblings would bring their families over to visit with my grandparents. Other than eating a meal together, there was no agenda. If you said, “What are we here to do?” you’d get a lot of strange looks. We were there to be together. No agenda apart from that.

• If I wanted some more food, it was there in the kitchen.
• If I wanted to watch the ball game, the TV was over in the corner — although it only picked up three or four channels.
• If I wanted to play Rook, I could try and get in on the game my parents and grandparents were playing — good luck with that.
• And if I got bored, I would go out and wander around my granddad’s farm. I’d climb up in the loft of the barn or take a walk in the woods.
• When I’d come back in the house, my grandmother would have cookies or cinnamon rolls and she’d pour me a big glass of milk and we would sit at her table and she would ask me what I was learning in school.
• Those were some of my favorite childhood memories because there was no agenda. We were all just wasting time together on Sunday afternoons.

When do you “waste time” with God?

Issler suggests a variety of different ways we can do this:

• He suggests that you start with a few little 1-2 minute “retreats” in the middle of your day. You can do this anywhere — when you’re getting ready in the morning, when you’re driving home from work or school, at the end of the day before you go to bed. But you just give yourself a couple of minutes to stop, to breathe, and to give God your undivided attention. Most of the time when we do this, we’ll be surprised at the breathless pace at which we’ve been running. When we pause for just a minute, we find an invitation from God to slow down and enjoy His favor — not for what we’re accomplishing, but simply for who we are.
• From there, Issler suggests finding a half hour on the weekend to go on a walk — but instead of putting your earbuds in and listening to another podcast, spend that time communing with God.
• Or you may want to consider a spiritual retreat once a year wherein we can intentionally devote an even greater portion of time to our relationship with God.

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In times of solitude, silence is vitally important.

Habakkuk 2:20

But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.

Silence is a Sabbath rest from speaking. It’s verbal fasting. We have an addiction to words and silence breaks us of this.

• Habakkuk points out that when you worship an idol, you do all the talking — because the idol is going to say nothing. Any energy, any idea must be human created because the idol does nothing.
• But if you worship the Living God, your first action is to shut up. Because the Living God might actually have something to say.
• The passage says God is at home. He is in His holy temple, right where you would expect Him to be. So let all the earth keep silence before Him.

Silence is one of the ways we demonstrate our faith in God. It’s predicated on the belief that God has something to say, something to reveal that we might need to hear.

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Solitude is the one time in your day when nobody will be expecting anything from you. No employees or employers with their questions and their demands. No children to feed or bathe or parent. No bills to be paid, etc. God does not make these demands on you. He simply delights in you, delights in your presence.

Do you believe that? God DELIGHTS in you. He craves time with you.

Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.

Solitude is important because it grows our intimacy with the God who takes delight in us.

Henri Nouwen tells a story of these three disciples who go out into the desert to meet with a monk named Anthony. We usually refer to them as “the desert fathers.” In the early centuries of Christianity, there were many devout men and women who decided to forsake their normal lives to go and live out in the solitude of the wilderness. We call them the desert fathers and the desert mothers. Anyway, these three disciples come out to see Anthony. The first two ask Anthony question after question but the third says nothing. Finally Anthony asks him why he doesn’t speak. The disciple says, “It is enough just to see you, Father.”

This week, I hope you’ll be able to experience God in silence and solitude, the God who takes great delight in you, the God who says, “It is enough just to see you.”

A Picture of Repentance

I think this is what the moment of repentance looks like:

Confession: Penitential Psalms

There are many different types of psalms — psalms of praise, thanksgiving, lament, for example. Several psalms have been designated as “penitential psalms” because of the emphasis on confession and repentance. Below are a few excerpts from these psalms. May they facilitate even greater confession as we spend time before the Lord.

Psalm 6:1-9

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.

My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord — how long?

Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?

I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.

My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.

The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.

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Psalm 32:1-7

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.

You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

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Psalm 38:1-6, 18, 21-22

For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me.

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath!

There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.

For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness, I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning.

I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.

