9 The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position. 10 But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Sheina Chen

When I think about the rest of my life, there are two fears that always creep in. I don't want to be poor, and I don't want to suffer. Or to put it the other way, I'd like to be rich enough to live a comfortable life, and to have a life free from worries and trials. In many ways, I suspect most people, like me, can desire an easy and comfortable life.

But in this section, James addresses these two desires and turns this way of thinking upside-down. Rather than looking at the rich with envy, or boasting about our material wealth, James warns us that the rich pass away like flowers in the scorching sun. I've got a number of indoor plants which have been left outside. In light of the recent heatwave in Sydney, I can see why James uses this plant analogy to describe the life of the rich! My plants looked like they were thriving, but one scorching summer's day completely wiped them out, and they were left sunburnt, brown, and very dead. Similarly, the lives of the rich might look appealing. But God knows that they'll pass away in the midst of their materialistic living. Instead, James says that it's the lowly brother, the one who lives a humble life, who will be lifted up, who will ultimately have the greater life.

James then returns to a theme that he already introduced in verse 1 – suffering and trials. In verse 1, he said that we should consider it pure joy to persevere through suffering – and now, in verse 12, we see why. Because at the very end, after persevering through all the trials, tests, and temptations, the reward is worth it – the crown of eternal life! 

It can be hard for me to remember these things, when it seems far easier to be rich and comfortable in this life. Perhaps it's tempting to love this world, rather than loving God. But there's something far greater than this life - the eternal life Jesus has given us! What an awesome motivation to live this life counterculturally and to keep loving God!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sheina is a member of our Bossley Park morning and Fairfield evening congregations.

This month we are going to read the letters of James and Titus.

~~~

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion:

Greetings.

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Stephen Shead

I love the letter of James – it gives such a rich portrait of the kind of wise perspective on life that flows from faith in Jesus as Lord. It’s like the book of Proverbs, but written in the light of Jesus.

Today’s opening section centres on one of my favourite themes in James: the rich and unchanging generosity of God. The key to life as a servant of the Lord Jesus is to gain true wisdom, and the way to gain it couldn’t be simpler: “ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault” (v5). Wisdom isn’t knowing all the answers, it’s learning what it means to be like Christ and live in a way that reflects him.

The only condition here is: Don’t be a double-minded and unstable doubter. In James, as we’ll see later, the “double-minded man” is the person who can’t decide whether they really want to live for Jesus or not.

God is even generous in the way he allows his children to pass through trials and hardships, because he has an amazing purpose for us through our trials: “that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (v4).

That got me thinking about growing in godliness. I often think about it as changing something flawed in my character. But James describes godliness as being “complete, not lacking anything.” It’s not that I already have the right things, and I just need to improve them. It’s that Jesus has things that I’m still lacking. Jesus has total dependence on God, a mind constantly focused on loving and pleasing his Father. Spiritually, I lack what Jesus has. Maybe that’s why Paul says his goal is to count all his own achievements as rubbish, “that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

Anyway, back to God’s generosity. If God gives godly wisdom SO generously to those who ask him humbly and sincerely, why am I often so unwise? I can think of a few possible reasons. But whatever the answer is, I know the remedy: I need to come to God with sincere faith in Jesus, reflect deeply on the riches of godliness that Christ has and that I lack, and then ask God to give me those things. Why don’t you do the same now?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen is our senior minister.

Today we will finish the epic story of Psalm 78. The writer has been telling the story of Israel’s beginnings as a nation, and how from the start they kept forgetting the Lord and rebelling against him.

Now the writer goes back even further in the story, to the plagues of Egypt, when the Lord judged the Egyptians and brought his enslaved people out to safety. This was the event, above all, that Israel should never have forgotten, which should have kept them trusting in the Lord. But in the northern tribes of Israel, the pattern of forgetful rebellion persisted all through their later history.

At the end, you will hear the one bright point, the one place where hope was to be found: not in the northern tribes, but in Judah in the south, where God raised up King David as the shepherd of his people and chose Jerusalem as the place of his presence.

As you read, keep in mind our two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

40 How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness
and grieved Him in the desert!
41 Again and again they tested God
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember His power —
the day He redeemed them from the adversary,
43 when He performed His signs in Egypt
and His wonders in the fields of Zoan.

44 He turned their rivers to blood,
and from their streams they could not drink.
45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,
and frogs that devastated them.
