Living by Faith - Treasures of Faith - Week 2 Day 6

TODAY'S TREASURE

Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.

Deuteronomy 10:20–21 [emphasis added]

Transcript

Living By Faith

Chuck and Sharon Betters

Today’s Treasure

Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.

Deuteronomy 10:20–21 [emphasis added]

Abel, though dead, still speaks to our hearts. We knew, after the death of our son, that there was nothing we could do to bring him back. But we needed to know the One who was sovereign over even this “scorch mark” on our souls. Mark’s death had ravaged our hearts and swept away all the things we had drawn comfort from—all, that is, except one. Our grief drove us to God’s Word. Private worship took on new meaning as we searched the Scriptures and asked for a better understanding of God’s promises. We wanted our faith to be guided only by His truth. The Bible had to be the grid through which we viewed each of our thoughts and emotions:

“The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

Each time the Scriptures contradicted our own conclusions about God’s character, we were faced with a clear choice: to believe God’s Word or our own roller-coaster emotions. Every decision to trust Him, in spite of our doubts, was an act of worship.

Immediately following Mark’s death, gathering with other Christians for corporate worship was even more difficult than private worship. Yet, we knew that avoiding this would be disobedience to God’s expressed will regarding worship and the church body. We soon realized, however, that He was using corporate worship as a means of healing, and thus it became the defining event of our week. We came to these services weary of bearing our personal sorrow, and there God used the strength of other believers to restore us. In worshiping with others, we were reminded of the finished work of Christ and His promise to help us run with perseverance the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1).

A gifted percussionist, Mark had served, along with his brothers, on our church’s worship team. For weeks after Mark’s death, we avoided looking in the direction of his replacement. But when we finally did, we often saw tears streaming down the new drummer’s cheeks. That young man’s willingness to sit in Mark’s place and to honor God through his music, despite his own sorrow, showed us that he, too, had chosen to trust God in this. Eventually, we began to long for the Sabbath rest that came to us on Sundays, when we gathered with other members of the Body—people who not only prayed for us but wept with us. We experienced blessings even in the darkness that had invaded our lives. God’s people prayed as one for us, asking Him to heal and strengthen our broken hearts.

LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT

Although confused by the loss of Mark and his friend, Kelly, our believing friends trusted God’s promises to comfort and heal us. His presence in our lives was painful and yet also sweet. Listening to other believers express their faith in worship, through hymns and Scripture songs, became a kind of “lifeline” for us, connecting us to God’s heart. We often wept as we listened to those around us praising God for His trustworthiness and expressing their need for intimacy. At other times, our grief and sense of loss would return, unbidden, overwhelming, and we would falter before singing the words, “I surrender all.”

Our corporate worship became an opportunity to renew publicly our desire to surrender to God’s love and purposes. We eagerly anticipated the preaching of the Word, knowing that, through it, God would be giving us a glimpse into His Own heart. We thought of the “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) worshiping in heaven as we worshiped here on earth. We realized anew that our worship here on earth, though wonderful and encouraging, gave just a hint of the glorious worship taking place in heaven. And although we still struggled with questions and doubts, we experienced God’s presence in ways that brought peace for that moment. We began once again to embrace worship as a marvelous privilege—the privilege of coming into the very presence of God.

In biblical worship, worship of the heart, we focus on God and not on our circumstances, and we express our longing to know Him intimately. Our next two examples of faith, Enoch and Noah, will, like Abel, teach us that all aspects of our lives provide us with an opportunity for true worship.

PRAYER

Lord, thank you for the gift of coming together with Your people to worship. We gain comfort and strength, especially when others hold up our arms in praise to You, when we cannot lift them ourselves.

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Adapted from Treasures of Faith by Chuck and Sharon Betters with permission from P&R Publishing

Treasures of Faith for $4.00 each! And the Leader’s Guide for $2.00. Supplies are limited.  LINK - https://www.prpbooks.com/search?query=treasures+of+faith&records=10

You can also hear Chuck’s Treasures of Faith sermon series on the Help & Hope app, your favorite podcast platform or the MARKINC website.

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