Close to God

Thursday, October 17, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.”

Psalm 24:3–6

It is not unusual to hear people talk about being close to God, but sometimes it is just in a vague and general sense. To David, who spent so much of his depending on God just for survival, being close to God was an urgent necessity. When that relationship was not right, it had a profoud impact on him. It was David who wrote the words Jesus quoted on the cross: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” (Psalm 22:1).

And it was David that the Holy Spirit inspired to pen a description of the path to a close and intimate relationship with God. David highlights the importance of both inward and outward cleansing. He knew what it was like to need, and to receive, both of those. When Nathan confronted him regarding his sin with Bathsheba, David begged God for forgiveness, not just to have his sin forgiven, but to have his relationship restored. “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7).

Sin always drives a wedge into our relationship with God. It does not change our standing in His family, but it does impact our willingness to go to Him, and His willingness to be close to us. Our salvation through Jesus Christ guarantees our hope of Heaven, but it is our daily cleansing through His blood that keeps us close to Him.

Today's Growth Principle
The process of deepening our relationship with God must begin with dealing with our sins.

Old Testament Reading

Isaiah 50-52

CHAPTER 50

¹ Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. ² Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. ³ I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.

⁴ The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. ⁵ The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. ⁶ I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. ⁷ For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. ⁸ He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. ⁹ Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.

¹⁰ Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. ¹¹ Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.

CHAPTER 51

¹ Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. ² Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. ³ For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

⁴ Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. ⁵ My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. ⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. ⁷ Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. ⁸ For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? ¹⁰ Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? ¹¹ Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. ¹² I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; ¹³ And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? ¹⁴ The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. ¹⁵ But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name. ¹⁶ And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

¹⁷ Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. ¹⁸ There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up. ¹⁹ These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? ²⁰ Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God. ²¹ Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: ²² Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: ²³ But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

CHAPTER 52

¹ Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. ² Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. ³ For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money. ⁴ For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. ⁵ Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed. ⁶ Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.

⁷ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! ⁸ Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion. ⁹ Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. ¹⁰ The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. ¹¹ Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. ¹² For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.

¹³ Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. ¹⁴ As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: ¹⁵ So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

New Testament Reading

1 Thessalonians 5

CHAPTER 5

¹ But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. ² For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. ³ For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. ⁴ But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵ Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

⁶ Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. ⁷ For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. ⁸ But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. ⁹ For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

¹¹ Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. ¹² And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; ¹³ And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. ¹⁴ Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. ¹⁵ See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

¹⁶ Rejoice evermore. ¹⁷ Pray without ceasing. ¹⁸ In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. ¹⁹ Quench not the Spirit. ²⁰ Despise not prophesyings. ²¹ Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. ²² Abstain from all appearance of evil.

²³ And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. ²⁵ Brethren, pray for us. ²⁶ Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. ²⁷ I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. ²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

The first epistle to the Thessalonians was written from Athens.

Proverbs Reading

Proverbs 17

¹ Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife. ² A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren. ³ The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts. ⁴ A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue. ⁵ Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished. ⁶ Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers. ⁷ Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince. ⁸ A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth. ⁹ He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. ¹⁰ A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool. ¹¹ An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him. ¹² Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly. ¹³ Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. ¹⁴ The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with. ¹⁵ He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD. ¹⁶ Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it? ¹⁷ A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. ¹⁸ A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend. ¹⁹ He loveth transgression that loveth strife: and he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction. ²⁰ He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief. ²¹ He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy. ²² A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. ²³ A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment. ²⁴ Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth. ²⁵ A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him. ²⁶ Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity. ²⁷ He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. ²⁸ Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.