Josh King

Ten Seeds to Sow in the Garden of Your Children (Ephesians 6:1–4)

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
—Ephesians 6:4

What our children need is discipline, not distraction. Distraction is easy. Discipline is hard work. Discipline requires discipline. But discipline pays dividends for decades. Distraction just delays destruction, disrespect, and disobedience. It caps the pipe only to build pressure.

Discipline means discipleship. You are always discipling, either with life in Adam or life in Christ. Here is a call to disciple with intentionality. Here is a call to disciple your children in the Lord. Your children are a garden entrusted to you by the Lord. You cannot make the soil good, but you can pull weeds and sow seeds. Here then are ten lessons, ten seeds you ought to be especially zealous to plant in the garden of your children.

1. Plant the seed of God’s Law

Have your children memorize the ten commandments. Refer to them often. Help them to look at their behavior and the behavior of the world through them. It was especially these “ten words from the fire” that Moses had in mind when he said, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:6–7). Lead them to Sinai so that they might see God’s holiness, righteousness, and justice in His law. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Teach them God’s law.

2. Plant the seed of God’s gospel.

Learning that they are wicked sinners, tell them that God is a gracious Savior. Show them how all the Bible is about Jesus the Redeemer. Teach them of His incarnation, life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, session, and return—all for the salvation of sinners. Pray for them and with them that God would open their eyes to see the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Pray with them and for them that God would grant them the new birth and repentance and faith. Teach them the gospel.

3. Plant the seed of Bible disciplines.

Teach them to read the Bible, meditate on the Bible, memorize the Bible and pray the Bible. Do this not just as part of family worship, but instill it as a personal discipline. Before they can read, have them listen to Bible storybooks on their own. Move on to listening to chapters of the Bible from the gospels, Genesis, Acts, Philippians, Psalms or Proverbs (the ESV Bible app is excellent tool for this). Once they can read, use a reading plan for children like David Murray’s Exploring the Bible. As they mature, move them on to yearly reading plans. While their minds are sponges, have them memorize tons of Scripture. Pick good gospel texts. Pick texts that deal with sins that they struggle with. Have them memorize chapters, even books. Teach them Bible disciplines.

4. Plant the seed of prayer.

Pray at meals. Pray when they are afraid. Pray when you travel. Pray when you make decisions. Pray when there is tragedy. Pray during family worship. When they come to you and you don’t know the answer, you do know this answer—”Let’s pray about this.” All these lessons are to be taught by actions as well as words, but with prayer, we teach them with actions that are words. Teach them to pray.

5. Plant the seed of song.

Sing as a family. Sing the rich hymns of the faith. Listen to worshipful music often. Don’t let the culture dictate their taste. Cultivate it yourself. Teach them what good music is and what bad music is. Teach them the power of music. Teach them to sing.

6. Plant the seed of theology.

Don’t just teach them the gospel story line of the Bible, teach them the theology of the Bible. Teach them about revelation and Scripture. Teach them about the Trinity and the person of Christ. Teach them about angels and demons. Teach them about the family and the church. Teach them about manhood and womanhood. Teach them theology.

7. Plant the seed of a Biblical worldview.

Teach them to apply the law, the gospel, and theology to this world. Teach them to look at culture, politics, economics, art, and media through the lens of a Biblical worldview. Teach them a Biblical worldview.

8. Plant the seed of work.

As soon as they are able to pick up their toys, teach them to pick up their toys. As they grow, so should their work. It takes work to teach work, but work brings a harvest. When you examine at the household codes of the New Testament (Ephesians 5:22–6:9; Colossians 3:18–4:1), you notice that they include slaves. This is because households were economies. The Greek roots of for the word “economy” mean “law of the house.” “Home economics” is a redundant phrase. Homes should be productive. They should be fruitful. God put man in the garden to work and keep it. Teach them to do what God made them to do. Teach them to work.

9. Plant the seed of stewardship.

Teach them stewardship of their time, possessions, and money. Teach them these things are not their own. They are given to them. They are God’s. He gives talents and He expects returns.

When your children complain of being bored, they’re not being good stewards of their time. Give them a job. When they destroy their toys and won’t share them, they are not being good stewards of their possessions. Require them to take care of their stuff and to share their stuff. As soon as they start earning money, teach them to wisely spend it, wisely save it, and generously give it with a cheerful heart.

