Seeking after God

Today, we will take a look at seeking after God, and the things of God.  What does it mean by “to seek God”, that we often find in Scripture, in both OT and NT?  Could it be that it was referring to a one-off event or occasion?  Or was it often carrying the connotation of a present perfect continuous tense of “always seeking”?

I once read someone (an overly grace or hyper-grace chap) wrote “this Matt 6:33 verses does NOT apply to us, for we, believers {he meant they, overly grace or hyper-grace believers) are already righteous”.  What does Matt 6:33 say?  This is what it says:

Matt 6:33 (Amplified Bible) - But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.

So, there are believers out there, from skewed teachings of their leaders, believe that they are no longer to be seeking any more, the kingdom of God and His righteousness, on the ground that they were told that once they have converted (into a believer), they are completely righteous, perfect even, and have since, be with the full mind of Christ; and that they cannot be, of any other way; and cannot be unrighteous at any point in time anymore; for their belief is that all their sins, including FUTURE ones had been forgiven them at their moment of conversion!  So, to them, essentially, seeking is for the non-believers, and once conversion has taken place, no seeking necessarily; rather their motto is “just bask in grace” (although, it is clear that this Matt 6 was addressing believers {and NOT non-believers}) [If you want a proper exposition of this Matt 6:33 text – click here].

Is there or is there NOT, seeking God, for the believer?  If you so decide like what this chap I referred to, decided, that as a non-believer, you sought, and when you have become a believer, you have found, and there is no more seek or seeking necessary, you will likely to see no impetus to carry yourself in the way Christians are commonly expected to. 

Purportedly, you don’t need to go to church (you are forever righteous; nothing you can know that can change that; it is a voila, already), don’t need to take in, any more of the Word (you have the full mind of Christ); no need to refrain from sins (for all sins, inclusive of FUTURE ones had already been forgiven); don’t need to be counselled or taught of the ways of God (you got the full mind of Christ; purportedly, anything God instructs, you would already know and doing!  No “should” or “ought” necessary?!)

The “I am done seeking, for I am already righteous” posture will cause one to ignore many more of the very fundamental and base requirements of God, for one to walk with God.  Or maybe such people believe they are walking with God! 

Are you in a close walk with God?  The “walk with God”, in Scripture referred to the close walk, the pleasing and satisfactory walk with God.  There are a couple of people in Scripture said to have “walked with God”.  They included Enoch, and we will take a look at him:

Gen 5:21-24 (Amplified Bible) - 21 When Enoch was 65 years old, Methuselah was born. 22 Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God after the birth of Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 And Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God; and he was not, for God took him [home with Him]. Heb 11:5-6 (Amplified Bible) - 5 Because of faith Enoch was caught up and transferred to heaven, so that he did not have a glimpse of death; and he was not found, because God had translated him. For even before he was taken to heaven, he received testimony [still on record] that he had pleased and been satisfactory to God. 6 But {For} without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists {God is} and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].

The “walk” of Enoch is understood as a habitual walk or a walk in habitual fellowship with God or walk in “a manner of life” given over to God.

Enoch lived 365 years.  He did NOT walk with God from day 1; he started walking with God from the age of 65, after the birth of his son, Methuselah. 

Gen 5:22 said that he walked with God for 300 years, before he was taken up (bypassing mortal death) to Heaven by God.  From Heb 11:5-6, we are further told that his walk had been pleasing and satisfactory to God for the reason that he had walked with faith, with God.

The author of Hebrews gave a dual fundamental truth in Heb 11:6, and they are:

1.   Without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to God; and
2.   To come close to God one must “believe God exists and that He rewards” those who earnestly and diligently seek Him.

I will NOT elaborate further here on the faith-truth, that without faith it is impossible to please God.  We will take a more in-depth look at this faith aspect, another time.

Here I will concentrate on the second of the dual-truth. What does it mean “believe God exists and that He rewards” those who ….?  Now, does it mean so narrowly like, “You have to believe God exists, the opposite being you don’t believe He exists”?  I don’t think so. 

If you have NOT believed He exists, you would NOT have become a believer in the first place.  Generally speaking, the Book of Hebrews was directed at believers, and so, this phrase could NOT be about whether or NOT one believes God exists.  Also, to read it so narrowly would be incompatible to the previous verse of referring to a habitual walk with God.  A believer obviously believe God exists; that is the bare minimum; he may NOT know enough about God (his character, his ways, his truths, etc), but he believes God exists. 