46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He killed their vines with hailstones
and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
48 He abandoned their cattle to the hail
and their livestock to bolts of lightning.

49 He unleashed His fury against them,
wrath, indignation, and calamity—
a band of destroying angels.
50 He cleared a path for His anger;
He did not spare them from death
but delivered their lives to the plague.
51 He struck all the firstborn of Egypt,
the virility in the tents of Ham.

52 He led out His people like sheep
and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
53 He led them safely, so they did not fear,
but the sea engulfed their enemies.
54 He brought them to His holy land,
to the mountain His right hand had acquired.
55 He drove out nations before them
and apportioned their inheritance;
He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

56 But they tested and disobeyed God Most High,
for they did not keep His decrees.
57 They turned back and were faithless like their fathers,
twisted like a faulty bow.
58 They enraged Him with their high places
and provoked His jealousy with their idols.

59 On hearing it, God was furious
and rejected Israel completely.
60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,
the tent He had pitched among men.
61 He delivered His strength to captivity,
and His splendor to the hand of the adversary.
62 He surrendered His people to the sword
because He was enraged by His heritage.
63 Fire consumed His young men,
and their maidens were left without wedding songs.
64 His priests fell by the sword,
but their widows could not lament.

65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.
66 He beat back His foes;
He put them to everlasting shame.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph
and refused the tribe of Ephraim.
68 But He chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which He loved.
69 He built His sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth He has established forever.

70 He chose David His servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71 from tending the ewes He brought him
to be shepherd of His people Jacob,
of Israel His inheritance.
72 So David shepherded them with integrity of heart
and guided them with skillful hands.

REFLECTIONS

Now think about the two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

Then pray, seeking to delight in God or to depend on God.

Recap: In the first section of Psalm 78, the writer talked about the importance of teaching the next generations of children about the Lord - the wonders he had done for his people, his commandments, and to put their confidence in him.

He then talked about a time when “Ephraim” – that is, the northern tribes of Israel – forgot God’s covenant and his powerful deeds. From there, the writer starts relating the long story of Israel’s birth as a nation, from the time when God brought them out of Egypt and took them through the desert to the Promised Land. That story showed that Israel was rebellious and forgetful from the very start. The writer’s point is that the northern tribes of Israel – all except Judah – had continued in that sinful path of forgetting the Lord and abandoning his covenant.

Today we pick up the story of Israel’s origins from verse 17. As you read, keep in mind our two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

17 But they continued to sin against Him,
rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
18 They willfully tested God
by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 When He struck the rock, water gushed out
and torrents raged.
But can He also give bread
or supply His people with meat?”

21 Therefore the LORD heard
and was filled with wrath;
so a fire was kindled against Jacob,
and His anger flared against Israel,
22 because they did not believe God
or rely on His salvation.

23 Yet He commanded the clouds above
and opened the doors of the heavens.
24 He rained down manna for them to eat;
He gave them grain from heaven.
25 Man ate the bread of angels;
He sent them food in abundance.
26 He stirred the east wind from the heavens
and drove the south wind by His might.
27 He rained meat on them like dust,
and winged birds like the sand of the sea.
28 He felled them in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29 So they ate and were well filled,
for He gave them what they craved.

30 Yet before they had filled their desire,
with the food still in their mouths,
31 God’s anger flared against them,
and He put to death their strongest
and subdued the young men of Israel.

32 In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;
despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.
33 So He ended their days in futility,
and their years in sudden terror.
34 When He slew them, they would seek Him;
they repented and searched for God.
35 And they remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.

36 But they deceived Him with their mouths,
and lied to Him with their tongues.
37 Their hearts were disloyal to Him,
and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

38 And yet He was compassionate;
He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them.
He often restrained His anger
and did not unleash His full wrath.
39 He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breeze that does not return.

REFLECTIONS

Now think about the two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

Then pray, seeking to delight in God or to depend on God.

We are going to read Psalm 78 over 3 days, because it is fairly long. As you read, keep in mind our two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

A Maskil of Asaph.

1 Give ear, O my people, to my instruction;
listen to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter things hidden from the beginning,
3 that we have heard and known
and our fathers have relayed to us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,
but will declare to the next generation
the praises of the LORD and His might,
and the wonders He has performed.

5 For He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which He commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6 that the coming generation would know them—
even children yet to be born—
to arise and tell their own children
7 that they should put their confidence in God,
not forgetting His works,
but keeping His commandments.
