I think one of the most relevant scriptural passages I’ve ever encountered is when the father of the demon possessed boy falls at Jesus’ feet and cries, "I believe; help my unbelief!" I think there are few words that ring quite so true in a believer’s heart and mind.

Therefore, I chose Mark 9:23-24 for my scripture meditation this week:

"…All things are possible for one who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!"

The context here is that a man had brought his son, possessed with a demon, to Jesus’ disciples. They were unable to cast the demon out and so the father of boy brought him directly to Jesus. It’s in this conversation that it unfolds that the demon keeps him mute, and at times throws the boy to the ground, or attempts to throw him into the fire.

Jesus inquires for how long the demon has had the boy and we learn that it’s from a very young age.

The boy’s father then makes a miserable mistake. He fails to believe completely. Mark 9:21, "But" says the boys father, "if there is anything can do, have compassion on us and help us."

It reads almost as if Jesus is taken back with the man’s choice of words. "If you can?" Jesus responds. Jesus corrects him with the fundamentally important news that, "all things are possible for him who believes." Probably in shame, the man cries out, "I do believe! Help me to overcome my unbelief!"

What a paradoxical statement. He believes, yet he fails to believe. Who of us couldn’t share this sentiment?

If you continue to read, you’ll find out that Jesus does has compassion on the man and his son. He casts out the demon who doesn’t go quietly and puts up a violent, but pathetic, fight.

As I’ve been meditating on these verses, a few things have stuck out to me. Notably, of course, is the man’s words which resonate so clearly in me. Then of course, Jesus’ correction confirming that "all things are possible." But I think the most striking is the context which brought this man to Jesus’ feet.

He brought his son to Jesus’ disciples in some type of faith that they would be able to heal him. But, for lack of faith, were unable to. Doubt was cast on Jesus’ ability himself and when the man came before Jesus his doubt came through, "if there’s anything you can do…" Of course we know what happened.

When we face our own demons, proverbial or literal, how much doubt is cast on Jesus’ power or willingness to save and heal because we see the lack of faith in those around us? I think it’s quite a bit. It is so rarely that we see transformed lives, we doubt that our own will experience transformation. We see our brothers and sisters struggle with this sin or that sin, and their failure to gain victory over them casts a shadow of uncertainty on Jesus’ overcoming that same sin in us.

But Jesus’ rebuke over all of us is just as it was to that man, "All things are possible for him who believes."

We must stop looking around us at others and fix our eyes on Jesus. Trusting, waiting, dusting, trusting, waiting, dusting, until finally Jesus proves himself faithful, as he really is, and we are made perfect with him. In the face of whatever our demons may be, let’s cry along with the boy’s father, "Jesus, I do believe! Help me overcome my unbelief!

Recent weeks have had me trying to put myself into uncomfortable church situations–such as serving in a formal capacity. I say uncomfortable because past experiences in church service have left me jaded. That’s not an excuse. But it is a reality, and one that I have to deal with.

So, I thought this week for scripture mediation I would focus on a verse dealing with the church’s church-hood. 1 Peter 2:9-10:

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

As I’ve considered this passage over the week, the first thing that struck me was the obviously elaborate language describing Jesus’ gospel call in the lives of believers. Then, the fantastic outflow from that, that we are now God’s people, that we have now received mercy. Then, it was striking the offices we now occupy–a priesthood, a chosen race, a holy nation, one of God’s (prized) possessions.

But as the week went on, what emerged as the really profound thought, (or at least profound at this time in my life) is capping off verse 9. It’s not what we are, or what we have because of what we are, but why we are that is so striking to me so.

Yes, we are a chosen race. Yes, we are a royal priesthood. Yes, a holy nation and a people for God’s possession. But why? So that we can proclaim the excellencies of Jesus.

Talk about a lofty purpose. A rag-tag group of sinners has been privileged, through the Gospel of Jesus, to proclaim to the whole world, all that is wonderful, amazing, and worthy–namely, Jesus Christ himself. If there is a better explanation for why a person is, I’ve never heard it. The point boils down to bringing Jesus glory, revealing to the world his excellencies.

