Daily Devotionals for Difficult Days [35] Blessed?

A  selection of the trees that surround a field behind my home

More Time to Look

One good side effect of lockdown is the opportunity many folks have to take a more considered look, or, as an old saying has it "to smell the roses." Read more widely, amble around, look about.

And hopefully for we who love the Lord, to spend more time praying and reading the Scriptures.

I noticed for the very first time, the great variety of trees which surround a field behind my home. I have never really noticed the mixture of trees before, so  I have set myself the simple challenge to know what each one is by name (I plan to use Google Lens, which I know is cheating, but it's a convenient way of identifying - well anything). So far I know one of them is a Maple and another a Horse Chestnut.

Mention of Trees brings me to the next psalm we plan to meditate on in these blogs. The blessed man or woman is "...like a tree planted by streams of water..." (Psalm 1:3)

Psalm One Introduces the Book of Psalms

In many ways, Psalm 1 introduces the whole book of Psalms, we shall see.

The book of Psalms itself is the believer's prayer book, hymn book and experience book, all rolled into one. Let me explain.

If we want to know how to pray, this book will guide us (along with The Lord's Prayer and the prayers of the Apostle Paul). If we want to know if our prayers are "in line", "correct", "proper", "godly," we may turn here.

If we want to know how to praise God, again, Psalms is the place to go. We are at liberty to take these beautiful words "off the shelf", and make them our own, since we often can't find words of our own.

If we want to know if our present experience matches up to godly experience or if it is out of kilter, well then, the book of Psalms will serve as measuring guide.

This latter point is important. We may want to know if our present feelings of disappointment with God's ways, or personal frustration, or emptiness is "OK" for a believer.

For example, Psalm 88 retells the prayer of a true believer who is passing through a dark night, and who has dark thoughts like this: "darkness is my closest friend."  How many times has that psalm, I wonder, brought healing to someone who also felt that darkness was their closest friend.

Pslam 88 tells us, "It's OK for a TRUE believer to feel this way from time to time."

But there is one danger with the Psalms, highlighted in my last paragraph. The Psalms must be read in the light of the New Testament, in the light of Jesus Christ.

When we are in the pits, feeling like no-one else has ever experienced what we are passing through, we can never say - or should never say - "darkness is my closest friend." Those words were written BC, Before Christ. Jesus, the light of the world, has promised that if we follow him we will NEVER walk in darkness (John 8:12). So "darkness is my closest friend" might be a fleeting emotion we pass through but it is never actually true for a New Testament believer.  Such a feeling comes from our frail hearts overclocking or our feeble minds overheating.

There is only One who could say - for real, for a brief but real moment - "darkness is my closest friend" and that was Jesus Christ. When he was on the cross he cried, "My God, My God why have you forsaken me?" (It seems as though he could not even bring himself to say "My Father, my Father...", just "My God, my God...")  In the moments he was made sin for us, the Father turned his face away from the Son. Jesus experienced darkness - so that we would not have to.

So the wonderful Psalms of the Old Testament must always be read in the light of the New Testament.

What does it mean to be Blessed?

"Blessed is the man (or woman).....", starts our new Psalm.

What does that word "blessed" mean? Psalm 1 teaches that there are two spiritual conditions or states, "blessedness" and "wickedness" (verse 1b, verse 4).

Blessedness in Scripture is the state in which we are right in God's eyes and walking with him. The word happiness can sometimes be used to describe blessedness, for we can only truly be happy when we are blessed.

But there are times when the word happy is not an appropriate translation of blessed. We may be blessed in heaven but actually not feel happy on earth! Blessed is the man, for example, whom the Lord corrects (Job 5:17). A little child being corrected may not "feel" particularly happy at that moment, but they are indeed blessed, they really are!

The word blessed is more about our true spiritual state, when viewed from God's angle, than how we may feel about ourselves. Our feelings are not always a reliable guide. I have come across believers living in unrepentant sin who say they are most happy! And conversely, I have met true believers who are not "happy" but for sure are blessed! On both accounts, there is a discrepancy between fact and feeling.

Blessedness is the state in which we are walking right with God. And more often than not, thankfully, it brings with it feelings of joy and happiness.

Psalm 1, we shall learn, teaches us the way of true blessedness.  

The Spiritual World is Binary

But before we leave our psalm for today, let's note that the spiritual world is binary: either we are among the blessed or else we are among the wicked; in the darkness or in the light. There is no middle path, no sitting on the fence.

We live in an age that is desperately trying to break down the binary differences God has built into the created, moral and spiritual world, "let us break their chains", they say: chains is how they describe God's gracious orders which are designed to bring us freedom!

There are not two binary sexes, they say, but a spectrum of genders. There are not binary rights and wrongs when it comes to sexual ethics; anything goes. There are no binary differences in role between a man and a woman, they say. The spirit of our age is against distinctions (even when those distinctions are grounded in fact and biology!)

Much the same is going on in the world of "religion," and it has crept into mainline churches. I once heard a church minister say  "denominationalism is dead." He meant that there are no longer any differences between Catholics and Protestants. Some go futher and say that there is no difference between the different religions. We shan't go into that viewpoint now, but it reflects the present spirit of the age.

However, according to Scripture, our spiritual state in God's eyes is digital, either the one or the other. No-one preached that fact more persistently than Jesus Christ. Light and dark, sheep and goats, the wide road and the narrow road, the wide gate and the narrow gate, children of the devil and children of God, and so on.

So, as we close this blog, may I ask the reader "What state are you in?"

Most of our readers will be true believers, but perhaps not all. How do we come into Christ's kingdom of light? How do we find oursleves among the "blessed" pilgrims of Psalm 1?

We acknowledge that we are sinners, we turn to God, we repent of our wrongdoing, and we believe in Jesus Christ.

We obey the command of God:

"Seek the LORD while He may be found;

call on Him while He is near.

Let the wicked man forsake his own way

and the unrighteous man his own thoughts;

let him return to the LORD,

that He may have compassion,

and to our God,

for He will freely pardon." 
(Isaiah 55:6-7)

And hear the precious promise of Jesus Christ:

"All those the Father gives me will come to me, 
and whoever comes to me I will never drive away." (John 6:37)


A SONG FOR THE DAY

Our song for the day is a beautiful old hymn, written by Horatius Bonar. It's the testimony of every believer whom God has moved from darkness into light, from death to life.

You can sing along HERE.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me, and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
Thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary, and worn, and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place,
And He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
The living water: thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s Light;
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In Him my Star, my Sun;
And in that Light of life I’ll walk
Till trav’lling days are done.

Horatius Bonar

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Dear loving Father in heaven,

We thank you for this day.

We acknowledge you as the author of each season of nature, and each season of our own lives too; you are the giver of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

We thank you for the present joys of Spring. 

We thank you for the blessedness of being right with you by faith in your Son, and the blessedness of walking day by day with you, knowing your presence and rejoicing in your grace.

Today we bring before you all those we know and love who may be happy but are not yet blessed.

May you reveal to them through the power of the Gospel and by the power of your Spirit, the blessing of salvation before it is too late.

We earnestly pray for them.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen.