Come Down, Lord!

Today we sang a new song, and it was immediately a favourite. In so many ways, I found the lyrics to be an echo of what is in my own heart. So here, I thought I would share my reflections on some of the lyrics. I’m Home by Shane & Shane is based on Psalm 84 . A. It begins with these words: How lovely are Your dwelling places… Oh, how I love to sing Your praises One day with You would be enough Psalm 84 puts it like this: How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God (Psalm 84:1–2). And isn’t that the heart-cry of every believer ? How lovely the place where He is! How wonderful to be with Him. Hymn writers have spoken of the sweet hour of prayer and the wonders of ten thousand times ten thousand years in heaven. What are they referring to? They’re speaking of the unspeakable joy of being in the presence of the One who is the fairest among ten thousand ...

While spending time in the hospital again and facing a number of unknowns, I found myself reflecting on the lyrics of the hymn Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me . I thought I’d share a few thoughts I jotted down during that time.* A. “What gift of grace is Jesus, my Redeemer.” I don’t know what you are facing today, and none of us can know what we may face tomorrow. We do know the Lord gives and the Lord takes away (Job 1:21). And we also know that we ought to be able to say with Eli: “It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good (1 Samuel 3:18).” Sometimes we find ourselves saying these things in the midst of what some call “dark providences.” And truly, some things do feel dark. When our bodies fail, when death looms ahead, when loved ones are taken from us - the grief, fear, and pain can be palpable. But as believers, we are not called to stoicism. Even now, we may “put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:3). Even now - in this night season - God c...

I’ve been thinking about the words of that old gospel song, “The longer I serve Him the sweeter He grows.” I believe that must be the testimony of every believer. Find a man who has served Jesus seventy years, and he will tell you he has discovered Jesus to be better and sweeter and more lovely with every passing year. That’s certainly been my experience. As the years pass, I am less pleased with what I see when I look in the mirror, but I am increasingly amazed by the person of Jesus. The truth is, others disappoint us, and we disappoint both ourselves and others. Whatever we may have resolved when we first began to follow Jesus, none of us are anywhere near as faithful as we would like to be. We are inconsistent, often distracted, sometimes lukewarm, and never as we ought to be. But Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He is always kind, always merciful, always good, always holy, always true to everything He has ever said.   Sometimes we don’t call on...