Do not forsake me, O Lord! O my God, be not far from me!

Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!

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Psalm 51:1-4, 7, 10-12, 17

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

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Psalm 130:2

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

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Psalm 143:1, 6

Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy!

I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

How We Grow: Confession

The first thing I want to say today is this: God loves to forgive. This is the good news that changes everything for us. Someone has estimated that one-third of the parables Jesus taught are about forgiveness. In the Lord’s Prayer, He taught us to pray for God’s forgiveness. Clearly, God loves to forgive. It’s one of His favorite things to do.

That’s not the same thing as saying that God loves it when we sin. That’s not true at all. Whenever we sin, it hurts God; it breaks His heart. To sin is to do something unnatural — we weren’t made for sin, we were made for life with God.

But God wants to forgive us. He loves redemption and salvation — and forgiveness is how this happens.

You may be thinking, “Right, we know this already.” But we need to establish this right here at the beginning this morning, otherwise we might lose sight of this as we talk about our topic for today: confession.

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Confession is the spiritual discipline of acknowledging the presence of specific sin in my life.

• Acknowledge = admitting that I am a sinner, either to myself or to someone else or to the Lord. It comes from self-examination, realizing that there are areas of my life where I am not living in conformity to the will of God. Acknowledging the presence of sin is the first step of true, biblical repentance.
• Specific sin = not in a generalized way, “I have sinned.” Everyone can say that. But confession is stating your sin specifically. We’ll say more about that in a minute.

Let’s look at a few passages from the Bible that speak to this idea of confession:

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Apostle John reiterates the idea that God loves to forgive. If we confess our wrongdoing, we can trust in God’s faithfulness to forgive us by cleansing us from ALL unrighteousness. He is faithful and just and He has the power to wash us clean.

Psalm 38:18

I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.

What a great breath description of confession! As an act of repentance, we can meditate on these words and make them our prayer to God as we confess our sins.

David says, “I’m sorry for my sin.” He is grieving over his sin, he has sorrow. The Hebrew word here means “anxious dread.” There is an anxious dread associated with sin and David is grieving over this. That’s a key feature of biblical repentance. It’s one thing to be sorry that you were caught in your sin. But godly sorrow is different. When we see the way sin destroys our relationship with God and how it hurts the people we love, that produces godly sorrow. And as it says in 2 Corinthians 7:10, Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret…

James 5:16

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.

Context:

• The elders in the church would come to a believer who was sick and anoint him with oil. Of course, this is no guarantee of physical healing. Sometimes that happens, but not always.
• Whether God chooses to heal a person physically has no bearing on the promise God makes in salvation to raise up the believer to walk in newness of eternal life. A believer can trust that he is free from the plague of sin even as his body is plagued by disease.
• Therefore, James says, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another. Disease can only damage the body; it is far better to be forgiven of sin which can damage the soul.

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Confession is the antidote to the sin of secrecy.

• You know, it takes a lot of energy to hide your sin. You have to lie, you have to cover your tracks, you have to keep your story straight. But as we said a moment ago, you weren’t made to live that way. Eventually, most people reach a point where they’re just exhausted by all the work it takes to keep up the charade.
• Secrets will destroy your spiritual life. The more secrets you keep, the less healthy you will be spiritually. The more secretive you are, the more places you have where Satan can get a foothold in your life.
• That’s why the writer of Proverbs says, in Proverbs 28:13, Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
• Is there a secret you’ve been keeping that is keeping you from prospering? Are you keeping a secret from someone you love? If so, you need to confess that secret.
  • Satan lives in the dark cloud of secrecy. That’s where he works on us through shame and guilt.
  • But God works in the light of confession. God’s light is the one thing that neutralizes shame and its power.

Confession begins with God.

