Asaph’s Trial: Banking on God’s Faithfulness

When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. Psa 73:16  

The Rich and Poor Divide: When Believing Joyfully is Severely Tested

Injustices come in different shades. But the end is always the same, bitterness. Asaph was besieged by the one which is probably the oldest, the commonest, and the most painful: economic injustice, or the idolization of corruption by the “wicked rich.”

In such times covetousness becomes an everyday reality. We desire, but we lack, so says Scripture, we ask, but we ask amiss, because we ask to feed our lust. And nothing but the grace of God can save a believer from such bitterness, and nothing but the grace of God saved Asaph’s faith from a complete shipwreck.

Asaph was a choir master in the house of God. This service had been inaugurated by David during his reign as king over Israel. Asaph went ahead to compose some of the psalms which bear his name in the Bible up to this day.

First, he begins with the obvious admission that God is good. It is a good place to begin, even though the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. May his beginning be also our beginning, when we are sorely tried, as he was.

A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. 

But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. Psa 73:1-2 

What follows is bold. A shy man would have leapt in stoicism. But not a godly man like Asaph. His isn’t an outburst but a prayer. It is the cry of a son to his father.

For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. 

They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. 

Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. 

Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. 

They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. 

            They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Psa 73:3-9 

 In Search of a Perspective

Some rich people are not just content to be rich, but they must flaunt it, and they must not only flaunt it, but they must also lecture everybody who isn’t like them as being lazy and jealous. Their words sting, as always, they are calculated to sting.

Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. 

And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? 

Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Psa 73:10-12

The prophet has called them rightly by their (and ours too before we got saved) depravity.

Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 

Their feet are swift to shed blood: 

Destruction and misery are in their ways: 

And the way of peace have they not known: 

There is no fear of God before their eyes. Rom 3:13-18

The godly everywhere and in every generation have felt the pangs which Asaph felt, and Jesus himself was many times the object of ridicule because of his teachings which railed against man in all his shades of wickedness. The ungodly have always loved darkness, because their deeds are evil, and therefore they have always repined against any penetration of light.

Asaph was where all of us sometimes find ourselves in, especially at a time like this, where evil is called good, and good evil; and where being corrupt is valorized as being smart.

The Pain of Unbelief

It is a place many believers have been to. That place where everything feels strong but faith. Had we believed right? Is God true? Had our believing been in vain? Had God lied?

Probably I am speaking to someone who feels like what Asaph felt. Perhaps your faith is in danger of slipping. Maybe the hardship has reached a breaking point. You believe God. You serve God. You love God. But you are walking. You are struggling. Your shoes are torn. The sun is beating hard on your scalp. While they glide joyfully by in beastly cars, and fly overhead in a maze of aquiline choppers.

And so you are discontented. You are angry. You doubt God. You doubt your faith. You are like Asaph. “When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me” (Psa 73:16). If that is your place right now, may I advise that you do what Asaph did. His option was the best. He didn’t go to the street. He didn’t take arms. He didn’t insult anyone. He simply trusted God.

When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; 

Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. 

Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. 

How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. 

As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. Psa 73:16-20 

The Ministry of Remembrance

Going back to the word of God always brings clarity. It brings perspective. It brings remembrances of those things we were in danger of forgetting: the promises of God, and the faithfulness of God. Go back to the testimony of history. God has always acted on behalf of his saints. In their extremity they found it to be God’s appointed time.

Asaph recognized his sin, and he rightly felt sorry for it. His bitterness had nearly blinded him to the sovereignty and power of God. It is right he felt sorry for his sin. For in his bitterness he had nearly plunged himself into covetousness.

Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. 

So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. Psa 73:21-22 

But quickly Asaph, like the prodigal, came to himself. The light of God showered on him like a comet.

Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. 

Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. 

Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. 

My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. Psa 73:23-26 

There is a glory which the unredeemed know nothing about. But you do. You are redeemed. You are sanctified. You are justified. What can separate you from the love of God? And the apostle has said “nor things present, nor things to come” shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Asaph dived in the word of God, and in there he found his comfort, as we always do.

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 

Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus. Rom 15:4-5  

“Great is thy faithfulness”. Let us fix our eyes on the prize. Let us fix our eyes on the perspective. The word of God will give us that, as it did to Asaph. Jesus has promised us that he will be with us even up to the end, and that he will never leave us nor forsake us. May God grant you joy in believing that.

For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. 

But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works. Psa 73:27-28  

The word of God is a tower, says Solomon, the righteous run to it and they are safe. Again, God is our refuge and strength, and he is a a very present help in times of trouble. So, we count it all joy, knowing that our labour in the Lord is not vain. And as the psalmist has pointed out: He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. 

Wait upon Lord, I say, and again I say, wait.

 

 The Peril of Murmuring

And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! Num 14:2 

The Face of Unbelief

The children of Israel could attest to the powerful hand of God in securing their release from the Egyptian servitude. The miracles which God performed were still fresh in their minds: the parting of the Red Sea, the drawing of water from a rock, and the ten plagues of frogs, lice, flies, and the death of the firstborns.

