Marketplace Monastics

Oh, what a heart is here revealed!

Oh, what assurances are here concealed, in these words, within the expectations that this heart, David’s heart, harbored for the Lord his God!

• I can trust the Lord.
• He won’t let me be put to shame.
• My enemies will not triumph over me.

. . . are you thinking of the dear little friend for whom you are praying?

• My hope is security against shame … but there is shame coming upon the treacherous.
• He will show me His ways, what He is like, how He “operates,” and teach me His paths.
• He will guide me in TRUTH (and if I’m not there, He will teach me and truth will be mine!)
• He is my Savior, and there is not a minute of the day that I have to go on without hope.
• His mercy and His love toward me are great … not meager, but GREAT! Older than my sins, it would seem!
• He is willing to forget the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways, and
• To remember me according to His love …
• There is a fixed reason for this: He is GOOD!

Those are just the first seven verses!

Remember yesterday we spoke of John the Baptist, that great at he was, the simplest believer in Christ Jesus is greater?  We saw that John needed just a little confirmation, and we trust he received it.

John was a Forerunner, and my dear friends, what are we? The same, in our time.  We certainly “come before” the glorious Second Coming of Jesus Christ; we are on the earth giving witness to all those things that speak of the Son of God, contained in just seven verses in one Psalm, with more to come, even in just this one Psalm!

At least in prayer – and in this season we are limited to how far we may go beyond our own doors – at least in prayer, remember someone who does not know even those things about Jesus Christ, and go before them in prayer.  This enforced seclusion does not have to thwart us, and it will not thwart the hand of God.  (Isaiah 14:27)

Lighted Walking Path

released by Linnaea Mallette, thank you

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,  the world, and all who live in it;
² for he founded it on the seas  and established it on the waters.

³ Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
⁴ The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol  or swear by a false god.

⁵ They will receive blessing from the Lord   and vindication from God their Savior.
⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him,  who seek your face, God of Jacob.

⁷ Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
⁸ Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord strong and mighty,  the Lord mighty in battle.
⁹ Lift up your heads, you gates;  lift them up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
¹⁰ Who is he, this King of glory?
    The Lord Almighty—  he is the King of glory.

(Psalm 24, NIV)

            Good Monday morning, dear ones.  Monday of Holy Week, and by some timelines, it was on this day that Jesus cleansed the temple, driving out the money-changers, and by others He cursed the barren fig tree on this day.  Perhaps both.

Perhaps in the commotion at the temple, the blind and lame came with their needs, and the children came, too, praising Him anew.

Did any of them really, really, really know Who stood in their midst, Who did these things, deeds compassionate, righteous, and instructive? Not one of them knew that before the week was out, He would take their place on the cross of their shame.

I had a thought this morning about John the Baptist.  I hope he will forgive me this (I’ll bet he will!), but one of the things I love most about him is the way Jesus used him as a lodestar.  He was, Jesus said, the greatest man who had ever lived, who had ever been born of a woman up to that time.  Greater than Moses, greater than David or his son Solomon, greater than Abraham – wow!, greater than Daniel – wow, again!

            But, said Jesus, he who is LEAST in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than John!

            And here is the thing … one of the last things John did before he gave his life was to send and ask the question of Jesus, “are You the promised one, or are we still waiting?”

What?  How can that be?  John saw Jesus as “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” and still he wasn’t sure this was it!  He had heard of all the miracles, but he was trying to make certain, this was it!

            After all, John’s miracle never took place.  He died in prison, at the request of a sultry dancing wench (imagine what that dance might have looked like – no, don’t!) and on account of a powerful man and his powerfully lascivious wife, actually, sister-in-law.

“. . . and blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me,” was Jesus’ message to John.

This King of Glory, sending His last words to this man, so great in time and history, and

Here we are. 

Great in our faith and the knowledge of the Holy One.

I think of it as a crowning irony that, almost certainly, John himself became one of the least in the Kingdom of Heaven that day, and then he was greater than ever he had been and would have told us so!

Faithful to the end, dying in faith, greater than he could have known, martyred for righteousness’ sake, and

Here we are.  Believing.  Knowing. Never having seen, we believe. Greater than John the Baptist, anticipating the Memorial and the Celebration of the Resurrection of Christ!

“Lift up your heads, o you gates; be lifted up, you ancient and everlasting doors,  that the King of glory may come in!”

Do you know someone today, someone for whom the gates of faith have not opened?  Someone whose head is bowed down in shame or unbelief, someone whose hands are not clean, neither their hearts pure, whose life is made up of scores of little idolatries and the pain of them all?  Pray for that one today, and we will pray for one another, that knowing, we may live in the knowledge of the Risen Christ.

