THE RIGHT HEART

Psalm 50:14-15  Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High,
15  and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."

In the Old Testament God gave Israel laws that guided them in their offering of sacrifices and the celebration of feasts.  In this psalm, God made sure that the Israelites understood the heart of it.  There always was the danger of Israelites performing sacrifices and celebrating feasts without really realizing what God desired from them, and what He wanted to see in their hearts.  Eventually this was what happened to most of them.

We, Christians, have the same tendency to fall into the same trap of doing the externals without really understanding what God desires from that action or work?  How many of us attend Sunday thinking God is pleased with attendance, and forget that He checks the heart.  How many still serve the Lord in ministry, hoping to gain “plus points” with the Lord, and not with the right motive?  This is, what I believe, the Lord was dealing with in this psalm.

Psalm 50:7-13  "Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God.
8  I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
9  I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens,
10  for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11  I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.
12  If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
13  Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

God was not after their bulls or goats, for every animal of the field is His.  And God did not eat what they brought to the temple.  God has, and will always be, after the heart of the worshipper.  everything we do externally – attend Sunday, give our tithes, serve in ministry, give to the poor – all of these are useless without the right heart.

And what heart was God after?

Psalm 50:14-15 Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High,
15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."

SACRIFICE THANK OFFERINGS TO GOD.  As they were offering sacrifice, their concern was not that they were doing it, but in their hearts they were coming with thankful hearts, thanking the Lord for who He is, for His faithfulness and goodness in their lives.

Giving thanks to God acknowledges His presence and His working in our lives.  We recognize that He is the source of all blessing, that He is the One who gives us strength to accomplish things, and that without Him we would have nothing.  This is why thanksgiving, as simple as it may sound, is pleasing to the Lord.  It is acknowledging that our trust and dependence has been in Him all along.

FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE MOST HIGH.  I think all of us have made a vow to the Lord at one time or another.  It usually comes with an “offering” or prayer.  “Lord, if you grant me this desire I will…”; or “Lord I will serve you with all my heart, wherever and whenever…”.  Sound familiar?  I’m sure the Israelites came to their temple and celebrated feasts with the same heart, offering vows to the Lord.  But the question is – did they fulfill them?

God is not concerned with a vow in itself, but in a heart that is sincere and true when the vow is spoken.  How many of have sincerely come to the Lord and offered our time, money and strength for Him?  Fulfill it.  That’s all God desires.  Why?  He deserves it.

CALL UPON ME IN THE DAY OF TROUBLE.  Another thing God asks – total dependence upon Him.  Many call upon the Lord when they are in deep trouble, because there are some troubles that they feel they can solve on their own.  But God wants us calling upon Him every day, for all troubles, big or small.

It shows our dependence upon the Lord.  And He is pleased with that.  He sees our hearts and knows that we won’t last a day without Him, and that we don’t depend on anyone or anything else in this world.

God’s promise: I will deliver you, and you will honor me."  And this is what pleases God the most – that we honor Him, above all, above everyone else, above all things!  Giving God the honor that only He deserves, for every victory, every vow fulfilled and every blessing!

This is how God wants us coming before Him.  These are what God wants our hearts filled with when we come to Him.  Everything else external does not matter unless we come in THANKSGIVING, we FUFILL OUR VOWS, and we CALL UPON HIM IN THE DAY OF TROUBLE.

Love One Another

1 John 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:8  The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

This is a passage full of love, written by the apostle who was called “the one who Jesus loved” – John.  A number of times in his first letter John calls on his readers to live the teaching of his Lord, echoing the very command that Jesus gave them:

John 13:34-35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Verse 35 always strikes me…this was the proof that someone was Christ’s disciple – if he loved as Jesus loved.  The love of God in the heart of a man, expressed to all men, everyone between a loved one to an enemy, was proof that someone was His disciple.  Not the knowledge of doctrine but the practice of doctrine.  Not the claim that one knew Christ, but the life that proved that one knew Him.  It is no wonder that John reminded his readers again and again.

The passage is full of love.  From the first word, “beloved”, to the last, love is there.  Christians were to live with this one command in their hearts – love one another.

Who are we to love?  Everyone between A to Z, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, the love of Christ should be expressed.  All in different ways, of course, but each one should be loved.  How should we love?  The Lord made it clear – “as I have loved you…”.  The Lord was not going to give a command that He Himself did not show us.  The command to love is founded on the believer having experienced the love of Christ for him.  Love is not something that God is requiring from everyone in the world.  But it is expected from those who were recipients of His gracious love, His unconditional love, poured out upon us in the cross of Jesus Christ.  This is why, if we are Jesus’ disciples, loving one another is expected.

THE SOURCE OF LOVE:  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.  Love is from God.  True love is from God.  The world, with Satan behind it as usual, has twisted and perverted the expression of love.  The world has succeeded to fool many today concerning love.  From a cute emotion, to a fiery sexual lust, love today is expressed in so many ways contrary to what true love is.  If we want to know true love, God is always the answer.  He is the source of love.

