A House of Righteousness (New Song)

Michael E. Wood

May 12-17, 2016

“The house of the righteous shall stand”   Proverbs 12:7b

There is a story behind every song and a context for its setting. This one is no different and would take much longer to divulge than I will take in this brief introduction.

Michael Burke, a friend of mine, moved with his wife from California to Missouri. He is a follower of Christ and also happens to be a singer/ songwriter, and musician who enjoys all kinds of music. Last week he posted a link to a video showing the “Animals” performing a song they became famous for originally recorded on May 18, 1964. The music to “House of the Rising Sun” is very catchy and can linger in the mind for a while. The next day while reading Proverbs chapter 12, the last portion of verse 7 caught my attention, ‘the house of the righteous shall stand.” The phrase stuck with me as I thought of the contrast between the secular song and the reality of the promise of God declared from that passage.

While driving to a discipleship appointment, thoughts on the promise mixed with the music brought enjoyment to the ride with the words coming so fast I didn’t think I would be able to remember them. My mind was so caught up in the moment that I arrived at my exit and wondered how I had gotten there. Upon arrival at my destination, the gentleman with whom I was to meet was running late, so I sat down to write what I could remember and three verses were written rather hurriedly. After our meeting I headed home still thinking of the song and new verses came while driving again and I found my self actually looking forward to having to wait through stop lights near home to write what came to mind. The third verse originally came out almost verbatim to the second verse of Amazing Grace by John Newton. While continuing to think on these things I ran some different lines by Dianna of which she liked and thus the final version was ready to post. Quite a few of our older hymns were written to secular music bringing the message of Christ to those familiar with the tune. How appropriate that we would be celebrating our 6^th anniversary with a new song Dianna helped me to finalize the day before, showing forth God’s faithfulness to use us as one for His infinite glory expressing the fact that He makes all things new in those whom He has redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

There is a house of righteousness,

It’s called the house of God.

And few there be that’s shown the way,

Thank God, I know I’m one.

My father was an absentee,

My mom did what she could.

But not until God’s Spirit came,

That I then understood.

His grace then taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved.

His Spirit turned my heart toward Christ

And caused me to believe.

For Jesus went to Calvary

And bore God’s wrath for sin

And through His blood I am made clean,

Reborn to enter in –

The new creation He decreed

Before He wrought in time,

Revealed to eyes He made to see,

Which once before were blind.

And in His presence we shall live

For all eternity

And praise Him in the house He built

That day on Calvary.

Use of our Time Aright

Michael E. Wood

April 3, 2016

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

Oh, the sweetness that is ours in knowing like Moses that the Lord has been our dwelling place in all generations. He who is from everlasting to everlasting God has pronounced a number of judgments since the fall of mankind in the garden including the return of man to the dust of the ground. Ps. 90:3 While being brought into the understanding of the eternality of God we are likewise brought into the understanding of the brevity of our temporal lives on earth, so that we are inclined by the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ alone to ask for our Father’s guidance in using every day He gives to the praise of His most majestic, infinite glory.

Oh, how may we use of our time aright

To show of your goodness and show of Your might?

But with words that You give by Your Spirit of light,

Petitions You hear through Christ Jesus the sight

Of which You behold, ever pleased with Your Son.

Oh, make us like Him as Your people of One,

Chosen to know and be known with the view

To Him be the glory, who makes all anew.

Glory in Your Sovereign Grace.

Michael E. Wood

Feb. 2-March 24, 2016

He is not here; he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

Matthew 28:6

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. Colossians 1:18

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:4-6

I am not sure who the first person was to use the phrase “Better than I deserve” as a response to the common greeting “How are you doing?”, but I often feel compelled to use it. On some occasions it becomes the means through which an opportunity for the gospel is opened. When we understand we are sinners, and we deserve death, and eternal condemnation, and yet God in mercy causes us to see not only our need for Christ, but are in fact brought into a saving relationship with Himself by the power of His Spirit, then we are likewise brought into an increasing understanding that what ever we are called to undergo in this transient life is in fact better than what we deserve.

On February 2, 2016 the preceding thoughts were a part of what began to develop into a song with the music of “The Prayer” formulating how it would sound. After writing a couple of verses I found the third more difficult and laid it aside because of time restraints. While meditating on the resurrection of Christ over the past week, the tune came back to mind and two new verses came quickly and fit together nicely with the opening.