Remember, we are to disciple our children to love God with their all, all the time, everywhere, and in everything. If they learn the lesson of stewardship young it will be far easier to practice it when they have a car, a job, and can contribute to the church. You can’t allow them to practice selfishness for 10, 14, or 18 plus years then think they are automatically going to be generous upon conversion. The old man has habits and those habits will be hard to break. Teach them to be wise and generous stewards.

10. Plant the seed of respect.

“Yes sir.” “No mam.”

“Sit up straight. Wipe you mouth. Chew with your mouth closed. Look them in the eye. Tell them your name. Walk, don’t run. Sit like a lady. Carry yourself like a man. Dress modestly. Take your hat off.” Teach them not to think of these things as fashions. Teach them how to show respect and how to carry themselves with honor. Children are to honor their parents. Teach them respect.

“But they’re not converted,” you might object. Yes, but they are created and they are obligated. Inability doesn’t negate responsibility. Teach them how to love God as you teach them the love of God in Christ. Even if they are not converted, you will have given them something of a common grace and a lesson of how to live in God’s world. They may not be salt and light, but you will have salted and lighted the earth to some degree with them.

I tell my boys often that to outshine ninety percent of their peers doesn’t take a great deal these days. They need only do two things: 1. Work hard. 2. Be respectful. If your children learn just a few of these lessons, they can reap a lot of blessings. Pray for their conversion. Disciple them to love God. And know that this world is better for your disciplining your children in the Lord.

And when you fail to discipline, delightfully remember that your heavenly Father does not. He will never leave you or forsake you. He is perfectly conforming you to the image of His perfect Son with all wisdom. Because Christ bore the curse on the cross, you only bear the rod of reproof. Christ was judged as a sinner so that you might be disciplined as a son. Discipline your children by receiving His discipline. Let your Heavenly Father use your failures as His child to accomplish this goal—bringing up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Love Them More by Loving Them Less (Deuteronomy 6:4–9)

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
—Deuteronomy 6:4–7

The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4–9) tells us that we are to be zealous to teach our children to love God. Of course this means teaching them of the love of the redeeming God. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Yes, we teach them the law to lead them to the gospel, but we also teach them that the gospel leads to the law. Our parenting is to reach beyond the hope of conversion and demonstrate to them the wisdom and beauty of sanctification. Teach them not only of God’s love for sinners; teach them how the saints are to love their Savior.

Too much parenting fails at this point. Many Christian parents are zealous to teach two lessons. They are good lessons, but they are out of balance.

Lesson #1: God loves you.

Lesson #2: I love you.

Here’s the problem with lesson 1: Your children are sinners. They abide under the wrath of God. Don’t simply tell them that God loves them. Tell them God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. But He is also loving, merciful, and gracious. They currently stand under His judgment, but He offers grace in Christ. Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will know God’s never-ending, unfailing, steadfast covenant love.

Here’s the problem with lesson 2: Neither you nor your children are God. Yes, love your children. Yes, tell them you love them. But here is the lesson you are to be most zealous to teach them: love God.

Do not be more earnest to teach them that you love them than you are to teach them to love God. Too many parents are living under the laws of man, trying to appease the gods of their children and demonstrate that they really do love them. Are the little gods happy? Your children don’t need all the games, all the activities, and all the toys. All the time and everywhere parents are exhausting themselves trying to teach this lesson to their children, “I love you.” Your children would be better off with a lot less of that kind of love. The greatest thing you can do for your children and for society, is not to love them, but to love God. You cannot teach your children to love God by loving them as a god.

It must be clear to our children that there are two things we love more them them: our God and our spouse. Our love to them flows from these two strong fountains; the former infinite, the later finite. If you want to love your children best, don’t exhaust yourself to give them your all. Give God all and teach them to do the same.

Make your children god and you will crush them and crush yourself. Take on Jesus’ yoke, and learn from him. He is gently and lowly. You will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29). You will find liberation and peace. And the hope is that as you do so, your Father would use your weak love of Him to kindle a love for Him in your sons and daughters. Don’t distract them from God by making them god. Love God with all that you are and teach them to do the same. Less them and more God is the way to love them most.