8 Then they will not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose heart was not loyal,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9 The archers of Ephraim
turned back on the day of battle.
10 They failed to keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by His law.
11 They forgot what He had done,
the wonders He had shown them.
12 He worked wonders before their fathers
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
13 He split the sea and brought them through;
He set the waters upright like a wall.
14 He led them with a cloud by day
and with a light of fire all night.
15 He split the rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.
16 He brought streams from the stone
and made water flow down like rivers.

REFLECTIONS

Now think about the two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

Then pray, seeking to delight in God or to depend on God.

As you read, keep in mind our two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

For the choirmaster. According to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

1 I cried out to God;
I cried aloud to God to hear me.
2 In the day of trouble I sought the Lord;
through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary;
my soul refused to be comforted.
3 I remembered You, O God, and I groaned;
I mused and my spirit grew faint.

Selah

4 You have kept my eyes from closing;
I am too troubled to speak.
5 I considered the days of old,
the years long in the past.
6 At night I remembered my song;
in my heart I mused, and my spirit pondered:

7 “Will the Lord spurn us forever
and never show His favor again?
8 Is His loving devotion gone forever?
Has His promise failed for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has His anger shut off His compassion?”

Selah

10 So I said, “I am grieved
that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

11 I will remember the works of the LORD;
yes, I will remember Your wonders of old.
12 I will reflect on all You have done
and ponder Your mighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is so great as our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
You display Your strength among the peoples.
15 With power You redeemed Your people,
the sons of Jacob and Joseph.

Selah

16 The waters saw You, O God;
the waters saw You and swirled;
even the depths were shaken.
17 The clouds poured down water;
the skies resounded with thunder;
Your arrows flashed back and forth.
18 Your thunder resounded in the whirlwind;
the lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and quaked.

19 Your path led through the sea,
Your way through the mighty waters,
but Your footprints were not to be found.
20 You led Your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

REFLECTIONS

Now think about the two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

Then pray, seeking to delight in God or to depend on God.

Today we are reading two Psalms. A quick note: In the first Psalm, for most of it we hear the psalmist speaking, but at two points, we hear God speaking directly - verses 2-3 (“I will judge fairly…”) and verse 10 (“All the horns of the wicked I will cut off”).

As you read, keep in mind our two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

PSALM 75

For the choirmaster: To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.”
A Psalm of Asaph. A song.

1 We give thanks to You, O God;
we give thanks, for Your Name is near.
The people declare Your wondrous works.

2 “When I choose a time,
I will judge fairly.
3 When the earth and all its dwellers quake,
it is I who bear up its pillars.

Selah

4 I say to the proud, ‘Do not boast,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn.
5 Do not lift up your horn against heaven
or speak with an outstretched neck.’”

6 For exaltation comes neither from east nor west,
nor out of the desert,
7 but it is God who judges;
He brings down one and exalts another.
8 For a cup is in the hand of the LORD,
full of foaming wine mixed with spices.
He pours from His cup,
and all the wicked of the earth
drink it down to the dregs.

9 But I will proclaim Him forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.

10 “All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
but the horns of the righteous will be exalted.”

PSALM 76

For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments.
A Psalm of Asaph. A song.

1 God is known in Judah;
His name is great in Israel.
2 His tent is in Salem,
His dwelling place in Zion.
3 There He shattered the flaming arrows,
the shield and sword and weapons of war.

Selah

4 You are resplendent with light,
more majestic than mountains filled with game.
5 The valiant lie plundered; they sleep their last sleep.
No men of might could lift a hand.
6 At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both horse and rider lie stunned.

7 You alone are to be feared.
When You are angry, who can stand before You?
8 From heaven You pronounced judgment,
and the earth feared and was still
9 when God rose up to judge,
to save all the lowly of the earth.

Selah

10 Even the wrath of man shall praise You;
with the survivors of wrath You will clothe Yourself.

11 Make and fulfill your vows to the LORD your God;
let all the neighboring lands bring tribute
to Him who is to be feared.12 He breaks the spirits of princes;
He is feared by the kings of the earth.

REFLECTIONS

Now think about the two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

Then pray, seeking to delight in God or to depend on God.

A reminder: This month, we are using our do-it-yourself method for reading the Psalms. Each day, after the reading, I’ll ask you to reflect on two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus? It could be something about his ministry, his suffering and death, his resurrection, his kingdom, or what God has done for us through Jesus.