Rather, it is more of, it is saying that you have to believe God will come near you as you come near Him {and so, the translation of “God is” is preferred by me}; and His coming near you is the reward of your seeking.  If you earnestly and diligently seek Him, He would be come and “meet” you, or He let Himself to be met by you; or He would come and walk with you, or He let Himself to be pursued and followed by you (or be walked with, by you).  James 4:8a - Come near to God and he will come near to you.

If one believes, like the overly grace chap I mentioned above, who thinks that he seeks NOT anymore; and so, he, making the scriptures on seeking irrelevant to him, would miss the habitual fellowship walk with God; he would miss “be pleasing and satisfactory to God”, for he would have thought (true to his belief) there is just no more condition(s) to pleasing God, and when such is his belief, he would have just assumed God is walking WITH him. 

Once, I followed a blog of an overly grace believer (a UK chap) for sometimes; and he talked about his journey from IC (institutional churches – traditional ones), to CC (cyber churches – the overly grace ones), to “Once you laid hold of “you are just to bask in grace” {of the grace revolution (teaching)}, you have the “permissive will” of God to live life as you think fit”!  [I am NOT saying there is no such thing as the “permissive will” of God, but it must necessarily be framed against the character of God and His ways; the unqualified “as you think fit” is very dangerous!]

In other words, he has come to believe, through the overly grace teachings that God is walking with him, and he is free to live as he deems fit.  Purportedly, he believes the gift of salvation has forced the hand of God(!) to walk with him!  The overly grace believers, though they do NOT openly admit it, they are purporting “God, you alone, got my butt into salvation, you MUST keep my butt in!  God, you walk me-lo”.  The correct understanding is that it is God is FAITHFUL, NOT God MUST; people fail to see “being faithful” is NOT the same as MUST (as in no choice); being faithful, does NOT necessarily mean God MUST!

Why “seek” is NOT a one-off, but a “seeking after”. The primary reason is because God is holy, and He is unchanging.  Holiness characterises God.  Meaning?  He sticks to holiness, and thinks and does no evil.  When we are evil or unrighteous, we separate ourselves from Him, and so, the walk would no longer be a close one.  Because we are still having the fallen flesh, and we are still in the world (although we are no longer of the world) their desires (both from the flesh {fallen flesh} and world {allures of the world}) can draw us into sins and unrighteousness; and so, we, as believers, still could draw away from our close walk with God or the Lord.

In the above, I quoted James 4:8a as “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” The rest of the verse (James 4:8), reads “Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”  See, there is condition to His drawing near to you; it is NOT God does NOT want to draw near; but if you don’t wash your hands, you don’t purify your hearts, and you are double-minded, you are keeping God at bay. 

The “double-minded” referred to, in James 4, is about the wavering between giving in to the desires of the Spirit (which leads to walking with God), and those of the fallen flesh {Gal 5:17 – desires of the flesh and Spirit are mutually opposing} and the world {James 4:4 – friendship with the world is enmity with God}, both of which, of the fallen flesh and world, are being used by the Devil (and so, following after them could lead you to be deceived by the Evil One).

If you do NOT understand this, soon enough you could fall to sin, and worst still, under the overly grace teaching of purported unchanging righteousness and perfection the moment one is saved, you could think and be deceived into believing that nothing is amiss.

The argument that God is still with us, for God, by His Spirit, indwells us, and so, is walking WITH us (regardless), is NOT correct.  God is omnipresent, and God by His Spirit indwells every believer, but there is a place you will NOT find God is WITH you?  Is there such a place?  “I thought Scripture told us that we cannot hide or run away from God; in the depth of the sea, He is there, into the heaven (sky), He is there; how come, you say there is a place we will NOT find God is WITH us?” 

That place is evil; in evil God is NOT!  I mean God is present, for He, by His Spirit indwells you, but He is NOT present WITH you; He is present but NOT present WITH you.  In evil God is NOT WITH you; He sees you doing evil, but He is NOT WITH you.  The “WITH you” is what we are talking about.  I repeat, James 4:8 tells us that we got to wash our hands, purify our hearts, and NOT be double-minded (James 1:7 – Don’t expect to get anything if you are double-minded; double-minded is also about flip-flopping in the belief of God’s truth). 

Now, you also cannot be proud; James 4:6 – “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”  (But we will NOT dwell into this, here).

The Holy Spirit can be like a guest in your home; He may NOT be with you with some of the things you do in your home.  And if you just “park Him at one corner, and show Him the sign, “Don’t interfere”, He may just sit there and do nothing, and is grieved by you. 

If we honestly want to please God and be satisfactory to Him, we should be giving the Holy Spirit free reign in us; that we should allow Him to prompt us, anything and everything that irks Him, and we have to response positively to His promptings.  If we ignore His prompting, then He may stop prompting.  The Spirit of God does NOT generally go round overwriting your volition.  Seeking after God is allowing the Holy Spirit to tells us what we are to do or NOT to do, and we following such dictates of the Spirit.

In the psalms, we read this: Ps 105:4 - Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.  The Hebrew word for face, here, is the same word also translated as presence.  This means we are to seek God’s presence always, remembering now that it is NOT mere presence, but God’s presence as in He is WITH us.  We look to Him in our endeavour, and rely on His strength; and this means we exercise faith for the endeavor; we do NOT depend fully on our own strength.

People tended to forget that the presence of God can be good or bad; it is good when He is WITH you; bad, and can be very bad indeed, if He is AGAINST you.  When we seek His presence, we have to get to “He is WITH us”. These verses from Hebrews 10 remind:

Hebrews 10:26-31 - 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. [This definitely is referring to believers]

For another NT text on “seek God” is NOT a one-off thing, we look at Acts 15:17 

Acts 15:17 - that the rest of mankind may seek {seek after [KJV]} the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, …

The context of this verse is that Paul and Barnabas had gone to the Council at Jerusalem and talked to the Council concerning what God had been doing among the Gentiles (including signs and wonders).  The Apostle James was here quoting what was happening was in agreement with what the prophets had said.  We can see that the text said that, that even believing Gentiles might seek after the Lord; and so, the “seeking God” is NOT referring to just non-believers seeking God (or that when any of them do find God, that would spell the end of their seeking God).  We, as Gentile believers, are to seek after the Lord; in fact, be seeking after the Lord, always.

Another NT text pointing to seeking rather than a one-off "searched and found", is this Colossian text, Col 3:1-2.

Col 3:1-2 – 1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

The things above, in the Colossian text refers to the Lord and things of the Kingdom.  The Lord was from above; Jesus said this, in John 8:23, “…, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.”

The text began with since our entry into salvation, meaning “from then on, we are to ….[do certain things]”; and then, setting our hearts on something, clearly carries the connotation of perseverance of a position/posture taken; and perseverance necessarily involves length of time, like in one’s life or one’s walk, with God.  If you are still NOT convinced of the connotation, see this OT verse from 1 Chronicles 22.

1 Ch 22:19 (KJV) - Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God;…. (ESV) -  Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God.

The context of this 1 Ch 22 text is that King David was speaking to his son, Solomon; following this command, he, David, asked his son, Solomon to build the Temple.  Solomon was instructed to set his heart and soul to be seeking the LORD always, but we know from Scripture, later in life, King Solomon, neglected this command; he sinned, neglected to purify his heart and was double-minded. 

Solomon was persuaded by his concubines to support the worship of pagan gods, including building high places for the pagan gods.  For this failure of King Solomon, the United Monarchy of Israel got split; the house of David ended up with only Judah in the south, with the Benjamin tribe still loyal to the house; the rest of the 12 Tribes (10 of them) broke away, after King Solomon’s rule.

Here is another warning by King David to his son, Solomon:

1 Ch 28:5-10 (KJV) - 9 And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

I hope it is clear enough that it is foolhardy to think that once we have converted (into a believer), we have done seeking God and the things of God. God is holiness and righteousness; and He is unchanging; us?! We have to continue to pursue His Kingdom and His righteousness in order to walk with Him - one who is holy and righteous; and it is also, we need to walk with Him in order that we can be victorious in our pursuit of His Kingdom and His righteousness.

In John 15, Jesus spoke about the mutual abiding of the vine and branches.  Jesus is the vine, we believers are the branches. Is it you are converted, you are done seeking?  No, let me explain below:

Jesus said in John 15:3, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”  Now, for the transitional phase of Jesus was still walking the earth, the disciples were converted by the word/teaching of Jesus (they had received in).  Jesus said they were made clean by His word (forgiven, atoned for).  However, immediately after that, in v4, Jesus added, “Abide in me, as I also abide in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must abide in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me.”  It is indeed, Jesus has come, and we have been cleansed (forgiven and atoned of our sins, when we entered into salvation), yet Jesus added that we are to abide in Him; NOT just He will abide in us; but we are to abide in Him [first], and He will [continue to] abide in us. 

