October 12, 2010

  • Do you know the LORD as your portion? | a hymn by John Newton - letter 80 on assurance & joy

     

    Last night I posted "The Lord of bliss offers us bliss today," my 79the letter on assurance and fighting for joy. I actually originally intended to post a hymn by John Newton at the time, but I was carried away and so the introduction I began writing to the hymn turned into a post of its own...

    If you've read that post you know that I picked up on the word "bliss" last night because in the hymn "What Wondrous Love Is This," Alexander Means called God "the Lord of bliss."

    To my knowledge, the word "bliss" is not found in any commonly used Bible translations, but I did do a little hunting around and found this wonderful hymn by John Newton which mentions bliss. (Yes, there's plenty of room for Group1Crew as well as John Newton and Alexander Means in worship music! "While millions join the theme...")

     

    The LORD Is My Portion
    (Hymn 69 in the Olney Hymns)
    Lamentations 3:24 Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

    The LORD is my portion.
    From pole to pole let others roam,
    And search in vain for bliss;
    My soul is satisfied at home,
    The Lord my portion is.

    Jesus, who on his glorious throne
    Rules heav’n and earth and sea;
    Is pleased to claim me for his own,
    And give himself to me.

    His person fixes all my love,
    His blood removes my fear;
    And while he pleads for me above,
    His arm preserves me here.

    His word of promise is my food,
    His Spirit is my guide;
    Thus daily is my strength renewed
    And all my wants supplied.

    For him I count as gain each loss,
    Disgrace, for him, renown;
    Well may I glory in his cross,
    While he prepares my crown!

    Let worldlings then indulge their boast,
    How much they gain or spend!
    Their joys must soon give up the ghost,
    But mine shall know no end.

    * * *

    John Newton was writing about Christian hedonism well
    before John Piper coined the term.

    The happiness of God in God
    is the foundation of our happiness in God.

    If God did not joyfully uphold and display his glory,
    the ground of our joy would be gone.

    God's pursuit of praise from us
    and our pursuit of pleasure in him
    are in perfect harmony.

    For God is most glorified in us
    when we are most satisfied in him.

    from Piper's "Desiring God"

    * * *

    Of course years before both Piper and Newton,
    we see how the Psalmists were finding joy in God alone.

    Here are just a few examples:

    Psalm 16

    8  I have set the LORD always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
    9  Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
    my flesh also dwells secure.
    10  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
    or let your holy one see corruption.
    11  You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

    Psalm 34

    8  Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!


    Psalm 27

    4  One thing have I asked 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 gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
    and to inquire in his temple.
    5  For he will hide me in his shelter
    in the day of trouble;
    he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
    he will lift me high upon a rock.
    6  And now my head shall be lifted up
    above my enemies all around me,
    and I will offer in his tent
    sacrifices with shouts of joy;
    I will sing and make melody to the LORD.


    Psalm 84

    1  How lovely is your dwelling place,
    O LORD of hosts!
    2  My soul longs, yes, faints
    for the courts of the LORD;
    my heart and flesh sing for joy
    to the living God...

    10  For a day in your courts is better
    than a thousand elsewhere.
    I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
    11  For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
    the LORD bestows favor and honor.
    No good thing does he withhold
    from those who walk uprightly.
    12  O LORD of hosts,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you!

     

    And of course, Jeremiah himself
    (this from the passage on which Newton's hymn was based):

    Lamentations 3

    21  But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:
    22  The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
    23  they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
    24  “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”
    25  The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.
    26  It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the LORD.

    That is the kind of experience of God wants for all His children:

    to enjoy Him and be fully satisfied in Him alone,

    joy and peace in believing,

    full assurance and a sure hope at all times by the Holy Spirit imparting to us an ever-increasing knowledge of the love of God that surpasses understanding.

    Ephesians 3:14  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15  from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16  that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18  may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

    20  Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

    Romans 5:1  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

    I want to be clear about this: the LORD is serious about our being satisfied with Him as our portion.

    Very serious. So serious that He sovereignly ordained His people to be carried away into exile so they might be satisfied in Him alone (emphasis mine):

    Jeremiah 31
    10  “Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
    and declare it in the coastlands far away;
    say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
    and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
    11  For the LORD has ransomed Jacob
    and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
    12  They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
    and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,
    over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
    and over the young of the flock and the herd;
    their life shall be like a watered garden,
    and they shall languish no more.
    13  Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
    and the young men and the old shall be merry.
    I will turn their mourning into joy;
    I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
    14  I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,
    and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
    declares the LORD.”

