My eyes shed streams of tears,
because people do not keep your law.
(Psalm 119:136)
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
(Matthew 6:9)
I read that first verse, the one from Psalms, and it revealed to me a lack in my own heart and reminded me of a sermon by John Piper on the second verse, the one from Matthew.
When you and I think of the lost, those who are without Christ and destined for hell apart from a divine salvation, we usually have a reaction sort of like this... we know that their potential fate is terrible. They will be in torment forever, and their suffering will be horrible. To me, however, that is often more of a head knowledge than a heart knowledge. Whatever it has been - perhaps just the anguish of sustaining that sort of emotion - I have become numb to the horror and reality of hell for those who will go there. I know I need to feel more than I do.
When it comes to evangelism, this knowledge of the reality of hell is one potential motivation. I even think it is an essential motivation, one that should not be minimized or ignored or denied (as some have done lately). Indeed, love would move us to seek the alleviation of the suffering of our fellow men and women. However, I believe there is an even greater motivation that should be the fuel of our evangelism.
That greater motivation is to see, savor, cherish, pursue, advance, and behold the glory of God! When we share the Gospel with another, we do hope to save them from eternal punishment because we value their souls - indeed God has chosen to value our souls. However, a twin hope is to see this effect in their salvation: another heart awakened to worship our holy God. We rejoice because a soul is saved and because God is worshipped. We are jealous for God's name, and we yearn to see him praised from more hearts because he is infinitely worthy! Worthy is the lamb who was slaughtered! Oh, to be covered by the blood of a Savior who would plan such a plan and save such a one as me!
What is worth more? A human soul or the praise of God's holy name? I would say God and his glory are worth more, but in his wisdom and love, he has chosen a plan that does not set his glory and the salvation of sinners at odds. Thanks be to him for that!
We rejoice to see sinner's eternal suffering stopped; more so, we rejoice to see God worshipped in truth from another heart because he is worthy! We do both.
When people do not keep God's laws, do I shed streams of tears? I ought to. When I read the verse, it hit me in this way: people not keeping the law is the cause of the psalmist's sorrow. Law breaking is the grounds of the sorrow. While he may also shed tears because those people will suffer judgment, here it seems that he is simply sorrowful over the transgression itself. Indeed, the law is to be treasured because it is given by God, who is to be our supreme treasure. The law (and for us the Bible) is precious because it has been spoken by our God, and its promises have been purchased by his blood. We should long to see it honored, beginning in our own hearts but also among all. Just read the rest of Psalm 119 to see a testament of God's goodness to us by giving us his law; the psalmist loves the God's words and he eats, sleeps, breathes, reads, memorizes, soaks in, and keeps them as best he can. What a tragedy when those words are trampled upon even in the least.
We should be jealous for God. He is jealous for us. He wants our hearts, and he wants our ties to idols to be broken. We should want the same thing; we should long for the smashing of our idols, even to the point of the amputation of our limbs and eyes. But not only for us. We should yearn for Christ to be lifted up in every heart, his praises to be sung from every tongue, every eye turned to heaven, every ear tuned to the precious Spirit-breathed promises of his Word. This whole world is his, though it still currently stands in rebellion, and we should be jealous that God's kingdom be proclaimed and known through the whole place. I think that is the cry of the first petition of the Lord's prayer (and also the second).
"Hallowed be your name." That means, "God, make your name holy to me. Help me to honor it. Your glory is worth all, though I have fallen so short. Make your holiness known to me so that I treasure you more deeply, down to the deepest parts of me. And make your name holy throughout this whole world. Make your name a treasure among those hearts where it is now trampled. Holy, holy, holy are you Lord! Your name is greatly to be praised!" I think that is what it means.
Well, this has been my first rambling on my blog in awhile. As always, I pray it is of benefit to you my reader, whoever you are, and I pray that God's name would be hallowed in your heart. I guess I will be writing this blog less now that I have a real life job, but I am glad I still have it. Soli Deo gloria!