What is all the abiding for?  It is so that the branch can go on to be fruitful.  People have to understand, what fruit is borne is NOT determined by the branch but the vine; in other words, it is NOT the vine follows after the branch.  The fruit is the fruit of the vine.  What it means is that we seek after God and NOT the other way round; He is the unchanging one; we are to ones who need to be changing/be transformed continually by seeking after Him and the things of His kingdom. 

In v8 of that John 15, Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”  What does this suggest? It is suggesting, from the fruit of your life (your living), people can see you are indeed the branch of the vine.  You and I got to be bearing the same fruit as the vine, and it is the fruit of the vine, NOT our own fruit. This cannot result unless you and I are abiding branches to the vine, or we are seeking after God and the things of God, on-going. If you are trying to bear your own fruit instead of His fruit, He is NOT WITH you, on the other hand when you are bearing His fruit, He is WITH you. 

What is our own fruit and that of the vine?  The former is fruit of our flesh {fallen flesh}, the latter, of the spirit, the Spirit of God.  Getting yourself to be led by the Spirit of God is to be seeking after God.  Scripture (Rom 8:14) has it as “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the [true] sons of God.”

Anthony Chia, high.expressions

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Rejoice in the Lord, always – what’s involved?

Often enough we find this, “rejoice in the Lord”, in Scripture. What does it mean?  There can be several meanings to the word, rejoice (G5463 - chairō). I will be concentrating on the main meaning, such as in Phil 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

“In the Lord”, what it means

I will NOT here, go into the complex “dative” usage in Greek, and it suffices that I distil for us, the “in the Lord”, along this line:

“In the Lord” is about faith and dependence on the Lord. It means the action (in our case, rejoice) is done through a full reliance on the authority, power and ways of the Lord, with a faith that, 1) raises hope leading to endurance through troubles, 2) holds confidence in His love towards us, 3) believes in His wisdom and ability, 4) does NOT doubt He is in control, and 5) trusts He does NOT change of His nature attributes (key of which, is holiness, and so, from that, righteousness and justice).

Rejoice, always – does it make sense?

Scripture is with much exhortation for us to rejoice.  Phil 4:4 said it to rejoice, always.  To rejoice means to be glad, to be filled with joy.  So, we are asked to be glad always, to be filled with joy, always.  But why? 

When it is as said there, always, it means it is we are to be with such a disposition all the time.  What then is this implying?  It is therefore, saying a believer is expected by God to be walking around with gladness and joy.  Is it too much of God to be having such an expectation on us?  No, because He is God and is your God.  In other words, God is saying along the line: If you really know who I am, and that I am your God, how could you NOT be glad and joyous!  So, true joy is rooted in ginosko-knowing who God is and what He has done.

From ginosko-knowing God, your perspective of life will change; and so, too, to lay hold of true joy, one needs to have his perspective of life transformed, from such ginosko-knowing God.  If you want to understand more of what is ginosko-knowing, go read this: I don't know you, evildoer - Part I

Rejoice, always – is it possible?

While the fullness of rejoicing can only be had when we get to the new heaven and new earth (Rev 21:1), at which time, we will come into this:

4He {God} will wipe every tear from their {our} eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."  5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" (Rev 21:4-5), we, as believers, are already in the Kingdom of God, albeit, the earthly phase of it. 

In this phase, it is NOT we would reach perfection or consummation point, still God expects us to grow, including in alignment with His Spirit, over time.  One observable sign of maturity of faith is the degree with which we are able to rejoice always.  When we are able to rejoice always, it speaks volume of our alignment with His Spirit, our faith and dependence on God.

It is most difficult for non-believers to be rejoicing always, but for believers, the achievement can be near-perfect, although it takes much on-going work to get there. 

We, as believers, can reach greater in-road into this, is because we rejoice NOT relying on our own strength; we rejoice, as exhorted in Scripture, in the Lord.  How much in-road into this, depends on your growth in your faith and so, also your depending and resting on the Lord.

When in the Lord, you will rejoice
When we refer to “in the Lord”, we are referring to presently, NOT yesterday you were in the Lord, or next year you will be in the Lord.  It is like “with faith”, for “with faith” is presently you are with faith, it isn’t referring to your past faith or your future faith.  For faith, some HAD the faith, but today if they are without faith, God is NOT pleased now.  Similarly, “in the Lord”, has to be NOW; if now you are in the Lord, you will rejoice, if you are NOT in the Lord now, even if you rejoice, it is a different kind of rejoicing.