Why Fear the Wicked-Wealthy? (Psalm 49)

"Why should I fear in times of trouble, 
     when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me, 
those who trust in their wealth 
     and boast of the abundance of their riches? 
Truly no man can ransom another, 
     or give to God the price of his life, 
for the ransom of their life is costly 
     and can never suffice, 
that he should live on forever 
     and never see the pit."

—Psalm 49:5–9

Why should the saints not fear the wicked-rich-powerful? Because no matter how rich they are, they cannot buy their own ransom. Adam was warned that he would surely die when he ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 1:27). The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). In his sin and rebellion, man incurs a debt and that debt is his everlasting soul. It is a debt he cannot pay. The price for life is life. Man cannot pay because he owes himself. Another sinful man cannot pay for him, for that man also owes himself. The wealthy who trust in their wealth trust in that which cannot ransom them. Spurgeon wrote, “They boast of what they will do with us, let them see to themselves. Let them weigh their gold in the scales of death, and see how much they can buy therewith from the worm and the grave. The poor are their equals in this respect… A king’s ransom would be of no avail, a Monte Rosa of rubies, an America of silver, a world of gold, a sun of diamonds, would all be utterly contemned. O ye boasters, think not to terrify us with your worthless wealth, go ye and intimidate death before ye threaten men in whom is immortality and life.” Jesus asked, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Why fear those who stand empty-handed before the holy God of heaven?

Still, death is the great leveler. Before God, all our pockets are empty. If you can’t give riches for your life, you can’t give poverty either. So if both the wise and the fool alike die, shouldn’t we fear? We have wicked men to deal with now and a righteous God thereafter—should we not fear?

“For he sees that even the wise die; 
     the fool and the stupid alike must perish 
     and leave their wealth to others” (v. 10)

No, for although the wicked-rich can purchase no ransom, for the poor in spirit, one has been provided.

“But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, 
     for he will receive me” (v. 15)

What the psalmist could not pay, God has paid for him. God would become poor, so that man might become rich. For Egypt there is darkness and death, but for Israel, there is light and life. But for this to happen, God must provide a Lamb. God has paid Himself. He has paid a life for a life. Jesus Christ, owing no debt, came as the Second Adam and laid down His life. He came to death with His pockets full, having achieved all righteousness in our stead. Jesus endured the darkness. Jesus conquered death. He rose in light with life. He took on our debt so that we might share in His wealth. And though our debt was infinite, His wealth is greater still. We are not simply out of the red, we are wealthy in Christ.

Dear souls, God will accept no ransom from sinful man, but He has provided one in the God-man Jesus Christ. Do not be a fool, receive this wisdom, Jesus Christ the riches of God.

Celebrating the City… of God (Psalm 48)

Walk about Zion, go around her, 
     number her towers, 
consider well her ramparts, 
     go through her citadels, 
that you may tell the next generation
     that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
     He will guide us forever.

—Psalm 48:12–14

“Biblical religion,” writes one reformed theologian, “views the whole course of history as a movement from a garden to a city.” I grew up in as rural Oklahoma as you can get on a peanut farm outside the small town of Eakly. And while I did enjoy some time in Tulsa, I have no desire to return to the city. As violence, drugs, and homelessness begin to dominate our cities more and more, they grow even less attractive to me. There are many iconic cities I now have absolutely no desire to ever visit. I’ve never been so glad to live in the country.

But a love for the countryside mustn’t cause us to simply the Biblical storyline like this: Garden good; city corrupt. Yes, Eden was a paradise, and Babel was evil, but in between Eden and Babylon, we do find Jerusalem. Regardless of their evils, don’t fail to think of cities in these two ways. First, in the ancient world, many cities didn’t obscure nature, they harnessed it, as ancient river valley civilizations meant more green and growth, not less. Second, cities were and are an outworking of the mandate for man to have dominion over the earth. As we look at cities we must remember the culture mandate and we must not forget that in between the garden of God and the cities of man there was a fall. So while cities do represent progress in one sense, and they are collectives of depravity of as well. It’s not that cities are more sinful, it is just that there are more sinners.

