Brad Pearson

My life flows from the Lord: family, ministry, music. All - To His Glory. Ps. 34:3

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

From Spurgeon: Be thou bold to believe, for He hath said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” In this promise, God gives to His people everything.
"I will never leave thee." Then no attribute of God can cease to be engaged for us. Is He mighty? He will show himself strong on the behalf of them that trust Him. Is He love? Then with lovingkindness will He have mercy upon us.
Whatever attributes may compose the character of Deity, every one of them to its fullest extent shall be engaged on our side. To put everything in one, there is nothing you can want, there is nothing you can ask for, there is nothing you can need in time or in eternity, there is nothing living, nothing dying, there is nothing in this world, nothing in the next world, there is nothing now, nothing at the resurrection-morning, nothing in heaven which is not contained in this text--"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

Take a moment to have your heart stirred to worship and thankfulness by this observation from Kidner:
The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
(Psalm 110:1)
Sit at my right hand. “The authority and power conferred by such an address will be illustrated in the remaining verses of the psalm; but it will take the New Testament to do it justice.
a. Jesus is not only greater than David (Acts 2:34, ‘for David did not ascend into the heavens’) but greater than the angels (Heb. 1:13, ‘to what angel has He ever said, “Sit at My right hand …”?’);
b. God exalted Him as emphatically as man rejected Him (Acts 5:30f., ‘Jesus whom you killed … God exalted … at His right hand’);
c. It is as Saviour and Intercessor that He reigns (Acts 5:31; Rom. 8:34, ‘Christ … who is at the right hand of God … intercedes for us’);
d. (‘Sit …’): In token of a finished task, He is seated (Heb. 10:11f., ‘every priest stands daily …, offering repeatedly … But … Christ … sat down at the right hand of God’);
e. (‘till …’): He awaits the last surrender (Heb. 10:13, ‘to wait until His enemies should be made a stool for His feet’; cf. also 1 Cor. 15:25f.).
So this single verse displays the divine Person of Christ, His power and the prospect before Him. Together with verse 4 it underlies most of the New Testament teaching on His glory as Priest-King.”

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

“The thanksgiving and praise we give is to be done so that others can see and hear them. "make known His deeds among the peoples!" - testify to the works that God has done. This *must include* His works of salvation. "tell of all His wondrous works!" is the parallel phrase, and again must include in the telling God's work of salvation in Jesus.
This is the great work to be declared on this side of the cross and the empty tomb. God is and was and will always be a *saving* God. He has brought us out of slavery and into freedom, into a land where we reap what we did not sow, benefit by that which we did not labor to achieve.”

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

Let this be the theme of our song today, the steadfast love of the LORD is our strength and our refuge.

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

From Spurgeon: The apostle's words are, "To Him be glory both now and forever." Will you not this day make it your prayer? "Lord, help me to glorify Thee;
I am poor; help me to glorify Thee by contentment;
I am sick; help me to give Thee honour by patience;
I have talents; help me to extol Thee by spending them for Thee;
I have time; Lord, help me to redeem it, that I may serve Thee;
I have a heart to feel; Lord, let that heart feel no love but Thine, and glow with no flame but affection for Thee;
I have a head to think; Lord, help me to think of Thee and for Thee;
Thou hast put me in this world for something; Lord, show me what that is, and help me to work out my life-purpose: I cannot do much; but as the widow put in her two mites, which were all her living, so, Lord, I cast my time and eternity too into Thy treasury;
I am all Thine; take me, and enable me to glorify Thee now, in all that I say, in all that I do, and with all that I have."