Why I talk about this?  Because the expectation of God is that we need to continue to be of faith, and we need to continue to be in the Lord.  Only when we continue to be of faith and continue to be in the Lord, do we still have the hope of glory, have peace and joy.  Yes, we have the hope of glory when we enter into salvation; we have peace from justification which reconciles us back to God, and we rejoice in the hope of glory, but moving forward, unless we continue to be of faith, our hope of glory sags, and along with that, our rejoicing in the hope of glory (base rejoicing) languishes.  

It is important to understand the above, because there are believers who are puzzled about Scripture’s saying we have peace with God through justification (Rom 5:1) and their apparent lack of peace.  Yes, there is a peace from justification, at the time we enter into salvation, but that peace can dissipate when we are no longer “in the Lord”.   Such individuals also will find that they have problem with rejoicing in the hope of glory; it is due to the same reason (NOT in the Lord).  Don’t let careless preachers fool you; salvation is a hope NOT a fact!  Scripture pictures for us, salvation is a hope (Rom 8:24-25, for example), and so, it requires faith, on-going.  When you let your hope of glory languishes, due to your lack of on-going faith, your base rejoicing suffers. 

Peace and joy
Peace and joy are NOT uncommon to be associated together, and indeed, they go together.  To me, it is inappropriate to teach the “having of peace” is NOT so important; on the contrary, it is very important.  Just think, why was Jesus named Prince of Peace?  Peace is so important that Jesus had to come to give it.  The absence of peace is a bane to joy.  

Without peace, it is difficult for one to lay hold of joy or to rejoice.  Scripture, in Romans 14:17-18 speaks of the Kingdom of God as about His righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, and anyone who serves in this manner (in righteousness and with peace and joy of the Spirit) is pleasing to God.  On the other hand, with peace, one can rejoice.  And so, it is very important believers guard their peace.  Our true peace is sourced at God, and comes to us, from Him.

Because the non-believers do NOT have this faith and so, would NOT be depending and resting on the Lord, but instead depending on their own strength, they fail miserably compared to believers.  Believers with shallow faith, too, will find it difficult to be rejoicing always; this is because to be rejoicing always, we need to be rejoicing in the Lord.

The “in the Lord”, as explained above, requires you and I to be working (with the Lord) on our faith and working at knowing God and His ways.  It is only when we know our God well, that He is indeed the God above all gods, who loves us, and is in control and unchanging, and so, is dependable, can we rejoice always.  Now, a most fundamental requirement for peace is “God is with us”.

What is God with you?

Many people brush this “God with us” as non-issue; simply telling themselves that Jesus is Emanuel (God with us), and they have Jesus, and so "God with us", by His Spirit indwelling in them, since they have accepted the Lord as their Saviour. 

“God with us”, has 2 dimensions:  One, a presence – By His indwelling Spirit, for example, the Lord is with us; and two, “with you”, as in He is going along with you or works with you or in agreement with you or is approving of what you are thinking or doing.

Persistent peace (peace that persists) cometh only with the 2^nd dimension in.  If we are without the 2^nd dimension, the “God with us” in terms of His presence by His Holy Spirit, will try to convict us.  And when we numb our conscience (erroneously taught by some overly grace preachers that we should ignore our conscience), we will NOT get true peace, which is the peace (and joy) in and of the Holy Spirit.  We have to get into agreement with the Holy Spirit; He is the one with the peace and joy, always, for He is the one who knows the mind of God, and are always in agreement and acting from that agreement with the Godhead.  When we cooperate and be led by the Holy Spirit, we are working with Him, and He, because He is executing the will and desires of God, His peace and joy is shed abroad in us, as we are in alignment and working with Him.

What about Ps 16:11?

People like to quote, “in the presence of the Lord, there is fullness of joy”, it being part of Ps 16:11.  Isn’t this contrary to what I have just elaborated on “God with us”, that the presence of the Lord is NOT enough?! 

At first glance, it seems so, but if you read the context properly of the quote, “In the presence of the Lord, there is fullness of joy”, you will find that the psalmist, King David, was referring to the eventual state, like what Rev 21:4-5 (quoted above) was talking about.  He was referring to the time after our resurrection to Heaven.  In Heaven, where the Lord is present, you will have the fullness of joy; you cannot be in disagreement with God in Heaven, can you?  No, you will NOT; and so, for that time, only the presence of the Lord needs be mentioned.

Did David NOT mention about rejoicing while he lived (on earth)?  He did, and it is found in the few verses before v11 of Ps16.  Verses 7-9 –

7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.  8 I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.  9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,

King David rejoiced in the LORD, always.  Just put these verses (Ps 16:7-9) against the “in the Lord” meaning given above (at the outset of this article), and you will find David was relying on the LORD, His authority, powers, and ways, and with a faith that raised hope leading to endurance through troubles, etc.  Was David NOT in any trouble, even as he said he rejoiced? Right there in verses 1-2 of Ps 16, we read it –

1 Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.  2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."

