The Blessing of Living in God's Strength

(A meditation on Psalm 84:5-8)

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.
8 LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!

There’s a second blessing that the psalmist mentions in Psalm 84. You see it in verses 5-8, and this is the blessedness of having the Lord as your strength and your desire. Notice v.5: Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

In the original language it is quite clear that the blessed one is in singular, not plural as in ESV, “Blessed are those....” Rather, it should have read, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in you, in whose heart is the highways to Zion.” So while verse 4 says blessed are those who dwell in your house, verse 5 proclaims a blessing on the one who has the highways to Zion in his heart.

Many Bible scholars wrestle with the statement, “in whose heart are the highways to Zion.” What’s that referring to? Does it mean that in his heart he wants to go to Jerusalem to worship? Maybe. Or does it mean that in his heart there are highways that lead him to God?

However you interpret it, the point is that the blessed man is the one who dwells far from God's house, but who longs to be in Zion with God. That’s his ultimate goal. He wants to know God. He wants to fellowship with God. He wants to praise and worship God, and in his heart there’s this single-minded focus on communing with God.

That’s the blessed man. He knows that there’s one thing that he wants, and that is to see the beauty of the Lord. There’s one thing he desires, and that is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. His dependence and delight is in the Lord.

Again, that’s very important for us today. One of the things that John Piper has so often reminded our generation is that we often look at God as the greatest means to our own ends. In other words, we view God as the One who can get us the things that we really want, instead of the One who Himself is the greatest end, and thus the One that we really want the most.

Quite often, because we view God as the best means to accomplish our ends, we miss the greatest blessing of the gospel, which is union and communion with God Himself, delight in God Himself, reveling and enjoying God Himself. Again, this union and communion is through our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is our mediator to God. He is God in the flesh, the God who lives among us.

As you may know, three times each year, all the faithful Jews from all over the world were to gather in Jerusalem according to the word of God. As the people of Israel dwelt in their towns, they were to keep the road to Jerusalem in their hearts.

And yes, we have the great privilege of worshiping every week in the heavenly holy of Holies, but that should not cause us to be forgetful of Zion throughout the week! On the contrary, our access to the holy of Holies, which we have every day in prayer, should produce even greater devotion to God than we see here in the sons of Korah! Because the real question is where do you find your strength? And the text says, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in you [Lord].”

While we have access to the holy of Holies, we don't dwell there, at least, not yet. We are elect exiles, chosen pilgrims who are granted a glimpse of heavenly glory. But still we walk by faith and not by sight. And as we journey in this life, the LORD is truly our dwelling place, our refuge and our fortress. But as we look around us the prospect is far from comforting. We see the Valley of Baca (verse 6), which is the "the valley of tears."

Some old hymns use the phrase, the "vale of tears," as a reference for this life. Well, Psalm 84 is where they got this phrase. As we walk on this pilgrimage to the heavenly Jerusalem, just as the pilgrims go through the Valley of Tears, we make it a place of springs. How? How do you transform the Valley of Tears into a place of springs?

If your strength is in the Lord, then you may go from strength to strength. The pilgrim in the valley of the shadow of death still walks in the strength of the Lord. The pilgrim who appears before God in Zion arrives there in the strength of the Lord (v.7).

The goal of your pilgrimage is to appear before God in Zion. And as you walk through the Valley of Tears, the Valley of Baca, remember that the Lord is your strength.

So where do you find strength for the pilgrimage? You find strength as your soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord. You find strength as your heart and your flesh sing for joy to the living God.

The strength of the blessed man is in the Lord. By His Spirit, Jesus Christ is our strength. His resurrection power energizes us to live the Christian life. And the Spirit of Pentecost enables us to proclaim this truth boldly, strengthening us daily as we pass through the valley of tears and valley of the shadow of death.

Dear friends, understand that it is God who holds you up in Christ. It is God who supplies you the ability to put one foot in front of another, to keep on going to the house of God, to keep on serving Him there. You are utterly dependent upon the Lord. He must supply the strength to you if you are to live the life of faith. You who depend on the strength of the Lord are supplied with the strength of the Lord. That's what makes you blessed.

