God’s holiness

Humble Dependence.

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Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. – Psalm 86:1-2 ESV

God doesn’t need me. As great as I may think I am and as many wonderful attributes I believe I may have, the reality is that God can get along quite well without me. He doesn’t need my help. He can survive without my worship. His plan for the world will still take place even if I’m not in the picture. I am a non-essential when it comes to God’s sovereign plan for the universe. Admittedly, that’s a hard concept for some of us to grasp. We want to be important. We desire greatly to be significant in some way. But King David put it succinctly. “…what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4 ESV). Our only significance comes from the fact that we are created in the image of God. We are His workmanship. It is He who gives us value. As believers, it is our relationship with Jesus Christ that provides us with our worth. As a result of His death on the cross, His righteousness became ours. He took on our sins and condemnation, and His righteousness was imputed to us. Therefore, we have value in God’s eyes. But it is not due to anything we have done. It is “not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:9 ESV)

In his psalm, David comes before God as “poor and needy.” That’s an interesting self-description for the King of Israel to use, since he was one of the wealthiest men alive and had great wealth and power at his disposal. Yet he knew that he was a man in great need – in need of God. He needed God to hear him and answer him. He needed God’s protection and direction. His armies were nothing without God’s leadership. His wealth was insignificant if he didn’t have God’s daily provision of joy, peace, and contentment. He was the warrior-king who had experienced great victories and accomplished amazing feats of bravery. Yet he knew he needed God to prolong and protect his life. He was nothing without God.

Which is why David called out to God. “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul” (Psalm 86:3-4 ESV). He needed God’s grace. He depended upon God for joy. He was totally reliant upon God for inner strength and moral fortitude. David knew his weaknesses. He knew he was sin-prone and self-centered. He knew he was fully capable of not only disobeying God, but dishonoring Him as well. David asked God to save him; not just from his enemies, but from himself. Like all of us, he could be his own worst enemy. His sin nature could wreak havoc on his relationship with God. So he humbly came to God for help, for hope, and for His mercy and favor.

David goes on to ask something from God. “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name” (Psalm 86:11 ESV). He knew he needed God’s help in order to live his life according to God’s truth. He couldn’t do it on his own. He was incapable of learning what he needed to know, so he asked God to teach him. He even asked God to work on his heart so that he might fear Him. The NET Bible translates that verses this way: “Make me wholeheartedly committed to you!” The New Living Translation gives it a slightly different twist. “Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you.” He needed God to literally “bind” his heart so that he would live in a way that honors God. David was familiar with the words of Jeremiah. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV). So even his heart needed God’s help in order to stay united, faithful, true and wholeheartedly committed to God’s cause.

A healthy awareness of our neediness and spiritual poverty apart from God is missing from many of our lives. We have developed an arrogance and attitude of deservedness that somehow makes us believe God is somehow obligated to love us and bless us. David knew better. He recognized the fact that he was completely dependent upon God for all that he had and needed God’s help in every area of his life. Humble dependence is a necessity for the child of God. It reveals our complete reliance upon God for everything. In the old hymn, Rock of Ages, there is a line that expresses the attitude we should hold. It says,…

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.

Humble dependence. We are needy and poor. We are naked and helpless. But when we bring our need to God, we find grace, mercy, help, hope, healing, power, forgiveness, acceptance, and the love of a holy Father who sees us as His own child.

O Lord, You Know.

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O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. – Psalm 139:1-3 ESV

Psalm 139

This prayer of David is an interesting and informative one. In it, he focuses the majority of his attention on God Himself. I have a hard time remembering the last time (possibly only) that I did that. My prayers tend to be about me. My needs, my wants, my desires, my agenda, my suggested solutions to God for my problems. Rarely do I take the time in my prayers to focus all my attention on Him. But when I read a prayer like this one, I am reminded that my understanding of God will dictate so much of what I think about the world. My view of God will alter my view of life and my circumstances. And it will radically change the way I pray. David starts out his prayer with an acknowledgement that God (Jehovah, the Existing One) has already thoroughly searched him and knew him well. Nothing in David’s life was news to God. He knew David from the inside-out. In fact, David admitted the somewhat disconcerting, bu also comforting fact that God knew when David sat down and when he stood up. He knew all of his thoughts, even from a distance. The phrase, “from afar” probably refers to time, not space. It most likely refers to David’s motives. So God knows what we are going to do before we even do it, just when we’re thinking about doing it. That should change the way we look at God and sin. He really is omniscient – all knowing. David was fully aware that God was watching his every step, even when he traveled or when he was rest at home. And God was well acquainted with ALL his ways. For David, there was no thought of trying to pull one over on God. He knew he couldn’t sneak anything past a God who kept him constantly in His sights. God knew his most intimate thoughts before they ever became action. He watched David every moment of every day, and He knew his most inner thoughts. Now that reality could produce in us either fear and dread, or it could result in comfort and a sense of God’s love and sovereign watchfulness over our lives. David doesn’t seem to be recounting all this about God as a complaint. He was quite content to have a God who was that powerful, yet intimately involved in his life. The God of the universe knew him and was watching over him. What an amazing thought. But that amazing thought escapes most of us who claim to be followers of Christ and sons and daughters of God. We somehow think that God doesn’t see us, fails to watch over us, is oblivious to what is happening to us, and far too busy to give much thought to us. But David would argue against that strongly. He would tell us that our God is omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipresent (present in all places at all times). But David was not alone in this regard. Jeremiah the prophet recorded these words directly from God. “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:24 ESV). Even Jesus spoke of God’s ability to see the unseen. “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6 ESV). God sees all. He knows all. He is never surprised or caught off guard. I like to say that God is never up in heaven, wringing His hands in worry, wondering how something happened to one of His children without His knowledge. He is never shocked by our actions or surprised by our words. He knew what we were going to say or do beforehand. He knows the thoughts of our hearts and the expression those thoughts will take. So our prayer lives should be far less about informing God of our faults, failings, and sins. He already knows. Confession is not us telling God something He doesn’t already know. It is us agreeing with God that what He knows about us is true. If anyone has been living in in denial or in a state of ignorance, it has been us. God uses His Word and His Spirit to convict us of sin. He reveals our heart to us. Then He invites us to confess that sin and allow Him to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Knowing that God knows – everything – should come as a relief, not some form of bad news. There is nothing we can hide. While we can spend years attempting to hide our sin from others, we can come to God openly and honestly, because we are not going to tell Him anything He doesn’t already know. He is fully aware that we have a sin problem. We are the ones who tend to live in a state of denial. God isn’t appalled by our sin as much as He is by our lack of confession and repentance. He convicts and we justify our actions. He points out our sin and we make excuses or pass blame. In another one of his prayers, David said, “You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God” (Psalm 51:17 NLT). The question isn’t whether God knows our sin. It’s whether we do. And if we do, are we willing to agree with God about it and admit it to Him? At the close of this same prayer, David prays, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24 NLT). God knows things about us that we don’t know. We need to tap into His knowledge and allow Him to reveal secret sins, hidden motives, and anything that might keep us from living the life He has called us to. God knows and He stands ready to forgive. What a relief.