And while this calling is irrefutably true of every single individual believer, this verse is dealing specifically with the corporate body of Christians. How does the Church do that? It’s a good question and a sensitive subject for me. But I think it starts in John 14:15:

"If you love me you will keep my commandments"

So we will shower Jesus with praise in keeping his commandments. But what does he command of us? Matthew 22:39:

" ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ "

Okay, so we love Jesus by keeping his commandments to love him and to love others. If we do not do this, we cannot confidently claim to love Jesus, nor could we confidently claim to enjoy his grace. So if ultimately we declare the excellencies of Jesus by loving him, then how does the corporate church do that? John 13:35 is (at least part of) the answer:

"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

It is absolutely crucial to our purpose as believers in Jesus to love each other. That means love the people in the church. Encourage them. Pray for them. Lift them up when they’ve fallen and be patient  when they’re struggling. Forgive. Give. Weep with the broken and rejoice with the joyful–in the church.

It’s by these things that the world will know that we love Jesus and it’s by these things that his excellencies are declaired to the whole world!

Psalm 103 may be my favorite Psalm to date. Particularly Psalm 103:8-12:

The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

This week in scripture meditation, I focused on Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

Sometimes I forget that David didn’t have the benefit of looking back and relying on the finished work of Jesus. He had to have faith in the to-be-fulfilled promise of a coming Christ whom he could cast his transgressions upon. Yet, even without the fulfilling of the promise, David asserted in faith that God had removed his transgressions from him, as far as the east is from the west.

This Psalm boasts encouragement of pure Gospel caliber. Grace, unadulterated and totally saturated. As Christians, with all confidence in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we can shout this verse into the face of any temptation and any sin, knocking to the floor the enemy disarmed.

But for me, these verses haven’t only encouraged me against the enemy’s accusations. It also drips with the Lord’s good favor and patient correction, his love, that at the behest of grace, the Church enjoys in Jesus.

In Christ, God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger and overflowing with unmovable love (v8). That little word “chide” simply means to “rebuke sternly”, and we’re assured that his stern rebuke will not persist and his anger will subside (v9)–a beautiful promise fully fulfilled in Christ (1 John 2:2). Because of Christ, he does not give us what we truly deserve for our sins, but look’s on Jesus’ righteousness which now clothes us (v10). For his children, the infinite height of the heavens is the only right comparison to his great love (v11).

And finally, two of the most comforting promises are these, stated here in Psalm 103. By Jesus, all the condemning violence of our sin is removed from us–infinitely far away. We cannot be reunited with them (v12). But also, God is compassionately mindful of our sin-weakened state. He will faithfully prevents us from undertaking so much temptation that we can no longer bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13, Palm 103:14).

In the armor of God, I believe this is the stuff the Sword is made of.

This week, my scripture meditation verse was Psalm 51:8. I wrote my reactions to this verse a couple months back also, so I won’t go into too much detail. But I have some fresh thoughts after attempting to keep it on my mind over the last seven days.

“Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.”

This is a powerful prayer. Unfortunately, it fails to be the prayer of my heart a lot of the time. However, as I sat and thought about David’s prayer here, it started to resonate in some really powerful ways.

David wrote this Psalm after he’d been called out by Nathan the prophet for committing adultery with Bathsheeba. His own sin was fresh on his mind. In the verses immediately preceding this one, he prayed to God that he would be cleansed of his guilt. Then, comes in this sentiment: “Let me hear joy and gladness“. It would appear that David is praying that the emotional wrenching he’s going through would come to an end. But, the next line comes in and turns that on it’s head.

“Let the bones that you have broken rejoice”! Where we would expect a reiteration of his last prayer for emotional healing, he prays that his broken spirit would rejoice just as it is.

I see a number of implications here. The first being that God has inflicted David with this injury in his spirit. But another would be that rejoicing in the injury inflicted by God would seem to the essence of hearing “joy and gladness”. At least in this thought here.