Now think of the contrast. So often our culture celebrates the person who is independent, self-sufficient, and autonomous. The “self-made man” was a great myth of nineteenth and twentieth century; the man who doesn’t depend on anybody; the man who’s done it on his own; the man who is self-sufficient.

But the psalmist says in utter contrast. No, the man who is blessed is the man whose strength doesn’t come from himself. True strength is supplied by the Lord. Blessed is that man whose strength is in You, O Lord. You supply the power of his life.

The psalmist – these temple servants – understand what the believer delights in. The believer delights in the Lord. In his heart is a highway that leads Him to worship God. That’s the blessed man. He goes from strength to strength, and he appears before God in Zion. That’s his reward. He wants Christ. He wants to worship God in Christ, and God gives him that blessing.

Verse 8 concludes this second section with the prayer of the sons of Korah: “O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!”

If God does not hear, then what is the point of walking through this valley of tears? But we can go forward, rejoicing towards the courts of the LORD because we know that God hears our prayers.

Prayer: Perfumed by His Blood

(An article on prayer by Douglas F. Kelly)

It is easy to speak about Christianity and doctrine and theology and morals and ethics. But in their hearts, many people want to know, "Can God be real for me? Can I touch Him? Could He touch me? Can things in my life be different because of God’s moving and making that difference?" Let me ask you, "Would you like some things to be different? Do you have things on your mind and heart that you are not able to change?" Maybe it seems that some things that concern you are beyond any human help you can think of. If so, you are reading the right article. God has brought this to you.

The first nine verses of Revelation 8 show us how things can be different; things which seem to be beyond any human power any sort of mastery of the will, or quite beyond any worldly circumstances. God uses word images here to help us understand profound spiritual truth—He can intervene! God can change your situation! God can make it profoundly different!

These verses let us see what lies behind the obvious, what makes things happen in this world we live in. It is very much like we are attending a stage play. As we take our seats, the curtains are drawn. As the curtains draw back, we see the set and the actors. The beloved apostle John, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is drawing back the curtains which separate the unseen world from the visible world. He is showing us God’s way of ordering history, God’s way of determining what happens in our lives.

A Highway

In one sense, we can say the Bible teaches us that prayer is like a highway running between two worlds. We inhabit a material world. God created it. But there is another world also, one we do not see with our physical eyes. Nonetheless, this other world — the spiritual world, the heavenly realm — is just as real and is even more powerful and significant than the world we do see. Revelation 8 shows us the connection between the spiritual world we do not see and the material world we inhabit. These two worlds are interconnected and what happens in one impacts the other.

If we see Revelation 8 as a stage play, there would be an upper scene and a lower scene. And the spotlight shifts between the two scenes.

The action begins in upper scene, heaven. The spotlight focuses on an angelic being opening a seal. Without going into the prophetic significance of this, we can say that God has the initiative in history, that God really is in control. Behind all of history is the throne of God. He has never relinquished His control.

But in verse three, the spotlight leaves heaven, focusing on this material realm you and I inhabit. We see Christians praying and their prayers are ascending before God. As far as God’s operation of the universe is concerned, the meeting of believers to pray in the name of Christ can be more powerful than transactions of the New York Stock Exchange, the movements of an army, the rising and falling of interest rates or the meeting of a legislature, or a parliament. Simple, ordinary, frail, weak men and women who every day have to ask Jesus to forgive them, make them clean and renew them are praying. Those praying may feel nothing, not one thing. But something important is about to happen. Watch out!

Ascending Prayers

The spotlight suddenly shifts away from the earth and goes back up to the heavenly realm. As the believers’ prayers ascend to the Supreme Court of the universe, to the Lord and God who created all things out of nothing, something remarkable, something wonderful, something beautiful is happening.

An angel is adding a very special incense to the burning coals in a golden censor. We see him broadcasting the fragrant perfume as he walks around before the throne. The fragrance from the golden censor "perfumes" the saint’s prayers, causing them to be sweet smelling in the nostrils of God.

