Your COMPASS for the Journey…on the PATH of Discipleship: February 20-26, 2011
Posted by Isaac Butterworth | Filed under Discipleship, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation
Your COMPASS for the Journey on the PATH of Discipleship is a daily resource designed to help you find direction in your walk with Christ. It includes a ‘Compass’ (a daily reading), a ‘Map’ (a brief comment to aid your understanding of the reading), and an application section called ‘Journey.’
Saturday, February 26, 2011 RESTORED JOY
Compass:
Psalm 30:11-12 ‘You turned my wailing into dancing….’
11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
Map:
Psalm 30 is David’s prayer of thanksgiving for deliverance. His message is clearly stated in verse 2: ‘O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.’ For this reason, he praises God and urges others to do the same: ‘Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name.’ He concludes by claiming that God has completely reversed his fortunes: ‘You turned my wailing into dancing’ (v. 11). To what end? David says that God has done all this so ‘that my heart may sing to you and not be silent’ (v. 12).
Journey:
Think back over the past several months. Have there been times when you called upon God because you were hard pressed and needed his help? How did God deliver you? Take a moment now to thank him for his mercy, and then consider how, like David, you may encourage others to praise God as well.
Tomorrow: THE REMOVAL OF GUILT
Friday, February 25, 2011 THIRSTING FOR GOD
Compass:
Psalm 63:1 ‘…My soul thirsts for you.’
1 O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
Map:
King David is in desert exile, fleeing from those who ‘seek [his] life’ (v. 9). The barren wilderness reminds him of the condition of the human heart when it is separated from God. Like parched, arid land, he longs for God. ‘Earnestly I seek you,’ he says; ‘my soul thirsts for you.’
Journey:
Most people seek fulfillment anywhere else but in God. Few people recognize in intimacy with him the satisfaction of their deepest longings. Look into your own heart today. Does it find its gladness in God? Why or why not?
Tomorrow: RESTORED JOY
Thursday, February 24, 2011 YOUR DEEPEST DESIRE
Compass:
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
Map:
This Psalm, written by Asaph, grapples with the troubling observation that corruption and violence seem to go unpunished. Asaph is embittered by this until he recognizes that, whatever others get away with, all he truly desires is God.
Journey:
Asaph compels us to consider: What if God were all we had? Would it be enough? Can you truly say to God, ‘Earth has nothing I desire besides you’? Do you want to feel this way about God? Tell him.
Tomorrow: THIRSTING FOR GOD
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 ‘AS THE DEER…’
Compass:
Psalm 42:1-2 ‘…My soul pants for you, O God.’
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
Map:
Psalm 42 is a lament to God (a type of Psalm in which there is a complaint, a request of God, and an expression of praise). This Psalm and Psalm 43 may be seen as two parts of the same prayer, one in which the writer feels a deep yearning for God. His soul ‘pants’ for God ‘as the deer pants for…water.’
Journey:
Make it a priority to cultivate this kind of longing for God in your own soul. Resolve today that you never again want to be satisfied with complacency toward God. Better to have an ache for God than a dull heart.
Tomorrow: YOUR DEEPEST DESIRE
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 LOWLY IN SPIRIT
Compass:
Isaiah 57:14-19 ‘I live…also with him who is…lowly in spirit….’
14 And it will be said:
“Build up, build up, prepare the road!
Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.”
15 For this is what the high and lofty One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
16 I will not accuse forever,
nor will I always be angry,
for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me—
the breath of man that I have created.
17 I was enraged by his sinful greed;
I punished him, and hid my face in anger,
yet he kept on in his willful ways.
18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will guide him and restore comfort to him,
19 creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,”
says the LORD. “And I will heal them.”
Map:
Sin enrages God (v. 17), but God is determined to restore and comfort sinners (v. 18). To be restored is not simply to be ‘let off the hook,’ however; God intends to create ‘praise on the lips of the mourners’ (v. 19), that is, those who mourn their sins.
Journey:
We will never understand how destructive our sin is until we see how it arouses God’s anger. We should pray for the grace to grasp how offensive our sin is to a holy God and to be crushed in spirit (the literal meaning of ‘contrition’). If we will embrace ‘godly sorrow,’ which ‘brings repentance’ (2 Corinthians 7:10), God will ‘revive the spirit of the lowly and…the heart of the contrite’ (Isa. 57:15).
Tomorrow: ‘AS THE DEER…’
Monday, February 21, 2011 A CONTRITE HEART
Compass:
Psalm 51:15-17 ‘…A broken and contrite spirit, O God, you will not despise.’
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
Map:
This Psalm’s heading say that this is David’s prayer after Nathan the prophet exposed David’s adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. You can read about this episode in 2 Samuel 11:1-12:23.
Journey:
What do we offer to God after we have sinned against his holiness? David shows us that we have nothing to give to God but ‘a broken spirit,’ but he shows us also that ‘a broken spirit and contrite heart…God…will not despise.’ Pray that God, in his mercy, will help you feel deep sorrow for your sins. Such brokenness is the first step toward healing.
Tomorrow: LOWLY IN SPIRIT
Sunday, February 20, 2011 STRICKEN BY OUR SIN
Compass:
Isaiah 6:5 ‘”Woe to me,” I cried. “I am ruined!”‘
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Map:
We return today to the account of Isaiah’s vision of God in chapter 6 of his book. After seeing the Lord ‘high and exalted,’ the prophet is stricken by his sin. Instead of hiding it from God, however, he confesses it.
Journey:
If confessing your sins to God daily is not a life pattern for you, start today. Unconfessed sin weighs us down (Psalm 32:3-4). ‘If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive our sins…’ (1 John 1:9).
Tomorrow: A CONTRITE HEART
Photo Credit: ‘Garden of the Gods’ by Woodleywonderworks
