Since working at the church I have had to deal with many struggles and trials. Meditating on these verses in Habakkuk have proved to be good food for my soul...
There is something wonderfully glorious and God honouring when a person chooses to set their affections on God despite the overwhelming circumstances. John Piper usefully comments 'God is most glorified in you, in the midst of suffering.' Despite the writer's seemingly bleak outlook on the situation it is with steely and hearty resolve he declares 'yet I will rejoice in the Lord.' It is admirable when a believer makes a conscious decision to to lift their eyes above the circumstance, to come back to the Father and remember and rejoice in their beautiful Saviour
In age of personal therapy, where everyone rests on their emotions and long to 'feel better about themselves' we are also in danger of portraying Christianity as something not to dissimilar.Modern Christianity can often be reduced to a mere sensual and emotional affair. We only worship God and commune with him when we 'fee l' like it. Do not get me wrong I am not disregarding emotion altogether, it is when the emotions become the end in themselves, we are in danger. As Bob Kauflin argues, he must be quick to discern emotion from 'emotionalism'.
As Christians we should try and capture the determined resolve of David as he writes of in Psalm 16:8, 'I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.' We should be ones who, whilst resting on the promises and certainty of God's character, choose with a sense of adamancy and purpose, to sing the Saviour's praise.
I cannot say I have ever read much liturgy or ever been part of a church which uses liturgy, and it is not my aim to get into a discussion about the usefulness of it within the Church today, but the purpose of liturgy is in essence what I am trying to speak of here. It serves the believer well, when he does not have the strength to pray but can only cry out to God from the depths of his soul... 'God of grace and goodness, you know that by reason of our frailty we cannot but fail; keep us always under your protection and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation.'
''Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.''
In age of personal therapy, where everyone rests on their emotions and long to 'feel better about themselves' we are also in danger of portraying Christianity as something not to dissimilar.Modern Christianity can often be reduced to a mere sensual and emotional affair. We only worship God and commune with him when we 'fee l' like it. Do not get me wrong I am not disregarding emotion altogether, it is when the emotions become the end in themselves, we are in danger. As Bob Kauflin argues, he must be quick to discern emotion from 'emotionalism'.
As Christians we should try and capture the determined resolve of David as he writes of in Psalm 16:8, 'I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.' We should be ones who, whilst resting on the promises and certainty of God's character, choose with a sense of adamancy and purpose, to sing the Saviour's praise.
I cannot say I have ever read much liturgy or ever been part of a church which uses liturgy, and it is not my aim to get into a discussion about the usefulness of it within the Church today, but the purpose of liturgy is in essence what I am trying to speak of here. It serves the believer well, when he does not have the strength to pray but can only cry out to God from the depths of his soul... 'God of grace and goodness, you know that by reason of our frailty we cannot but fail; keep us always under your protection and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation.'
1 comment:
It was a bit of a surprise to find a link to my weblog in this post.
I think your point about the function of liturgy is true when you say,
"It serves the believer well, when he does not have the strength to pray but can only cry out to God from the depths of his soul..."
I looked around at a couple of your posts - insights from Spurgeon and Piper - and I've been encouraged.
Every blessing on your current work,
Daniel
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