The All-Satisfying Object

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

The quest for pleasure is not even optional, but commanded (in the Psalms): “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

The psalmists sought to do just this: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1–2). “My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

The motif of thirsting has its satisfying counterpart when the psalmist says that men “drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights” (Psalm 36:8 NASB).

I found that the goodness of God, the very foundation of worship, is not a thing you pay your respects to out of some kind of disinterested reverence. No, it is something to be enjoyed: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8). Taste. Taste! And see.

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103).

As C.S. Lewis says, God in the Psalms is the “all-satisfying Object.” His people adore him unashamedly for the “exceeding joy” they find in him (Psalm 43:4). He is the source of complete and unending pleasure: “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

John Piper 

Breaking Free from “Me-ism”

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God . . .” 2 TIMOTHY 3:1-4

 

PONDER THIS

What is the tone of this age? It is cocooning, turning inward, living for self and self alone, as if Jesus Christ never lived and never died. Somebody has described it as “me-ism.” There’s a lot of that around. It is a problem in our world, but it also impacts and influences the Christian because it is so subtle and powerful. In our sinful nature, we have no problem focusing on ourselves. In so doing, we forget about our Savior and the sacrificial way He calls us to live.

What are people living for today? They’re living for what they can grab, not for what they can give. The Bible teaches that we’re to worship God, love people, and use things. But what we do is ignore God, love things, and use people.

We’re continually boasting of our human greatness and achievements. We invest in earthly things like our homes, wealth, and image. We ignore God most time and forget He is there until we go to church or hit a crisis in life. We use people to get what we want instead of serving them in the sacrificial way Jesus called us to. We need to be called back to a life focused on Christ.

What does it look like to have a life focused inward? What are some ways selfishness is evident in your life?

What happens when we live a life turned inward? How can one live a life focused on Christ?

PRACTICE THIS

Serve someone else today and share the love of Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Bible Study

 

Revelation 22:7

[7] “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Luke 11:28

[28] But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

John 8:51

[51] Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Romans 13:11

[11] Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

The Most Liberating Discovery

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. (Philippians 3:1)

No one had ever taught me that God is glorified by our joy in him — that joy in God is the very thing that makes our praise an honor to God, and not hypocrisy.

But Jonathan Edwards said it so clearly and powerfully:

God glorifies himself towards the creatures also [in] two ways: (1) by appearing to . . . their understanding; (2) in communicating himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying the manifestations which he makes of himself. . . . God is glorified not only by his glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. . . .

[W]hen those that see it delight in it: God is more glorified than if they only see it. . . . He that testifies his idea of God’s glory [doesn’t] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.

This was a stunning discovery for me. I must pursue joy in God if I am to glorify him as the surpassingly valuable Reality in the universe. Joy is not a mere option alongside worship. It is an essential component of worship. Indeed the very essence of worship — being glad in the glories of God.

We have a name for those who speak their praises of God when they have no pleasure in what they praise. We call them hypocrites. Jesus said, “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me’” (Matthew 15:7–8). This fact — that authentic praise means consummate pleasure and that the highest end of man is to drink deeply of this pleasure for God’s glory — was perhaps the most liberating discovery I have ever made.

John Piper 

On Your Face, Without Fear

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” REVELATION 1:1-3

 

PONDER THIS

When you truly see the Lord Jesus, when you truly worship Him as He is described here in the Book of Revelation, it will bring your full submission. When the Apostle John fell before Him prostrate, it was a sign that He is Lord, not man. Have you surrendered everything to Him? When you learn how to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, not only will it bring your submission, not only will it cause your reverence, but it will also give you a great assurance. As John was on his face, Jesus said, “Do not be afraid.”

The fear of God is love on its knees. We must have right reverence. The person who truly worships the Lord won’t be afraid of much else. After John fell on his face, the Lord gave John a commission, following that time of worship. We can do more than worship after we’ve worshiped, but we can really do no more than worship until we’ve worshiped.

When is the last time you wholeheartedly worshiped and surrendered to God?

How can you make wholehearted worship a priority in your life? What is the impact when you do?

PRACTICE THIS

Worship God, seeking full surrender to Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Bible Study

Revelation 21:6-7

[6] And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. [7] The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Isaiah 41:4

    [4] Who has performed and done this,

        calling the generations from the beginning?

    I, the LORD, the first,

        and with the last; I am he.

Isaiah 43:10-11

    [10] “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD,

        “and my servant whom I have chosen,

    that you may know and believe me

        and understand that I am he.

    Before me no god was formed,

        nor shall there be any after me. 

    [11] I, I am the LORD,

        and besides me there is no savior.

Revelation 22:12-13

[12] “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. [13] I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Make War with Unbelief

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:16–17)

When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).

When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that “none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Romans 14:7–9).

When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promises, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6); and, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

Join me in this battle! Let us make war, not with other people, but with our own unbelief. Unbelief in the promises of God is the root of anxiety, which, in turn, is the root of so many other sins. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God, Paul said in Ephesians 6:17. The shield by which we quench Satan’s fiery deceits is faith (verse 16) — faith in that very word of God. So take up the shield in your left hand and the sword in your right hand, and let us fight the good fight of faith.

Take up the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and fight the good fight — to live by faith in future grace.

John Piper