• First and foremost, all sin is an affront to God. Even when we have sinned against someone else, we begin by confessing our sin to the Lord.
• In Psalm 51, David is crying out to the Lord because of his sin with Bathsheba. But he says, Against you, you only, have I sinned (Ps. 51:4). Now this requires some nuance. In his lust and his deception, David has actually sinned against Bathsheba and also her husband, Uriah.
• But he begins this psalm of repentance by saying that he sinned against God — because this is where true repentance always begins. Commentators point out that David uses this language as a way of emphasizing the fact that he has first and foremost sinned against the Lord.

Confession is always directed at God — but sometimes, we need to confess our sin to another person as well.

• Sometimes we’ll need to confess something to someone: we’ll need to tell them that we broke our promise to them or that we betrayed their confidence. And this is incredibly difficult, sometimes even more difficult than confessing to the Lord. But there are times when this is necessary.
• Or there may be times when we need to confess something to someone so they can hold us accountable moving forward. That’s a big part of this as well.

Whether you are confessing your sin to God or to someone else, there are three parts to godly confession:

1. Honesty: Acknowledge your sin.
2. Humility: Ask for forgiveness.
3. Help: Accountability moving forward.

Honesty: Acknowledge your sin

This is a time for the unvarnished truth. Whether you are confessing to God or to another person, be specific in naming your sin. Don’t generalize. If it’s a secret you’ve been keeping, you need to name it, bring it into the light. Don’t be vague, “I made a mistake.” You’re robbing yourself of the power of confession when you do that. I know it’s difficult to bear your soul like that, but this is very important. You can’t be set free from something that you cannot acknowledge. So name your sin honestly.

Humility: Ask for forgiveness

It’s a humbling thing to do to acknowledge your sin. But that puts us in the position of humbly asking for forgiveness. Of course, we begin by following the example of David — we ask the Lord to forgive us. The beautiful part of this is that God loves to forgive. He loves us unconditionally, even when we’re in the wrong.

But if we need to confess our sin to someone else whom we’ve hurt, it’s important to say the words, “Will you forgive me?” This is probably the most vulnerable thing you can ever say. But you need to say it. I’ve had to do this before and it’s really difficult. But it’s also been one of the most powerful ways God has changed my life.

Help: Accountability moving forward

One of the great benefits of giving your life to the Lord is that you receive the gift of Christian community. You have brothers and sisters who surround you in love that is free of judgment. We all struggle with sin in our lives. If you’ve followed the Lord for any length of time, you can point to places where He is leading you in victory — this was once a temptation for me, but now I’ve learned a new nature. And there are also those places where His victory is still in process — places where we still struggle.

When we confess our sins to one another, we are able to be real with each other. And we’re able to hold each other accountable, to encourage one another along the path of righteousness.

When someone confesses their sin to you:

Acknowledge your hurt. You don’t have to say, “It’s ok.” At least not at first. Acknowledge that this is painful and that sin hurts. Don’t rob this individual of this moment. They need to see how much they’ve hurt you. Number one, it’s just honest. More importantly, it’s one of the things God will use to guide them out of their sin.

But you have to balance this by keeping your focus on the Lord. How would Jesus treat this person? Does He cast the first stone in a barrage of shame and wrath? Or does He deal with this person’s vulnerability and shame in a way that is redemptive? I think you know the answer.

Eclipse Day with an Elementary Teacher

This is what “eclipse day” is like when you’re married to an elementary school teacher:

How We Grow: Meditation

The author Richard Foster says that our enemy majors in things like noise and hurry. The devil would be satisfied for the majority of our lives to be consumed with “much-ness” and “many-ness” because such a life is a superficial life. But spiritual growth rarely occurs when we’re in a hurry. God seems to work at a much slower pace. Instead, spiritual growth often occurs when we slow down and engage in moments of reflection and meditation. And that’s what we’re talking about today: the spiritual discipline of meditation.

Biblical meditation has a long and rich history. I need to say this because I have a feeling that many of us have a very particular understanding of the word. When you hear the word “meditation,” I imagine most of us think of something like this:

For many people, the word “meditation” conjures up ideas of Zen Buddhism or sitting cross-legged on the floor, trying to achieve a deeper level of consciousness — something along those lines.

But the idea of meditation found in the Bible is quite a bit different. Biblical meditation looks more like these two images:

Adele Calhoun has a definition of Christian meditation I really like: “Meditation is a long, ardent gaze at God, his work and his Word.” Christian meditation is about reflecting on God’s work and God’s Word. It’s about slowing down to reflect on His goodness in creation or to reflect on His promises in Scripture.

We live in largely unreflective times. Almost everything about life today is designed to keep us distracted or busy. But intentional Christian meditation runs counter to this. It is about giving God my undivided attention, reflecting on His work and His Word — to put it another way, reflecting on what God has said, but also on what God has done.

• Meditating on God’s Word is different than Bible study.
  • Bible study is about exegesis, about engaging the mind in analysis of Scripture. You can study a passage all day long and still fail to enter into the reality to which it speaks.
  • But biblical meditation is about internalizing God’s Word at the heart level. It’s not about some rigorous analysis of Greek and Hebrew words. It’s about receiving God’s Word into your heart and your soul, letting it become a part of you.
  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “Just as you do not analyze the words of someone you love, but accept them as they are said to you, accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart, as Mary did. That is meditation.”
  • This kind of meditation keeps us from passing over God’s Word in a superficial manner. It takes us deep into the heart of what God has said.
• Likewise, meditative reflection on God’s works helps us to see the depths of God’s activity in our lives.
  • We can reflect on God’s glory as revealed in His creation. This kind of meditation helps us see God’s hand in the everyday moments of our lives.
  • Harriet Tubman is known for her work to help liberate slaves through the Underground Railroad. She was compelled to do this because she was also a devout believer. She spent a lot of time meditating on Scripture. One of her favorite passages was Isaiah 16:3, “Hide the outcasts; betray not him that wandereth.” She pondered these words and turned them into prayers, which led her deeper into God’s presence.
  • She told her biographer, “I prayed all the time, about my work, everywhere; I was always talking to the Lord. When I went to the horse trough to wash my face and took up the water in my hands, I said, ‘Oh, Lord, wash me, make me clean.’ When I took up the towel to wipe my face and hands, I cried, ‘Oh, Lord, for Jesus’ sake, wipe away all my sins!!’ When I took up the broom and began to sweep, I groaned, ‘Oh, Lord, whatsoever sin there be in my heart, sweep it out, Lord, clear and clean.'”
  • That’s an example of someone who has meditated on God’s Word and God’s works.

With this in mind, I want to share a few scriptures that speak to this idea of meditation.

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Psalm 19:1, 14

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

David confesses that God’s work in creation declares His glory. Maybe you’ve experienced this overwhelming sense of God’s glory in creation as you witness the beauty of a sunrise or the breathtaking view from atop a mountain.

Creation tells a story — it tells of our Creator and His power and His glory. We need to reflect on that story. Paul talks about this in Romans 1, saying that creation is a reliable source of knowledge about God and that we are without excuse because all humanity has access to this knowledge. Just look around.

Because of this, David is prompted to say Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you. David sees evidence of God’s glory all throughout creation. In humility, he meditates on this.

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Psalm 77:6, 11-12

I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.”

I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.

The writer of this Psalm, Asaph, recognizes God’s faithfulness. Through meditation, he is personally remembering and reflecting on God’s mighty deeds. And the primary example he goes on to write about is the Exodus when God set His people free from the bondage of slavery in Egypt.

You can read the story of the Exodus with your mind. You can ask questions about the date of the Exodus and which Pharaoh was in power and all of that. And that’s a perfectly fine way to read the story. But if that’s the only way we read the Exodus, then we’re missing something. To read with the mind and not the heart is to fail to internalize and personalize the story. The Exodus is a reminder of God’s mighty deeds, His wonders, His work. It’s a reminder that God leads me in the same exodus: out of the land of sin and into the land of promise. Through meditation, this story becomes personal to me.

That’s what we’re getting at with this idea of meditation. It’s reflection at that personal level.

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Joshua 1:8

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

This passage makes it clear that God wants His law to be on His people’s lips. He wants His people to meditate on His Word, to commit it to memory and say it aloud as they go about their day.