(Those wanting to read a complete exposition of Ps 16, can go read this: Ps 16 - King David’s profession of faith)

Always means always

Rejoice in the Lord, always, means always; even in our troubles.  Concerning troubles, Jesus said this, in John 16:33 –

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Jesus spoke about He would be crucified; at which time, the disciples would scatter (“these things”), so that the disciples might have peace.  And with peace they could rejoice; Scripture, in Matt 28:9 (KJV) recorded this, after Jesus’ resurrection:

And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail {G5463 – chairō}. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

Chairō (G5463) was the Greek word used.  KJV, as above, translated it as “All hail”, and NIV, “Greetings”; well, the word was “Rejoice”.  Jesus met the disciples and on seeing them, greeted them with a call to rejoice.

Indeed, believers are a peculiar people; we can still have peace and rejoice in our troubles.  Just look at the Apostle Paul; he was imprisoned, and he still rejoiced.  Acts 16:25 (KJV) - And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

What happened afterwards was this (v26): And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

When we turn to Rom 5:3, it tells us, we also rejoice in our sufferings; and it stated for us, the reason we can rejoice. And the reason is suffering produces perseverance (perseverance of what? Faith) (v3); perseverance, character; and character, hope (v4).  Sufferings or afflictions is used by God to turn our initial faith into a persevering faith, and along with it, a persevering hope of glory; and with that, the base joy (from hope) can persist. It is therefore, important that believers pass through troubles, sufferings or afflictions, in the Lord, for when it is in the Lord, the result is positive.  Have you NOT come across believers who are full of joy despite they have gone through many troubles, and may even be in the midst of one?!  This is because they are in the Lord, always.

Persevering hope is so very important. Have we NOT heard it said, “Without hope, we feel like dying, no more joy”?  It may well come from a true reflection from the soul.  Hope keeps us going cheerfully.

Can’t one grieve or be sorrowful?

Yes, you can, but only for a brief season.  Double-talk?  No, Scripture does NOT suggest we be emotionless (but in emotion, we should NOT sin; and ultimately we should NOT be ruled by our emotion).  Even the Apostle Paul did say this (2 Cor 6:10) - sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.  And there is the godly sorrow, which leads to repentance (2 Cor 7:10). With repentance, there is the restoration and reconciliation back to God; and rejoicing once again can come. 

We should allow people to grieve; it is rather inhumane, NOT to; yet no believer should stay in grief.  We have to learn to let it go; or we say will have to manage our emotion in its proper and right perspective.  King David had experienced that (2 Samuel 11 & 12): He grieved over the death of his son (child from adultery with Bathsheba), afterwards (after 7 days), he let it go, and moved on (and David got another son, Solomon [King Solomon] with Bathsheba).

Conclusion

Is there a call for us to rejoice, always?  Yes.
Is it possible to rejoice, always?  There is no perfection yet, but yes.
How?  By rejoicing in the Lord.
How?  By understanding what “in the Lord” means, and get into it.  We need to grow.  Below I repeat what “in the Lord” means:

“In the Lord” is about faith and dependence on the Lord. It means the action (in our case, rejoice) is done through a full reliance on the authority, power and ways of the Lord, with a faith that, 1) raises hope leading to endurance through troubles, 2) holds confidence in His love towards us, 3) believes in His wisdom and ability, 4) does NOT doubt He is in control, and 5) trust He does NOT change of His nature attributes (key of which, is holiness, and so, from that, righteousness and justice).

After all things said, what is the scenario that we are aiming for, so that we can rest on the Lord, have peace and be of joy?  It is this: Live your life in such a way as to avail yourself to “God is with you”.  No, NOT just His presence by His indwelling Spirit, but with you, as in He is going along with you or works with you or in agreement with you or is approving of what you are thinking or doing; of course, it is NOT He is following you, but you are following after Him, works with Him, in agreement with Him, and think or do that which will have His approval.

What if I fumble? Get back on track. Embrace 1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We need to get back right with God, to be (truly) restored of peace and joy in and of the Spirit.  Keep short account with God.

We don’t teach people to manufacture joy in their own strength; that is wrong.  True joy is that in and of the Holy Spirit being shed abroad in us, yet it is NOT there is no part of us; we have get our perspective of life right (Kingdom [of God] perspective), and “fall in”, so to speak.

