Remember His Power and Glory

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
1        You, God, are my God,

earnestly I seek you;

I thirst for you,

my whole being longs for you,

in a dry and parched land

where there is no water. 

2        I have seen you in the sanctuary

and beheld your power and your glory.

3        Because your love is better than life,

my lips will glorify you.

4        I will praise you as long as I live,

and in your name I will lift up my hands.

5        I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;

with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

6        On my bed I remember you;

I think of you through the watches of the night.

7        Because you are my help,

I sing in the shadow of your wings.

8        I cling to you;

your right hand upholds me. (Psalm 63:1-8, NIV)

 

REFLECTIONS:
So… it's getting tough now.

Whatever your Lenten discipline, by this stage it should be starting to bite. It's been 22 days since Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. We are roughly halfway through this Lenten journey, and if you've chosen to fast something or give something or practice a new habit, it's probably starting to feel like a struggle by now. We are impatient people, and when pain or discomfort comes our way we typically throw in the towel and give up rather easily. If you're beginning to struggle with your Lenten discipline I want to encourage you: DON'T GIVE UP! 

Psalm 63 offers us a great deal of help when we begin to struggle.

This Psalm brings us, in heart and mind, into God's Temple, the “sanctuary” in Jerusalem. That's where the psalmist remembers “seeing” God and “beholding his power and glory.” Wherever the pilgrim would go afterwards, he or she would carry with them the memory of that time, and the constant reminder of God's majesty.

The Temple in the Old Testament comes into the New Testament wearing skin, bones and flesh. Jesus himself is the true Temple, the place on earth where the living God dwells with his people, revealing his power and glory. That is the message of the whole New Testament, particularly John's Gospel and certain passages in Paul. So when we read psalms like this we should get used to “translating” them—references to the Temple are drawn towards Jesus, and references to the “sanctuary” spring into new life when we think of the Word made flesh, the personal presence of the living God. When we worship Jesus—when we come into the presence of his power and glory in word and sacrament, in prayer and in ministry—that gaze is meant to sustain us in all the dry and dusty places we then have to experience.

But there is a second sense in which the Temple becomes human in the New Testament. By the Holy Spirit, we ourselves, who follow Jesus and recognize him as the human face of the living God, are called to be “a holy temple in the Lord,” “a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22). When we meet together as Christians and when, throughout the day and week, we are consciously living as part of the family of Jesus' people, we are not simply offering mutual encouragement and support in the practice of our faith. We are being God's Temple, the place that God fills with his presence in advance of the time when he will fill the whole world with his love and renewing, healing power (Ephesians 1:23).

These are the realities we need to go back to, in mind and heart, when things are difficult, like the pilgrim going through “a dry and parched land.”


POINT OF ACTION:
“Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.”

“Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.”

Make these promises, these realities, your meditation by day and in the small hours of the night (verse 6). Cling to them until you realize that, actually, it's God's right hand that is holding on to you (verse 8).


WHO AM I?
I am Tres Sansom, and I was deeply challenged by Greg's sermon on fasting this past Sunday. It's been quite a while since I've fasted with any regularity. But, in the past I found it to be one of the most powerful tools for experiencing the power of God's activity in my life. I first began experimenting with fasting after reading Richard Foster's book Celebration of Discipline. But, Dallas Willard's writings on the subject have been the most significant and enlightening for my life. Here's a snippet from one of his articles about silence, solitude, and fasting. I think this short quote goes right along with the theme and message of today's devotional.

Fasting is another long proven way of finding our way into Sabbath, where we live and do our work from the hand of God. In fasting we abstain from our ordinary food to some significant degree and for some significant length of time. Like solitude and silence, it is not done to impress God or merit favor, nor because there is anything wrong with food. Rather, it is done that we may consciously experience the direct sustenance of God to our body and our whole person. We are using the keys to access the kingdom.

 

This understanding of fasting is clearly indicated by Jesus in Matt. 4:4 (with its back reference to Deut.8:2-6) and in John 4:32-34. Fasting is, indeed, feasting. When we have learned well to fast, we will not suffer from it. It will bring strength and joy. We will not be miserable, and so Jesus tells us not to look miserable. (Matt 6:16) Was he suggesting that we fake a condition of joy and sufficiency when we fast? Surely not. He knew that we would "have meat to eat" that others "know not of." I and many others can report that we have repeatedly verified this in experience.

 

Fasting is one way of seeking and finding the actual kingdom of God present and active in our lives. And because we are then more immersed in the reality of the kingdom, practically utilizing the "keys," our lives take on the character and power of Jesus. This will assure us that our work is his work and that he is working. Though we act, and work hard, it is after all not our battle and the outcome is in his hands.