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

From Spurgeon: “A daily portion is all that a man really wants. We do not need tomorrow's supplies; that day has not yet dawned, and its wants are as yet unborn. The thirst which we may suffer in the month of June does not need to be quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet; if we have enough for each day as the days arrive we shall never know want. Sufficient for the day is all that we can enjoy. We cannot eat or drink or wear more than the day's supply of food and raiment; the surplus gives us the care of storing it, and the anxiety of watching against a thief. One staff aids a traveller, but a bundle of staves is a heavy burden. Enough is not only as good as a feast, but is all that the greatest glutton can truly enjoy. This is all that we should expect; a craving for more than this is ungrateful. When our Father does not give us more, we should be content with his daily allowance. Jehoiachin's case is ours, we have a sure portion, a portion given us of the king, a gracious portion, and a perpetual portion. Here is surely ground for thankfulness.

Beloved Christian reader, in matters of grace you need a daily supply. You have no store of strength. Day by day must you seek help from above. It is a very sweet assurance that a daily portion is provided for you. In the word, through the ministry, by meditation, in prayer, and waiting upon God you shall receive renewed strength. In Jesus all needful things are laid up for you. Then enjoy your continual allowance. Never go hungry while the daily bread of grace is on the table of mercy.”

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

From Kidner: Note the call in (verse 3) for freshness and skill as well as fervour; three qualities rarely found together in religious music. In due course the quiet close of the psalm will make the further point that jubilance is not the only mood in worship.

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

From Spurgeon: …if there be one name sweeter than another in the believer's ear, it is the name of Jesus.

Jesus! it is the name which moves the harps of heaven to melody. Jesus! the life of all our joys. If there be one name more charming, more precious than another, it is this name. It is woven into the very warp and woof of our psalmody. Many of our hymns begin with it, and scarcely any, that are good for anything, end without it. It is the sum total of all delights.

It is the music with which the bells of heaven ring; a song in a word; an ocean for comprehension, although a drop for brevity; a matchless oratorio in two syllables; a gathering up of the hallelujahs of eternity in five letters. "Jesus, I love Thy charming name, 'Tis music to mine ear."

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

From Kidner: Nothing listless or introverted, nothing stale, befits the praise of God. There is a natural crescendo in the threefold “Sing ...” and the vision of all the earth as God's proper choir will be sustained in every verse. The “new song” is not simply a piece newly composed, though it naturally includes such, but a response that will match the freshness of His mercies, which are “new every morning.”

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

From Kidner: “This is the deep and basic note of worship, without which the "joyful noise' of the opening will be shrill and self-indulgent. Each of the three main verbs of verse 6 is concerned with getting low before God, since the standard word for worship in Scripture means to prostrate oneself. A public act of homage is urged on us here as part of the service we owe to God, accepting our own place and acknowledging His. At the same time it is intimate, not the tribute of strangers. The familiar metaphors of verse 7 express His commitment, which is constant (our God), and His care, which is all-sufficing (His pasture) and personal (His hand).”

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

Related thoughts from Kidner and Lloyd-Jones.
From Kidner: “Clearly enough it is right to give God thanks and sing His praise; but here we go further and call it good: good, no doubt, in the sense that, in love, He values it, as He valued his creation; but also in the sense that it uplifts and liberates us. We are made glad by the works of God and by His ways in proportion as we give our minds and voices to expressing the wonder of them.”
From Lloyd-Jones: “there is a world of difference between rejoicing and feeling happy. Happiness is something within ourselves — a pleasant emotional state that depends on circumstances. Rejoicing is in the Lord. It is a deliberate act of the will, not a passive state of feeling. Paul could write "I rejoice" from prison - not because he felt pleasant, but because rejoicing was something he chose, rooted in a Person who had not changed.”

