I'm currently studying through the book of Judges, and the account of Jotham, Gideon's youngest son (see Judges 9), stood out to me. Here's Matthew Henry writing about him (emphasis mine):

We have here the only testimony that appears to have been borne against the wicked confederacy of Abimelech and the men of Shechem. It was a sign they had provoked God to depart from them that neither any prophet was sent nor any remarkable judgment, to awaken this stupid people, and to stop the progress of this threatening mischief. Only Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, who by a special providence escaped the common ruin of his family (5), dealt plainly with the Shechemites, and his speech, which is here recorded, shows him to have been a man of such great ingenuity and wisdom, and really such an accomplished gentleman, that we cannot but the more lament the fall of Gideon's sons. Jotham did not go about to raise an army out of the other cities of Israel (in which, one would think, he might have made a good interest for his father's sake), to avenge his brethren's death, much less to set up himself in competition with Abimelech, so groundless was the usurper's suggestion that the sons of Gideon aimed at dominion (2); but he contents himself with giving a faithful reproof to the Shechemites, and fair warning of the fatal consequences. He got an opportunity of speaking to them from the top of Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessings, at the foot of which probably the Shechemites were, upon some occasion or other, gathered together (Josephus says, solemnizing a festival), and it seems they were willing to hear what he had to say.

* * *

O LORD God, thank You and bless You that You know our frame, and You remember we are dust – You know my frame and remember I am dust... and You know all things... and You know how prone I am to DIScontentment. Forgive me for being discontent, restless, and unhappy in the place You have me. Help me to serve You from the heart:  to be content, restful, and happy in the place You have sent me and in the ministry You have appointed to me.

It is Your will for all Your children that we have a walk worthy of You, fully pleasing You, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to Your glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy (~ see Colossians 1:9-12). Holy Father, fill me with the meek and lowly Spirit of Jesus, so I might not only desire to do all Your will, but also to delight to do all Your will – like Your blessed Son. It is only as I humble myself and take His yoke upon me and learn from Him that I will find rest for my soul and joy in Your service no matter the circumstances.

Grant me grace to do no less, nor to do no more than You have ordained for me – and with that to content myself – like Jotham. Fill me with Your heavenly wisdom, that I might ponder the path of my feet and eschew evil, that I might not to turn to the right or to the left, but keep my heart in tune with Yours, my gaze fixed upon You, and my hand to the plow appointed by You, that I might be deemed fit for Your Kingdom.

Most importantly, help me to steadfastly seek Your face, O God, that I might experience the unsurpassed blessing of unalloyed contentment in You – in Your presence is fullness of joy and at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore! ~ Psalm 16:11. Whenever I am tempted to question, to doubt, or to grumble and complain, may my heart overflow and my lips pour forth praise to You, crying "Jotham! Jotham! Jotham!" ~ meaning "Jehovah (is) perfect!" – for You are perfect, O LORD, and all Your ways, though unsearchable and inscrutable, are perfect!

II Samuel 22:31 (ESV)
This God—his way is perfect...

Psalm 40:8
I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart.

Psalm 37:3-4
Trust in the LORD, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
(from "Trust and Obey" by John H. Sammis)

Related:

Priest forever, do not delay! ~ Psalm 110 | letter 165 on assurance and joy
Three Years Later: Dancing & Skipping with Mrs. Durham | Letter 147 on fighting for joy
Martin Luther: “The Spirit … renders the heart glad & free, as the law demands”
Lent V. – You follow me! (Are we steadfastly setting our faces to His will?)
Lenten Reflections: “so Joel had another appointment”
the overwhelmed minister’s prayer and the promise of God’s sufficiency
A Hymn for “Shelf” Times… “Lord, We Know That Thou Art Near Us”

Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the NKJV.

“After Job had almost lost himself in the labyrinth of the divine counsels, how contentedly does he sit down, at length, with this thought: 'Though I know not the way that he takes (for his way is in the sea and his path in the great waters, his thoughts and ways are infinitely above ours and it would be presumption in us to pretend to judge of them), yet he knows the way that I take,' . . . ”

~ from Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Job 23

Priest Forever, Do Not Delay!

Serpentine labyrinth to mine eyes
Abba's loving counsels in disguise
The LORD's chastening do not despise

In this season of the dark night,
In ev'ry command, let me delight,
Living by faith, not by sight

Supply me with strength as my days,
Priest forever, do not delay!
Light my candle, turn night to day

Here I watch upon my tower
Holy dew, sprinkle and shower
Strengthen in the day of Your power

As You drink, lift up my head,
Rescue me from slavish dread
Feed me, fill me, O Living Bread!

No vain comfort, but full consolation,
Fresh oil for happy consecration,
Free, unreserved dedication

My soul, fear Jehovah and be blessed,
Hear His Word, joyfully acquiesce,
Bearing fruit with a heart of gladness

* * *

Psalm 110
3  Your people will offer themselves freely
on the day of your power,
in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
the dew of your youth will be yours.
4  The LORD has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.” . . .
7  He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.

Psalm 112
1  Praise the LORD!
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in his commandments! . . .
4  Light dawns in the darkness for the upright . . .

