January 2, 2014

• Jonathan Edwards and dullness: "So that it is to no purpose to resolve, except we depend on the grace of God."

  Once again, we're at the beginning of a new year, and once again there's a lot of talk about resolutions. Some of you may be familiar with Jonathan Edwards' "Resolutions." Edwards began keeping a diary in the midst of writing those resolutions, and he wrote the following at the beginning of  a new year:

  1722-23, Tuesday, Jan. 1. Have been dull for several days. Examined whether I have not been guilty of negligence to-day; and resolved, No.

  Wednesday, Jan. 2. Dull. I find, by experience, that, let me make resolutions, and do what I will, with never so many inventions, it is all nothing, and to no purpose at all, without the motions of the Spirit of God; for if the Spirit of God should be as much withdrawn from me always, as for the week past, notwithstanding all I do, I should not grow, but should languish, and miserably fade away. I perceive, if God should withdraw his Spirit a little more, I should not hesitate to break my resolutions, and should soon arrive at my old state. There is no dependence on myself. Our resolutions may be at the highest one day, and yet, the next day, we may be in a miserable dead condition, not at all like the same person who resolved. So that it is to no purpose to resolve, except we depend on the grace of God. For, if it were not for his mere grace, one might be a very good man one day, and a very wicked one the next... Source:  Jonathan Edwards' Works Volume One.
  
  
  Psalm 33:
  12  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
  the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
  13  The LORD looks down from heaven;
  he sees all the children of man;
  14  from where he sits enthroned he looks out
  on all the inhabitants of the earth,
  15  he who fashions the hearts of them all
  and observes all their deeds.
  16  The king is not saved by his great army;
  a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
  17  The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
  and by its great might it cannot rescue.
  18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
  on those who hope in his steadfast love,
  19  that he may deliver their soul from death
  and keep them alive in famine.

  Psalm 147:
  10  His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
  nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
  11  but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
  in those who hope in his steadfast love.

  O LORD our God, along with Jonathan Edwards, we confess that we often find ourselves spiritually dull! Apart from the motions of Your Spirit – without the divine sap flowing from the Vine to the branches – we are nothing, and we can do nothing! Show us that if left to our own devices, we would quickly and painfully discover every thought and intent of our hearts to be only evil continually. Show us that apart from the supply of the Spirit we would irreparably and irretrievably fall.

  Merciful and gracious God, in this new year of 2014, pour out grace upon grace on Your Church, that we may be a delight and a pleasure to You! Fill us with the fear of You, so that as as we seek to make resolutions according to Your will, and as we endeavor to walk in the good works You have ordained for us, we might put no confidence in our flesh, but rather hope in Your steadfast love and trust in Your Holy Spirit to equip us to do Your good pleasure through our risen and reigning Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, all to His glory alone (Heb. 13:20-21).

  There is no happiness or blessing for us apart from having You as our Help. May our boasting be in You continually! May we show our profession of You to be genuine and not lip service, and may we demonstrate we are Your holy nation and Your chosen people as we depend not upon ourselves but upon Your grace. Like Your servant David, may we learn to love, embrace, and call upon You as our strength for the praise of Your name.

  Psalm 18:
  1  I love you, O LORD, my strength.
  2  The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
  my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
  my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
  3  I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
  and I am saved from my enemies.

   

  Psalm 146:
  1  Praise the LORD!
  Praise the LORD, O my soul!
  2  I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
  I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
  3  Put not your trust in princes,
  in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
  4  When his breath departs he returns to the earth;
  on that very day his plans perish.
  5  Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
  whose hope is in the LORD his God,
  6  who made heaven and earth,
  the sea, and all that is in them,
  who keeps faith forever;
  7  who executes justice for the oppressed,
  who gives food to the hungry.
  The LORD sets the prisoners free;
  8  the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
  The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
  the LORD loves the righteous.
  9  The LORD watches over the sojourners;
  he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
  but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
  10  The LORD will reign forever,
  your God, O Zion, to all generations.
  Praise the LORD!

  ---

  Related:

  With the New Year Come New Resolutions, but How Can We Become Entirely New? (Lloyd-Jones)
  New Year’s resolutions? … not “without God’s help” (Jonathan Edwards)
  my best resolutions
  your resolution – “Divine Intervention” by Lecrae
  Blessed dependence ~ “Leaning upon her beloved”
  by my God I can leap over a wall (Psalm 18:29b)
  “I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word)”

   

  • 5:18 PM
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