• The word here for “meditate” is a Hebrew word that is used to describe the growl of an animal. Eugene Peterson invites us to think about the sound a dog makes when it has a bone. He says that’s what that Hebrew word means. That dog is “meditating” on the bone, worrying at it, gnawing at it, savoring it.
• And this is a helpful way to think about what God says about His Word. He doesn’t want us to simply read over His Word, once and done, I’ve got my Bible reading for the day – but rather, He says to meditate on it, savor it, let it sink in beyond the superficial level. Like a dog gnawing on a bone, so do I need to return to the word of God over and over.
• That’s what it means to meditate on the Word of God.

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Psalm 1:1-2

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

The Psalms begin with these two paths: the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked.

• The admonition here is NOT to walk in the counsel of the wicked. John Ortberg says this is the way everyone else thinks and talks and acts. It’s the godless wisdom of the world. It’s those who manipulate the truth, those who call good evil and evil good. In every generation, it is a temptation to adopt the “group think” of worldly wisdom.
  • Notice the progression: he goes from walking in the counsel of the wicked to standing in the way of sinners to sitting in the seat of scoffers.
  • From walking to standing to sitting. Isn’t that how sin works? You’re walking off the path of God’s will and then you go from walking to standing — just stay right here for a while, the devil says. And before you know it, you’re sitting down, not moving at all — because Satan has his hooks in you.
• But the Psalmist warns against this — for this is the way of destruction, as it says at the end of the Psalm.
• Instead, we are to walk in the paths of righteousness — the path of true justice and godly wisdom. Such a person delights in the law of the Lord. He or she meditates on the law day and night.
  • Do you delight in the law of God? Do you delight in His precepts, His commands, His instruction?
  • I love what Rosaria Butterfield says: You cannot separate God’s love from God’s law. God gives His commands as an extension of His love.
  • The Scriptures say that the good life is a life spent meditating on the law of God. The world says the good life is a life free from all restrictions, to be your own “god” and live life according to your own determination of right and wrong. God’s Word says otherwise.
  • This is why meditation on God’s Word is so important.

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The devil’s strategy seems to be largely focused on two things: worry and hurry. If the devil can get you to worry and get you to hurry, he has you right where he wants you. One of the ways we counter that is through meditation: by slowing down and reflecting on God’s Word and God’s work.

This is one of the primary ways I’ve seen that God transforms our desires. When we spend time reflecting on God’s Word and God’s work, our desire for God and His Kingdom begins to grow. It forms in us the desire Jesus commands in Matthew 6:33, Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness….

Are you seeking the Kingdom of God today?

How We Grow: Generosity and Goodness

Generosity is living with a large heart, about having a heart that’s open and responsive to others. In the words of the song we just sang, it’s about giving yourself away. Not just talking about your finances. That’s such a small part of biblical generosity. It’s about your attitude, your time, your whole self.

• The kind of generosity we’re talking about is a natural by-product of living in the Kingdom, experiencing God’s goodness.
• You know, what if the Father is really as good as Jesus says He is? That changes things — it allows us to live out of a different place.
• John of the Cross talks about living life from the “center” — this place of God’s supreme goodness. When you’ve experienced God’s goodness, you can live with generosity. You share of yourself because God’s goodness is sustaining you.

And it even extends out to sharing Jesus with others — that’s an act of generosity, too.

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I think a good example of this is found in what Paul writes to the Thessalonians:

1 Thessalonians 2:8

Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

This is the highest form of generosity: when we share the gospel with someone and we also share our own lives. The two are linked together in a powerful way.

