April 23, 2012
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Jeremiah's Lament ... my lament: "My throat is parched, this place so dry"
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
“Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say,
Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD.
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.
Do not trust in these deceptive words:
‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’
(Jeremiah 7:1-4)My throat is parched, this place so dry
With fear and trembling, I bow and cryO! Spark! O! Blessed fire of grace
Come and kindle, my need is great!The lions roar, the dogs do tear
Where is our rescue? Are You there?In dust and ashes, no comfort found
The heavens brass - nary a soundTempted to despair, to make shipwreck
To stop contending for precious faithAuthor of faith, finish what You began
Our help is in You; vain is help of manLike a lonely sparrow, I lie awake
Have mercy on us for Your name's sake!My friends all scattered, on You I rely
In Your majesty, ride through the skies!The earthly cisterns futile and vain
O visit us! Doctrine drop like rain!The wicked encircle me all around
Beguile, confuse, and confoundTruth has perished, cut off from their lips
How can I stand? How can I persist?Seeking teachers to suit their own passions
Unsound preachers robed in current fashionA fountain of tears are my eyes
Their ears itch, entertaining liesWolves in sheep's clothing: Satan's disguise
They bend their tongues like bows for liesA horrible thing has happened in the land
Lightly esteemed the Christ, built on sinking sandScoffed at the Rock of our salvation
Provoked You with our abominationsWe kicked, we forsook our God who gave us birth
Trusted our beauty, exalted human worthBut Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked:
thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness;
then he forsook God which made him,
and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods,
with abominations provoked they him to anger.
They sacrificed unto devils, not to God;
to gods whom they knew not,
to new gods that came newly up,
whom your fathers feared not.
Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful,
and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
(Deuteronomy 32:15-18, KJV)“And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood,
I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’
You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty.
And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty,
for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you,
declares the Lord GOD.
“But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore
because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby...
(Ezekiel 16:6, 13b-15a)Their trumpet blasts uncertain in the air
Have You not heard? Do You not care?O! Spark! O! Blessed fire of grace
Come and kindle, our need is great!The strange and earthly, I do disdain
I seek gladd'ning oil, Your shining faceUnless I believed, I surely would faint
In Thee I trust. On Thee alone I wait!To finish my course, to stand in the gate,
To proclaim Thy truth, I need Thy graceNo one understands, no not one –
Except my Advocate, God's only Son!Having received this sentence of death
Beyond all measure I am pressedGod forbid I waver and compromise
Shrink back from speaking the words of LifeYou said to ask, and You said to knock
Living Water, burst from flinty rock!
Not a liar, Your promises You keep
You never fail to feed Your sheepO! Spark! O! Blessed fire of grace
Come and kindle, my need is great!From glory to glory, grace to grace
Inflame me in my flickering raceHurry over Bether, the mount so high
Hasten to me! Come! Swiftly fly!Be not a stranger! Do not forsake!
O my God! Arm of the LORD, awake!To look upon Your goodness in desert land
To feel the embrace of Your right handTo sup again, to taste Thy grace
To enter Thy courts, see Thy faceMy greatest ambition, one thing I seek
To dwell with Thee, see Thy beautyGood Shepherd, cast me not away,
I am Your sheep, called by Your NameBy Thee alone can I stand unashamed
For Your glory and renown of Thy NameTo proclaim in Your temple Your sovereign grace
Grant me grace that I might not shrink or faint!O! Spark! O! Blessed fire of grace
Come and kindle, my need is great!My throat is parched, this place so dry
With fear and trembling, I bow and cry
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus...
(II Timothy 2:1)I had fainted,
unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Wait on the LORD:
be of good courage,
and he shall strengthen thine heart:
wait, I say, on the LORD.
(Psalm 27:13-14, KJV)From John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress":
Then I saw in my dream, that the Interpreter took Christian by the hand, and led him into a place where was a fire burning against a wall, and one standing by it, always casting much water upon it, to quench it; yet did the fire burn higher and hotter.Then said Christian, What means this?
The Interpreter answered, This fire is the work of grace that is wrought in the heart; he that casts water upon it, to extinguish and put it out, is the devil: but in that thou seest the fire, notwithstanding, burn higher and hotter, thou shalt also see the reason of that. So he had him about to the back side of the wall, where he saw a man with a vessel of oil in his hand, of the which he did also continually cast (but secretly) into the fire.
Then said Christian, What means this?
The Interpreter answered, This is Christ, who continually, with the oil of his grace, maintains the work already begun in the heart; by the means of which, notwithstanding what the devil can do, the souls of his people prove gracious still. 2 Cor. 12:9. And in that thou sawest that the man stood behind the wall to maintain the fire; this is to teach thee, that it is hard for the tempted to see how this work of grace is maintained in the soul.
Related:John Piper's message at the 2012 Together for the Gospel Conference: Glory, Majesty, Dominion, and Authority Keep Us Safe for Everlasting JoyGalatians 1:10 . . . if I yet pleased men . . .
learning to run without fear
the world says . . . You say . . . I say (a prayer of dedication)dedication 2010 (reflections on God's Word & God's grace)
my flesh lusts against the Spirit & the Spirit lusts against my flesh
the devil and God, passion and vision, lies and truthone woman's (not so secret) addiction
I can't keep walking on eggshells here (more on Revelife, Calvinism, the Body of Christ and self)
As the Visible Disappoints
"Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation" by Joseph Hart
The Shepherd's Examination (Dear shepherds...if you're not feeding the flock, then who will?)
the shepherds' confession: may Christ and His Gospel become a joy and delight to us once more
Happy Birthday, Richard Baxter: Reforming pastoral ministry
Combatting the creepy guys (Sola Scriptura + priesthood of believers)
O, Church, to whom are we listening: the frogs or the nightingale?
never underestimate the prowling lion
the church reformed, always being reformed, lest we become deformed (Reformation Day)
A famine of hearing the words of the Lord
Wake up and tremble, rightly ascribe
"Consider your ways" (Haggai 1)
The Glory of God in Sovereign Electing Grace
the lost treasures of Christianity & the call to pray for revival (Bible reading: Ezra 1)
Reformation Rebels: Are you willing to be a rebel for the sake of the Church?
even among the voices (Bible reading: Nehemiah 6:1-14)Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated 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.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
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Comments (3)
It's been a long time since I'd read that book. Though I don't remember this particular portion, I do believe in the doctrine that it portrays. Christ is the maintainer of the life (fire) that He has given us. Amen!!
Pilgrim's Progress was always a fav of mine. The boys read it in home school. LOTS of spiritual wisdom in this book.
@quest4god@revelife - A couple weeks ago, a friend had sent me a message at a time when I was really down and had included at the end of it a reference to Lev. 6:13 ~ "The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out." The verse served as a real spark to my faith, for as I reflected on it, that Bunyan passage came to mind, as well as Song of Solomon 8:6, the last portion of which is more literally translated: "Flame of Jehovah," which I heard in a sermon by Kenneth Stewart, "God's Jealous Love" ~ http://www.dowanvale.org/images/uploads/DV00793_Gods_Jealous_Love.MP3
@stephensmustang - I'd not actually read the whole book until a few years ago. I'd tried reading it a few other times before that, but I couldn't ever finish it. I think that was because the experiences Bunyan wrote about were so foreign to me. Even though I was saved, I'd not yet begun to see the depth of my sinfulness (that I really was a wretch, as John Newton wrote), and I hadn't begun to enter into any real understanding of the spiritual life as a pilgrimage and the constant warfare that was going on, and so on.