We are reminded of the golden censer the high priest used in Old Testament times. It was right beside the ark of the covenant which enshrined the law. The ark was covered by the mercy seat on which blood was sprinkled to "cover" the people’s sin until the Lamb of God should come and die on the Cross for their sins. In order to make the praises and the lives and the prayers and the worship of an imperfect and sinful, complaining, worrying, frail people acceptable to God, the high priest was to take coals from the altar of sacrifice, place them in the golden censer and sprinkle special incense on them. He would then walk around the holy place swinging the golden censer, wafting the fragrant incense over the mercy seat. This demonstrated that our worship does not smell good because of our sin. Because we are so frail and imperfect and bring so much dirt with us every time we worship, our prayers, our praise, our devotion, our reaching out to God in and of ourselves are not acceptable before the perfectly awesome, holy, pure God of God, Light of Light. So God commanded the high priest to do something to make the people’s praises "smell good" to Him, to make them acceptable.

Entrance Through the Wounds

A biographer of General Stonewall Jackson recounts a very moving scene which occurred the day before Jackson’s funeral. Very much a believer, Jackson had been accidentally shot by his own troops during the War Between the States. As his body lay in state, thousands and thousands of people filed by for a last look at this great southern general. Many threw flowers on his coffin as they passed silently by. Late in the day as the sun was sinking, the marshall gave orders to close the doors of the great chamber even as hundreds of people were still thronging to get in. As the big brass doors began to close, a rough bearded veteran in a tattered grey uniform began pushing his way to the front of the line. The marshall, at this abusive behavior, was about to push the man down the stone steps for his insolence. Suddenly, the grizzled veteran, with tears running down his cheeks raised high the stump of his arm and cried, "By this right arm which I gave for this country, I demand the privilege of one more time seeing the general under whom I served." The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia standing nearby said to the marshall, "Let this veteran in. He has won entrance by his wounds."

Your prayers and mine cannot win entrance to God by our own wounds. But our prayers do win entrance to the very throne of God by the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Incensed Prayers

Something happens to believers’ prayers when we pray to the Father in Jesus’ name. As our prayers reach heaven, it is as though angels sprinkle perfume on our prayers, making them smell good. They become delectable, delightful things which our heavenly Father is thrilled to receive.

But what is this incense? The incense, the perfume, the fragrance put onto our prayers is actually the merits, the worthiness of life and particularly the atoning death of Jesus in our place.

When we pray it is as though our prayers are taken through the wounds of Christ’s body. They are made acceptable, they are made beautiful, they are made fragrant, they are incensed, they are made things of power. This is what it means to pray in Jesus’ name. It is not just a ritual, not merely a form. It is more than that.

It is a way of saying, "Lord, hear me through the merits, through the worthiness, through the death, through the wounds of Your Son. Perfume my prayers as they pass through the holes in His hands and feet. Make them worthy. Cause all my worship and all my desires to serve Thee worthy through what He has done in my place."

Too often Christians are hindered from praying by the sense of their unworthiness. They believe God will not hear them because they are too imperfect. God’s Church is being robbed of tremendous power right now because His people feel too unworthy to continue persevering in prayer until they see the answer. Our culture is slipping and disintegrating because so many in the Church have been robbed of our prayer power. We know that our own worthiness is inadequate, so we don’t pray much.

Yes, we are imperfect. Yes, we are unworthy. Yes, we have sinned. But we do not pray in our own names. We pray in Jesus’ name. We stand on His merits. We plead His blood and righteousness. And our prayers go up through His wounds.

Your prayers, the prayers of every believer are perfumed, are incensed when they go to heaven. Something powerful happens to our prayers when they get to heaven because of what Jesus has done and is doing. The Epistle to the Hebrews shows Him continually interceding for us. That is Jesus’ primary work since His resurrection and Ascension. Jesus is concerned with taking the prayer of His people through Himself to the Father.

Fire On the Earth

Back at the theater, the spotlight leaves heaven where the prayers are being perfumed and shifts back to the earth. When the saints’ perfumed prayers reach heaven the angels are given authority to cast fire onto the earth.

There is powerful movement between the two worlds. Revelation 8 shows the burning up of ships, illustrating that prayers can turn the tide of battle. There is nothing of any concern, whether physical, emotional, spiritual, financial, whether in the realm of personal relationships—there is absolutely nothing that God’s people cannot take to Him in prayer through the wounds of Jesus.

