Spring

Well, folks. The weather outside is finally changing. You know what that means…

Fire up ‘severe weather mode’ on Flash Weather.
De-winterize the house.
Compose another SOAP Bible study!*

*For those who don’t know, Lys and I are huge fans of this practice having implemented it during our youth pastor tenure. While our time in student ministry is long gone, in recent years, we’ve efforted to tailor these studies towards vocationals as part of our His Girl Fryday initiative; hence, why the legacy lives on.

Today, we’ll examine Psalm 85 and Psalm 87 in the context of Israel’s exile. While these selections may seem random at first glance, my hope is you’ll know why I chose these chapters by the end.

As always…

Observations: If you’ve studied the Psalms in detail, you know the book is composed of 150 chapters broken down into sections. With Book 3 (Psalm 73-89) focusing on the tragedy of Israel’s uprooting and downfall of David’s family, one might think the tenor of Psalm 87 is out of place; however, this is partly due to how the sons of Korah¹ constructed their songs. Anticipating transition, Psalm 87 represents a confident foreshadowing, specifically Israel’s restoration and relationship to other nations.

A precursor to Psalm 87, Psalm 85 establishes the following tropes, all essential to our spiritual walk:

God is faithful to bring a foundation to our footsteps, especially during seasons of adversity (Psalm 85:13).
God draws near to those who fear and revere Him, who anticipate His voice and glory to manifest (Psalm 85:9).
God’s love and faithfulness aren’t mutually exclusive as they’re intertwined within the same flow (Psalm 85:10-11).

These realities set the stage for Psalm 87, in which the privileges of God’s people are recognized and celebrated. Although the chapter is relatively short, the song lacks no exclamation given the holy tribute and 3:1 ‘verse-to-selah’ ratio. The general gist is straightforward and simple: As salvation comes forth from Zion, God takes note to what He can foresee.

But perhaps my favorite part of Psalm 87 is the final verse (v. 7): “All my springs and sources of joy are in you.”

While the ‘you’ is a cite to Jerusalem, given the polysemy of the Psalms, one could deduce this refers to something more than the city itself. Again, we must discern the tone and style of the author. For instance, the sons of Korah tended to ask questions they knew the answers to but framed anyway.

Will God do ‘x’? Why, God, do you ‘y’? How long, O Lord, will you ‘z’?

In almost every case, the resolution comes in the conclusion and inspires a modern-day practice. No matter, how dire, how challenging, how impossible a situation might seem, God, in both His Word and Way, is everlasting. Even if we seem far from the promised land we seek, God’s sovereignty is constant and His love is steadfast. Knowing this, the concerns we have should not interrogate God’s nature but inquire how we must journey with Him to see greater character, intimacy, and fruit result.

As for us, there may be an uptick in storms in the weeks and months ahead, literally and figuratively. but spiritually speaking, why not let the word picture of ‘spring’, both the season and water source, refresh our inner man? As Psalm 85:10-11 and Psalm 87:7 encourage us, why not receive the fullness of God’s springs and assess our return flow? After all, every good and perfect gift is from above. All we are or hope to be, all we have or ever hope to have, all we attain or ever hope to attain is from Him. Let the people of God acknowledge this and praise Him for it.

Application:

Prayer: Lord, as the winds of change surround us, we thank you for being at hand. As we worship you in Spirit and Truth today, we’re reminded how grateful we are that you are Lord of all, the God who sustains our help and gives us everything we need for goodness and godliness. No matter what tomorrow holds, we pause now to reflect on your love, your faithfulness, and how we can allow your currents to purify the rhythms in which we believe and operate. To what needs to be surrendered, convict us with grace so we may properly deal with our baggage. To what needs to be received, we ask you to not only revive us to taste you in full but to broaden our capacity to trust your truth in an increasingly compromising world. Help us not be overly discouraged by where abandonments are occurring. Rather scale our faith to see the grander scheme unfolding and how we can partner with you in victory. Give us this day and season as bread so we may feed your sheep as fed. In your holy and precious name. Amen.

Footnotes:

The sons of Korah were Levites, from the family of Kohath. By David’s time, they served in the musical aspect of the temple worship (2 Chronicles 20:19).

Cover graphic creds: Wallpapers.com

After last week’s intro on ‘springing forward’, I want to drill down and discuss how this looks when we love with a pure heart (1 Timothy 1:5).

But before we dig in, let’s refresh ourselves on where we’re going. As previously defined, to ‘spring forward’ is to allow God’s wellsprings of life to spring up within; however, how this happens, as we’ll unpack in this series, depends on our surrender, or as Romans 1:17 puts it, “springing from faith in a way that awakens more faith“.

Granted, the subject lends to an array of starting points; thus, to simplify, let’s begin with the two greatest commandments as expressed through 1 Timothy 1.

First The Message (v. 5-7)…

^“The whole point of what we’re urging is simply love—love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. Those who fail to keep to this point soon wander off into cul-de-sacs of gossip. They set themselves up as experts on religious issues, but haven’t the remotest idea of what they’re holding forth with such imposing eloquence.”

Now The Amplified…

“But the goal of our instruction is love [which springs] from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some individuals have wandered away from these things into empty arguments and useless discussions, wanting to be teachers of the Law [of Moses], even though they do not understand the terms they use or the subjects about which they make [such] confident declarations.”

Note Paul’s emphasis on love as life source reminiscent to 1 Corinthians 13:1:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

Essentially, Paul is reminding us how the evidence of our faith must be rooted in selfless love and a life ready to receive it.

For if what we model springs only from good intention, then we risk insulating the sincerity of our faith and the purity of our heart from its overflow¹.

Now consider 1 Timothy 1:13b-16…

“But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus…[who] came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost…I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”

Applying our premise to Paul’s testimony, we find if we want to love with a pure heart, we must surrender² with the intent to receive mercy and faith through grace. In this way, we posture ourselves not only to abide in humility, but also to embrace God’s joy as strength while persevering in unceasing prayer³ (see James 1:12).

From there, once repentance⁴becomes rhythm, we can better live Romans 12:2 and Philippians 4:8-9 in the sense we’re…

Transformed by the renewing of our minds to better discern God’s will…
Equipped to know whatever is honorable, true, admirable…and yes, you guessed it…pure…
Empowered to love and pray for/speak life to challenging, unreciprocating personalities.

Remember the ultimate goal is to allow God’s life to spring up within our wellsprings. Therefore, to purify our flow, we must purge the contaminants of insecurity, offense, fear, anxiety, and self-reliance while filtering in Psalm 51:10/Matthew 5:8 through the heart-cry of…

“Lord, create in me what will allow me to see AND reflect you!”

…a pure heart surrounded in steadfast spirit.

In closing, I encourage you…

Draw near to God with a true heart (Hebrews 10:22) in full assurance of faith…
Cleanse yourself from what is dishonorable…fleeing youthful passions (2 Timothy 2:21)…
Purify your wells by substituting any form of worldly reliance (performance, excellence, likability, even perceived integrity) for a Holy Spirit reliance through which you can discover what you were made to long for: love from a pure heart…
Continue pursuing righteousness, faith, love, and peace…along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:22).

Stay tuned next time when we’ll tackle part 2 in our ‘spring forward’ series: maturing faith from holy confidence. In the meantime, if you have any questions and/or need prayer concerning this issue, feel free to contact me or Lys at your convenience and we’d be delighted to offer our support.

Here’s to the journey…

~ Cameron

Footnotes