Anthony Chia, high.expressions

PS:  When a believer is in trouble, it is NOT always necessary that he sins.  Even with the Lord as our Shepherd, there can be troubles or valleys of the shadow of death that we may have to pass through.  Those wanting understanding of the relationship between “loving God” and “God with us in troubles”, can read this: Ps 23:4-6 - The LORD, as our Shepherd, is with us in our troubles

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Ps 23:4-6 – The LORD, as our Shepherd, is with us in trouble

Ps 23:4-6 - 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Preamble

Psalm 23 is a psalm by King David. 

I have expounded on Ps 23:1 – The Lord is my shepherd,I shall NOT be in want.  In it we talked about if we truly are holding the Lord as our shepherd, we must mean what we declare; we must want to be led by the Shepherd, and NOT go about on our own, as if we got everything that we need to manoeuver through life, outright.

Then, for verses 2-3, in the article, Ps 23:2-3 - Theleading of the LORD, my Shepherd, we looked at the expansion of verse 1, that we shall NOT be in want; NOT in want of our sustenance (what we will eat, drink and wear or shelter), NOT in want of restoration of our soul, and NOT in want of the righteousness Guide (for the NT believers, He is the indwelling Spirit of Christ). 

The trouble times

In the rest of this psalm, vv4-6, David talked about (in addition to the LORD’s seeing to our sustenance, soul restoration, and growth in righteousness) how, if we are led by the LORD, we will NOT need to fear, even when we pass through trouble times.  The psalm culminated into the climax of our blessedness in the earthly phase of Kingdom of God and the heavenly phase.

Psalm 91, too!

This time round when I read this part of the Ps 23, my thought straightaway turns to Ps 91:14-16.  This, I believe, is the prompting of the Spirit.  What is in Ps 91:14-16?

Ps 91:14-16 - 14 "Because he {the psalmist} loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.  15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.  16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

Many would NOT dispute Ps 23 and Ps 91 are among the favorite psalms of believers.  Ps 91 is also known as the Protection Psalm, and many “fall in love with it”, reading its 1^st verse, but sadly, for some, it is without practical understanding of what it said! – “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” (Ps 91:1)

How does one dwell in the shelter of the Most High?  Where is the shelter of the Most High?  Is it a place?  How does one get there?  The verse gives you no comfort and meaning if you know NOT how to be dwelling in the shelter of the Most High!  I am NOT in here to expound on Ps 91; you can get a good exposition of mine, if you read this: Ps 91 – Secret of our well-being   

I will give you the essence of how one gets to dwell in the shelter of the Most High; and it is this: As given in the opening of the text of vv14-16 of Ps 91, love the LORD. 

The common thread – love, obey, follow, be led

How can we correlate Ps 91:14-16 text to Ps 23:4-6, when the Ps 91 text demanded we love the LORD, and we do NOT see that, directly, in the Ps 23 text?  In fact, many people expounded Ps 23 stressing there was no condition whatsoever required, it was all “He (the LORD) makes…; He leads ….; He restores…; He guides ….”; purportedly nothing for us, sheep, to do.

This is what we need to appreciate:  One leads, another is to follow.  The one who leads is no leader to you, if you follow him NOT!  If the LORD is your shepherd, you have to follow Him; if you follow Him NOT, how can He be shepherding you. 

How does one follow another?  You obey; when he says, “Go to the left”, you are to obey and go to the left; when he says, “Go to the right”, you are to obey, too, and go to the right!  For the LORD, our Shepherd, to lead us, we have to follow, and to follow, we have to obey his commands.

Bro. Anthony, but it still does NOT say, “Love the LORD”!  No, no, it does!  How?  The chief way God defines love for Him, is this way:  He who loves Me, obeys my commands (John 14:15), and He who obeys my commands are the one who loves Me (John 14:21a).  In other words, implicit in Ps 23, is that we are to love the LORD, for we need to obey (His commands) in order to follow, and we are to follow, so that we are being led by Him, our Shepherd.

How come, still has valley of shadow of death or trouble?

Below, I put the 2 texts “side by side”, so that we can more clearly see the parallels, and the same theme of the goodness of the LORD that can be available to us, if only we love Him, and obey Him in that love, and so, follow Him, wholeheartedly, and unreservedly.