Fire can be cast into this world against doors closed to the Gospel’s influence. Praying can bring down the fire to burn away those doors. Corruption and iniquity from the depths of a heart opposed to God can be purged away by the fire. God’s fire can fall into the heart of someone for whom we are praying, transforming that heart of stone into a heart of flesh.

Believe It!

What concerns and areas in your life need the fall of God’s fire? Where do you want to see the fire of God, the power of God, the changes of God to fall? You can take them to Him. You can join with other Christians to take them to the Father through Jesus. There is a highway between this world and heaven. Prayer is that highway.

God can make that fire fall. When saints pray, fire is cast into the earth. It all depends upon the worthiness of the Lamb who died for us though Him, in Him, with Him, our God. Lord, teach us to so pray!

This article originally appeared in the May, 1994 PCA Messenger.

Persistent Praying Presupposes Faith

1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary....And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
- Luke 18:1-8

The main thing that we need to see in the parable and the concluding statement made by our Lord Jesus in verse 8 is that God will vindicate His elect. God will give justice to His people who have been crying out day and night for vindication. In other words, we can keep on praying for the kingdom of God to come because God will surely hear us and will deliver us from all our woes in this life.

Notice that in the parable, the idea of giving justice or vindication is quite prominent. There are two main characters in this parable. One is a helpless widow who desperately cries out for justice because someone had wronged her.

The other character is an ungodly and uncaring judge who keeps on denying and putting off the widow's request for justice. He was refusing to grant her request for a while because he doesn't care for her. But the widow would not take 'no' for an answer.

So when the widow keeps on coming to him to the point of bothering him and wearing him out, he finally yielded to her request.

I like the way one pastor described a modern version of her persistence. He said, “[The judge] no sooner leaves the courtroom to go home for lunch, than this woman dogs his steps all the way to his house. When he comes out to go back to work, there she is. When he goes home at night, she’s there again. Every morning she is parked at the door of the courthouse, waiting for him to show up. Every day he tells her to get lost, but she keeps coming back. He can’t get rid of her! She’s beginning to dominate his life. He begins to hate going to work, because he’s going to be confronted by this nagging woman!” That's a good description of her persistence.

The judge realized that the only way to get rid of her is to grant her request. So he said to himself, “Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.”

And what's the point that Jesus made out of this parable? It is this: If an unrighteous judge can be moved to grant justice to the persistent widow for the wrong reason, HOW MUCH MORE will the Righteous Judge vindicate His people who cry out to Him day and night out of His love and compassion for them?

Indeed, God is unlike the unrighteous judge. In fact He is the opposite of everything the judge was. God loves us and takes care of us as His children in our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, we were enemies of God because of our sin and disobedience. Yes, we were dead in our sins and trespasses and were objects of His wrath.

But because of His great mercy and grace, God freely saved us from His wrath through the propitiatory [wrath-removing] death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of His kindness He forgave us all of our sins, justified us and made us His children by faith in Jesus Christ. Such is the love of God toward us, dear people of God.

Don't you ever think that He has forgotten you when you're suffering and struggling in your life! Don't you dare to say that Christ doesn't care when you are assaulted by the world and the devil each day! Don't even think that God leaves you when you're tempted. No!

Even though Christ is in heaven and waiting for the right time to return, He doesn't leave us like a widow or an orphan. He is not totally remote and uninvolved in your daily struggles. In fact, as the book of Hebrews says, Christ sympathizes with us and he prays for us in time of need. He looks at us with compassion and He does something for us so we can deal with our struggles and pains. When sometimes God is silent to your prayers and longings, don't give up.

Again this is where you must see the role of the Holy Spirit as vital in the Christian life. We confess that both the Father and the Son have sent the Spirit as our Comforter and Enabler. The Spirit's work in us and through us is part of God's providential care so we will not give up but persevere in prayer. The Spirit empowers us to do the will of God and to resist every impulse of our sinful nature to sin (Gal 5.16-25).

He helps you and me to endure every trial and affliction even with joy (1 Thess 1.4-7). He strengthens you in your weakness and even intercedes for you when you do not know what to pray (Rom 8.26-27) and do not WANT to pray.

So you see, Christ's compassion toward us moves Him to equip us with His Spirit so we can keep on praying at all times in spite of the many trials in life.

But dear brothers and sisters, Christ is coming again. We do not know when but He tells us to be ready at all times. And the way to prepare for His coming is to be always on our knees praying, “May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

When Jesus comes again He will completely and swiftly establish His eternal kingdom of justice and righteousness. He will put an end to all our pain and suffering and to all our struggles against the forces of this world. But when He comes will He find us persistently praying? Will He find FAITH in us? That's the challenge of Christ's instruction to persevere in prayer.

Finding Grace in Drawing Near God

(Another meditation on Hebrews 4:16)

If we draw near to God with confidence on the basis of Christ's atoning sacrifice and as our sinless High Priest, we draw near Him for the purpose of obtaining mercy and finding grace (v.16b). God calls us to come boldly into His throne of grace for there we find mercy and grace to help in time of need.

A minister once said, “Prayer is our supply line to God in the battle. His abundant, sustaining grace flows to us through prayer. Because prayer is so vital, the enemy tries to sever that supply line. When we suffer, the enemy often whispers, 'God doesn’t care about you and He isn’t answering. Why waste your time with these worthless prayers?' It’s easy to get discouraged and quit praying, which cuts us off from the very help that we need!”

The Hebrew believers’ problem is that instead of drawing near to God they are in danger of drawing back (10:35). Instead of facing persecution, they seem to be discouraged to the point of going back to their old lifestyle and inadequate religion.

Some of us who are facing many trials might have been tempted to quit following Christ. This is the same struggle that these Hebrew believers were facing. God comforts us with these words of encouragement. He tries to lift our spirits up by looking unto Jesus, our high priest in the presence of God. So let us keep on looking at our Lord and Savior. Let's fix our eyes on Him.

God presents to us His Son, who endured every attack of sin so that you and I may not grow weary. I know that every trial that comes our way has the potential to drive us to self-pity, depression and apathy. Maybe you may have been praying to God to give you victory over besetting sin which haunts you all the time. I don't know how you persevere in such situation.

But the Scripture is clear in instructing us that when such occasion comes, it should drive us, not away from God, but near Him in prayer. When we do, we find help. We find that much needed 'supply' for that specific time of special need, when afflictions abound and temptations press us sorely.

If your faith in God is being tested today, God reminds you to pray with confidence. He would give you the grace to endure and to deliver you from that trouble. Help comes to those who ask for it!

Sometimes, of course, God does not positively answer our prayers. I think of broken vows in marriage, failing health and prolonged suffering of a relative, maybe you think of an unrepentant friend.

Both in all our trials and in our triumphs, God exhorts us to take delight in drawing near Him in prayer for we always find grace to help in time of need, and that time is actually all the time.

I can't help thinking how our Lord Jesus effectively interceded on Peter's behalf in Luke 22:31-32. There He says, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethen." Peter was fully restored to the faith only because of the faithful intercession of our merciful great high priest, Jesus Christ.

As you actively pursue obedience and holiness in life, be aware that there are trials of various kind. But I urge you to keep on pressing to the goal of godliness, asking God's grace and wisdom when troubles come.

On the basis of Christ's redeeming work and constant intercession, your faith is being strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit. Do not doubt the goodness of God when your faith is being tested. Trust His loving-kindness. Believe that in Christ, God will supply your need, even in the most difficult or dangerous circumstance. As you persevere and persist in prayer, God will surely mature your faith. May you and I remain steadfast in the Lord.

God's Faithful Provision - Part 2

Another meditation on Luke 12:22-31 and Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 50

There are times when we wonder, “Since God knows our daily needs and since He promises to give us those needs anyway, why then should we ask for them?” The Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 50 gives us reasons why we ought to ask God for those needs.

