February 5, 2011

• the poor & needy & joy ~ Psalm 35:9-10 | letter 105 on assurance & fighting for joy

  In light of God's wonderful leading of me as of late, His appearing to me – my having found grace in the wilderness (Jeremiah 31:1-3) and His bringing me back to my senses (Luke 15:11-24) (please see my last posts here and here), I was pondering "Who is a God like unto Thee?" and came across Psalm 35:10:

  All my bones shall say,
  “O LORD, who is like you,
  delivering the poor
  from him who is too strong for him,
  the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

  Who IS the soul who is able to say ALL my bones shall say, "O LORD, who is like you...?"

  Who IS the soul who is able to say I love You, LORD with ALL my heart, ALL my soul, ALL my strength and ALL my mind?

  Who IS the soul who is able to make such a wholehearted profession?

  First, it is the soul who sees himself as poor and needy.

  Notice how the word poor is repeated.

  Psalms 35:10: All my bones shall say,
  “O LORD, who is like you,
  delivering the poor
  from him who is too strong for him,
  the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

  The world values self-sufficiency and strength, but in God's economy,

  unless we become as little children,
  unless we see our strength is weakness,
  unless we see our wisdom is foolishness,
  unless we see our riches as poverty,
  unless we see ourselves as nothing,

  we will NEVER see Jesus Christ as EVERYTHING, and we will never be able to proclaim with David:

  ALL my bones shall say, "O, LORD who is like YOU?"
  

  Remember Jesus' rebuke to the church at Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-21) about their lapsing into self-sufficiency. Jesus Christ alone is to be our sufficiency. We are a reproach to His name and we rob Him of the glory and honor due His name so long as we are self-sufficient in any way.

  So we have the word poor used twice.

  O LORD, who is like you,
  delivering the poor
  from him who is too strong for him,
  the poor and needy from him who robs him?

  Why is it used twice? Because we need to be reminded! In the Scripture all the words are there for a purpose, and we see this type of repetition used quite often. If you have children or have worked with children, you know how you need to repeat things to them. Well, same with us. Our heavenly Father is gracious with His children, and so He keeps repeating these things for us. Thank God for His condescension to our hard hearts. Thank God He is merciful and longsuffering with us. He knows we are dust. He does not treat us as our sins deserve for Jesus' sake.

  Our flesh nature doesn't like to admit we are poor. We are filled with pride from the top of our head to the sole of our foot. We would much rather be self-sufficient, needing nothing! We are all prone to haughtiness, to exalting every thought against the LORD.

  And in both cases there poor is the same word Hebrew word, `aniy. From Strong's Concordance we see the definition includes adjectives such as afflicted, humble, lowly, needy, poor, wretched, depressed, in mind or circumstance.

  We can't help but love this! (At least I know I love this!)

  We've ALL been `aniy, haven't we?

  Perhaps YOU are feeling pretty `aniy TODAY...

  All right so we've got poor not once, but twice.

  But now look and see, we've got even more to remind us how poor we really are – to press home to us how totally dependent we are on Jesus Christ!

  We've not only got the word poor repeated twice, but we see the word needy. The Hebrew there is 'ebyown . Some of the descriptors there include in the sense of want (especially in feeling); destitute, beggar, needy, poor (man), destitute, subject to oppression and abuse, needing help.

  Until we see, really see, not only profess with our lips, but be able to say it from all our bones that we are poor and needy (not the person sitting next to us at church!), until we see that we need help, until we see that we have NO resources whatsoever, we aren't ever going to be able to say with David,
  
  

  ALL my bones shall say, "O, LORD who is like YOU?"

  The LORD does NOT help those who help themselves, for we can't help ourselves!

  We try in vain over and over and over again to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We try to do God's work apart from God's power, and then comes the glorious day when we fail and fall flat on our face. And it is then that the Lord begins to open our eyes to show us we don't even have any boots on! Failure is very often God's ordained gift to us to show us our insufficiency, to show us we are poor and needy – and to point us to His sufficiency!

