Praise the Lord for another beautiful day. It is going to be a brilliant day. The weekend leading to Memorial Day promises to be brilliant and glorious. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday evening. It was full of holy laughter, depth sharing and sweet fellowship. Praise the Lord for His promises, that there is fullness of joy in His presence and in His house. We had so much rain the other day that it looks like rain forest all around us, lush, green, and lively.
One of Satan’s most insidious lies is that the Christian life is void of joy, indicating that pursuing sin brings real satisfaction. Puritan Thomas Gataker wrote that "it is the purpose of Satan to persuade us that ‘in the kingdom of God there is nothing but sighing and groaning and fasting and prayer,’ whereas the truth is that ‘in his house there is marrying and giving in marriage, … feasting and rejoicing’”. “William Tyndale described the Christian gospel as ‘good, merry, glad and joyful tidings, that maketh a man’s heart glad, and maketh him sing, and dance, and leap for joy’” .
We do not, however, need the citations of the Puritans to refute Satan’s lies. The Bible itself repeatedly proclaims the soul-satisfying joy of knowing God. David exulted
(Ps. 16:11), “In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” Psalm 34:8: “O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”
Psalm 36:7-8: “How precious is Your loving kindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.”
Psalm 63:3-5: “Because Your loving kindness is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.”
These verses do not sound like the wounded cries of a deprived soul who was enduring a life devoid of pleasure! Over and over the Psalms tell us how blessed we are if we follow the Lord.
Psalm 84 is another example as it begins by exclaiming, “How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts!” Then, three times the psalmist exclaimed, “How blessed!” In verse 4, “How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You.” Verse 5: “How blessed is the man whose strength is in You….” And, verse 12, “O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!”
These repeated exclamations teach us that the pleasures that God gives to satisfy our souls should fuel our desire to be in His presence. God motivates us to seek Him with the pleasures and satisfaction of being in His presence. Further, those pleasures are not all delayed until we arrive in heaven. Many begin now.
As Jesus proclaimed with reference to His sheep (John 10:10b), “I came that they may have life; and have it more abundantly.”
In Christ,
Brown
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