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I woke up recently with two numbers in my head, 30 and 44. When I looked in the bible there is not a single chapter 30 with 44 verses so I read Psalm 30 and Psalm 44 together. I was impressed by the same word found in both psalms, the word favour.

Ps 30:5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favour is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.
Ps 30:7 LORD, by Your favour You have made my mountain stand strong;

Ps 44:3 For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, Nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, Because You favoured them.

The Hebrew word, ratson, is translated in the AV as ‘favour’ (15 times), ‘will’ (14), ‘acceptable’ (8), ‘delight’ (5), ‘pleasure’ (5)

We are talking about God’s favour, God’s will, God’s pleasure, God’s delight, God’s acceptance.

God’s favour endures for a life time. It was God’s favour that brought the children of Israel into the land of promise. God’s favour is upon us.

Some people might be looking at their current circumstances and thinking “This is God’s favour? I was better off without it.!”

Listen! Look again at Ps 44:3. For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, Nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, Because You favored them.

God’s will does not come to pass in our lives automatically. God does not do it to us. He does it through us.

Knowing that we have God’s favour should inspire faith to fight! Enemy giants inhabited the land of promise. It was God’s will, God’s pleasure, God’s delight, God’s favour, to give them the land. He told them that he had already given it to them but they still had to fight for it.

Do not accept every bad thing that comes into your life. Do not think this set back, this sickness, this poverty, this homelessness, is God’s will for me. God’s will for you is salvation. God’s will for you is to lay hold of the promises he has made. God’s favour towards you is well being in spirit soul and body. Know this in your knower. Let this knowledge inspire faith to fight.

No, I am not talking about us being obedient and doing things God’s way, rather, I am thinking about us understanding God’s way of doing things. What we might call His modus operandi, his pattern, his style, his method.

Some people might argue that God is totally unpredictable and unknowable, that’s what makes him God but that is not what the Bible says. God says of himself “I am the Lord, I change not” and in another place “I am the same, yesterday, today and forever.” Even a casual study of God’s creation would lead you to think that God is a god of order, of pattern, of style. Not that there isn’t an amazing variety of style and pattern in the creation but creation itself, the earth and the universe around it runs on tracks. It is governed by unchanging laws. Gravity, thermodynamics, magnetism are unchanging. They always work in the same way. Our technological advances come from us learning how they work, learning the way of magnetism, the way of atomic power etc.

In a similar way I believe God wants us to understand His way. Ps 67:2 says “That thy way may be known in the earth, thy saving health among the nations.” The hebrew word for ‘known’ is ‘yada’ which signifies an experiential knowing, a discovering, a perceiving of something. It’s the kind of knowing that happens when two or more facts come together in your heart and the penny drops. Call it revelation if you like, it’s that kind of knowing. It’s when you ’see’ it. It was always there but you didn’t see it before and now you do. When you discover something about God in this way, you have discovered something that will always be true, it never changes because He does not change, you have discovered something of God’s way.

Here in Ps 67:2 is such a revelation. Hebrew poetry rhymes not words but ideas, not the sound of the words but the meanings of them. Sometimes it compares one thing in contrast to another, sometimes it mirrors them. Sometimes it builds on the first thought by expressing the same truth in a different way. That’s what is happening here.

“That your way my be known in the earth” is the first part.

“Your saving health (or salvation) among the nations” is the second part.

Here is the revelation, put them together. God’s way is salvation. God’s way is saving health. The hebrew word translated salvation or ’saving health’ is ‘yeshua’ which is the hebrew form of Jesus. His name means ’salvation’. Jesus said of himself “I am the Way” “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”. (That’s the kind of seeing we thought about before.) The angel said to Mary, “You shall call his name Jesus (yeshua) for he shall save His people from their sins.” His name means salvation or Saviour because that is who he is. He lives up to his name.

Salvation, well being in body, soul and spirit, is God’s way, God’s will. Don’t doubt it. See it.