In this psalm though we are not talking about any city of man, but the city of God. This psalm is a celebration of the city of our God, His holy mountain, Mount Zion, the city of the great king, the city of David, Jerusalem. This city, ultimately, is the church, the assembly of the saints, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22). She is glorious. So great is the psalmist’s delight in her, we’re almost tempted to say she’s worshipped. But the splendor of the city is the splendor of the her Builder (Hebrews 11:10). The beauty of the bride, is the beauty of her Bridegroom. The glory of the people is the glory of her God. As we survey the city, we behold her God, who dwells in her midst as King. As we survey the ancient city with the Psalmist, we anticipate the heavenly city of the new earth, the city we have a foretaste of in the local church. If the psalmist could so sing these words of Jerusalem, how much more may we now of the church?

Praise Calling for Praise (Psalm 48)

Clap your hands, all peoples! 
Shout to God with loud songs of joy! 
For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, 
a great king over all the earth.

—Psalm 47:1–2

All churches have liturgies; it is simply a question of whether they have a good one or a bad one. Liturgy is simply the form or ordering of a worship gathering. At Meridian Church, after some preliminaries, our worship gatherings formally begin with a “call to worship.” This historically common practice unfortunately is foreign to many who visit our body.

What is a call to worship? It is simply a reading of a passage of Scripture to usher forth our hearts unto God. God speaks; we respond. This is the Biblical pattern of worship from Genesis to Revelation. He initiates; we reciprocate. He reveals; we revere. The bride of Christ did not propose to her Bridegroom. In the dance of discipleship and worship that follows their union, He still leads; she still follows. Worship is not something we stir up within. It is something God stirs up within His people. Worship is not generated by man. It is summoned forth by God.

The 47th psalm is a call to worship par excellence and God gives it through His people. The psalms are a gigantic call to worship by our gigantic God. God calls us to worship Himself. Have you ever contemplated that? C.S. Lewis did, and initially, it irritated him.

“When I first began to draw near to belief in God and even for some time after it had been given to me, I found a stumbling block in the demand so clamorously made by all religious people that we should ‘praise’ God; still more in the suggestion that God Himself demanded it. We all despise the man who demands continued assurance of his own virtue, intelligence or delightfulness; we despise still more the crowd of people round every dictator, every millionaire, every celebrity, who gratify that demand. Thus a picture, at once ludicrous and horrible, both of God and of His worshippers, threatened to appear in my mind. The Psalms were especially troublesome in this way…”.

How did Lewis solve this problem of praise? He gives a few answers, but here are the two I find most satisfying.

“What do we mean when we say that a picture is ‘admirable’? We certainly don’t mean that it is admired (that’s as may be) for bad work is admired by thousands and good work may be ignored. Nor that it ‘deserves’ admiration in the sense in which a candidate deserves a high mark from the examiners—i.e. that a human being will have suffered injustice if it is not awarded. The sense in which the picture ‘deserves’ or ‘demands’ admiration is rather this; that admiration is the correct, adequate or appropriate, response to it, that, if paid, admiration will not be ‘thrown away’, and that if we do not admire we shall be stupid, insensible, and great losers, we shall have missed something. In that way many objects both in Nature and in Art may be said to deserve, or merit, or demand, admiration. It was from this end, which will seem to some irreverent, that I found it best to approach the idea that God ‘demands’ praise. He is that Object to admire which (or, if you like, to appreciate which) is simply to be awake, to have entered the real world; not to appreciate which is to have lost the greatest experience, and in the end to have lost all.”

Lewis goes on to clarify that God does indeed demand praise as the just law giver, but He demands (commands) praise as one who demands (compels) praise. God doesn’t call us to worship Himself as some wicked tyrant, distracting us from that which is transcendently good, true, and beautiful. God calls us to worship Himself as the transcendently good God, the true God, the beautiful God. God’s call to worship then is a call to our greatest joy. This is the second insight of Lewis I appreciate.

“But the most obvious fact about praise—whether of God or anything—strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honour. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise. The world rings with praise—lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game—praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. …I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: ‘Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?’ The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about.”

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”

The call to worship is an invitation to delight in what is most delightful. Evangelism, proper and good evangelism, is public praise inviting others to rejoice in the good news of Christ. “Taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalm 34:8). Missions is praise calling for praise. It is worship calling for worship. It is joy calling for joy.