They saw that and believed God.

Yet it would seem something was also plaguing their minds. Their nerves continually swayed between belief and despair. They chafed easily. Just a little discomfort and their anger burst forth in a torrent. And their language was acerbic.    

And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Exo 14:11  

Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. Exo 14:12  

Nothing accounts for our fallen nature more clearly than this wilderness experience. The theologian John Calvin said we are totally depraved, meaning we are not able to do anything good by ourselves except by the grace of God.

There is a murmuring which is explicit, and another implicit, one breaking forth by way of the mouth, and another breaking inside the heart. On a daily basis I believe we murmur a thousand times. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Rom 7:18-19). 

The work of leadership is not easy, and especially that of leading people. Except God had been with Moses he should never have accomplished it.

Time and time again Moses rebuked the people that their murmuring was not against him but against God, but that did not improve their temper. It only made them livid.

And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? Exo 15:24  

And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. Exo 16:2  

And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Exo 16:3  

And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? Exo 17:3  

And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? 

And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Num 14:3-4  

Murmuring is like the Rain which does not Stop

Murmuring is ugly, whether it is coming from a child or an adult. It disfigures not only the face but also the soul. And it displeases God.

Paul in the New Testament recalls this scene to the believers of the Corinthian church.

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 

And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 

And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 

And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 

But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 

Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 

Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 

Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 

Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. 

Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 1Co 10:1-11  

To Demonstrate or to Believe?

I was aroused to this topic by the events which are occurring in our country. Before the present leader that we have we had another one, but even in the leadership of the former people were still grumbling. Life was getting harder and the result was discontentment. Also, the dawn of the prosperity gospel made matters worse. It filled people with false hope. But where is the preaching of the cross? Where is the suffering church?

The present leader came through a populist mantra which left people convinced he would uplift their lives. He is now in his third year but the discontentment in the country is palpable. Life is still hard, perhaps harder than before, and the result has been our people taking to the streets to demonstrate.

However, chaos always breaks out, sometimes leading to deaths. What is even more exacerbating is watching the police carry these operations with the aid of goons, and by extension state operatives.

Now our leader is ostensibly a godly man. I will not judge him, but God will. We shall all come before him on the judgment day.

But isn't there Someone for a Time like This?

But my thoughts are on how should believers view these things, and how we should react. Should believers also take to the streets in demonstrating against the government?

Yes, I believe we too have a civic and God ordained duty to call out the failings in our leaders, albeit doing so reverently, and in the fear of God.

As believers we have a better way than that of demonstrating in the streets. We have the word of God, we have his power, and we have prayer.

In Ezekiel we see God admonishing him thus:

Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. 

When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 

Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 

Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 

Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul. Eze 3:17-21 

So, believers are called not only to pray for our leaders but also to warn them. A godly leader does not make his people murmur. He should lead them to prosperity and not to ruin. On the other hand, the people being led are also not to murmur, but to make all their requests known to God; having told their leader what they feel about his leadership. And then they are to leave matters to God.

And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 

And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. 2Ti 2:24-26  

Yes, there comes a time too for believers to be as bold as Esther was, after her uncle Mordecai had warned her. As it is written:

Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. 

For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Est 4:13-14  

And the reply which Esther gave remains a powerful motto even to this day.

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. Est 4:16  

So, the question which we should ask is where are our church leaders as all this is happening? Where are our leader’s pastors? What do they tell him?

Remember God has placed you where you are today for a time like this. And so you are either a true prophet of God or a false one.

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. Mat 7:15-17  

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 

And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 

And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 2Pe 2:1-3  

So fellow believers, we are to pray, and we are to fast. Let’s remember this country before God. God hears, and God acts. But at his time.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Eph 6:11-13  

When the children of Israel cried to him in Egypt God heard and came and delivered them through Moses. Though they soon forgot, and murmured more!

Perhaps the mistake is our own? Perhaps we are impatient? Perhaps we want change too fast? Yes, we have prayed, but have we waited? Are we going to rush God, or find fault with his slowness? God forbid!

Nevertheless, we are to respect our leaders, without maligning them, as they are ruling by God’s will.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 

Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 

For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 

For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 

Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 

For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. 

Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Rom 13:1-6  

Scripture has much comfort for a suffering church. Let’s take comfort in it always. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” ( 2Pe 2:9). 

The Just Shall Live by Faith

We shall pray, and we shall believe.

Let’s keep on without ceasing.

Let’s climb on the tower daily and watch. 

The promise is for a time but it will come.

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. 

And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. 

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. Hab 2:1-4 

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.  Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Rom 12:19-21 

Avoid Anger, It is Your Enemy

There’s nothing that shall separate us from the love of God. Let’s take shelter in the promises of God. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (Joh 16:33).  

There’s nothing like a cheerful spirit which knows no bounds. I believe such is the faith which glorifies God. Let us be filled with the fruits of the spirit at all times.

Anger will not solve anything. It makes things worse, and eventually leads to death. But we are not called to perdition but to victory. As Paul rightly says, we are more than conquers. And nothing will separate us from the love of God, not anything present, nor anything to come (Rom 8:31-39). No matter what the circumstances let’s remain cheerful. Let us give praise to God at all times. For that is the will of God and an antidote to murmuring. Check how Habakkuk was valiant even in suffering!