    (Oh, I am so wanting to unpack that further! ... )

    For those of you who read God's words in Jeremiah 29 (and elsewhere in the Bible) about God's plans to prosper His people, and you're interpreting that as giving you the right to ask for more and more worldly goods and worldly blessings, here's a reality check: Read the whole context! Read the whole Word of God. God is all about Himself being glorified and made much of. He's all about our rejoicing in Him as our Redeemer and in His goodness to us in sending Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners. Psalm 103. We rob God of His due glory when we are satisfied with anything else but Him. We are idolaters when we are satisfied with anything less than Him. We are to be storing up treasures in heaven. We are to be seeking first God, His Kingdom and His righteousness. Do not be foolish! Stop drinking that Kool-Aid prosperity gospel, for it is no good for you. Stop drinking from those broken cisterns and those strange waters. Doing that will only take you further and further away the source of true joy and lasting satisfaction: the LORD Jesus Christ, the Living Water! Do not fall for the lies of the devil. He is not wanting you to enjoy God. He is prowling and scheming to get you to be satisfied in any and all things but Christ and missing out on the fullness of joy that can be found in Christ alone.

    In God's economy, prosperity for a child of God is all about our knowing Him as our portion! Period. It has nothing to do with earthly riches, it's all about our counting Him as precious above all earthly blessings! All!

    * * *

    As I was writing and reflecting on God as my portion this morning, I remembered something I'd written in July 2009. At the time I was miserable in many ways, I was having difficulty persevering (I wrote about this in my post last night), I knew God was not my portion, so I began asking He might be, not that I really understood what I was asking for (not that I fully understand that yet today), but I knew that was a Scriptural request. (Once more a reminder: you can't know what to pray, you can't know if you are praying in God's will if you do not know the Scripture. Our own concepts of God and God's will for us are strikingly different from what we find revealed in the Bible.) We have not because we ask not. Will you ask that you might receive and that your joy in Him might be full, so you might know Him as your portion? (By the way, this is a reminder why it's good to keep track of your prayers somewhere...for then you will see in greater measure God's graciousness to you and be able give Him greater praise when He answers! We can never give Him too much praise. )

    from my post the Lord God must be my strength and my portion (July 3, 2009)

    Lord Jesus, I am weak. You must be my strength. You have told me to be strong in the grace You make available. Be my strength for this day. Let me trust myself to You this day and not to worry about tomorrow. Your grace is sufficient. Your strength is made perfect in my weakness.

    Sunrise after sunrise I must trust Your mercies will be new every morning. Each and every morning I need new mercy and new strength because I am weak and prone to faint. Thanks be to God! Great is Your faithfulness! Your mercies are new every morning!

    The Lord is my portion, says my soul,
    therefore I will hope in him.
    25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.
    26 It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.
    27 It is good for a man that he bear
    the yoke in his youth.
      Lamentations 3:24-24

    Sunset after sunset I must trust Your mercies will be new every evening. Each and every evening I need new mercy and new strength because I am weak and prone to faint. Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God! Great is Your faithfulness! Your mercies are new every evening!

    The Lord is my portion, says my soul,
    therefore I will hope in him.
    25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.
    26 It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.
    27 It is good for a man that he bear
    the yoke in his youth.

    Father, Thank You I can come to Your throne of grace through the shed blood of Jesus. I have been groaning. I thank You that Your Spirit intercedes for me with groanings which cannot be uttered. I thank You that He's groaning for me now and He's groaning alongside me. Keep me abiding at Your throne of grace every moment because every moment is my time of need. Keep me abiding at Your throne of grace for it is only there I will find mercy and grace to help in my time of need. Every moment is my moment of need. Strengthen me to hope in You. I have no other hope. Strengthen me to wait on You. Who else can I wait on? Strengthen me to wait quietly for Your salvation. Strengthen me to take up Your easy yoke. Be faithful to fulfill all Your promises to me for this day. Amen.

     

    * * *

    How about you?
    Are you finding joy in God alone?

    Is the LORD your portion
    or are you like the prodigal son
    roaming and searching in vain for bliss?

    Is the LORD your portion
    or are you like the older son
    who stayed at home but didn't know his father's joy?

    Do you know the LORD as
    your food,
    your guide,
    your strength,
    your supply?

    Is the LORD your portion
    or are you acting like a worldling, seeking in vain to be filled and fulfilled by earthly joys?

    Is the LORD your portion
    able to glory in Him in gain and in loss?

    Is the LORD your portion?
    Are you living like a child of God, blissful in His presence, filled and fulfilled by Him, knowing Him as your chief Joy?

    Do you understand, do you really understand, what Christ did
    when He humbled Himself
    when He made Himself nothing
    when He took the form of a servant
    when He was born in the likeness of men
    when He was tempted like we are and yet without sin
    when He took on your sin
    when He took your punishment
    when He took your guilt
    when He died on the cross
    when He claimed you for His own
    and gave Himself to you?

    Do you see Him sitting on His glorious throne?
    Do you see Him interceding for you at the right hand of Majesty?