  I thought I could live the Christian life without Christ, and so I wasted many years! (And yes, I still lapse today, I admit!) How ludicrous that is: to think we can live the Christian life apart from Jesus Christ! I don't want you to waste your life, HIS life, in that same way I did! Do not neglect the precious gift of the Holy Spirit He has given to all who believe!

  Until we see in and of ourselves we are nothing at all, until we see in and of ourselves we have nothing at all, until we see we are poor and needy, until we see that these words are not just Biblical poetry, until the Holy Spirit comes to convict us and show us that poor and needy truly describes us, then we can't ever understand and appreciate the salvation the LORD has provided for us, and we can't worship the LORD as He deserves, and we can't live the Christian life as He has intended.

  Here were Martin Luther's last words:

  We are beggars: this is true.

  And in the last months of his life, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said,

  When you come to where I am, there is only one thing that matters, that is your relationship to Him and your knowledge of Him. Nothing else matters. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Our best works are tainted. We are sinners saved by grace. We are debtors to mercy alone.

  This is the testimony of all the saints God has used greatly throughout history.

  Just like the apostle Paul:

  For when I am weak, then I am strong.

  Is this your testimony? Do you understand you ARE poor and needy? Do your bones say regularly and boldly
  

  “O LORD, who is like YOU,
  delivering ME, the poor
  from him who is too strong for ME,
  the poor and needy from him who robs ME?”

  
  We've looked at our poverty and neediness and the LORD's sufficiency, but I'd like to look more at this verse so we might have a greater appreciation of the LORD's work on behalf of His people.

  Psalms 35:10: All my bones shall say,
  “O LORD, who is like you,
  delivering the poor
  from him who is too strong for him,
  the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

  The LORD is the God who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him.
  
  The LORD is the God who delivers the poor and needy from him who robs him.

  Once again, we have that repetition.

  The LORD alone can deliver the poor. The LORD alone can deliver the poor and needy. And so it is only those who truly see they are poor and needy, will be able to profess:

  All my bones shall say,
  “O LORD, who is like you,
  delivering the poor
  from him who is too strong for him,
  the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

  All right, I'm still not done gnawing here. Not letting go of this bone yet.  I really feel I'm just getting started...

  The Hebrew word used for delivering is similar to the word for robs.

  To explain:

  The word for the LORD's deliverance is natsal, which can mean to snatch away or pluck.

  While the activities of our enemy, the devil and the works of the devil, our sin, self and the world, is gazal, which can mean to pluck off.

  So while we are poor and needy, while the DEVIL is prowling and scheming and seeking to rob us and to pluck us away from the LORD, the LORD is coming in with all His strength and might and riches to pluck us away from the evil one!

  I suspect that sounds familiar to most of you. The Lord Jesus Christ uses similar language in John 10, as He speaks of Himself as the Good Shepherd and the devil as the thief:

  John 10:7  So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8  All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9  I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12  He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them....

  27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30  I and the Father are one.”

  

  As I said, I've only really just begun gnawing here, and I pray you will continue to gnaw on this – to deeply consider God's work on your behalf. This is not likely going happen if all you're getting of God's Word is on Sunday mornings or in 5 or 10 minute "quiet time." As you look into the Bible in conjunction with the Holy Spirit, and as you let these things soak into your soul and reflect on them, it's only then you'll come to begin to really appreciate the work of God the Father in sending His Son Jesus Christ to redeem and rescue us from the power of the devil and kingdom of darkness. And it's only then that you'll begin to see the inability you have to live the Christian life apart from the power He supplies through His Holy Spirit. And it's only then you'll really begin to say with David:
  
  

  All my bones shall say,
  “O LORD, who is like you,
  delivering the poor
  from him who is too strong for him,
  the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

  We have so easily cheapened our salvation and not really sat and considered and meditated on the work the LORD has done on our behalf. Please sit with verses like this and ponder anew again and afresh what the Lord Almighty has done for your soul! Be like the Psalmist in Psalm 1. Meditate. Plant yourself by the streams of water!

  Each and every one of us is poor and needy. We bring nothing to our salvation but our sin! Apart from Jesus Christ, we can do nothing. Apart from Him, we could do nothing toward our justification. And not only that, but apart from Him, we can do nothing for our own sanctification. The latter is something I sorely missed for years.