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

From Spurgeon: “The time when Christians begin to sing in the ways of the Lord is when they first lose their burden at the foot of the Cross. Not even the songs of the angels seem so sweet as the first song of rapture which gushes from the inmost soul of the forgiven child of God.
But it is not only at the commencement of the Christian life that believers have reason for song; as long as they live they discover cause to sing in the ways of the Lord, and their experience of His constant lovingkindness leads them to say,
"I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth." See to it, brothers & sisters, that you magnify the Lord this day.
‘Long as we tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand.’ “

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

A potent reminder from Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. You may not be in a place of spiritual depression or struggle today, but tuck this advice away in a special place in your heart (both the Scripture and MLJ’s application of it). You can look at it when needed, to remind yourself of the primary way in self-encouragement.
**Most of your unhappiness in life, is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself. The soul, left to itself, will drive you downward. You must turn on it. Address it. Question it. Exhort it. Remind it of God — who He is, what He has done, what He has pledged Himself to do. The Psalmist ends not where he began but where truth drove him: "I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."**

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

“Take heart, dear one, this struggle will not be long. Even now the day is dawning, the night passes, and soon there will be joy and rest. There will be glimpses of that rest even today. There will be overtures of that joy…listen for the prelude. The full and complete music is still to come. Two more reminders:
‘Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.’ (Col. 3:2)
‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.’
(Heb. 12:1-2)
Look to Him, rest in Him, Hope in Him”

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature(“perfect”) in Christ.”
Colossians 1:28
From Spurgeon: Do you not feel in your own soul that perfection is not in you? Does not every day teach you that?
Every tear which trickles from your eye, weeps
"imperfection;" every harsh word which proceeds from your lip, mutters "imperfection." You have too frequently had a view of your own heart to dream for a moment of any perfection in yourself.
But amidst this sad consciousness of imperfection, here is comfort for you--you are "perfect in Christ Jesus." In God's sight, you are "complete in Him;" even now you are "accepted in the Beloved."
O my soul, stand and admire this blessed truth of perfection in Christ!

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

From Spurgeon: “There is a fullness of blessings of every sort and shape; a fullness of grace to pardon, of grace to regenerate, of grace to sanctify, of grace to preserve, and of grace to perfect. There is a fullness at all times; a fullness of comfort in affliction; a fullness of guidance in prosperity. A fullness of every divine attribute, of wisdom, of power, of love; a fullness which it were impossible to survey, much less to explore. ‘It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.’ Oh, what a fullness must this be of which all receive!”

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

From Kidner: This prayer for guidance should be related to the context, which sings of God's sovereignty. David is now applying that fact to his life, not merely to the world in general as in 8-10. It is a prayer about forming the right habits (note the end in view in the middle line), rather than making the right moves.
The last line, “unite my heart to fear Your name”, is a penetrating climax, confessing in a single phrase the disintegrated state of man which is shown elsewhere in Scripture in many forms, from insincerity and irresolution, to the tug-of-war which Paul describes in Romans 7:15ff. His concern is not with unifying his personality for its own sake; the lines meet at a point beyond himself, the fear of the Lord.
“Direct, control, suggest, this day,
All I design, or do, or say,
That all my powers, with all their might,
In Thy sole glory may unite.”

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

From Matthew Henry: “No time is amiss for praising God, but some are times appointed, not for God to meet us (He is always ready) but for us to meet one another, that we may join together in praising God.” May our joy be full today as we gather together to join hearts and voices in praising God.

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

From Kidner: “Just as prayer itself adds nothing to God's knowledge, and yet plays a large part in His economy, so the impassioned pleas for His attention, that He will rouse Himself and act, have a proper place within prayer although they add nothing to His will to help. This psalm abounds in them. God prefers an excess of boldness in prayer to an excess of caution… We come to Him as sons and daughters, not as applicants.”

[Brad Pearson @thgmusic]

“Was there not a wonderful deed that the Lord did for you just yesterday, o my soul? Was there not some work in you or for you that He did within the grasp of your memory? Call it to mind! Think upon it now and think upon it until some small measure of confidence and hope springs in your heart today. It may only be the smallest hope, the most meager measure of confidence. But what great things our God can do with it. Think, ponder, consider, meditate…all with the end of praising Him for what He has done in His steadfast love and mercy, and for what He will do again. Remember, remember, ponder, meditate.”