I read the 92nd Psalm this morning and the 5th verse reached out and grabbed me. It has been with me all day; I haven’t been able to turn it loose, or maybe I should say it won’t turn me loose. Anyway, I’ve been meditating on it all day. Let me read it to you.
Psalm 92:5 O Lord, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep.
I suppose the reason it caught my attention so is because of my prayers of late. For some time now I have felt the need for the Word to come alive to me in a new way. So I have been praying for a deeper understanding. And, of course, the more I’ve prayed the greater the hunger has become and the further away I feel from what I am hungering for. Have you been there, too?
Looking back over my Christian life I really can say His works in my life have been great, but compared to what I need at this time they shrink significantly. Past experiences just don’t meet the need I have now. I think that is what Paul was speaking about when he said: What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:7-8. Have you been there, too?
As I meditated on this verse His thoughts in the Scriptures truly seemed very deep and past finding out. The more I thought about it the more impossible it seemed to reach through them to His thoughts and ways. And at the same time my hunger continued to grow. What I was looking for would take a miracle. Only God could meet my need. I realized that reading other commentary books would not meet the need. Reading the writings of the older expositors of Scripture such as Luther, Henry, and others or even the newer ones found in Christian bookstores today would not meet the need. I needed an enlightenment that can only come from the Lord Himself. Have you been there, too?
While dwelling on this verse of the 92nd Psalm a portion of Scripture in Isaiah came to mind. Let’s read it.
Isaiah 55:8-9 For My thoughts
are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts
than your thoughts.
How arrogant of man to lean upon his own understanding! Even Jesus didn’t presume to speak or do from Himself. He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him…I do nothing of Myself, but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. John 8:26, 28. Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. John 5:19. Man in his arrogance continues to go his own way, and the Christian’s arrogance is without equal. The kingdom of man is coming down. God is going to bring down every high thing that exalts itself wherever it is found. At this point I can think of only one thing to do – Repent! Repent! Repent! And cry out to the Lord for mercy. My prayer is: “Lord, come forth in my life and destroy every aspect of my human nature that opposes your Lordship. Bring down my kingdom and establish Your kingdom in me.” Have you been there, too?
Copyright © 2005 by Henry DuBose