Author: pastor: Matthew Pittman

In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    in your righteousness deliver me!
² Incline your ear to me;
    rescue me speedily!
Be a rock of refuge for me,
    a strong fortress to save me!

³ For you are my rock and my fortress;
    and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me;
⁴ you take me out of the net they have hidden for me,
    for you are my refuge.
⁵ Into your hand I commit my spirit;
    you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

⁶ I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
    but I trust in the Lord.
⁷ I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
    because you have seen my affliction;
    you have known the distress of my soul,
⁸ and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
    you have set my feet in a broad place.

⁹ Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
    my eye is wasted from grief;
    my soul and my body also.
¹⁰ For my life is spent with sorrow,
    and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my iniquity,
    and my bones waste away.

¹¹ Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,
    especially to my neighbors,
and an object of dread to my acquaintances;
    those who see me in the street flee from me.
¹² I have been forgotten like one who is dead;
    I have become like a broken vessel.
¹³ For I hear the whispering of many—
    terror on every side!—
as they scheme together against me,
    as they plot to take my life.

¹⁴ But I trust in you, O Lord;
    I say, “You are my God.”
¹⁵ My times are in your hand;
    rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
¹⁶ Make your face shine on your servant;
    save me in your steadfast love!
¹⁷ O Lord, let me not be put to shame,
    for I call upon you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
    let them go silently to Sheol.
¹⁸ Let the lying lips be mute,
    which speak insolently against the righteous
    in pride and contempt.

¹⁹ Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
    which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
    in the sight of the children of mankind!
²⁰ In the cover of your presence you hide them
    from the plots of men;
you store them in your shelter
    from the strife of tongues.

²¹ Blessed be the Lord,
    for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
    when I was in a besieged city.
²² I had said in my alarm,
    “I am cut off from your sight.”
But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
    when I cried to you for help.

²³ Love the Lord, all you his saints!
    The Lord preserves the faithful
    but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
²⁴ Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
    all you who wait for the Lord!

Reflection

1. What is the difference between shame and guilt?
2. Read and consider the following passages: Genesis 1:27; 2 Corinthians 3:18 and 5:17. As a believer that is in Christ:
   • In what image are you?
   • Where is identity?
   • From where is your worth?
3. In our Psalm at verse 9-10 it mentions, distress, the eye wasting away with grief, and strength failing because of iniquity. Chad said this a way our bodies give expression to the anguish going on within us. Today, at this moment, what are some of the things you are working on inside of you? God is the one who comforts and delivers through these. If you have time right now, bring these things to the Lord in prayer.

from the Hidden Streams podcast

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. Romans 5:10

The reconciliation that needs to happen between sinful man and God goes both ways. Our attitude toward God must be changed from defiance to faith. And God’s attitude to us must be changed from wrath to mercy. But the two are not the same. I need God’s help to change; but God does not need mine. My change will have to come from outside of me, but God’s change originates in his own nature. Which means that overall, it is not a change in God at all. It is God’s own planned action to stop being against me and start being for me.

The all-important words are “while we were enemies.” This is when “we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). While we were enemies. In other words, the first “change” was God’s, not ours. We were still enemies. Not that we were consciously on the warpath. Most people don’t feel conscious hostility to God. The hostility is manifest more subtly with a quiet insubordination and indifference. The Bible describes it like this: “The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot” (Romans 8:7).

While we were still like that, God put Christ forward to bear our wrath-kindling sins and make it possible for him to treat us with mercy alone. God’s first act in reconciling us to himself was to remove the obstacle that made him irreconcilable, namely, the God-belittling guilt of our sin. “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

When the ambassadors of Christ take this message to the world, they say, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Do they only mean: Change your attitude to God? No, they also mean: Receive the prior work of God in Christ to reconcile himself to you.

Consider this analogy of reconciliation among men. Jesus said, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). When he says, “Be reconciled to your brother,” notice that it is the brother who must remove his judgment. The brother is the one who “has something against you,” just as God has something against us. “Be reconciled to your brother” means do what you must so that your brother’s judgment against you will be removed.

But when we hear the gospel of Christ, we find that God has already done that: He took the steps we could not take to remove his own judgment. He sent Christ to suffer in our place. The decisive reconciliation happened “while we were enemies.” Reconciliation from our side is simply to receive what God has already done, the way we receive an infinitely valuable gift.

from Fifty Reasons Jesus Came To Die: John Piper

Reflection

1. “While we were sinners, we were reconciled to God.” According to this passage from Romans, for those who are saved and in Christ, what did God do first?
2. According to Romans 8:7; Colossians 1:21; Ephesians 4:17-18, how is humanity that is outside of Christ defiant toward God?
3. How does the “suppressing the truth in unrighteousness” of Romans 1:18 help explain that “Most people do not feel conscious hostility to God”?
4. After reading the passage below, meditate on God’s saving word beginning to end. Then write/ponder your reaction. “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.” (Romans 5:10)

To you, O Lord, I call;
    my rock, be not deaf to me,
lest, if you be silent to me,
    I become like those who go down to the pit.
² Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,
    when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
    toward your most holy sanctuary.