I know what I deserve and yet I seek Your face.

I have no other grounds, through Christ, You give me grace.

And though my heart would fail,

Your Spirit makes me soar

Above this world of shame

Your praises to proclaim,

Forever blessed be Your Name!

You came into this world, both Son of God and man.

There was no other way, to fulfill the Father’s plan.

And lowly You became,

The babe in Bethlehem.

God with us declared,

Emmanuel, the heir

Of glory with the Father shared

And when upon the cross, You took upon our sin,

And suffered in our place, that we might enter in,

As sons before the throne,

Your Spirit came within

To show the mystery

And give the victory

That to You all the glory be!

You rose up from the grave, as our eternal head.

Through union then with You, we’re raised up from the dead.

And though we see in part,

We’ve nothing now to dread.

Prepared for us a place,

That we may see Your face,

And glory in Your Sovereign grace.

Though Storm Clouds Arise

Michael E. Wood

March 15, 2016

 A few years back I began to notice signs on our highways here in California which read, “Severe Drought, Conserve Water”. This actually opened Gospel opportunities as I would ask individuals, why the signs don’t say “Severe Drought, Pray for Rain”. With the recent El Nino effect in our region we have had a recent abundance of rain, which led to posting the following excerpt.

“Drenched by 'March Miracle,' Northern California reservoirs inch toward capacity

Los Angeles Times Joseph Serna Contact Reporter March 14, 2016 6:38 PM

A series of storms pushed California’s biggest reservoir past its historical average for mid-March this weekend and put the second largest one on track for doing the same by Monday afternoon, officials said.

Together the Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville reservoirs have the capacity to hold more than 8 million acre feet of water and after a wet weekend in Northern California, they were 79% and 70% full, respectively, by Monday morning, according to the state Department of Water Resources.

Some people have referred to the recent series of powerful storms that have dumped rain and snow on the Sierra as the “March Miracle.”

The storms filled Lake Shasta above its average for this time of year and by 4 p.m. Monday; Lake Oroville surpassed its historic average, said DWR spokesman Doug Carlson. Lake Shasta is the state's largest reservoir.

“It’s happened a little quicker than I personally thought,” Carlson said. “It would appear the [seasonal storms] have really achieved what they historically do, which is deliver a lot of rainfall to the mountains.”

Neither reservoir has reached its historical average in nearly three years, data show.

“I don’t know if people here will be dancing in their cubicles when [Oroville] hits the historic average, but it will be the first time it’s done that for the duration of the drought. That is reason to be joyous,” Carlson said.”

Though the outcome in general is an occasion for celebration, there have likewise been a number of ill effects upon some due to mudslides, downed trees, etc. The day in and day out downpours have also had an impact on schedules for some and simple necessities of others. Some also have difficulty in comprehending the fact that the sun is still shining above the clouds.

These are reminders for us as followers of Christ that when we undergo personal storms in our journey through this life, God is always working all things for our good and His infinite glory.

Though storm clouds arise

And veils from our eyes

The beauty that shines from Your face,

Your witness within

Though we feel a chagrin*,

Gives promise; the reign of Your grace,

With abundant supplies

As Your Spirit applies

Beyond all we think or expect.

For more than we hope

With Your glory the scope,

In holiness, work to perfect

Your image in all,

As prostrate we fall;

Your church, to the praise of Your Name.

You are our strength

Oh, show in the length

Your love for the spread of Your Fame!

*chagrin: a feeling of vexation, marked by disappointment or humiliation (or rejection)

In The Darkest Distress

Michael E. Wood

January 21, 2016

O Lord, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you.  Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry!  For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah Psalm 88:1-7

Spiritual depression is one of the most difficult realities for some to comprehend.  For believers who have never suffered in this manner, they are hard pressed to be of any use to those who suffer if they have never been brought to a place of understanding through personal experience or the pure revelation of God by His Spirit through the Psalmist as displayed in Psalm 88.  I would encourage you to read the Psalm in its entirety and consider the words of the “Prince of Preachers”, from his own personal experience.