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: 

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 

The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. Hab 3:17-19  

Such is the believers’ enduring spirit. “Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies” (Psa 60:12).  

Let’s thank God for the air we breathe, for the sun, and the stars over our heads at night. Let’s thank him for the gift of life, and for the privilege of being called his children. Let’s thank him for this far he has brought us. Let’s thank him for the dreams which flutter in the mind at night, and also for the ones which have died, and that he might revive us again, for he has promised that he will never leave us nor forsake us.

Let us count our blessings more than the things we have missed. For after this leader there will come another, and another… Let us learn to temper our expectations, for even angels fail.

Let us always be imbued with an eternal perspective. For we have no continuing city here, but we are pilgrims and sojourners. Our dwelling place is in heaven. And we believe God that what he is preparing for us is the best, forever without tears, without sorrow, and without death. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

There is a Thing which is Better than Life

Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Psa 63:3 

A Voice from the Wilderness

David's expression is cryptic. What is better than life? Isn’t life an end in itself? Or is there more? According to David, there is more, and it’s God’s love, his steadfastness, or his faithfulness.

David’s God is a God of covenant, the God who keeps his word.

To the optimist, life is good, full stop. To the fatalist, life is good or bad according to what it hands you. To the atheist life is a shadow, and there’s nothing more.

What of the God believer? Solomon the preacher launches his homily with: “It is useless (vanity), useless, everything is useless.”

Then there is that verse in Isaiah which, still having life as its motif, launches:

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: 

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. 

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. Isa 40:6-8 

But David, speaking in poetic nuance, says God’s lovingkindness is better than life! And so, in a roundabout way, we come to learn that life is a matter of revelation, and not syntax.

And it is the sort of knowledge which prompts one to sing, every day, and wherever one is. David’s thirst found him in the wilderness, that place loved by God, for meeting his people.

Wilderness is a place of intense thirst, but even more of deep knowledge. So we have the treasury of David in the psalms. It is a bottle full of his tears, which God prepared for him, so that we, of this present age, might find comfort and patience. As it is written:

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 1Co 10:11  

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Rom 15:4  

Life and Thirst

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. Psa 63:1 

“O God.”

It just shoots from the lip: O God. As if it’s a child crying for help. What prompts the heart to skip a beat like that? Sorrow? Shock? Joy? Gladness? Doubt? Trust?

“Thou art my God.”

It is the testimony of history. Sometimes the testimony of the heart. It is what the saints have known, and what they have told us.  

We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. Psa 44:1  

Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. Psa 78:3  

O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Psa 139:1  

“Early will I seek thee.”

I will do it the first thing, O God. You are my Father, my everything. You are my God. You will come first. My times are in thy hand.   

My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

My soul, my heart, my life. I want you, O God. where are you? “longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land”. My heart pants. I hunger for your love, I hunger for your mercy, O God…   

What is a desert place, and what is a dry land? It is the soul which is dry; it is the heart that is famished. It’s the language of the Spirit, the language redolent with memories of years…

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. Psa 23:1  

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Psa 23:4  

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. 

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. 

One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. 

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. 

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD. Psa 27:1-6  

Even in a dry and thirsty land God still speaks. I shall not lack. And David was in a wilderness. And David’s sighs were beyond this life.

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psa 16:11  

And this is the life which the saints have seen, and have declared, that here they are not citizens, but strangers. So the world does not understand them.

For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 

And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 

But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. Heb 11:14-16  

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 1Jn 5:11-12  

A Living Life, and a Dead Life

It is a mystery. This life.

It was created by God. It was “killed” by him (through the sin of man), and it was recreated by him. And now the believer lives by the power of the Spirit. The unbeliever is not alive to this power. And one day life will not be a mystery anymore.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. 

For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. Joh 5:24-26 

The Thirst is Finished, and Yet it is Not

I can understand now why, at Pentecost, the first believers were thought drunk. Or why some thought Christ was mad. For revelation in God will always arouse a rapturous response in the heart. It’s the poetry of the heart. It is why some fear open confession about Christ. The fear of sounding foolish is very real.

Though it need not. There is no fear in love.

Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. Psa 60:12  

And such is the truth, which sets a man free – free to go back home, free to sing, free to dance, and sometimes free to just sit quietly by the Father, and gaze. It’s the thirst caught in the throat. The thirst we shall know, when we arrive.

Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand? Job 26:14  

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1Jn 3:2  

What the Soul Knows Very Well

It is the intrusion of light against darkness. When it happens there’s no more fear.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Joh 8:12  

Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. 

But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because

there is no light in him. Joh 11:9-10  

David was surrounded by darkness, and yet how much light was about him!

David knew. David was at peace, though he was in the wilderness.

Where are you right now?

Are you worried?

Is there no light?

Hold onto him. He is faithful. Trust him.

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 

Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. 

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. 

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Psa 139:7-14 

God grant that he will give you a life which your soul will know very well.