³ Do not drag me off with the wicked,
    with the workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbors
    while evil is in their hearts.
⁴ Give to them according to their work
    and according to the evil of their deeds;
give to them according to the work of their hands;
    render them their due reward.
⁵ Because they do not regard the works of the Lord
    or the work of his hands,
he will tear them down and build them up no more.

⁶ Blessed be the Lord!
    For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
⁷ The Lord is my strength and my shield;
    in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
    and with my song I give thanks to him.

⁸ The Lord is the strength of his people;
    he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
⁹ Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!
    Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Reflection

1. In what ways is God your “rock”?
2. In the commentary on this Psalm Chad Bird said, “when life seems out of control or when life feels out of control . . . ” What are the significance of those words, “seem” and “feel.”? To what reality do those words point?
3. For meditation or pondering long, think and write/consider your reaction on the thoughts expressed in this audio clip:
   • “The Lord joins us in the bottom of the pit in that every experience we have (joyful and painful), God as a man experienced as well.”
   • The things that afflict us, afflict him.
   • Jesus in a pit.

from the Hidden Streams podcast

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

[He] healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” Matthew 8:16-17

Christ suffered and died so that disease would one day be utterly destroyed. Disease and death were not part of God’s original way with the world. They came in with sin as part of God’s judgment on creation. The Bible says, “The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope” (Romans 8:20). God subjected the world to the futility of physical pain to show the horror of moral evil.

This futility included death. “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12). It included all the groaning of disease. And Christians are not excluded: “Not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit [that is, those who trust Christ], groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23).

But all this misery of disease is temporary. We look forward to a time when bodily pain will be no more. The subjection of creation to futility was not permanent. From the very beginning of his judgment, the Bible says God aimed at hope. His final purpose was this: “that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

When Christ came into the world, he was on a mission to accomplish this global redemption. He signaled his purposes by healing many people during his lifetime. There were occasions when the crowds gathered and he “healed all who were sick” (Matthew 8:16; Luke 6:19). This was a preview of what was coming at the end of history when “he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore” (Revelation 21:4).

The way Christ defeated death and disease was by taking them on himself and carrying them with him to the grave. God’s judgment on the sin that brought disease was endured by Jesus when he suffered and died. The prophet Isaiah explained the death of Christ with these words: “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). The horrible blows to the back of Jesus bought a world without disease.

One day all disease will be banished from God’s redeemed creation. There will be a new earth. We will have new bodies. Death will be swallowed up by everlasting life (1 Corinthians 15:54; 2 Corinthians 5:4). “The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox” (Isaiah 65:25). And all who love Christ will sing songs of thanks to the Lamb who was slain to redeem us from sin and death and disease.

from John Piper: Fifty Reasons Jesus Came To Die

Reflection

1. What does this writing teach about God’s original creation and heart disease, diabetes, cancer, physical therapy, allergies, cold and influenza?
2. What was the purpose of Christ miraculously healed some while he was on the earth?
3. Meditation Exercise: “with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). This will be covering two extremes. a.) Ponder the great amount in loss of life and quality of life through the centuries. Consider that Christ not only came to pardon sin but to heal sickness (the very sicknesses with which you have suffered). b.) Thinking long on regarding a world without all of these issues. Ponder the greatness of God in no more condolences and no more sympathy. Let your mind focus in praise that there will be no children’s hospitals and Red Cross. Pray a prayer of thanksgiving.

The Lord swore to David a sure oath
    from which he will not turn back:
“One of the sons of your body
    I will set on your throne.
¹² If your sons keep my covenant
    and my testimonies that I shall teach them,
their sons also forever
    shall sit on your throne.”

¹³ For the Lord has chosen Zion;
    he has desired it for his dwelling place:
¹⁴ “This is my resting place forever;
    here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
¹⁵ I will abundantly bless her provisions;
    I will satisfy her poor with bread.
¹⁶ Her priests I will clothe with salvation,
    and her saints will shout for joy.
¹⁷ There I will make a horn to sprout for David;
    I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
¹⁸ His enemies I will clothe with shame,
    but on him his crown will shine.”

Reflection

As a believer, journaling is a extremely valuable. Writing prayers, questions and thoughts. Today’s reflection is better suited for those who journal HOWEVER . . . those who do not are still able to participate.

Below are several statements made from this entry. Read and ponder each and write your reaction to the hope that can be found in that statement. If you don’t journal, you can simply think through them.