First of all, in asking God to provide for our daily physical needs, we are acknowledging that He alone is the source of our daily provision. By praying this request - "Give us this day our daily bread" - we are actually confessing that God is our faithful provider. As in the words of James 1.17, we are acknowledging that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

And we ought to pray this daily, just as we need to ask forgiveness for our sins daily. Yes, God has promised to provide for us and to forgive us our sins, yet He also expects us to plead for these things so that we are reminded daily that He alone is the ultimate fountain of everything good.

When we pray that God would take care for OUR BREAD we admit that God is the rightful source and owner of that bread. On our own we have no right to it, but by virtue of our faith-union with God's Only Begotten Son, the Father granted us the right to ask for and to access and enjoy it. As the Great Creator and Sustainer of all things, He is the true owner of everything in this world.

You must recall that immediately after the creation of Adam, God gave him all things. Adam was also given dominion over the entire creation, which he had the right to use in serving God as His Maker and covenant Lord. But you also remember that Adam lost that dominion in the fall. Because of his sin, he lost the right to all things, being rejected and disinherited by the righteous judgment of God.

Since then, no natural man, dead in his trespasses and sins, has any right, such as the children of God might claim, to the things of this world.

So the perspective of this petition is clearly the perspective of those who are recipients of the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. You pray this request as the children of God redeemed by Christ Jesus our Lord. Scripture tells us that all things are Christ's. He is the One Whom God appointed heir of all things, according to Hebrews 1:2. And through the blood of His cross He also reconciled all things unto Himself.

That means that before the face of God you and I have a right to the things of this world only when we have been united by faith to God in Christ. Unbelievers are usurpers of what rightly belongs first to God, then, in and through Jesus Christ, to us His children. Have you ever thought that way?

This truth must set us free then from being greedy or envious of others. In Luke 12.15, our Lord Jesus tells us, “Take care, and be on your guard against all kinds of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Since we also confess in Lord's Day 10 that all things come to us, not by chance, but from God's fatherly hand, we must be very thankful when God takes care of our needs.

I say this because there are times when we receive from God what we've been asking that we forget to thank Him or appreciate His kindness. There are times when we already receive what we prayed for yet we keep on grumbling or worrying, unsatisfied with what God has already provided. Oh, our sinful heart easily leads us away from God to focus on ourselves and the stuff of life. We easily fall into the trap of turning God’s provision into an idol.

But God's provision is intended not only to make us realize that He is the source of everything good. He also wants us to recognize that apart from His divine blessing, “neither our work and worry nor His gifts can do us any good,” as Lord's Day 50 puts it.

Let me cite one example. When God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt they failed to thank and love the Lord in return. Instead they grumbled and wished to return to Egypt. They've been crying out to the Lord for freedom from their oppressive Egyptian taskmasters. Yet when God heard their cry and brought them out of slavery, it did not do them any good.

Later, when God enable them to enter the Promise Land and enjoy the fruits of the vine they also forgot the Lord. They forgot to thank Him. They forgot to love Him back. And they failed to keep His law. Instead, they enjoyed the benefits of being in the Promise Land without seeking the favor and blessing of the One who, in the first place, has brought them there. They enjoyed the promises of God but they failed to keep His commandments.

Such is so common even among us. And we need to fight daily against this greed and materialistic tendency in us by the power of God’s Spirit. And so through this prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” the Holy Spirit reminds us that it’s in God alone that we find ultimate satisfaction in this life. It is not in the material things that we have but in the fact that in Christ God has accepted us and adopted us as His children. And with that privileged status God has promised to provide. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Rom. 8.33).

When you and I fail to realize that it is in humble recognition that God is the source of all good things and that the way to receive and enjoy these things is through our Lord Jesus Christ, we may be the wealthiest and most successful person in the community yet we can be at the same time the most unsatisfied and restless person.

Until our heart finds satisfaction in God alone through His Son Jesus Christ, our worldly success and convenient life could not do us any good. In fact if all our effort are only aimed at success and convenience in this life we are just spending our time and energy on wrong pursuits which ultimately lead to frustration and destruction.

Jesus said to His disciples in v. 29, “Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.” He doesn’t mean, of course, that you should not work to earn your keep. He is but reminding us not to get worked up over food, clothing, shelter, even money. Let your Father take care of those things for you. He knows that you need them and He will give you those things at the proper time.

