Ferrari-Taxi Accident – Divine Protection

As you get along with life and all the things that you need to do on this earth, what keeps you from being worried and paranoid about being killed or crippled or injured?

• A mindless complacency, a blind trust in human nature or living in denial?
  
• Or a genuine trust and grounded faith in God’s protection?

On the 12^th of May 2012, Ma Chi (from the People’s Republic of China) sped his Ferrari through a red light in Singapore and killed himself and two innocent people, the driver of the taxi he hit, the woman riding in the Ferrari with him. Sobering fact: You can do your best, follow the traffic laws set by the local authorities for the safety of everyone, and yet be killed by some joker behind the wheel.

And that is why we all NEED to know how to walk in God’s protection for our lives and the lives of our loved ones.

Psalm 32:7 (NIV) - You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

This is one of my favourite promises in the Bible; God protects me, and he does it with music (talk about style!). But what does it take to be able to enjoy his divine protection? Let’s take a look at the verse just before that:

Psalm 32:6 (NIV) - Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.

Living a prayerful life is what enables us to walk in God’s protection. What often hinders us from living a prayerful life?

Psalm 32:1-5 (NIV) - Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night  your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you  and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”—
and you forgave  the guilt of my sin.

Unconfessed sin hinders our prayer life and keeps us from enjoying the fullness of all God intends for our lives.

Don’t get me wrong. I firmly believe unconfessed sin does NOT affect our righteous standing before God. If we look carefully at the second verse of this psalm, it gives us a blanket pardon; God will NEVER count our sins against us. Paul quotes this in Romans 4:7-8 and specifies that this is a righteousness apart from works (Rom 4:6).

In plain English, that means NOTHING we do can revoke the righteousness God has given us.

But if we fall short, if we sin, if we transgress against the LORD, he will lay his hand upon us, as he did with David. Why? Because he loves us, he is committed to us and he will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5). As our Father in heaven, he is committed to raising us up to be his sons, showing the world what he is like and worthy of bearing his name.

Hebrews 12:7-9 (NIV) - Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!

Once we acknowledge our transgressions to him, humble ourselves and trust in his forgiveness, the blockage is cleared up and we can live joyful and fulfilling prayerful lives. AND hear the songs of deliverance as God protects us from trouble!

Psalm 32:8-9 (NIV) - I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you and watch over you.
Do not be like the horse or the mule,  which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.

God himself tells us that there are two ways of doing things; the easy way or the hard way. Either we submit to God’s instruction, and are led by his Spirit and through the Word, thus maintaining our dignity somewhat, OR if we want to be as stubborn as donkeys he will treat us like donkeys. We’ll go through life yanked around by the bit in our mouths and bridle on our heads.  

Psalm 32:10 (NIV) - Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.

If you trust God, you will obey him, even if you don’t like what he says. I, for one, am an anti-social geek, so when the Bible talks about living in community it irks me. But since God made me and knows better than me, life is better when I do things his way, whether I like it or not. And because I started to understand that over the years he does not have to yank on the bit in my mouth that often these days and life is a lot more fun!

 

Conclusion:

To sum up what I say here, it’s a dangerous world we live in. God is fully aware of that, more than we are. And he wants to lead us away from the bad stuff and to the good. LORD, teach us how to cooperate and flow with you, so that we can all enjoy this life’s journey together!

Why Look to David?

One thing I have learned the HARD way - don't head over to any worship forums for a 'quick' look just before bedtime. The questions and thoughts I get can have me so excited I can't sleep!

One recent example is this question Peter Goh brought up on Worship the Rock. He pointed out that many Christian leaders teach worship from the Old Testament models of worship, such as Levitical worship or David's materials instead of looking at the New Testament. In John 4:23 Jesus revealed that there would be a massive change in the nature of worship "... a time is coming and has now come (NIV)" so why look at the older models of worship if God doesn't think they are good enough?

John 4:23 (NIV) - Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

To start we first need to look at what it means to worship in spirit and in truth. I wrote about it in detail before but to quickly sum up, to worship in spirit is to relate to God on the basis of our relationship with him through our new birth (John 3:5-6) rather than what we can achieve out of our flesh (Phil 3:3). And to worship in truth is to realize that there is nothing for which we can claim any credit or glory for, since every good we have done, including our worship, all came from God and was done through God in the first place (John 3:21).

This is a simple definition of spirit and truth, looking at John 3 and letting Scripture interpret Scripture. We can also say that to worship in spirit and truth is to relate to God based on the new covenant. And the new covenant means that all our sins are forgiven (Heb 8:12) and therefore we have a very good reason for total confidence and boldness in approaching God (Heb 10:19-22). Therefore praising God is a very natural fruit of such revelation (Heb 13:15).

The contemporary worship scene is more influenced by the Davidic model than the Levitical model (many people aren't keen to go back to sacrificing animals) so for now let's just consider: Why Look At David? I'll give a couple of reasons.

Firstly, David had an understanding of God that far exceeded what the Scriptures available to him revealed. We can see him as being very much a new covenant worshipper in the following areas:

1) He saw himself as a son of God - He will call out to me, 'You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.' (Psalm 89:26, NIV)

2) He knew he needed the forgiveness of God and that God was willing to forgive - Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:5, NIV)

3) He knew that he had nothing in and of himself to offer God, and that whatever he had came from God in the first place - Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand (1 Chron 29:14, NIV).

People can argue over whether David was worshipping God in spirit and in truth. But what is obvious to us is that David, because of the faith he displayed in worshipping God, shows us very clearly how we ought to relate to God as new covenant believers. David was so confident in God that he believed his songs were more precious to God than even the animal sacrifices required by the Levitical priesthood.

I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs. (Psalm 69:30-31, NIV)

How many of us have THAT level of confidence when we sing to God? Or do we come to God with trepidation, not believing in the fullness of the finished work of Christ? Remember, without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). David definitely had the faith that pleased God. We would do well to learn from him.

Secondly, the New Testament points us towards the Davidic model of worship. We know that the whole of Scripture is God-breathed by his Spirit (2 Tim 3:16) and yet there are three specific parts of Scripture explicitly tied to the Spirit of God. They are

1) The Words of Jesus (the words in red) - The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. (John 6:63, NIV);

2) Old Testament prophecies - For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.(2 Pet 1:21, NIV); AND

3) The Psalms - be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph 5:18-19, NKJV).

And God considers the Psalms, the fruit of the Davidic model of worship, so important, that we are admonished twice (Eph 5:18-19, Col 3:16) to feed on them, to talk to God and each other about them. And we have a direct endorsement of the Davidic model given us in Acts 15:16, when James declared that the Gentiles (non-Jews) turning to Jesus is a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy announcing God's intention to rebuild David's tabernacle (Amos 9:11-12). If God likes the David model of worship so much that he wants to restore it, and even ties the salvation of non-Jews to its restoration, it must be something VERY important to God.

And that means it ought to be important to us also.

Disclaimer: I'll be the first to admit that there are problems with the way some people look at the David model of worship. I personally disagree with using the Davidic model of worship to justify a song-and-dance routine that is based on professional worshippers rather than the entire body of Christ. And that's because of 1 Peter 2:9 which teaches us that ALL of us are royal priests, called to declare God's praises.

But even though there are people who misunderstand the Davidic model of worship, there will always be something useful for us to glean from it (as from ALL Scripture, 2 Tim 3:16). And I believe that we will understand the Davidic Model more and more in the future, as we continue to humble ourselves before God and ask that he open our eyes that we may see wonderful things in His law (Psalm 119:18).

May God himself teach us from His word and make us fruitful in His service!

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