* * *

"Happy the man fearing Jehovah, in his commandments delighting greatly. There is here not only an obvious connection with the close of the preceding psalm, but an obvious advance upon it or progression of ideas. As the fear of the Lord is there declared to be the principle of all true wisdom, so here it is declared to be the source of all true happiness. The second clause defines the meaning of the first by showing, that the fear there mentioned is a fear consistent with, or rather necessarily involving, a complacent acquiescence in God's will, thus entirely excluding a mere slavish dread, which is incompatible with such a disposition."

~ J.A. Alexander on Psalm 112:1, The Psalms Translated and Explained, Vol. III, 114-115.

* * *

Philippians 2:12-16.
Colossians 1:9-12.

My other letters on assurance and fighting for joy can be found here.

In my last two posts Calvinism & missions? Indeed! Ekballo # 1: TULIP & prayer to the Lord of the harvest and "We're not on Christian cruise ships. We are on battleships." David Sitton @ Ekballo # 2," I blogged on the first two plenary talks given at the Ekballo Midwest Conference, held April 19-20, 2013:

Scott Anderson's talk The Essential Nature of Prayer in the Gospel Mission found here:  http://youtu.be/fuA3p5X32sE

David Sitton's talk Propel the Church, Harvest the Nations found here:  http://youtu.be/6JBqc29qmkA

Today, I'd like to present the third and final plenary talk, "Martyrdom and the Eternal Purpose of the Church" given by Dalton Thomas.

First off, in case you might be tempted to skip over Dalton Thomas' opening prayer, please don't! As you listen, you'll hear the humble and fiery heart and soul of a young man who loves Jesus and is sober-minded and vigilant, single-eyed for Christ, zealous for God's name, and seeking to bring glory to God. Thomas is 27 years old, and given that I'm over 50, I am supremely blessed and encouraged whenever I see God raising up such men and women in the next generation in this era when so many are at ease and complacent in Zion, a day of cheap grace, lukewarmness, and small things here in the West.

Thomas' main text was Ephesians 3:7-13, but before he gets to the text, he prefaces it with the following words (boldface mine, throughout):

The call to martyrdom is not the exaltation of death over life. It is the exaltation of Christ over all things... It's not the call to seek death, it's the call to seek Jesus. And the more that we find Him, the more that we find He is more valuable than life, and more valuable than what we lose in death. And so, the more we love Him, the more we love our lives less, and the more the task of global missions becomes very easy to lay hold of. I don't think we have a missions problem in America. I don't think we have an evangelism problem in America. I think we have a knowledge of Jesus problem in America.

I can't express my delight at hearing these words; they are so very relevant. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you've heard the steady drumbeat of our need to be rooted in right doctrine.

As Thomas introduces the main Scripture text, he says:

This is the text we're gonna look at tonight -- Ephesians chapter 3, which you're probably thinking, "This is not a martyrdom passage." It is.

. . . I do believe this is the most important statement in the Bible about the nature of the Church. Paul uses a phrase that we're gonna to look at tonight, that I think just needs to be contemplated for a couple decades, which is this phrase:  "the eternal purpose of God."

Now tonight, before we look at this, you know, it would be interesting, if we passed around a piece of paper to everybody, and a pen, and said, "Write down your definition of the eternal purpose of God. Fold the paper up and send it up here, and we're gonna go through them." Everyone would give good, Biblical answers, Bible verses that stuck. But I found a number of years ago, when the Lord laid hold of me with this passage, I realized is that what I would have written is not even close to what Paul defined as the eternal purpose of God. I think in order for us to rightly reckon and apprehend the call to frontier missions, I think we need to have a perspective on the eternal purpose of God, lest we be disconnected from the center of it all.

As you listen, see how your definition of the eternal purpose of God lines up with the Biblical definition, which the apostle Paul unfolds in Ephesians 3.

WARNING:  Be prepared to have your head blown up –– but by that I mean blown up in a good way –– more particularly, to have your theology blown up, to have your understanding of God refined and purified and renewed and expanded –– I only say that because I felt like my own head was blowing up (in a good sense) as I first heard Dalton Thomas in person, and once again as I reviewed my notes on his talk a couple months ago, and then once more as I've relistened to the whole talk again over the past few days...

Holy Spirit, You are the Spirit of truth. We confess we have a knowledge of Jesus problem in the Church in America, as well as in our own souls. How can we know God as we ought, how can we love God as we ought, how can we serve God as we ought, how can we live to God as we ought, how can we die for God as we ought, how can we glorify God as we ought –– unless we know the truth about God? Our adversary, the devil, is a deceiver. He is a liar and the father of lies. He transforms himself into an angel of light. He wants to keep us from knowing the truth and loving the truth. Holy God, be merciful and gracious to us, and pour out Your Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. Apart from Your opening our eyes, we have no genuine spiritual sight of You and of Your truth. Your Word is right and pure and true. As we read, listen to, meditate upon, and study Your Word, sanctify and cleanse us. Blow up any false, incorrect, impure, and faulty theological understandings we might be clinging to. Blow up any false, incorrect, impure, and faulty theological underpinnings we may be building upon. Lead us into all truth for the sake of Your blessed name, so we might be a delight and a joy to You, and bring praise, honor and glory to You throughout all the earth. Amen.

ecclesia reformata semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei

[the church reformed, always being reformed, according to the word of God]

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