But don’t worry if you can’t always think of something – just read, reflect and pray.

A Maskil of Asaph.

1 Why have You rejected us forever, O God?
Why does Your anger smolder
against the sheep of Your pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation,
which You purchased long ago
and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance—
Mount Zion where You dwell.
3 Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins,
to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.

4 Your foes have roared within Your meeting place;
they have unfurled their banners as signs,
5 like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees
6 and smashing
all the carvings with hatchets and picks.
7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground;
they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.

8 They said in their hearts,
“We will crush them completely.”
They burned down every place
where God met us in the land.
9 There are no signs for us to see.
There is no longer any prophet.
And none of us knows how long this will last.
10 How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You?
Will the foe revile Your name forever?
11 Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand?
Stretch it out to destroy them!

12 Yet God is my King from ancient times,
working salvation on the earth.
13 You divided the sea by Your strength;
You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
You fed him to the creatures of the desert.
15 You broke open the fountain and the flood;
You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
16 The day is Yours, and also the night;
You established the moon and the sun.
17 You set all the boundaries of the earth;
You made the summer and winter.

18 Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD,
how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts;
do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.
20 Consider Your covenant,
for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame;
may the poor and needy praise Your name.

22 Rise up, O God; defend Your cause!
Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.
23 Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries,
the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.

REFLECTIONS

Now think about the two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

Then pray, seeking to delight in God or to depend on God.

As you read, keep in mind our two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 They have no struggle in their death;
their bodies are well-fed.
5 They are free of the burdens others carry;
they are not afflicted like other men.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
a garment of violence covers them.
7 From their prosperity proceeds iniquity;
dthe imaginations of their hearts run wild.
8 They mock and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongues strut across the earth.

10 So their people return to this place
and drink up waters in abundance.
11 The wicked say, “How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked—
always carefree as they increase their wealth.

13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure;
in innocence I have washed my hands.
14 For I am afflicted all day long
and punished every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak this way,”
then I would have betrayed Your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it was troublesome in my sight
17 until I entered God’s sanctuary;
then I discerned their end.

18 Surely You set them on slick ground;
You cast them down into ruin.
19 How suddenly they are laid waste,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 Like one waking from a dream,
so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.

21 When my heart was grieved
and I was pierced within,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before You.

23 Yet I am always with You;
You hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with Your counsel,
and later receive me in glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but You?
And on earth I desire no one besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

27 Those far from You will surely perish;
You destroy all who are unfaithful to You.
28 But as for me, it is good to draw near to God.
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may proclaim all Your works.

REFLECTIONS

Now think about the two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

Then pray, seeking to delight in God or to depend on God.

As you read, keep in mind our two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

Of Solomon.

1 Endow the king with Your justice, O God,
and the son of the king with Your righteousness.
2 May he judge Your people with righteousness
and Your afflicted with justice.

3 May the mountains bring peace to the people,
and the hills bring righteousness.
4 May he vindicate the afflicted among the people;
may he save the children of the needy
and crush the oppressor.
5 May they fear him as long as the sun shines,
as long as the moon remains,
through all generations.
6 May he be like rain that falls on freshly cut grass,
like spring showers that water the earth.
7 May the righteous flourish in his days
and prosperity abound,
until the moon is no more.

8 May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.
9 May the nomads bow before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
10 May the kings of Tarshish and distant shores bring tribute;
may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
11 May all kings bow down to him
and all nations serve him.

12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out
and the afflicted who have no helper.
13 He will take pity on the poor and needy
and save the lives of the oppressed.
14 He will redeem them from oppression and violence,
for their blood is precious in his sight.

15 Long may he live!
May gold from Sheba be given him.
May people ever pray for him;
may they bless him all day long.
16 May there be an abundance of grain in the land;
may it sway atop the hills.
May its fruit trees flourish like the forests of Lebanon,
and its people like the grass of the field.
17 May his name endure forever;
may his name continue as long as the sun shines.
In him may all nations be blessed;
may they call him blessed.

18 Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel,
who alone does marvelous deeds.
19 And blessed be His glorious name forever;
may all the earth be filled with His glory.

Amen and amen.

20 Thus conclude the prayers of David son of Jesse.

REFLECTIONS

Now think about the two questions:

1. What things in this Psalm can I relate to?

2. Is there anything in the Psalm that makes me think of Jesus?

Then pray, seeking to delight in God or to depend on God.