From the Psalm of the Cross, to the Psalm of the Shepherd.  These two seem almost out of place together, as though written years apart, but the effect of the finished work of Jesus is just this, that we are now led up, out of the fear of evil, in paths of righteousness, with our souls restored and now, O thanks be to God! – a banquet set before us in the presence of our enemies!

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

  he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk  through the darkest valley
I will fear no evil,  for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,  they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me  in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

            Is there someone in your life for whom you could pray this fulness, this newness, this divine watch-care?  Is there someone you love whose life would change if they could say these words: “my cup overflows!”?

Pray for them today; pray through these words, known around the world.  Pray that the goodness of the Lord would lead them to repentance, as assuredly His goodness does and ever will.  (Romans 2:4)

There is such strength, such warfare, such victory chronicled in these 150 Psalms, but it must be said that the goodness of God is as mighty as any other weapon in His arsenal, and with me today, rejoice to know it and share it in prayer.

“I Am the Good Shepherd,”  stained glass, St. John the Baptist Anglican Church

Ashville, New South Wales, photo by Toby Hudson, Wikipedia

But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
    they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
    “let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
    since he delights in him.”

Yet you brought me out of the womb;
    you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.

 From birth I was cast on you;
    from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Do not be far from me,
    for trouble is near
    and there is no one to help. 

            We continue today, praying the Psalm from which Jesus Christ prayed on the cross.

            Whatever we may be facing, it isn’t this, and because He did endure the cross, our cross, despising its shame, we are here to know Him and to live in His life.

            A personal note today, because I think it may ring true with many:

            I believe I could say, “From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God,” and yet, I did not give my life or receive His, Jesus’, until my mid-twenties.

            How then can I make such a claim?  Like many of you, when I came to know Him, I knew that I had believed in Him, in His Father, without knowledge, and with some false ideas of Him thrown in!  Yet, like many, I “believed in God.” 

            That, if I may say it, is not nothing. 

            Still, I knew not His Name, not with certainty, I knew not the length and breadth of His compassions, although I hoped for them. My trust in the Lord might not have delivered me, but His faithfulness did.

            He has never been far, and even now, whenever or wherever trouble is near, it is wonderfully comforting to know that, indeed, there is no one to help, only Him, and Him alone.

            That has become my trust, and I rest assured.

            Are there those for whom you pray who seem cut off, forsaken, hopeless? 

            Don’t believe it!  Turn the taunting words of the captors upon them:

            “The Lord will deliver my friend … my spouse … my child … He will rescue them and deliver them, because He delights in them, I know, because I love them so.”

            From where else could such a love have arisen, if not in the heart of God?

           Diego Velasquez, by permission, Wikipedia “Christ Crucified”

The king rejoices in your strength, Lord.
    How great is his joy in the victories you give!

You have granted him his heart’s desire,                                                                      and have not withheld the request of his lips.
You came to greet him with rich blessings
    and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.
He asked you for life, and you gave it to him— length of days, for ever and ever.

Through the victories you gave, his glory is great;
    you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty.
Surely you have granted him unending blessings
    and made him glad with the joy of your presence.
For the king trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most Highhe will not be shaken.  (Psalm 21:1-7, NIV)

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.  (Revelation 1:5,6, NIV)

Today, Lord God, the royalty in which we move through this life and this earth, praises You!  We are not, by Your word, Lord Jesus, those whom You call servants, but friends! How we rejoice in the majesty that becomes us, and not by anything we are or anything we have done apart from faith, but that You loved us and welcomed us to see You as You are and to know that You with Your Father have a heart so generous that You would share with us even the nature and the stature that is Yours and is royal, of course. There is none beside You, but many who are, by Your Holy Spirit, in You, and Yours.

A crown of life is that which You have laid up for us, and of righteousness, and like King David in the wilderness, David who penned this Psalm and so many others, we are not enthroned on this earth, but our kingdom is sure and is above and is fixed and is replete with the joy of Your Presence.

Now, Lord, are hearts are generous with Yours, and we want for our dear friends, our dear families, our precious friends, that they, too, should share this glory, this life, this eternity, and this kingship with You – with us!  Grant it this day, Father!  All that _______________ may need in order to bow before Your unfailing love, to receive a crown that will not fade away.  Grant us our hearts’ desire, for we know it is Yours as well and originally, that this soul will prosper in the blessings of royal life and right and splendor. Amen.

more royal than, apart from their faith…

The Nine Sovereigns

at the funeral of King Edward VII, by permission, Wikipedia, public domain, death of the artist, W. & D. Downey

Standing, from left to right: King Haakon VII of Norway, Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, King Manuel II of Portugal, Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire, King George I of Greece and King Albert I of Belgium. Seated, from left to right: King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King-Emperor George V of the United Kingdom and King Frederick VIII of Denmark.