THE JOY OF FAITH
People who look on Bible religion as gloomy and joyless would do well to study the Book of Psalms.
It is worth note that in this one book of Scripture the words "joy," "joyful," "glad," "gladness," "rejoice," occur more than ninety times.
The Faithful sees the rainbow in the cloud, and hears the Savior’s voice in the storm.
Ps 5:1-11 NIV
5:1 For the director of music. For flutes. A psalm of David.
Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing.
2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
4 You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.
5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.
6 You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors.
7 But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple. 8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies — make straight your way before me.
9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction.
Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit.
10 Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them
"The Contents of the psalm is basing our hope on God's holiness.
a) To Trust God Supremely
b) Start the Day off Right
The psalm, so far as the sentiment is concerned, may be properly regarded as divided into four parts:
I. A Sincere prayer for
a) God to hear him;
b) to attend to his cry,
c) and to deliver him,
d) In his troubles his first act would be each day to call upon God.
C. S. Lewis wrote: “The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.”
Reuben Archer Torrey (January, 1856 – October, 1928), was an American evangelist, pastor, educator, and writer. Torrey wrote: "Oh, men and women, pray through; pray through! Do not just begin to pray and pray a little while and throw up your hands and quit; but pray and pray and pray until God bends the heavens and comes down."
What did R. A. Torrey mean? I suspect he meant that we must pray and keep on praying until we get an answer from God. Perhaps the idea of “praying through to the end of a matter.” Pray until you get an answer. I do think we often give up too quickly when it comes to praying about things.
II. An expression of unwavering confidence in God Care and Mercy
When you reclaim your mornings for Christ:
You say “Good morning Lord” instead of “Good Lord, it’s morning.”
When you reclaim your mornings for Christ:
Your words no longer fall on deaf ears but they rise in eagle wings..
When you reclaim your mornings for Christ:
You no longer wander aimlessly but instead you follow faithfully
When you reclaim your mornings for Christ:
You no longer while away the hours, now you redeem the time for eternity.
When you reclaim your mornings for Christ:
You are no longer rejected like an orphan, but you are accepted as a son.
When you reclaim your mornings for Christ:
You no longer live in fear getting caught but you stare fear down by the power of the cross.
When you reclaim your mornings for Christ:
You are no longer looked at with suspicion but you are called and then commissioned.
When you reclaim your mornings for Christ:
You are no longer satisfied with survival, you hunger for revival.
When you reclaim your mornings for Christ:
It’s no longer who I am, but Whose I am.
It’s no longer where I’ve been, but where I’m going.
It’s not about who I know, but Who I follow.
III. Prayer to God, in view of all this, for his guidance and protection in his perplexities, Ps 5:8-10.
He felt himself surrounded by dangers; he was in perplexity as to the true way of safety; his enemies were powerful, numerous, and treacherous, and he beseeches God, therefore, to interpose and to deliver him from them-even by cutting them off.
He prays that they might fall by their own counsels, and that, as they had rebelled against God, they might be checked and punished as they deserved.
IV. An exhortation, founded on these views, for all to put their trust in God, Ps 5:11-12.
In a speech made in 1863, Abraham Lincoln said, "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."
The Joy of Faith in God
I. IT IS A GREAT JOY TO TRUST GOD. Trust is an indispensable element of a happy life.
A suspicious, distrustful soul is like one walking in a fog, chilling, perplexing, distorting. One of a trustful nature who has no one to trust is like a lonely traveler, bunny and homeless. Mutual confidence is essential to love or friendship worthy the name. But the most faithful, loving friend may disappoint trust through weakness, ignorance, calamity, forgetfulness. Only the all-wise, all-loving, almighty, unchangeably faithful God is worthy of absolute trust - the perfect rest of the soul (Isa 26:3).
II. TRUST IN GOD IS FULL OF JOYFUL EXPECTATION.
It lights up the future (else dim and dark) with the sunshine of certain hope. "We know," etc. (Rom 8:28). Care is the heaviest burden of life; to-morrow weighs heavier to most men than to-day; and this burden faith rolls off on to God (1 Peter 5:7; Isa 43:2).
III. TRUST IN GOD IS FULL OF JOYFUL EXPERIENCE.
If it is joy to trust God, it is double joy to find by experience that he accepts the trust he invites; rewards the faith that lays hold on his promise.' Joshua's experience is the. experience,, of faith in all ages (Josh 24:14). St. Paul could say at the end of his course, I know whom I have believed," etc. (2 Tim 1:12; 4:7,8).
IV. THE GOSPEL HAS OPENED A NEW AND FULLER FOUNTAIN OF JOY,
by supplying a firmer foundation of faith, and clearer knowledge of God, in the Person of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:8).
CONCLUSION.
Delight in worship
1. Keep close to God and worship.
2. Earnestly pray that God, by his grace, would guide and preserve and lead us in his righteousness
3. Commit oneself to a divine guidance,
4. The description he gives of God's people.
5. The righteous put their trust in God
When Martin Luther's puppy happened to be at the table, he looked for a morsel from his master, and watched with open mouth and motionless eyes; he (Martin Luther) said, 'Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on the piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish or hope."
That is the way to pray! FOCUS OR CONCENTRATE ON THE LORD! The only way to survive this world is to focus on the Lord! Let us fix our eyes on Jesus!
