Sweet Disposition

I just learnt to play this song by The Temper Trap. I've posted the video for it below, I think it's an awesome song. Pure euphoria!

Idolatry, and joy in God

I was listening to a talk by Tim Keller on "Removing Idols of the Heart" this week, and was devastatingly peirced by his definition of our idols. He roughly said "What thing, or person, that if you didn't have it, or lost it would cause you to think that life isn't worth living, and makes you want to kill yourself?. That's your idol". 


This cut me to the core, how true it is! We may say with our lips that we only treasure Jesus, but in our materialistic, western culture, I'm not sure how many of us actually worship Jesus in 'spirit and in truth' all of our lives! Remember in my post on "Desiring God", I said that John Piper said that this is idolatry, to say to God that something satisfies you more than him. 


Well, with this damning verdict on my (and probably your) life, how to break this spell? Well, Keller said that the only way to get rid of an idol is "with the expulsive power of a new idol". However we can't just replace the idol of say, power, with the idol of sex, or money. They too will disappoint us. No, we need the expulsive power of Jesus Christ in our hearts. To seek, and treasure him, and to know his love. I'm finding this true as I read more and more of the word of god, and ponder and meditate over it this week, it's starting to work! I'm delighting in that, and find that when I leave it to get on with the tasks of the day my heart still longs for it more! Praise God for that. However it's not easy, so we need God's help (ask him in prayer). Stay tuned for more on this, as I've recently got a copy of "Counterfeit Gods" by Keller! 

Psalm 42

There are times in the Christian life, when we ask if God has forsaken us, if he has forgotten us. We don't know what the future holds. We only see bleakness, loneliness, despair ahead. I think psalm 42 describes this perfectly. In it the writer seems lost, surrounded by enemies, in tears and under attack. He sees the prosperity of others and wonders through sorrow how God can let him be in his current state. However, in it he longs, not for prosperity, or for victory, but he longs for God, and the hope that one day he will be able to praise him again as his Saviour. 


If you are going through a time like this, not only does bible know how you feel, but so does God. We have rejected him and turned away from him. We who were the apple of his eye, the pinnacle of his creation. Think of his sorrow at our rejection of him. Then think of his great love in sending his treasured son to suffer the wrath that we deserve. Praise him for that, and then sing with psalm 42 in knowing that we can:

"Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my savior and my God (Ps 42:5-6)"

Let us continue to strive to make God the apple of our eye, our hope, our desire, our joy. The things of this world will never satisfy us. Let us wake up to see a bigger picture, of service for a loving, kind, saving, gracious, merciful God, who will grant us our hearts desire, in an eternal relationship with him forever.

Psalm 42

    As the deer pants for streams of water,
       so my soul pants for you, O God. ² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
       When can I go and meet with God?
 ³ My tears have been my food
       day and night,
       while men say to me all day long,
       "Where is your God?"
 ⁴ These things I remember
       as I pour out my soul:
       how I used to go with the multitude,
       leading the procession to the house of God,
       with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
       among the festive throng.
 ⁵ Why are you downcast, O my soul?
       Why so disturbed within me?
       Put your hope in God,
       for I will yet praise him,
       my Savior and ⁶ my God.
       My soul is downcast within me;
       therefore I will remember you
       from the land of the Jordan,
       the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
 ⁷ Deep calls to deep
       in the roar of your waterfalls;
       all your waves and breakers
       have swept over me.
 ⁸ By day the LORD directs his love,
       at night his song is with me—
       a prayer to the God of my life.
 ⁹ I say to God my Rock,
       "Why have you forgotten me?
       Why must I go about mourning,
       oppressed by the enemy?"
 ¹⁰ My bones suffer mortal agony
       as my foes taunt me,
       saying to me all day long,
       "Where is your God?"
 ¹¹ Why are you downcast, O my soul?
       Why so disturbed within me?

       Put your hope in God,
       for I will yet praise him,
       my Savior and my God.

Desiring God

I've recently started to read "Desiring God", by John Piper. In it, Piper's punchline is:

"The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever"

I've been struck by so many things so far, and it's been really eye opening, and refreshing to read this book. In particular, this popped out from the page this morning whilst I was reading it on the train:

"Not to enjoy God is to dishonor him. To say to Him that something else satisfies you more is the opposite of worship. It is sacrilege" (p.22)

Then piper points to psalm 34:8:

"Taste and see that the lord is good!"

and also psalm 119:103:

"How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth"

I'm starting to agree with piper's (indeed scripture's) sentiment here, in that nothing else can delight us more, and quench our thirst for happiness more than God. Because God is utterly sovereign, none of his purposes can be thwarted. This means that we have a happy God, because he can do anything (imagine being able to do anything and not being happy!). If we have a happy, sovereign God, then who else to delight in than Him who is supremely joyful?

I'm finding this true, not only from the bible, but also through experience. I'm starting to realize again that ultimately the world doesn't satisfy you. It just offers fleeting pleasures. They just fade away, leaving you wondering why they didn't complete you. The truth seems to be that whatever the world offers, it cannot satisfy us enough. It just all misses the mark. John D. Rockafeller once said: “How much money is enough? Just a little more than you have.”. This is one of the truest things outside the bible.

I'm slowly being driven to the fact that God is the only being that can satisfy us totally. That being said however, learning to delight in him more than anything else is proving to be supremely difficult. I'm finding that a lot of my roots, desires and passions are driven deep into earthly things rather than into God. The task, therefore is to 'uproot' myself, and be 're-rooted' in Christ. My hope and prayer is that by grace I will be able to do this, and that it would bring satisfaction in Him, rather than in the world.

A Fresh Start

Hi,

This is my blog. I never thought that I'd ever end up starting one of these, since I used to think that most people aren't really interested in what some random guy on the internet is saying. But I hope to post on here my reflections as I go through the christian life. I've called it 'Might for..endurance', from Colossians 1:11, where Paul prays that God might give the church at the Colosse his might to....do mighty works?....to change the world?....No, to endure and be patient.

Which is what I've been learning this year (a lot) through suffering, heartbreak, stress, frustration, disappointment and sometimes mild despair. If you're reading this, I hope it helps in your walk with Christ. It will almost certainly help me to put my thoughts to 'paper'. So here goes...