Concern for Tomorrow's Church

Sunday the 24th of November

in Meditations I

Psalm 48:13a

    If there ever was a man Who was not selfish, and if there ever was one Who looked out for the good of others and was willing to lose all that others might gain what man never had before, it was our Savior.  He went to hell so that we might go to heaven. He never hesitated because of what it would cost Him. He was concerned with what would bring us joy and blessedness. And as members of his body we have a calling to follow His example.

    The psalmist points this out when, having written that we should walk about Zion and tell her towers, mark her bulwarks, and consider her palaces, he writes: "That ye may tell it to the generation following"  Psalm 48:13b. Our versification explains it this way (PRC Psalter):

    To all the coming race 
    Repeat the message o'er;
    This mighty God of grace 
    Is ours forever more;
    Yea, He our Savior will abide
    And unto death will be our guide.

    We must be concerned about the whole church of God and want those following us to enjoy spiritual blessedness. We must walk about Zion and go round about her, not as tourists who go for their own flesh's pleasure, but so that we can tell our children how great our righteous God is, and teach them to put their trust in Him and His Son through Whom we have salvation and everlasting glory.

    That does not simply mean our own flesh and blood. Surely we must do all we can to enrich their spiritual lives and knowledge. But the psalmist speaks of the whole coming generation. The exhortation then comes to the childless and unmarried as well as to parents.

    It means that the church today must study and develop in the truth so that Satan and his host, coming with crafty, subtle, false doctrines, does not mislead them; but that they may see the wonderful work Christ performed for us, may see the greatness of our God, and may then lead the next generation into the rich truth as it is in Christ. Our great God must be greatly praised. And we should do all we can to bring the coming generation into a richer, not poorer, praise to God.

Read: Deuteronomy 6 
Psalter versification: #133:3
(Words and Music of the Psalter)

Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism

Song for Meditation: Psalter #156
Why not sing along??

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Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:

Ezekiel 47 ; Ezekiel 48:1-35 
1 Peter 2:11-25 ; 1 Peter 3:1-7 
Psalm 119:49-64 
Proverbs 28:12-13 
****

Quote for Reflection:

"… God did not so create the world once that he did afterward depart from his work; but that it standeth by his power, and that the same God is the governor thereof who was the Creator. We must well think upon this continual comforting and strengthening, that we may remember God every minute."  – John Calvin


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    Knowing God in His Faithfulness

    Psalm 9:10

        Although it may not look that way because we closed our eyes, yet God is always faithful and can be trusted to do fully all that which He promised us. Even though on a cloudy night we cannot see the moon or the stars, they are there above us in the sky; and it is folly to say that they are not there, just because we cannot see them. Yet so often we go by what our fleshly eyes see or cannot see and behave as though what the eye of faith sees does not exist. For we have closed our eye of faith and judge all things by what our fleshly eye sees.

        David warns us against this when in Psalm 9:10 he writes, "And they that have known Thy name will put their trust in Thee: for Thou, 0 Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee.''  David here uses the name Elohim, the Almighty One, and that name says that all the creatures have strength only when and in the measure that God gives it to them. And therefore knowing God's name means that we know and see Him with the eye of faith as the one Who has every creature large or small, animate or inanimate, in the angel world or in the world of men, completely under His control. They can only do what He eternally decreed that they would do, and what He gives them the strength to do.

        No wonder then that David says that those who know God's name can trust Him and see that He never forsakes one of His children. And with David we can sing:

        All they, O Lord, that know Thy name
        Their confidence in Thee will place,
        For Thou hast ne'er forsaken them
        Who earnestly have sought Thy face.

        Consider then that, since our God is almighty, no one can prevent Him from doing what He promised us, and no one has the strength to make Him change His mind. See Him then in that name, with your eye of faith, as an unchangeably faithful God Who will destroy all your enemies and bring you to glory. And when things look bad, as far as the eye of flesh is concerned, look at Him with the eye of faith.

    Read: Revelation 20 
    Psalter versification: #17:2

    Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism

    Through the Bible in One Year
    Read today:
    II Samuel 12 
      John 16 
    Psalm 119:65-80 
    Proverbs 16:4-5

    ****
    Quote for Reflection:

    "… And assuredly, when we consider that the sluggishness of our flesh hinders us from elevating our minds to the height of the divine majesty, in vain would God call us to himself, did he not at the same time, on his part, come down to us; or, did he not at least, by the interposition of means, stretch out his hand to us, so to speak, in order to lift us up to himself."  –  John Calvin

    Last modified on 26 May 2019

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