“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, On those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us even as we hope in you.”
This Old Testament passage carries New Testament doctrine! Did you notice how the top is like a choral refrain in heaven while the bottom is a response from earth? There is a relationship connection!
The eye of our living Lord is upon us who have His living hope in our hearts. Our hope is because we have received His love poured into us so that our faith may be renewed in hope since we have now been joined, His Spirit to our spirit, and redeemed.
We have been focusing on understanding who we are as “born again” believers. That is, born of God and not of man, born Spiritually and made alive in Christ Jesus our Lord. We have looked at Life gifted out of God’s Love and Light provided into our soul by the dwelling presence of God’s own Holy Spirit.
We have looked at scripture supporting God’s Life, Love and Light placed in us. We looked at our Redemption through the purchase price of Jesus’ death, setting us free from our bondage to sin. We looked at our Justification in Christ providing His righteousness so we can be like Him. Then, we looked at the process of Sanctification by which righteousness in Christ can be made practical in our soul by putting to death in our flesh what Jesus nailed to the cross.
Knowing these things is only a shallow beginning. Having them in our mind, reciting information with some understanding isn’t the same as possessing His Life. Arguing a point demeans the living reality!
The best argument is a life lived out from Light shinning from within. Our soul gets light from our outward circumstances if not from our spirit within. If we do not nurture our spirit and discipline our soul we will reflect light of temporal circumstances and not shine The Light of our spirit/Spirit. We are called to train our own soul in the Born Again Light and truth of our spirit/Spirit. Our soul no longer dominates because we have been given resurrection Life. But if we neglect to nurture our soul, it will absorb the natural godless life it experiences in its polluted temporal environment.
We need to give our heart the Light given to us by looking, listening and learning from the grace and truth provided in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will reveal Jesus through His logos word. Drilling down into the word, saturating our spirit with Truth and Grace, will instruct our soul in righteousness.
The second half of the above passage (vs. 20-22) reveals a much deeper penetration into our person. It speaks of a glad heart able to rest in God’s love because of our hope. Our New Testament hope is already alive within us and can grow through faith and grace.
This is the kind of verse we read easily without grasping its substance. God’s resurrection power operating in our life produces a resting trust from experiencing God’s operating presence. This is the hope of this passage, consuming God’s grace with our faith provides and active communion with our Lord. We have to pause and Look at it, Listen to the word of the Spirit and Learn to appropriate into our experience God’s grace and truth with faith.
Lets take what we know about our relationship in Christ and work it deeply into our spirit so others will see in us what we are becoming through His work in us. This is what Jesus referred to as fruit. Two things will happen. We will experience within ourselves new dimensions of Christ’s love and spiritual doors will open to others.
Jesus illustrated the importance of fruit in our life by the parable of the fig tree. Jesus loved to teach from nature. Nature teaches as we walk through the wonders of God’s creations. Ray Stedman shares this in one of his sermons speaking about the traits of animals that depict human characteristics. He said if you want an example, look at sheep as a people type. He said, “Just look how stupid and obstinate sheep are!”
Well, here, we are looking at the fig tree that was not bearing fruit. That is kind of a stupid thing itself. Jesus went to it for the purpose of picking a fig but found it without fruit so he cursed the tree.
The next day they passed the same tree on their way back toward Jerusalem and Peter pointed out the fig tree which was “withered to the roots.” The lesson is in the purpose of the fig tree. If the fig tree is to produce fruit, its purpose of living is gone and there is no reason to sustain its life because there is no fruit!
Its hard not to see a connection. There is a firm purpose for our new life within these finite suits of clay we wear. God came into human flesh to make a way for us to receive His extraordinary righteous life. Even the angels gaze in wonder. How can we accept His gift of Life without investing our energy to show the glory of God and the Life of Jesus. If we do not, then we do not love our Lord who gave His Life to us. Our purpose for sustaining life is compromised for the giver of our Life.
The wonder of this supernatural gift is beyond words to describe. It was God Himself who birthed us, made us Spiritual beings so that we are able to emit His character and shine His righteousness into this polluted darkness. How serious do we take God’s diving calling? Some of us could easily be cursed because we bear no fruit. We cannot blame this polluted environment, we are given grace upon grace upon grace.
This is the bottom line! It does not get any more real or serious than this! The longsuffering Lord of our Life keeps our flame from going out. He is waiting patiently for us to wake up and smell the eternal fragrance of His presence.
At the entrance of this beautiful home I’m privileged to occupy is a very old camellia in the shelter of the front porch. This is one of my favorite fragrances. It currently is busting out with buds and blossoms. I pick a striking pink blossom and put its stem in water placing it next to my bedside nightstand. Yesterday, I picked another stem with a new blossom. I placed it in the kitchen planning to take it later into the bedroom. In early evening I pick up the glass container and the petals began to drop off the blossom. The fragrance was also greatly diminished. It no longer gave off the fragrance nor did it hold the promise of hope for the evening. It was gone!
Paul tells us this is what our life is like to God. A sweet fragrance, an offering that speaks to God’s Life given in us so others can experience the great glory of Himself, 2Corinthians 2:14-16. God gives to the underserved that which belongs to Him only. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! What are we doing with His exalted, precious gift to us?
It is up to us to make others see Him in us! We are called to walk as He walked. As you have received Jesus, so walk in Him, Col. 2:6. We are to walk worthy of God’s Kingdom, 1Thess. 2:12.
God gives us the grace to be filled with all the fullness of Himself. This was Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian saints, Ephesians 3:14-19. He has given us His Holy Spirit in order to teach us about our Lord Jesus. His Spirit is in prayer for each of us personally according to the needs of our own hearts, Romans 8:26-30.
By saturating our spirit with His revelation of Truth we provide spiritual nourishment to feed the depleted fragrance of our heart and mind. The Holy Spirit takes the logos word of God we place in our heart ministering to our personal needs, according to the will of God.
Drill down the verses we have available and ponder their meaning in your heart and mind. If you have your own favorite verse, let us know and we will prepare a Drill down sheet of it for you, adding it to our selection list.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. – Eph. 3:20-21.