But this idea is made more sensible when we understand the manner of God’s showing love to his own.  Proverbs 3:11-12 (also Hebrews 12):

“My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
for the LORD reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights.”

David has sinned. God has inflicted him with an injury of conscience. But, instead of seeking deliverance from the injury, David seeks to rejoice in the injury. He seeks the joy and gladness that comes along with the Father delighting in him, which he can be confident of because of this injury.

The discipline of the Lord, while emotionally–and sometimes physically–unpleasant is a profound source of encouragement to the sinner. It confirms that he is a child of God and an fellow heir of the Kingdom with Christ.

But, I also think this verse speaks, not just to God’s discipline of sin, but to our broader emotional and physical injuries from the Lord as well. Whether it is God’s passive hand or deliberate hand that has afflicted us, the point remains: no matter what has happened to us, God could have stopped it if he saw fit. Therefore, if we experience some terrible hardship, it is God’s decree. And if it is indeed God’s decree, then it is for our ultimate good; the good of those found righteous in Jesus Christ. Just as he has promised us in Romans 8:28.

For that reason, whatever our affliction happens to be, may our prayers be with David’s: Father, let us hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

This week’s scripture meditation came from Luke 12:32. I came across it not as I was reading the bible (that probably won’t be until around June), but while I was finishing up John Piper’s The Pleasures of God. The verse goes like this:

“Fear not little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

This verse is steeped in the kind of encouragement a soul needs to keep moving in the midst of difficulty and sin.

Most probably won’t be familiar with this verse from the get go–I know I wasn’t. When you read it in the Gospel narrative, it comes across as something of a footnote. But that couldn’t possibly be farther from the truth. Consider the verses leading up to this one.

Luke 12:22-31 are the verses from the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus’ tells his listeners, “Consider the lilies!“. They’re the verses where he reminds them not to worry about what they’re going to eat, or drink or wear, because God is going to take care of them. But all of these things in verses 22-31 are temporal blessings, it isn’t until verse 32 that Jesus brings out the promises of everlasting value.

It’s in verse 32 that Jesus hits the pinnacle of his beautiful string of thought. He, in essence says, “Yes, you will be provided for here–but, do not fear your eternal well being, because it brings your Father great joy to bless you eternally with life!”

If you have ever felt like your blessings in Christ are a kind of begrudging gift from the Father, this verse will calm your fears. It’s easy to get stuck thinking of Christ as the compassionate one and the Father as the vengeful task master. In that line of thinking, our justification because of Christ begins to look like a loophole we’ve exploited. Like, God is paying out salvation, but only because we caught him in a technicality–if he had it his way, we’d all burn.

This verse assures us of the opposite. Salvation, from beginning to end, is the pleasure, not only of Jesus, but of the Father as well.

If that’s not good news to a weary and heavy laden soul, I don’t know what is!

The past seven days have been the beginning of a new scripture memorization effort. The goal is not to fill my head with an index of scripture, but to apply and internalize relevant scriptures to my daily life according to my heart’s need and the Lord’s leading.

The plan has been to select a single relevant passage–one that speaks directly to my current weakness or trouble in my walk–and memorize it through daily, reflective repetition. This week, I have been closing all of my prayers with a calm and thoughtful recitation of the verse and it’s reference number.

This first week, I chose Philippians 1:6:

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion on the day of Jesus Christ.”

I will say plainly, that the recitation of this verse is powerful in the face of discouragement and self-pity. Not the recitation of it, but the believing it and reminding yourself that it’s true.

Indeed, our lives may not go as planned. We might not be comfortable. We might not even live, but the effectual grace of God will never let his blood-bought children go. We who have been elected, were call, we were justified, we are being sanctified and we will be glorified. The good work God is working in each of his children, through the cross and resurrection of Christ, will not and cannot be nullified by anything here on earth.

Which brings to mind another, equally powerful verse. Romans 8:38-39:

“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.”

Whew.