Ps 23:4-6 - 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Ps 91:14-16 - 14 "Because he {the psalmist} loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.  15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.  16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

When we look at both the texts, it clearly tells us that in our lives, there is no promise by God that, in the entirety of it (our mortal life), there will be no trouble.  Ps 23:4 said, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, ….”; and Ps 91:15, “…. I will be with him (the psalmist) in trouble,…”  In fact, Jesus said (in John 16:33), “In this world, you will have troubles …..”

If you did read the article (on the verses earlier), “Ps 23:2-3 – The leading of the LORD, my Shepherd”, you will remember that it said there, in the verses (2-3), the LORD makes, leads, restores, and guides.  How come there is this, now, in verse 4, “I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”; how are we to make of it?

I repeat what I was trying to say, of the shepherd-sheep metaphor: it was portraying for us a journey; that the Christian life is a journey; nothing of the sort that we have arrived or reached one place or position and that is it; the plurals of the pasture and water were used in verses 2-3; and I stated in my article on that part of the psalm, that the restoration of the soul, it too, was NOT just a one-time salvation restoration alone, but a restoration that needed to maintained; even for the path of righteousness in verse 4, plurals (paths) were used.  All of these were because the whole affair was a journey – moving from one green pasture to another, one quiet water to another, on-going restoration, and moving in paths of righteousness, hopefully, in growth, from glory to glory.  If we follow wholeheartedly and unreservedly, it will result in our growth, and we will move from glory to glory.

But why is there still valley of the shadow of death?  Does the LORD go away, and leave us to travel by ourselves, and we get into the valley of the shadow of death? 

Between one green pasture and another, and between one quiet water and another, there are the valleys of the shadow of death; to go from one pasture ground to another, or from one water to another, we may pass through such a valley of the shadow of death.  You and I pass through it, but if we follow the LORD, the LORD is right there with us, in that passage – that is what verse 4 was saying.  The LORD is able to maneuver us through the valley of the shadow of death.  David, the psalmist, said he would NOT fear, for the LORD was with him.  In Ps 91:15, God said He would be with the psalmist in trouble.  The bad valleys or troubles are there in the fallen world, the world we are still in, are NOT without such, and the LORD does cross through them, bringing us through, to the next green pasture and next quiet water.

Fear NOT, when you are led by the LORD

When the LORD is with us, we need NOT fear any evil; that was what the verse 4 of Ps 23 said; David said the LORD’s staff would bring us comfort, for that was the symbol of power and authority of God.  Not only that, recently, I believe the Holy Spirit has revealed to me, the staff is also a symbol of signs and wonders and miracles. Miracles by the Lord can bring us pass the valley of death or trouble.

What does v5 mean; God prepared a table before David in the presence of his enemy?  This is equivalent to Ps 91:15’s God honoring the psalmist.  God NOT only would be with us, in trouble, when it is we followed Him into it, He would deliver us, and honor us, even before our enemies.

Climax of blessedness

When we follow the LORD’s leading, we would have His favor as that for High Priest; more than satisfied.  In OT time, it was the High Priest who had the privilege of entering into and lingering in the presence of God. In NT, with veil torn, we are high priests who can enter into the presence of God.  How satisfying is, “in the presence of God”?  In what way is our cup overflowing?  Here are some verses telling us what it is like; have you experienced any of them(?):

The presence of God, there is fullness of joy (Ps 16:11);

In the shelter of God’s presence, we are hidden from the intrigues {plots and snares} of men (Ps 31:20);

In Ps 91:16, God said He would satisfy the psalmist, one who love Him, with long life {long, eternal}, and show him His salvation.  In Ps 23:6 the same reads as the psalmist’s exclamation of “surely goodness and love would follow him all the days of his life as he dwells with God in His house {Heaven}, forever”.

Recap

The entire psalm 23 spoke about a journey, from us acknowledging the LORD as our Shepherd, to following Him, to how the LORD would shepherd us, providing us with the sustenance we need, the soul restoration we need, and guiding us in the paths of righteousness, maneuvering us through “rough” patches in earthly life, to finally having us reach the final green pasture and quiet water, Heaven, where we would be with eternal life, experiencing forever, the goodness and love of God for us.  What it requires, is that we love the LORD, we obey Him, and so, follow Him as He leads us, by His Spirit.  There may NOT be trouble-free earthly life, but we fear NOT, the trouble-spots, when we walk with Him through them.  Don’t tread through them on your own, but do so, as the Lord brings you through them.

Life is indeed beautiful because He lives.

Anthony Chia, high.expressions

Comments are welcome here. Alternatively, email them to me @: high.expressions@gmail.com Or just email me your email address so that I can put you on my blog (new entry) notification list. To go back to blog main page, click here.