the troubled soul... the hopeful soul

Psalm 42:1-2
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?

The Troubled Soul from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

water don't burn, unless it's His will

well that's kind of obvious, isn't it? 'water doesn't burn, fire does!' common-sense says. 'water flows!'

but boiling water burns if you pour it on yourself.

at least usually.

last week i had coffee with a friend, and i wanted to flash sanitize a mug i had been drinking out of earlier in the day, so i held the mug over the sink and poured water - water that had just been boiled and off the burner for no more than 30 seconds - over the mug.... and over the thumb and first two fingers of my right hand!!! of course.

talk about a 'lapse in judgment!' LOL ...at least according to common-sense.

but honestly, i felt completely unconcerned at that instant. like, 'if my fingers burn off, they burn off, God's got a plan and a purpose for it!'

so i just kind of jumped, shook my hand, shrugged, laughed, and said, 'well that was dumb!'

i made the (instant) coffee up, added milk, sugar... then thought, 'heh, i should probably put my fingers under cold water, i mean that *was* just-boiled water!' a total afterthought. not that it really hurt or anything. so i did for maybe 10-15 seconds, then got bored and served the coffee. and mostly forgot about it.

for a few hours i had a very slight tingling in my thumb and fingers. but no blisters, no redness, no pain. nothing.

water don't burn, unless it's His will!!!

He really is *that* sovereign, that He can defy His own laws of physics, whenever He sees fit.

our faith in Him should be such that our faith can stare down 'common sense' and trust in His sovereignty well above and beyond the laws of physics.

cuz water - even just-boiled water - *can't* burn, unless it's His will!!!!!

on embracing accusation

how can He understand EVERY temptation?

love piper's answer. another detail in the 'He became sin' theme that God seems to have me on...

paying for what's already been paid?

"To imagine for a moment that He was the Substitute for all the sons of men, and that God, having first punished the Substitute, afterwards punished the sinners themselves, seems to conflict with all my ideas of Divine justice. That Christ should offer an atonement and satisfaction for the sins of all men, and that afterwards some of those very men should be punished for the sins for which Christ had already atoned, appears to me to be the most monstrous iniquity that could ever have been imputed to Saturn, to Janus, to the goddess of the Thugs, or to the most diabolical heathen deities. God forbid that we should ever think thus of Jehovah, the just and wise and good!"

--C.H. Spurgeon, "A Defense of Calvinism" (via)

this so fits with my last post. :)

suffering for our sin?

is that what suffering is in our world? suffering because of our sins? suffering for our sin?

NO!!!!

that is a logical/practical impossibility.

2 Cor 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. [nkjv]

Jesus not 'only' died to pay for our sins, He BECAME sin FOR us. and God's wrath poured out on Him.

our sin has been paid for. the suffering for our sins has been done - not by us! - and it was FINISHED, on the cross.

so why do we suffer?

all that's left is... for His purposes. for His glory. to display the manifest righteousness of God that He in His grace has bestowed upon us.

Ephesians 1:5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 TO the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. [nkjv; emphasis mine.]

wow. wow. wow!

this encouraged me today

2 Peter 1: 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. --ESV

whammo!!! killer ammo against feelings of uselessness!!!

usefulness - effectiveness and fruitfulness - are in Him, not in me. His very nature in me is the source of it.

1 Peter 1:3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may....

..."be effective and fruitful"...?

NO!

...[that you may] become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. --ESV

partaking of the divine nature - Him in us and us in Him - is what produces the qualities in us that keep us from being ineffective and unfruitful.

the focus is not being effective and fruitful.
the focus is not trying to be effective and fruitful.
the focus is not trying to not be ineffective and unfruitful.

the focus is partaking of the divine nature!! all else flows from that.

ie, don't focus on the fruit, focus on the tree that grows the fruit.

the fruit without the tree that grows it is.... nothing. dead. non-existent. imaginary. 'mustered up' from nothing. impossible.

escape from corruption comes not from effort, but from partaking of the divine nature.

look to the Source.


food for much further thought...

either you pass, or you get mad. which is it?

woman, single.... not single woman

single. gifted. gifted thus... for the common good. wow.

read more in this chapter from "Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye"

freedom from inner legalism... yes, Lord!

Interrogating the Legalist Within from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.