And because God is the source of love, and Christians claim to be “of God”, then it is expected that we, too, share the same love that He showed us.

BORN AGAIN WITH LOVE.  And everyone who loves is born of God.  Everyone who loves as God loves has been born of God.  Love, true love, is not inborn in us.  We are born self-centered, selfish, thinking highly of ourselves.  When God brings new birth to a heart He changes that, bringing His love into us.  When He does that we are given the ability to love, through the changed heart that He has wrought.

TO LOVE IS TO KNOW GOD.  And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  Everyone who loves is someone who knows God.  Our knowledge of God shapes the life we live.  If we believe God is a faithful God, we will not always worry or be anxious about life.  If we believe God is sovereign, we will live knowing God is in control, and not trust in the government or in the economy.  If we believe God is love, then we will also love as He wants us to love, bearing with each other and forgiving each other, just as He did us.

Many claim to know God, but their actions contradict that knowledge.  As we get to know God’s love in His Word, and in our everyday life, that same love we share with others.  When we realize what wretched sinners we are, and yet God, in His grace, shows us His love through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, this breaks our heart, breaks our pride, and gives us the freedom to love others in the same way.  Everyone who loves knows God.

GOD IS LOVE.  1 John 4:8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God is love.  Love is not just a teaching of our Lord.  It is not just a command that He wants us to follow.  It is a life that He lived.  It is His character.  It is God.  God is love.

As we love, we are not just obeying a command, we are allowing God to reveal His life through each one of us.  We become His witnesses of this love.

Rom 13:9  The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Rom 13:10  Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Humility, Brokenness, in Prayer

Psalm 61:1  For the director of music. With stringed instruments. Of David. Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.
2  From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3  For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.
4  I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

It takes a lot of humility to come to the Lord in real prayer.  I say “real prayer” because there are some who come in prayer out of tradition, or out of a “bahala na” attitude with God.  There are even some who pray not because they truly trust in the Lord, but because they know they have the situation in their hands – they just need the Lord’s “help”.  True prayer is one that shows total dependence in the Lord, that there is no one else, nothing else, that will bring the answer except God.

In David’s psalm 61 he gives us hints of how he was humbled, broken enough, to come to the Lord to seek Him.

Hear my cry, O God.  David’s prayer was a cry.  Whether this means a shout, or a weeping, he was in a position where he needed the Lord to hear, to listen to his prayer.  When we pray our hearts silently cry out to him to help us.  For some of us the “cry” is literal, as we pray privately.  What is important is our hearts cry to the Lord.

Have you noticed that God brings us to circumstances that cause us to cry out to Him?  This happens especially when our hearts get used to the quick, rushed and summarized prayers.  But when we are in dire circumstances notice how we begin to really cry out to the Lord.  That’s the prayer God seeks from us, good or bad circumstances.

From the ends of the earth I call to you.  David felt as if he was in the farthest side of the earth, crying out to heaven.  Of course scientifically there is no such gap that exists between the earth and heaven, for God is everywhere, beside us even when we pray.  But this was how he felt.

There are times when the Lord has to let us feel this – that even if we are surrounded with all the technology, all the science and human wisdom…even if we are surrounded by friends, loved ones and people of influence – yet there will be times when even when we have all these we will still cry to the Lord, and it will seem as if we’re so far.  Especially if we have been depending on these things or people for so long.

I call as my heart grows faint.  The KJV version says “when my heart is overwhelmed”.  That’s when we’re faint – when we are overwhelmed by all the circumstances that surround us.  And yet, even with a faint heart, David garnered all his strength to call upon the Lord.

God, in His wisdom, knows what we need to be overwhelmed, when our hearts need to grow faint, before we truly call upon Him.  He will always be there to answer.  He just needs to humble us sometimes, make us realize that we cannot trust even in our own hearts.

There are many self-reliant people in the world.  When their hearts grow faint they feel it is the end of the world.  For the Lord it’s the beginning of true faith and trust in Him, for we realize that, though we grow faint and tired, our God is strong and does not slumber or sleep.

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.  The key word here is “higher”.  It is when we finally believe that there is a rock that is higher than us that true prayer flows from our hearts.  Many have called other people their “rock”, their strength, and humanly speaking they may have been…for a while.  But for us to truly come to the Lord, trusting Him in prayer He must be the higher rock that we can cling on.

For You have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.  When we finally admit that we are a people who run away, who hide, in a strong refuge and tower – and not in ourselves – that is when we are truly coming to God.  It is His tent, His dwelling place, that gives us security, not ourselves.

What a beautiful place to be in – a place of total humility, trust and dependence upon God.  May this always be the atmosphere that surrounds our prayer to the Lord.