Godward Toil

Encouraging faithfulness to core disciplines

I've been considering this morning how to encourage faithfulness to the core disciplines of hearing from God through Bible reading and prayer.   This topic has come to mind for three reasons: 

1. I am always seeking strategies for defeating sloth and distraction in my flesh. 
2. My current focus on church ministry teams has me pleading with God for a team of brothers and sisters who are in the word and praying every day because (as I've discussed in my posts on Psalm 127), the house we build will either fall down or do no lasting good unless the Lord builds it.
3. I recently listened to John Piper's annual sermon exhorting his people to faithful and fruitful prayer.  It is always one of my favorites of the year (last year's blew me away).  This year Pastor John strongly emphasized building habits around prayer, including committing to a time and place.

I've heard the exhortation for having a time and place many times, and of course it is wise.  But I also sense it is incomplete for many people.   I needed to link my disciplines to other actions and habits in my life.  For me, the most helpful strategy has been the "no email before bible" resolution.  This strategy built Psalm 127 thinking into my day--I was essentially saying to myself, "Don't fool yourself into thinking that any work or personal correspondence that is not build upon your relationship with God will be any good to anyone."    I was also trying to defeat Satan's subtle tactics to get me off track with what is most important--"just take care of this one thing and get it off your mind so you can really focus on your Bible," the devil would prompt--which of course just got me off to the races, never to return to my plan for quiet time with my Lord.

I have not always been faithful to my resolution, but it has helped a lot.  I'm considering upping the ante on it by changing some usernames or passwords to include phrases like "IvereadmyBibleGod" somewhere in them (note to hackrs:  this is an example and it won't be in any of my passwords, which will be way more disguised:).   I've also thought about a yellow sticky over the keypad of my work and cell phone that says "Remove only after daily devotions" which would require me to take it off before the Lord prior to using.  After all, the whole reason he has blessed me with a phone is so that I can do my work or ministry for Him!   How silly is it for me to use a phone without seeking him for purity and purpose in all I do?   I'd love to find a way to disable my car with a prayer detector that wouldn't let it start until I had earnestly sought Him!

Now, I know these kinds of suggestions open one to charges of legalism, which is why I LOVED Piper's direct response to this criticism in the prayer sermon this year:

And meanwhile the devil is whispering all over this room: “The pastor is getting legalistic now. He’s starting to use guilt now. He’s getting out the law now.” To which I say, “To hell with the devil and all of his destructive lies. Be free!” Is it true that intentional, regular, disciplined, earnest, Christ-dependent, God-glorifying, joyful prayer is a duty? Do I go to pray with many of you on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m., and Wednesday at 5:45 p.m., and Friday at 6:30 a.m., and Saturday at 4:45 p.m., and Sunday at 8:15 a.m. out of duty? Is it a discipline?

You can call it that. It’s a duty the way it’s the duty of a scuba diver to put on his air tank before he goes underwater. It’s a duty the way pilots listen to air traffic controllers. It’s a duty the way soldiers in combat clean their rifles and load their guns. It’s a duty the way hungry people eat food. It’s a duty the way thirsty people drink water. It’s a duty the way a deaf man puts in his hearing aid. It’s a duty the way a diabetic takes his insulin. It’s a duty the way Pooh Bear looks for honey. It’s a duty the way pirates look for gold.

It goes without saying that just because I remove a yellow sticky from my phone, read my Bible pray, doesn't mean that my heart is with the Lord.  The habit doesn't make the heart, but not having the habit can destroy chances of developing the heart.  That is too big a risk for me.  I  fear wasting my life and time building houses, keeping watch, rising up early and going late to rest (Psalm 127:1-2) if the Lord is not in it.  I also fear for a church ministry team that would meet to talk, plan, and work without every person continually asking God for an renewed mind (Romans 12:2) and a pure heart (Psalm 51).  Join me in praying for faithfulness to core disciplines this year.

Who is "getting things done"?

In my post yesterday about Psalm 127, I offered a few reflections on the relationship between Psalm 127: 1-2 and productivity.  Today I want to add a related point about the strange and wonderful revelation in these verses of God's sovereignty and our co-workmanship.

Similar to the verses I posted about after hearing a Piper sermon, and so many others (like Phil 2:12-13), verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 127 has that strange and wonderful property where the subject or actor of the sentence fluidly shifts between God and man: "Unless the Lord builds...those who build..."   Who is doing the building here?  The Lord or those who build?  The answer, inexplicably, marvelously is YES!

How could the Maker and Sustainer of the universe being doing the puny little things I'm doing?  Building houses, writing emails, teaching classes..he's doing all of it!  What power...and what an unbelievable foundation to stand upon upon as I go about trying to manage what seems like an impossible number of tasks.  Keep me on that Rock, oh God!

Productivity reflections on Psalm 127

Yesterday, I posted about my resolution to taste God's word and pray each day before launching into other work.  Today, I want to add a reflection on portions of Psalm 127  to draw the connection between this resolution and productivity.

A dear friend and mentor once pierced my heart with Psalm 127, when I told him I was getting busy with my day and leaving aside my regular routine of devotions.   He quoted me the first verse of this passage:

Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.

This passage has become something of a guiding light for me in how I think about productivity from, for, and with God.  Here are some ways that this passage has worked on me:

• Without the Lord either:
  • my plans will fail (whatever I'm trying to do will not happen or will fall apart).
  • my plans succeed, but whatever I manage to achieve will not be of any true value.
• I deeply relate to "eating the bread of anxious toil."  I hate it and don't want it.
• It is a lie that I will have rest from writing that email that tempted me yesterday morning.  The Lord gives me sleep, not getting things off my plate.
• My Bible has a note that says the last line is sometimes translated "gives to his beloved in their sleep."   If so, then true productivity does not ultimately depend on my hard work. The Lord is Getting Things Done, giving power, productivity, and purpose to my work, even as sleep. 
  

Looked at from this perspective, it is not only bad for my soul to skip or delay my morning feeding of God's Word, it's highly unproductive!