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December 30, 2005
Anti-Semitism
It is more
than odd that anti-Semitism has been such a strong force in history. The
Jews have been accused of unspeakable crimes of which they are no more
guilty that the run of humanity, perhaps less. And yet there is no
comparable anti-Islamicism in spite of the crimes done in the name of
Islam. It calls to mind the prophecy, "They hated me without a cause," and
Jesus' statement that they hated him because they hated God. It may be
that the real roots of anti-Semitism lie in the hatred of God.
December 8, 2005
Psalm 68:
{1}Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered:
let them also that hate him flee before him.
{2} As smoke is driven away, so drive them away:
as wax melteth before the fire,
so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
{3} But let the righteous be glad;
let them rejoice before God:
yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.
Two very different responses to the presence of God. One, blown away
like smoke before the wind or melting like was before the fire. The other,
happy and rejoicing. It occurs to me that one obligation of the righteous
is to pray along the lines of verse 2. If we never ask God to deal with
the wicked, why should we wonder that he allows them to prosper. Note, the
prayer against the wicked is not by name. We cannot know men’s hearts,
only their actions. We can pray that God would expose the liars, whoever
and wherever they are found, which would be a powerful incentive and
reminder to ourselves to tell the truth.
November 1, 2005
I wonder how the
23rd
Psalm might be written today. David knew well what it meant to
tend sheep, so that is the way it was written. I don’t know how a person
today who works in a cubicle on a computer might write this, for there is
no resemblance at all to the relationship David describes. A shepherd is
not an employer of sheep. He can’t even be accurately portrayed as a boss.
A shepherd can be seen as a protector and provider, and that seems to be
the way David sees his Lord. There is no fear in this psalm, no dread of
the Lord
October 9, 2005
Did New York Overreact?
Did the authorities in New York overreact to the intelligence they
received? Some in Washington are said to think so. But after the
intelligence failures of 9/11 and the perceived ineptitude of the New
Orleans response, who can blame New Yorkers for trusting in their own
lights?
After all, they had seen what happened when the Mayor of New Orleans and
the Governor of Louisiana did not act promptly and vigorously. And blaming
the federal government for a tepid response does nothing to restore the
lives and property that were lost.
The lessons of the past months have not been wasted on New York, and they
have decided to act. Their risk is that of the commanders in Pearl Harbor.
There had been too many alerts, too many false alarms leading up to the
attack on Pearl Harbor, and no one was prepared to take this latest alarm
seriously. They were caught with their pants down, and they should not
have been.
What insight I have to offer on this question is based on the Bible, of
all places. Jesus warned his disciples to be watchful some 2,000 years
ago. It is a long time to be on red alert. What Jesus expected his
disciples to do was to establish a level of watchfulness that they could
maintain over time. They had to be ever vigilant.
I have no idea what that level would be for New York City. But obviously,
they are the target of great evil and they have to be on alert all the
time. Their challenge is to establish a level of alert and awareness that
they can maintain for years. Otherwise, the enemy can wear them down by
feints and false alarms.
October 7, 2005
How long will ye imagine mischief
against a man?
ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be,
and as a tottering fence.
They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in
lies:
they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. (Psalm 62:3 f.)
This Hebrew in this segment apparently gives some difficulty to
translators, because there is a significant variance between the KJV and
the more modern translations. In verse three, the NRSV takes this line:
“How long will you assail a person, will you batter your victim, all of
you, as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?” Note that it is not
“You will be slain or battered,” but “Will you slay.” The object of their
hatred was a man weakened, like a tottering fence.
Verse four then follows this line: “Their only plan is to bring down a
person of prominence. They take pleasure in falsehood; they bless with
their mouths, but inwardly they curse.” They have no plan of their own,
they only want to bring down a prominent man.
October 4, 2005
Field Guide to the
Wild World of Religion
Some of the most common questions I get from listeners and readers have
to do with the various Religious leaders, gurus, evangelist, movements,
and even frauds. Inevitably, I refer these questions to my Good Friend Pam
Dewey who has researched this field thoroughly and has now published her
exhaustive analysis in her new "Field Guide." I recommend it heartily, and
she constantly updates her web site on new issues as they arise.
I don't often give opinions on these people for two reasons. One, I
don't follow them. I don't read their material or follow their programs. I
just don't have time. Second, my listeners might feel I was biased against
them because they are "the competition." So do yourself a favor (and
do one for me at the same time). Get Pam's book, now available at Amazon
and visit her web site. You can become an authority for your group of
friends and acquaintances. For more information,
click here.
September 10, 2005
Email of the day (in response to Sept.