Do you know what you need to do? Do you know what you should be pursuing more in this life? See verse 31. You should be seeking the kingdom of God above all else. When you pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” your focus should not be on the bread but on the Giver of the bread. You should be seeking His glory and praise in and through your obedience to Him.

The other goal of our praying the fourth petition in the Lord's Prayer therefore is to seek God's honor, God’s glory, "by giving up our trust in creatures and possessions and to put our trust and confidence in Him alone." In our old nature, we tend to think that we provide everything for ourselves and we own things ourselves. We make our livings. We earn our wages. We buy our food and all kinds of stuff. We buy pieces of land and we build our house. Why do we need God? That's our old nature.

The wise man in Proverbs 30 knows that. So he prays saying, “…give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God” (30:8b-9). We would be wise to learn from this prayer and to really believe it and seek to live it out.

As redeemed and adopted children of God, we pray, “Lord, thank You that You provide for our food and clothes and shelter. You care about those things. You even blessed us with many things that we can live without. Help us therefore not only to believe in Your promise that You would supply our every need but also to learn to put our confidence in You alone and not on ourselves nor on the things that You’ve given us.”

This is the kind of prayer that you and I ought to be asking God always. Our focus must be on God and His kingdom, that is, His righteous sovereign rule over us His people. We recognize that everything is from Him and by Him and for Him, even our possessions, and we must give a careful account for the use of these things.

The reason why God wants us to focus on seeking His kingdom is for you and me to be busy in living out the kingdom principles and standards in our daily lives – principles of righteousness and justice, love and mercy, grace and truth, joy and obedience, freedom and self-control. These are the stuff that we want to see more and more evident in our life at home, in school or work, in the church and in the community.

If you seek to live as a kind employer or as an hardworking employee this week, you will be concerned with truth, righteousness and justice. As you think of your role as a husband or wife, or thinking of how you can be an obedient child to your parents or a diligent student in school, you would never worry about what you would eat, or drink or wear. You would, however be thinking of how to express love to your wife or respect to your husband, or how to honor your parents or faithful to your employer.

If your life orientation is centered on pleasing God and doing what He commands you to do, you would not be worrying about the same things that many people in this world worry a lot.

SO, What is your life goal? Is it loving God and your neighbor as yourself? You will discover yourself that when your priorities are set toward the building of God’s kingdom, the Lord would grant you all that you need pertaining to life and godliness.

It doesn’t mean, of course, that all will be well all the time. But even in the most difficult and trying moment in your life, when your eyes are set on Christ, you would learn to trust God, knowing that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8.28). “Seek God’s kingdom,” our Lord says, “and these things will be added to you” (v.31).

May we never forget that the Lord’s daily provisions are intended not only for us to know that He alone is the source of all good things, but also for us to recognize that these things are for our comfort and motivation to put our trust in God alone. In Christ, He is your gracious Almighty Father.

God's Faithful Provision

A meditation based on Luke 12:22-31 and Lord's Day 50 of the Heidelberg Catechism

My family and I have the privilege which many of you may not have. We have lived both in an eastern third-world setting and in a western more affluent culture in the United States. While there are marked differences between these cultures in terms of socio-economic situation, both cultures are actually plagued by common challenges and problems. Whether you are in the Philippines or in the US, you will see people struggling against greed, idolatry, and materialism.

And the fourth petition in the Lord’s Prayer becomes relevant and illuminating as we will see how the request, “Give us this day our daily bread,” speaks to our current situation.

Some of you might be thinking that this prayer is more appropriate for many people living in poor communities in many slum areas of Metro Manila or any metropolis. I mean when was the last time you prayed, “Lord, I ask that you would provide for my next meal.” Most probably, the kind of prayer that you’ve said may have sounded like, “Lord, please prevent me from eating another meal. Teach me how to control my spending habit. Teach me to save and to give more to others.”

“Give us this day our daily bread,” does seem a little remote, doesn’t it? If we feel that way that may only show that we really do not understand the truth and the implication of this prayer.

What I’d like us to do is to see and understand that both the Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 50 and Luke 12:22-31 highlight the truth that God faithfully provides for our daily needs. God does provide for the needs of His children.