    * * *

    Psalm 81
    6  “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
    your hands were freed from the basket.
    7  In distress you called, and I delivered you;
    I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
    I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
    8  Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
    O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
    9  There shall be no strange god among you;
    you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
    10  I am the LORD your God,
    who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
    Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
    11  “But my people did not listen to my voice;
    Israel would not submit to me.
    12  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
    to follow their own counsels.
    13  Oh, that my people would listen to me,
    that Israel would walk in my ways!
    14  I would soon subdue their enemies
    and turn my hand against their foes.
    15  Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him,
    and their fate would last forever.
    16  But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
    and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

    * * *

    Would that God would show you the things that make for your supreme and everlasting satisfaction, joy and peace so you might stop seeking elsewhere and known Him as your perfect portion.

    May He give you ears to hear Him and a heart to draw near to Him to know Him and the joy He alone can give.

    Will you come now to Christ to know Him as your chief Joy and abide with Him there and be wholly satisfied in and with Him?

    Related Scriptures: Isaiah 55, Jeremiah 2, Ezekiel 16, Psalms 16, 34, 73, 142.

    My other letters on assurance & fighting for joy including:

    Other related posts:

    Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Comments (6)

  • "to enjoy the Lord forever!"  My Jesus, I am resting, waiting for the consummation of Your salvation - yet not idle, for we know not the day or the hour.(I like the new picture very much!)

  • @quest4god@revelife - "to enjoy the Lord forever!"  Amen. Beginning now. Praise God He has rejoiced my soul once again.(Re: the picture: thanks. I took it a few years ago and edited it to more of a landscape size. I'd added the pic that night as a test, for the sizing and to see how it would look, etc., but I didn't intend for it to be saved (since I still needed to change the colors a bit), but there it was. Anyhow last night I made a new theme, so it coordinates better. I'm still a Xanga themes novice. But that's how I spent some of the evening last night. That's about the closest I get to doing crafts, I guess. )

  • @naphtali_deer - Speaking of resting...I was thinking the other day about this:  Under the law we would have to "work" first (for six days) and then rest.  Under grace, we first enter into His rest and then go out in our work He has prepared for us to walk in.I'm not prepared to try to make that any more important than an analogy, but it is an interesting way to look at it.Some day I'll try to redo my theme also, but I am better at arts and crafts than I am at computer arts and crafts.

  • @quest4god@revelife - I think it's more than an analogy. I definitely want to think about that more.I find themes a little intimidating and difficult to edit; to me, i.e.- to me, it's not intuitively obvious how to change colors/fonts, etc.; you have to hunt around a little to figure it out, but it's becoming a little easier for me as I've worked w/ it more. I managed to keep my basic format and have gradually tweaked it. I should look through the themes list sometime to see if there's anything new there. I want to have a lot of space for my posts (why might that be? ), but many of the themes really minimize the space.I only did this last night b/c I'd been wanting to, and I wasn't really ready to write anything. Usually I'd rather write than mess with my theme.Some day I'll try to redo my theme also, but I am better at arts and crafts than I am at computer arts and crafts.We each are given gifts as the Lord wills for the building up of the Body. I'm better at computer arts and crafts - barely - my ability in both is pretty slim .

  • Thank you for sharing, I am blessed! I would like to share my testimony, I shared this also on Facebook, THERE IS A SAYING " YOU ARE Strong when you have no other choice but to be strong. True, but knowing that your weak and confessing you need God will get you farther in life with just your Will to Be Strong, I was blessed to know that I AM WEAK,I was told I need to be strong for my children, and don’t get me wrong until this very day, that seed is planted in me. But I learned that I could not even be strong enough on my own, or by the people around me, I called out “ Jesus I want to rest in You” And he showed me that rest in Him was just not sleeping. He really allowed me to rest in Him and everday He strengthens me. I am forever Blessed, By His Will, By His Strength and By His Power and BY His Love. Amen.   God Bless You and May God continue to use you mightily for the advancement of His Kingdom 

  • @KARDIAWHATGODSEES - Amen. Thank YOU so much for sharing your testimony here. It was a blessing to read.Jesus will never fail to answer that prayer: "Jesus I want to rest in You”We rest in Him so we might labor through Him!I love how Hebrews 4:11a (KJV) puts it: "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest..."God's blessings to you also. Ephesians 6:10  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

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naphtali_deer

About me...

Christian hedonist in training. Pressing on to know more and more of the joy of the LORD. Pleading with God to rend the heavens and revive and refresh my own soul, as well as His Church, to His praise, honor and glory.

Thank God. He can make men and women in middle life sing again with a joy that has been chastened by a memory of their past failures. ~ Alan Redpath

My other websites

tent of meeting: Prayer for reformation & revival

(See also Zechariah821. Zechariah821 is a mirror site of tent of meeting, found on WordPress)

deerlifetrumpet: Encouragement for those seeking reformation & revival in the Church

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