The Illogicality of Fear (Psalm 46)

God is our refuge and strength, 
      a very present help in trouble. 
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, 
      though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 
though its waters roar and foam, 
      though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

—Psalm 46:1–3

The metaphor of God as a refuge assumes a threat. There was an occasion for this psalm’s composition and that occasion was trouble. God is a refuge, strength, and help in… trouble. Knowing the covenant God of Israel doesn’t eliminate trouble. Trouble will be, but in trouble, the people of God have a refuge.

And it is for this reason, we do not fear. Not because there is no trouble, but because in trouble there is a refuge. “Therefore, we will not fear.” Perhaps it is better to say, that in trouble, the saints understand that they should not fear and therefore they resolve not to fear. “God is our refuge” this is our confession. “Therefore we will not fear,” this is our resolution.

Theology is practical. Theology therefores. The darkness of fear dissipates as the flame of faith in our refuge grows. This flame of faith is fed by God’s truth, doctrine, teaching as to who He is. The more you know God, the less you will know of carnal fear. Spurgeon comments, “How fond the Psalmist is of therefores! his poetry is no poetic rapture without reason, it is as logical as a mathematical demonstration. The next words are a necessary inference from these. ‘Will not we fear.’ With God on our side, how irrational would fear be! Where he is all power is, and all love, why therefore should we quail?”

We will not fear though… though what? Though trouble! Though anything. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35–39).

We will not fear “though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”

We will not fear though towers burn and fall, though terrorists attack, though viruses threaten, though wars rage.

We will not fear though the wicked dominate the media, though drag queens seek to target children, though we are silenced and arrested for righteousness sake, though we are ridiculed, mocked, and laughed at.

God is our refuge therefore, we will not fear.

The King’s Wedding (Psalm 45)

My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; 
     I address my verses to the king; 
     my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.


—Psalm 45:1

Many solid commentators, especially the older ones, argue that Song of Solomon is about Christ and the church. I don’t think that theory makes it all the way down the aisle. I also don’t think it is necessary. You don’t need to make Song of Solomon about Christ and the church because marital union and communion between husband and wife are already an analogy of Christ and the church. The Song of Songs is about that which is about Christ and the church.

The 45th psalm is also “A Love Song.” It is utterly unique. It is a song of praise for Israel’s king on his being wed to a foreign bride. How did a royal wedding song make its way into the hymn book of Israel?

The psalmist tells us he was inspired. But is this the Shakespeare kind of inspiration or the Spirit kind of inspiration? Why not both? The psalmist takes up a pleasing theme that then takes him up. He takes up the pleasing theme of love between a man and a wife, and then that theme takes him up to the reality that stands behind it. The God-designed analogy is used by the Spirit to testify of the Son.

Song of Solomon is limited to earth, but the analogy it speaks of is not. Here, the analogy reaches such a fullness in the king of Israel, that the transcendent is touched. The King is God (v. 6). Derek Kinder says this “is an example of Old Testament language bursting its banks.” In the 110th Psalm David sang, “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” There, Yahweh addresses one who is David’s Lord. Here, this same Messianic figure is not just David’s Lord. He is God. And God (the Father) anoints God (the King). Hebrews 1:8–9 leaves no doubt as to who is the only one who could fulfill such language. “But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.’”

Understanding this, consider the “plot” of this wedding procession. The King is the most handsome of the sons of Adam and He is God. Having put on the glory of conquering the foes of God, the King then takes to Himself a foreign bride who is called on to leave her people.

The Psalmist here is inspired, but not to make an analogy of this wedding. He is inspired, but the analogy that is marriage reaches its greatest earthly heights in this wedding of the King of Israel; heights that can only reach their fullness when the King of heaven is born in Bethlehem as a Son of David: the most handsome of the sons of Adam, God and King, victorious, and taking a foreign bride.

A Song Interrupted (Psalm 43)

Why are you cast down, O my soul, 
      and why are you in turmoil within me? 
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, 
      my salvation and my God.


—Psalm 43:5

Psalms 42 and 43 present a song interrupted. The common themes, the shared refrain, and the progression of the psalm, as well their placement, all convince us that they belong together. In addition, a number of ancient manuscripts do present them as single psalm. All the more then, the question is, why did the division come to dominate their presentation? Why was this song broken into two?

Much will remain an mystery, but part of the answer is so plain and obvious that, like the nose on our face, we tend to overlook it. The song is interrupted, it is broken in two, because two psalms were desired for the worship of God’s people. They are not one, because two were preferred. Or, we might say that the division is liturgical. It has to do with how they ordered their worship.