  Yes, many of us would agree we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. We know the verses.

  But the thing is, we can't do one thing in our salvation, in either our justification or our sanctification – apart from God's work in us. As Paul says in Philippians 2, or Jesus says in John 15: it is all Christ who is working in us to will and to do of God's good pleasure. He is the Vine, we are the branches. Apart from Him, we can do nothing! Nothing! We are poor and needy! Apart from the grace of God, we can't even begin to raise up a single holy desire in our minds apart from God giving us such a desire, not to mention then our walking it out in action.

  And so now for another answer to those questions . . .

  Who IS the soul who is able to say ALL my bones shall say, "O LORD, who is like you...?"

  Who IS the soul who is able to say I love You, LORD with ALL my heart, ALL my soul, ALL my strength and ALL my mind?

  Who IS the soul who is able to make such a wholehearted profession?
  
  Second, it is the soul who is poor and needy and knows the real threat of the enemy and knows the enemy is a robber and is too strong for him.

  One more thing, I'd like to gnaw on...

  Please indulge me and go back to verse 9:

  Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD,
  exulting in his salvation.

  Who IS this soul who is rejoicing in the LORD and exulting in His salvation?

  The soul who sees himself as poor and needy.

  The soul who see himself as poor and needy and knows the real threat of the enemy and knows the enemy is a robber and is too strong for him.

  You can't have true rejoicing in the LORD and be able to exult in His salvation if you don't understand your poverty and your need.
  
  You can't have true rejoicing in the LORD and be able to exult in His salvation if you don't understand your enemy's strength.

  You can't say with David:
  
  

  Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD,
  exulting in his salvation.
  All my bones shall say,
  “O LORD, who is like you,
  delivering the poor
  from him who is too strong for him,
  the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

  O, that we might give God the glory He deserves. He finds half-hearted and lukewarm worship despicable. Go and gnaw on His Word. Ask Him to show you what He has already done for your soul and what He yet wants to do for your soul. See your poverty and His riches. See your weakness and His strength. Blessed poverty! Blessed weakness!

  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
  Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

  True and vibrant and deep love and worship of the LORD is based on a deepening understanding of doctrine, as we reflect on the character and work of our LORD on our behalf as revealed to us in His Word in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.

  I know many of you made resolutions just last month to be in the Word of God more regularly. I am praying you might have that deepening understanding of His work for you, so your soul might know in a deeper way the extent of the salvation of the LORD and all your bones might be able to rejoice in the LORD and exult in His salvation like David:

  
  Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD,
  exulting in his salvation.
  All my bones shall say,
  “O LORD, who is like you,
  delivering the poor
  from him who is too strong for him,
  the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

  The LORD alone is worthy of ALL our praise! There is NONE like unto HIM! We are a people created to praise Him. I am praying His Spirit might teach all of us to praise Him rightly as He gives us grace to continue to reflect on His rich and mighty deliverance for poor and needy sinners – for beggars like you and me!

  ---

  
  Why not pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
  Blessed are the poor in spirit
  Naphtali News: God speaking to me about my failures & the one thing needful (a post on the Holy Spirit)
  John 3:36a Whoever believes in the Son HAS eternal life (letter 64 on assurance & joy)
  my best resolutions
  At Calvary: Can you say, "I'm with Him"?
  Advent #3 WHY HAS JESUS COME? not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance
  from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet...
  Pondering death ~ Are you a beggar?
  Bible Reading-Luke 5:1-11: Christ's Sufficiency as We Fish
  Bible Reading: Luke--God's Kingdom Economy: Losers Who Win, or
  Thank you, Lord Jesus, for . . . (Letter 30 on assurance & fighting for joy)
  True Calvinism is NOT . . .

  my posts on quiet time including

  Considering Jesus: (1) Making time to consider Jesus
  Considering Jesus: (2) Why do we do quiet time anyhow?
  Get gnawing, put your nose down in the Book to feed the white-hot flame of God's gift
  "Garbage In" (Are you truly His disciple?)

  my other letters on assurance & fighting for joy
  

  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.

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