But what is the nature of this provision?

I want you to see, first of all, that though this fourth petition seems to be simple and unimportant compared with the other petitions in the Lord's Prayer, yet it is very significant and it demands a careful study on our part. As the Catechism explains, when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” in effect we are really asking God to provide us not just our everyday food, but ALL our physical needs.

The word bread in the Lord's Prayer has a broader meaning than just an ordinary loaf of bread that we bake or buy from the grocery stores. It actually covers every physical provision necessary for the support of our bodies and preservation of our life in this world. Notice that I did not say 'every physical provision necessary for convenient life or luxurious living in this world.' No. Luxury or extravagance is excluded in this petition.

When Jesus Christ taught this prayer to His disciples, He was not telling them to think of daily banquet at the king’s table when they pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” What He had in my mind however are common necessities – things such as food, clothing, shelter, physical health and, as an extension, the means to acquire them, that is, money. And because these are very basic to human life, many people worry a lot about these needs.

The passage in Luke 12 mentions about food, drink and clothing. These are the kind of things that the Lord has in mind when He used the word 'bread' in the fourth request. In order to live in this world, we basically need food and drink, clothing and shelter. And Jesus says, “Do not be anxious about these things.” Why not? How can Jesus say that these necessities in life should not be our preoccupation as His followers? His short answer to that is in v.30b, “Your Father in heaven knows that you need them.”

Not only that He knows you need them, He also promised in His Word that He's going to provide these things to His children. In Luke 12, our Lord Jesus argues that God the Father Himself feeds and clothes His own people, whom He loves, even as He feeds the ravens or clothes the flowers and grass of the field, which are of lesser value compared to us His children.

So in saying that the Father cares even for the unclean birds, such as the raven, or for the flowers and the grass of the field that are here today and gone tomorrow, Jesus is emphasizing the truth that God will surely 'deliver the goods,' so to speak, to His children. He does this because we are far more valuable to Him than the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.

This calls for faith on our part. The Bible testifies to the fact that God is the faithful Provider of our daily physical provisions. We read many promises from God's Word pertaining to His physical provision for His people. We read for example in Psalm 23 that the Lord is our shepherd, therefore we shall not want. In Psalm 33.18-19, we see similar promise, “But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”

In Psalm 37:25-27 the psalmist testifies, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed. Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever. For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.”

These promises are never to be doubted by us. When God says that you are more valuable than the birds and He will feed you, you have no reason to worry about the next meal or the clothes you need for next year. Believers in poor countries such as the Philippines ought to learn and believe this truth as much as believers in affluent countries.

The practical outworking of this truth may vary however. Perhaps, most of you have only enough food for the next few days and you start to worry about your food for the next week. This prayer should give us the confidence to trust in the Lord and depend on His faithfulness. But maybe to some of you, you have no problem in terms of material provision. What you might be concerned about is how to get rid of some of your stuff and give it to those who may need them soon. This prayer teaches us to be channels of God’s blessing, to be an answer to this petition.

Remember that God's provision has a corporate aspect to it as well. It pertains to OUR bread, not just MY bread. When you pray this prayer, you must not only be thinking about yourself but others as well, especially those who are needy in the household of faith, both near and far.

God's provision for the bread of others may come from the abundance of your blessing. And in many ways, that's how God operates. He pours out His abundant provision to some of us so we learn to be generous and to take care of each other. As a result, we all learn to thank God and praise Him for His faithfulness in providing for our needs.

But as you know, our daily bread may also mean physical strength or healing. To those of you who are suffering from physical pain or illness, or maybe you have a relative who is battling with a deadly disease, you surely can pray this prayer, hoping and trusting God to grant you or your relative the needed energy or cure.

Isn't it comforting to know that our Father in heaven is not offended when we ask Him things that pertain to our physical needs? He cares for your body just as He cares for your soul. Do not be misled by those who teach that God only cares for your soul but not your body. Both are important to God. Jesus Christ saved us both body and soul. The Holy Spirit makes our body as His temple. Thus we honor God as Creator when we accept the fact that our body is important to Him and we ask Him to provide for ALL our physical needs – may it be material or financial, relational or medical.