 “…. God never placed a Joseph in a pit without drawing him up again to fill a throne: that He never caused a horror of great darkness to fall upon an Abraham without revealing His covenant to him; and never cast a Jonah into the deeps without preparing the means to land him safely on dry land.  Alas, when under deep depression the mind forgets all this, and is only conscious of its unutterable misery; the man sees the lion but not the honey in the carcass, he feels the thorns but he cannot smell the roses which adorn them. He who now feebly expounds these words knows within himself more than he would care or dare to tell of the abysses of inward anguish.  He has sailed round Cape of Storms, and has drifted along by the dreary headlands of despair. He has groaned out with one of old –“My bones are pierced in me in the night season; and my sinews take no rest I go mourning without sun.  Terrors are turned upon me; they pursue my soul as the wind.”  Those who know this bitterness by experience will sympathize, but from others it would be idle to expect pity, nor would their pity be worth the having if it could not be obtained.  It is an unspeakable consolation that our Lord Jesus knows this experience, right well, having, with the exception of sin of it, felt it all and more than all in Gethsemane when he was exceeding sorrowful even unto death.” 

C.H Spurgeon, The Treasury of David

No sensible sense of a comfort I feel

As my soul lies in torments by waves as they reel

Upward then plunging to depths never known

In the darkest distress of my spirit to groan.

Oh, when might I know Holy Father the gain

In the light of Your presence relief from this pain?

For when I look up I see only despair,

Then buried much deeper, I question Your care.

And yet I will call and will cry from my heart

While ignorance blinds me from knowing each part

You work with these trials as Your wisdom subdues

Every atom in place and the unseen reviews

Of soul searching time and again endless days

Awaiting the moment You break through the haze.

How long, with The Psalmist, Oh LORD, will I cry?

Yet to You I will to the day that I die!

Happy Birthday Mom

November 23, 2015

Michael E. Wood

Realizing I haven’t posted anything in awhile I thought I would begin the New Year with a recent personal memory poem.

More than a card is a memory shared

To lighten the load of the burdens you've bared

And trust that with joy you will see in the light

Of eternity things that will bring great delight.

Investments of time in family and friends

Some thought forgotten but will with their ends

Show forth the love given over the years

The fruit of true faith as you've sown with your tears.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Thank you for your investment in me,

Michael

Hear Ye Him! (New Song)

Michael E. Wood

October 24-28, 2015

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen Deuteronomy 18:15

Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. Acts 3:22

This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’  This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. Acts 7:37-38

“Here we are at the very heart and center of the Christian message. The purpose of Christian preaching is to call men and women to listen to the Lord Jesus Christ.” Martyn Lloyd Jones, p. 140, Studies in the Book of Acts, Volume Five, Triumphant Christianity

One principle that is found throughout the scriptures and given by the grace of God to all who have been brought to life through the merit of Christ alone is the desire that others hear Him! Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.

 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God’s building. 1 Corinthians 3:7-9

Let us be faithful as those who are used to sow or those who are used to water to trust that He is not only able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, but that He will in His time. He can take that which has lain dormant for years and bring forth a plenteous harvest as He speaks! Hear Ye Him!

Have you heard the mighty chorus

Of the prophets gone before?

Can you hear our Father speaking,

Listen to the One adored?

And the Spirit now within you

Testifying to the fact,

It is Christ who sealed our pardon

And some day He’s coming back!

Hear ye Him!

Son of God and Son of Man.

Hear ye Him!

Doing what no other can,

Speaking life into the dead

To show there is no other way.

Hear ye Him! Hear ye Him!

In this world of fancy answers,

Tolerating every choice,

There is One above all others,

We do well to hear His voice.

In the midst of all our failures,

How compassionate our Friend,

As He promised to be with us

For His glory to the end.

Hear ye Him!

Living waters now He gives.

Hear ye Him!

All in all because He lives.

And He makes us more than conquerors

Through every test of life.

Hear ye Him! Hear ye Him!

Now if you have some questions

And are burdened in your mind

You must see what He reveals

By His own Word and you will find

He has answered your particulars

Before you even ask

And will strengthen you in spirit

With His presence in your task.

Hear ye Him!

Who moves mountains by His name.

Hear ye Him!

Who makes weaknesses our gain,

With a heart that’s filled with new desires

To seek His smiling face.

Hear ye Him! Hear ye Him!

So with this simple song

We have but one thing left to say.

Let us not exalt His servants

O’er the Master of the day.

Who Himself has made the sun to shine

In valleys and the peaks

Of the highest mountains

Glorifying Christ alone, who speaks.

Hear ye Him!

Reigning high above the stars.

Hear ye Him!

Who has proven with His scars,

There is nothing that can separate

From His eternal love.

Hear ye Him! Hear ye Him!