The purpose of this exercise is to determine what are the implications for you on each of these statements.

1. From verse 15 to verse 18 there are 6 “I’s” that refer to the Lord and one statement, “saints will shout for joy.”
2. “We are far too easily pleased.” C.S. Lewis
3. Christian grown is maturing from “I” to “Thou”.
4. The little you can do poorly our Lord can do perfectly.
5. One day (while in eternity) we shall look back on our best, our happiest, our most glowing day in this life and it will seem as a warm dark coal compared to the bonfire of joy in the new heavens and the new earth.

How much more will the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Hebrews 9:14

Some things never change. The problem of a dirty conscience is as old as Adam and Eve. As soon as they sinned, their conscience was defiled. Their sense of guilt was ruinous. It ruined their relationship with God—they hid from him. It ruined their relation to each other—they blamed. It ruined their peace with themselves—for the first time they saw themselves and felt shame.

All through the Old Testament, conscience was an issue. But the animal sacrifices themselves could not cleanse the conscience. “Gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation” (Hebrews 9:9-10). As a foreshadowing of Christ, God counted the blood of the animals as sufficient for cleansing the flesh—the ceremonial uncleanness, but not the conscience.

No animal blood could cleanse the conscience. They knew it (see Isaiah 53 and Psalm 51). And we know it. So, a new high priest comes—Jesus the Son of God—with a better sacrifice: himself. “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14). The animal sacrifices foreshadowed the final sacrifice of God’s Son, and the death of the Son reaches back to cover all the sins of God’s people in the old time period, and forward to cover all the sins of God’s people in the new time period.

So here we are in the modern age—the age of science, Internet, organ transplants, instant messaging, cell phones—and our problem is fundamentally the same as always: Our conscience condemns us. We don’t feel good enough to come to God. And no matter how distorted our consciences are, this much is true: We are not good enough to come to him.

When our conscience rises up and condemns us, where will we turn? We turn to Christ. We turn to the suffering and death of Christ—the blood of Christ. This is the only cleansing agent in the universe that can give the conscience relief in life and peace in death

Key Phrase 🙂

We can cut ourselves, or throw our children in the sacred river, or give a million dollars to the United Way, or serve in a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving, or perform a hundred forms of penance and self-injury, and the result will be the same: The stain remains, and death terrifies. We know that our conscience is defiled—not with external things like touching a corpse or eating a piece of pork. Jesus said it is what comes out of a person that defiles, not what goes in (Mark 7:15-23). We are defiled by pride and self-pity and bitterness and lust and envy and jealousy and covetousness and apathy and fear—and the actions they breed. These are all “dead works.” They have no spiritual life in them. They don’t come from new life; they come from death, and they lead to death. That is why they make us feel hopeless in our consciences.

The only answer in these modern times, as in all other times, is the blood of Christ. When our conscience rises up and condemns us, where will we turn? We turn to Christ. We turn to the suffering and death of Christ—the blood of Christ. This is the only cleansing agent in the universe that can give the conscience relief in life and peace in death.

From John Piper: Fifty Reasons Christ Came To Die

Reflection

1. In what way(s) does this reading provide you comfort, relief and assurance?
2. How can we become enslaved or dominated to our conscience?
3. Reflection is your private time and your answers can be personal. According to this writing, in what ways did Jesus show His love for you?

Today’s entry is a foundation for the Wednesday post. This is a wonderful Psalm but it may raise questions as to how does this point to the Easter message. In two days the remainder of the Psalm 132 will be addressed and it will be more clear the importance of this foundation.

Remember, O Lord, in David’s favor,
    all the hardships he endured,
² how he swore to the Lord
    and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
³ “I will not enter my house
    or get into my bed,
⁴ I will not give sleep to my eyes
    or slumber to my eyelids,
⁵ until I find a place for the Lord,
    a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

⁶ Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
    we found it in the fields of Jaar.
⁷ “Let us go to his dwelling place;
    let us worship at his footstool!”

⁸ Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place,
    you and the ark of your might.
⁹ Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
    and let your saints shout for joy.
¹⁰ For the sake of your servant David,
    do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

Content from Hidden Streams

Reflection

1. This Psalm ties with 2 Samuel 7. It would be good to read the whole chapter for context. For this question, verse 12-17 actually makes reference to TWO sons. What future sons would build God’s temple? (if more help is needed to think of the sons, one was the next king after David. The second can be found by looking at John 2:19 AND Hebrews 1:5. That Hebrews passages quotes 2 Samuel 7:14.)
2. In your life: a) What has Christ built? b) What is Christ building?
3. Chad Bird, the commentator, makes reference to Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Meditate and ponder in what ways are you crucified in Christ?