(Provider, Generous Benefactor contd)
Meditation 4: God’s only requirement – “Approach me as a generous Benefactor”
Psalm 50:1-4, 14-15 The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets. 2 From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. 3 Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages. 4 He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people:
14 Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, 15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
What is wonderful about this attribute:
The stench of the people’s sin rose above the heavens – so serious was it that God convened the entire Creation to stand as a witness in His great and fearful indictment of His people for their incalculable evil. Then when He speaks of how they can be right with Him He does not say, “Spend 100,000 years in purgatory” or “cut yourselves with knives to show your contrition.” He does not even require twenty years of hard labor, or even one year. He simply requires that they look to Him as their Benefactor (call on Him in the day of trouble and gratefully honor Him when He delivers)!
Yes, there were (and are) consequences for the purpose of teaching us, but the only requirement for being right with God again when we sin is that we must simply stop sucking up dust out of broken cisterns and start drinking heavily from His sweet spring! He requires only that we prefer the great banquet of God over the worthless banquet of this world. Their sin was to think of God as a beneficiary (thinking that He benefited from their worship – v.9), and so the solution was to begin seeking Him as He is, the great and generous Benefactor, not beneficiary.
How marvelous is knowing God! Most of us have dealt with people who refuse to forgive us and who refuse any attempt at reconciliation – nothing you can do would put you back in good standing with them. How different God is! He requires so little for us to be right with Him again after we have sinned egregiously against Him. All we have to do is simply open up our hands to receive grace from Him!
Thank You, dear Lord. Thank You for not making it impossible to reconcile with You. Please teach Your servant never to forget that and always to cherish that, so I will never make it impossible (or even hard) for someone to be restore to my good graces.
What effect would it have on your heart if you were to consciously experience God as Benefactor today?
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Experiencing this attribute:
He requires so little. And yet He requires so much. He requires everything. To come to Him we must come as beggars with empty hands. We must forsake our idols and broken cisterns – the things we hold so dear and that seem to promise such happiness or security. We must let go of all our “assets” before we can honor Him as our Benefactor. As utterly worthless and liability-like as those “assets” are, still, our greedy, idolatrous hearts struggle to let go of them. We think we need them. Our confused, foolish souls think they are of some significance in the question of whether we will be provided for or not. We stupidly think they are a factor in our joy.
Lord, may I not dishonor You by looking to any other helper. May my gratitude all be Yours alone. If I look to my family or friends or pastor or anyone else as the source of my help, my gratitude will terminate on them and I will be an idolater. Am I guilty of that, dear Lord? Have I dishonored You by looking to men as my help (instead of looking to men only as tools in Your hand)?
May my heart see Your gracious love behind every good thing. My I take You seriously in my commitments, never speaking out of pure religious rote without the full commitment of the will and affections behind it. May I look nowhere but to You on the day of trouble. May those days teach my heart what it means to look to You alone. May the promise of deliverance by You excite and enliven and delight my heart! May it be my only desire.
Whenever you see examples of people who do not deserve what they are asking for, let that remind you of God’s grace. Whenever you receive, hope for, or long for anything good, let that feeling remind you of the wonderful joy of having such a Benefactor.
Think: When you sin do you strive to make it up to God – to give Him something? Or do you respond to your sin in the way that honors God – by letting go of your idols and seeking grace from God? Don’t ever let the fact that you don’t deserve it keep you from seeking it! If you do that you imply that other times you do deserve it. Seeking forgiveness and grace as an undeserving beggar is exactly what honors God.
Promise to trust today:
Psalm 50:15 Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.
Write your own prayer:
