“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love”
“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” (Psalms 143:8)
The psalmist David said, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!” (Ps. 133:1). It is truly beautiful that brothers and sisters in Christ become one in the Lord and serve Him with one heart and one will. What should we do to keep our church unity of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:3)? We need ears to hear. We must be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to be angry (Jam. 1:19). The children of God who promote the unity of the church have ears to hear for the peace and reconciliation of the church. So, what should we listen to? Like the psalmist in Psalms 143:8, we must listen to the word of God’s unfailing love. The reason he wanted to hear the word of the Lord's unfailing love in the morning is because he wanted to hear the voice of the Lord and walk the path the Lord wanted. So he prayed to God, “Teach me the way in which I should walk” (v. 8). In other words, the psalmist wanted to learn the will of the Lord. So he prayed like this: “Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God …” (v. 10). Like the psalmist, we should also go up to the Lord's house in the morning and pray to God, 'I trust in You, O Lord, this morning. Please let me listen to Your words of unfailing love.' While praying, we must humbly listen to God's loving voice by the Holy Spirit while meditating on the word of God. And, like the psalmist, we should be delighted to hear the voice of the Lord and do His will.
The word of unfailing love that the Lord spoke to me this morning was Psalms 141:5 – “Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; It is oil upon the head; Do not let my head refuse it, ….” How can we view people's rebuke as grace? Usually we don’t feel very good when we hear people’s rebuke. That's why we lose our temper and speak out bluntly. We aren’t careful with our mouths without faring God. When we hear people's rebuke in this way, we speak quickly without guarding our mouths. Why is that so? The reason is because we didn’t hear the Lord’s word of unfailing love in the morning. And even if we have heard the word of His unfailing love, it is because we don’t obey the word. The reason we disobey in this way is because we try to do our will rather than do the will of the Lord. However, the believers who want to hear the Lord's word of unfailing love and do the Lord's will feel God's faithful grace and unfailing love through the voice of people's rebuke. Through people’s rebuke, we see ourselves with the word of God we heard once again and realize God's grace of revealing our sins more and more thoroughly. For example, God reveals our unfaithfulness, allowing us to experience God's faithful grace. When we experience that faithful grace of God, we feel God's unfailing faithful love for us, rather than feeling hated (despite it's love, not hate). Therefore, we consider grace even the rebuke of love.
In order for our church to keep unity in diversity, we must hear the Lord’s word of unfailing love. Even when diverse people gather and express their thoughts in words, our spiritual ears must be inclined to the Lord’s word of unfailing love. In such a situation, our heart attitude should be humble and strive to glorify God by doing the will of the Lord. Even if the Lord's word of unfailing love reveal our sins more and more clearly even through the words of people, we must consider what the Lord's will is and fulfill it. If we live with this attitude of heart, we will be able to regard even the curse of our enemies as grace in addition to the rebuke of our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. As David fled from the royal palace and headed toward the wilderness, he humbly heard even the curse of a man named Simeon of the tribe of Benjamin. Likewise, we will be able to hear humbly even slander, gossips and even condemnation if we eat the Lord’s word of unfailing love in the wilderness and are spiritually healthy. And it doesn't end with listening, but we will hear the voice of the Lord more clearly even in the midst of our words and write it down on the heart by obeying it, so that we will be able to live a life of personifying His word. Therefore, we will be able to sincerely praise God by confessing, ‘There is no more joy except to hear the voice of the Lord.
Wanting to hear the Lord’s word of unfailing love among the various words of this world and people,
James Kim
(With the desire to confess that there is no more joy except to hear the voice of the Lord)