“If with your mouth you confess Jesus as Lord and in your heart believe that God brought Him back to life, you shall be saved.  For with the heart men believe and obtain righteousness, and with the mouth they make confession and obtain salvation.” That’s what the Bible says in Romans 10, vs 9,10 (Weymouth)

In Step 3 we consciously choose to commit all our life and will to the care and control of Jesus Christ. A vital part of this decision working out in our lives is to verbalise it, to tell others that we have put our trust in Jesus.  An inner decision without an outward confession will not help us. It will have as little effect as an outward confession without a real heart change within. Making religious noises and doing religious things will not save us. The genuine change of heart and sharing this with others is a life changing combination.

David Fellingham wrote a wonderful song that thrilled my heart 20 years ago and still moves me today.

 ”I love you my Lord, for giving to me Your great salvation,

Setting me free from sin and death and the kingdom of Satan’s destruction.

There’s power in the blood to cleanse all my sin, I know I’m forgiven;

I’m reigning in life, I’m living by faith, I’m now united with Christ.

I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord,

and believe in my heart He’s been raised from the dead.

I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, 

and now I have life, by the Spirit of God. “

This song is musically challenging, having some unusual melodic shifts and also has a counter melody in the middle section. It is worth all the trouble to learn it though because to have such truths on our lips can only do us good if the reality is also in our hearts.  Some of our current “Top Twenty” Christian worship songs leave something to be desired as far as their lyrics are concerned, tending to be a little superficial, experiential or just plain sentimental. This song is so biblical and fits so well with the beginning of Step 3, one would almost think it had been written to order.

Our Celebrate Recovery meetings have a relatively short opportunity for worship, generally only two songs, so they have to count. Each song should make a contribution, we do not have the space for musical ‘fillers’. The content should always matter in our choice of worship songs but nowhere more so than in Celebrate Recovery. If you are unfamiliar with the song I would encourage you to find it and learn it. It will reward your investment.

It may come as a shock to some but God is more concerned with developing our character than with ensuring our comfort. When it comes to a choice, and it sometimes seems to, you can be sure God will focus on our character. I know we have a worship song called “God of all comfort” and I know the Holy Spirit is “The Comforter” whom Jesus sent to be a comforter just like Him but that is a different context. Sorry!

I am so glad that my God is a wonderful comforter, a great encourager and someone who cares passionately about my well being in spirit, soul and body. I experience it everyday, I count on it. However, is my well being dependant on my comfort? Does it help a child to be given it’s own way all the time, to never hear the word “No”? Is it beneficial to take all their decisions for them or to protect them in such a way that they never experience the consequences of poor choices? As a parent, I don’t think so.

God is a wonderful parent, the best there is. He always acts in the best interests of His children. His truth can be uncomfortable for us but it will always do us good if we will hear it and put it into practice. Jesus said “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free!” Sometimes that is the truth about us as well as the truth about God.

I think our worship needs to include these truths. Worship is an expression of our relationship with God. If our relationship falters when we don’t get our own way or when the path is steep and difficult we multiply our problems. We can retreat from the very one who wants to help us at these times and the only one who can help us.

“Faithful One” by Brian Doerksen expresses it well.

“Faithful one, so unchanging
Ageless one, You’re my rock of peace
Lord of all I depend on You
I call out to You, again and again

You are my rock in times of trouble
You lift me up when I fall down
All through the storm
Your love is the anchor
My hope is in You alone“

In our Celebrate Recovery programme we have a monthly meal, followed by a testimony and small groups. At this meeting we use music as a ministry to the congregation rather than as worship to God. It’s easier on the digestive system to sit back and relax immediately after eating.

While thinking about suitable material for this time I remembered the Beatles song Help! The Fab Four would not claim divine inspiration and you will not find it in Songs of Fellowship but they had a wonderful way with melody and lyrics and this song seems to express the feelings of someone coming out of denial and admitting that they have a problem for which they need help. Now that’s the beginning of Celebrate Recovery. See for yourself.

“When I was younger so much younger than today, I never needed anybody’s help in any way.

But now those days are gone and I’m not so self assured. Now I find, I’ve changed my mind and opened up the door.

Help me if you can I’m feeling down, and I do appreciate you being round, help me get my feet back on the ground, won’t you please, please help me?”

We have used this song several times now to good effect and it’s such fun to do as well! Many famous hymn writers used the popular melodies of the day as a vehicle for their gospel message. We can do the same. In this case, the lyrics need no changing. The song says exactly what we go through at the beginning of our journey.