Sometimes our trouble is not moral but physical …

“Sometimes our trouble is not moral but physical. As long as we are in these mortal bodies our spiritual lives will be to some degree affected by our bodies. Here we should notice that there is a difference between our mortal bodies and the ‘flesh’ of Pauline theology. When Paul speaks of the flesh he refers to our fallen human nature, not to our physical bodies, which are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Through the power of the Spirit there is deliverance from the propensities of the flesh, but while we live there is no relief from the weaknesses and imperfections of the body. One often-unsuspected cause of staleness is fatigue. Shakespeare said something to the effect that no man could be a philosopher when he had a toothache, and while it is possible to be a weary saint, it is scarcely possible to be weary and feel saintly; and it is our want of feeling that we are considering here. The Christian who gets tired in the work of the Lord and stays tired without relief beyond a reasonable time will go stale. The fact that he grew weary by toiling in the Lord’s vineyard will not make his weariness any less real. Our Lord knew this and occasionally took His disciples aside for a rest.”
– A. W. Tozer

Song “Lower Still” by band My Epic. (Lyrics and audio)

Artist: My Epic
Song: Lower Still

LYRICS:
Look, He’s covered in dirt, and the blood of His mother has mixed with the earth, and she’s just a child who’s throbbing in pain from the terror of birth by the light of a cave.
Now they’ve laid the small Baby where creatures come eat like a meal for the swine who have no clue that He is still holding together the world that they see, they don’t know just how low, but He has to go lower still.

Look, now He’s kneeling, He’s washing their feet! Though they’re all filthy fisherman, traitors, and thieves. Now He’s pouring his heart out and they’re falling asleep,but He has to go lower still.

(and we all said in unison…)
There is greater love to show!
Hands to the plow!
Further down now!
Blood must flow!

All these steps are personal!
All His shame is ransom!

Oh do you see? Do you see just how low He has come? Do you see it now?
No one takes from Him. You can’t take what he freely gives away.

Beat in His face; tear the skin of His back. Lower Still
Strip off His clothes; make Him crawl through the streets. Lower Still
Hang Him like meat on a criminal’s tree. Lower Still!
Bury His corpse in the earth like a seed. Lower Still!
Lower Still, Lower Still, Lower Still, Lower Still.

The earth explodes, she cannot hold Him.
And all therein is placed beneath Him.
And death itself no longer reigns, it cannot keep the ones He gave Himself to save.
And as the universe shatters, the darkness dissolves, He alone will be honored we will bathe in his splendor as

ALL HEADS BOW LOWER STILL”

Song (No lyrics in video)

Psalm 122 (Psalm Sunday, Week 17)

Psalm Sunday
Week 17

Psalm 122
21st Century King James Version (KJ21)

“1) I was glad when they said unto me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”
2) Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
3) Jerusalem is built as a city that is united together,
4) whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, according to the testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.
5) For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
6) Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “They shall prosper that love thee.
7) Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces.”
8) For my brethren and companions’ sakes I will now say, “Peace be within thee.”
9) Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good.”