It is like a concept album where a part of a song may occur again and again throughout the album in bits and parts, sustaining a theme. Or it is like a recurring motif in a symphony. We can’t sure exactly how the division of this song into two was used liturgically, but that it had some liturgical function is plain enough. Even so, I think we can safely speculate a bit as to how the division worked, and the significance of it. Something came between the pieces of the song in their worship because, often, something comes between the pieces of the song in our life. You don’t just sing this psalm, and then, that’s that. Burden lifted. Faith bolstered. Done. This is a song you need to sing and you need to sing it again and again. And all other kinds of things come in between.

Not only that, this is a song that you can learn to sing better, to sing more fully. You sing this song. Then, when you sing it again, you sing it better. There is something of a progression to the verses of this song as we move from longing to lament to petition. There is no ultimate resolution, but still you sense hope growing as your progress along through each verse and return to the refrain. In our longing and our lament we hope, but then, with our petitions, we begin to hope more. We hope better. Keep preaching God’s truth to yourself and hope better—that, I believe, is something of the message of this song interrupted.

Don’t Merely Long for God To… (Psalm 42)

As a deer pants for flowing streams, 
      so pants my soul for you, O God. 
My soul thirsts for God, 
      for the living God. 
When shall I come and appear before God?

—Psalm 42:1–2

In the opening paragraph of his Confessions, Augustine writes, “you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” All spirituality, all religion, all quests for the true, the good, and the beautiful, man’s every longing, all of it testifies to this restlessness, and yet, it also shouts that man does not long for God. Romans 3:11 tells us “no one seeks for God.” Man paradoxically wants all that God is, minus God. Man needs God and is desperate for all that God is and God alone, but he wants it all apart from the true God as He is. Sinful man is a fool wanting a solar system without a star.

This is also true of many who long for the true God revealed in Jesus Christ, because they long for God too. They long for God to deliver them, to help them, to lead them, to bless them. Such longings are not always evil, but it is evil to only long for God to.

Even the true saint recognizes something of this idolatrous longing cloaked as piety remaining within him. Here is something rare and beautiful. It is a work of God’s grace. Here the psalmist longs for God. Oh, it will be plain he longs for God to as well, but foundationally, what he longs for is God himself.

God is not a means to to. To is a means to God. Deliverance is deliverance to God. Help is help unto God. God’s leading is a leading unto Himself. Blessedness is God.

John Piper helps separate the wheat from the chaff with this question,

“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?”

Here is the heart of true worship, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25).

Hyperbole‽ (John 21:15–25)

This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
—John 21:24–25

The gospel of John is a written witness, but not all that could be written has been written. In 20:30 John tells us that Jesus did many other signs. Now he tells us Jesus did so many other things, that were they to be written, the world could not contain the books. Many quickly dismiss this as hyperbole, and it is true that this is the classification for this type of figure of speech, but ponder this:

Ponder the depth and the significance of Jesus’ acts, just the ones we that we do have recorded in John, and all that could be said about them.

Ponder all the unseen work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in their divinity going on behind all these events.

Ponder all the backstory that the Sovereign Storyteller has weaved together that leads up to all these events.

Ponder all the promises and types of the Old Testament come to fulfillment in Christ and all the words that would be necessary to unpack them.

Ponder the mighty redemption and advancing kingdom that are still shaking this world, knowing they find their epicenter in the crucified and risen Christ. They are what Jesus has continued to do.

Then add to this all the other things Jesus did, and run the same play with them.

Hyperbole! No. Even Aristotle had enough light from natural revelation to realize that the finite cannot contain the infinite. Hyperbole? Eternity and heaven will not prove enough to exhaust the wonders of incarnation, obedience, acts, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord.

The love of God is greater far
than tongue or pen can ever tell;
it goes beyond the highest star,
and reaches to the lowest hell.
The wand’ring child is reconciled
by God’s beloved Son.
The aching soul again made whole,
and priceless pardon won.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
and were the skies of parchment made;
were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill,
and ev’ryone a scribe by trade;
to write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry;
nor could the scroll contain the whole,
though stretched from sky to sky.

	—“The Love of God” by Frederick Lehman

Hyperbole? Truth! His testimony is true. We know his testimony is true.