• Paul’s preaching of the gospel isn’t detached from his own life. It’s not impersonal bullet points about abstract theology.
• It’s natural for Paul to share the gospel and share his life because the two are so interwoven together. When we accept the gospel, it becomes the most personal element of our being. It’s at the core of who we are.
• I think that’s why Paul is always telling his story in the book of Acts and in his letters.
• In 1 Thessalonians, Paul has just said that he was gentle with the Thessalonians, like a nursing mother taking care of an infant. The point is obvious: Paul’s generosity of spirit helps him treat the Thessalonian believers as if they are his own family.
• One scholar notes: “We were delighted does not mean simply that they took pleasure in this, but rather that by an act of will they decided to make a commitment to the Thessalonians.”
• Older translations use the word “souls” instead of “lives” — we shared not only the gospel of God but our own souls as well.

This is the kind of generosity we are called to demonstrate as we interact with others. Generosity is living with a heart so large that we treat people like family. This requires discipline — an act of the will, as the commentator says. But that kind of generosity is a commitment to others in the name of the gospel.

Our mission is to share Jesus with every man, woman, and child in the city of Huntsville — just as it says in Acts 19 that everyone in Ephesus heard the word of the Lord in the two years Paul spent there. How is this ever going to happen if we’re not generous in sharing with others? What would happen if we started sharing not only the gospel with people — but also our lives? What would happen if you shared your story with someone?

When is the last time you shared your story with someone? Let me put it this way: When is the last time you shared your soul with someone? There is so much power there.

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Generosity is about giving people the benefit of the doubt. It’s about kindness and hospitality and love — in this way, generosity is a gospel word.

The greatest threat to my generosity is usually the way I choose to react to someone else’s lack of generosity.

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Two stories about generosity:

About a week ago, Madison Academy had their annual music show for students called Music Mania. It’s two nights of performances (one for elementary, one for the high school) and they needed parents to volunteer to work the ticket table. So I volunteered to help and they gave me an iPad and a box full of cash and set me up at a table right inside the door. If you bought your ticket in advance, it was something like $5 or $10. But if you waited until the night of the show, the ticket price went up to $20. Guy shows up, I say, “That’ll be $40.” He makes a big scene. “$40! That’s outrageous!” I said, “Yeah, I’m sorry. That’s how much it costs for two tickets; they’re $20 a piece.” And he does it again, only this time he’s like looking around at other people. He says, “$20 a person! That’s ridiculous!” And he’s looking around like he’s trying to start a revolution or something. “These prices, am I right? Who’s with me?”

And in that moment, I had a choice to make. In these kinds of verbal confrontations, I can hold my own. I have a pretty quick mind, I’m good with my words — so I had a choice to make. Part of me wanted to say, “Look, man. This is a fundraiser. All of this money goes into this program to help your children. What, do you think I’m going to slip out of town tonight and head off to Tunica with all of your cash? Give me a break. How much would you pay to watch your children do something they love?” Those were some of the thoughts in my head at the time.

But all week long, I had been going over material for this series. And just that week, I had been really focusing in on the idea of generosity as living with a large heart. And for me to react to his ugliness with more ugliness wouldn’t have been very generous. It wouldn’t have been very large hearted. So I just said, “Sir, I understand that you’re upset. But I don’t set the ticket prices. I’m just the guy with the iPad. If you’d like to buy a ticket, I can help you. But if not, I need to wait on the people behind you in line.”

Before anything else could happen, his wife stepped up and said to her husband, “Will you just buy a ticket? You’re embarrassing me!”

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Second story: John Ortberg tells this story about Dallas Willard, who in addition to being a world class theologian and thinker also served as a professor at the University of Southern California. Someone once observed Willard teaching a course and toward the end of one class, a cocksure freshman objected to something Willard had said. Dallas just stood there stoically as this young man ranted and raved. And it was evident to this observer that the young man was not only out of line, but wholly incorrect in his understanding of Willard’s point.

When the young man finished his diatribe, Willard said in a gentle voice, “I think this is good place for us to stop today. We’ll pick up here next time.” After the students had filed out of the classroom, the observer questioned Willard, saying, “Why didn’t you correct that kid? You could’ve really crushed him…and if you ask me, I think he deserves it!”

Willard simply replied, “I am practicing the spiritual discipline of not having to get in the last word.”

I think he was also practicing the spiritual discipline of loving generosity.