9)
If nothing else, I find that the absence
of the realization, in less than a year, God (Nature) has shown us 2
things. Whether there is absolutely no warning, as in the Tsunami in
desperately-poor S E Asia, or their is technological sophistication of
warning, as in New Orleans, USA, it will not matter. God is exhibiting
his true power. Whether man has 3-5 days/weeks of warning, or whether he
has hours.... man is shown to be inept, unable to handle his
environment, his fellow man, and it is irrespective of the measure he
takes -- Jon Garnant.
September 9, 2005
If I have George
Will figured out, he and the retired Bill Safire, are libertarian
conservatives. Both of them extremely well read, their insights into
events are almost always enlightening even if not always persuasive.
George Will’s latest in Newsweek, “Leviathan in Louisiana,” is
important and comes to a conclusion that everyone should try hard to
understand. The reference to Leviathan is interesting:
In 1651, in "Leviathan," Hobbes said that in "the state of
nature," meaning in the absence of a civil society sustained by
government, mankind's natural sociability, if any, is so tenuous
that life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." Thoughtful
conservatives—meaning those whose conservatism arises from
reflections deeper than an aversion to high marginal tax rates—are
conservative because they understand how thin and perishable is the
crust of civilization, and hence how always near society's surface
are the molten passions that must be checked by force when they
cannot be tamed by socialization.
Will obviously has his doubts about ultimate success in Iraq, and
with the passage of time, I have my own. The war had to be fought, in my
opinion, and the ongoing battle against the “insurgents,” better
described as “murderers,” would have ultimately come to our shores,
again. How easily people forget that just letting these people alone
offers no security at all.
Iraq's insurgents, the creators of an atmosphere of deadly
suggestibility, are now attacking the power grid and other elements
of urban infrastructure, an attempt, not unsuccessful, to create a
Hobbesian state of nature. Their hope is that Iraqis will demand a
Leviathan—any authoritarian regime capable of imposing order.
And this is precisely the objective. Because they are the one force
in Iraq capable of the brutality required of a Leviathan, their
objective is power – illegitimate power, but power nonetheless. But as
to New Orleans, Will has this to offer:
In Katrina's collision with New Orleans, the essence of
primitivism, howling nature, met one of mankind's most sophisticated
works, a modern city. But what makes cities such marvels—the
specializations and divisions of labor that sustain myriad webs of
dependencies—also makes them fragile. Forgetting that is hubris, an
ingredient of tragedy.
So Katrina has provided a teaching moment. This is a liberal
hour in that it illustrates the indispensability, and dignity, of
the public sector. It also is a conservative hour, dramatizing the
prudence of pessimism, and the fact that the first business of
government, on which everything depends, is security.
I strongly recommend the entire article. It is educational and
sobering.
Read
it here.
September 1, 2005
Something to think about
“Christian scholarship is the church’s prodigious
invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue
to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close... we would be sunk
if there were not for Christian scholarship. Praise be to everyone who works
to consolidate the reputation of Christian scholarship, which helps to
restrain the New Testament, this confounded book, which would, one, two,
three, run us all down if it got loose.” – Kierkegaard
June 22, 2005
June 21, 2005
4:30 pm.
Mark
Steyn on Durbin's remarks on the senate floor.
This isn't a Republican vs Democrat thing; it's about
senior Democrats who are so over-invested in their hatred of
a passing administration that they've signed on to the
nuttiest slurs of the lunatic fringe. It would be heartening
to think that Durbin will himself now be subjected to some
serious torture. Not real torture, of course; I don't mean
using Pol Pot techniques and playing the Celine Dion
Christmas album really loud to him. But he should at least
be made a little uncomfortable over what he's done -- in a
time of war, make an inflammatory libel against his
country's military that has no value whatsoever except to
America's enemies. Shame on him, and shame on those fellow
senators and Democrats who by their refusal to condemn him
endorse his slander.
Mark puts his finger on something that has been bothering me.
The Democrats are the "party in opposition" right now, and it is
their duty to question, to disagree, to debate. But they seem to
have adopted a mode of opposition to everything the president
proposes. I think if Bush were to propose the minimum wage, the
Dems would turn out against it.
When President Bush came to Washington, he seemed really to
wish to elevate the level of discourse there. I think he did his
best, but the task seems to be beyond anyone's grasp. This is
not new, though. Hatred in politics has been around since the
days of the founding fathers.
But we have come to a time and place where Christian people
need to stand against this kind of rhetoric. We need to be
especially sensitive to lies. For myself, I don't believe
President Bush lied about WMD in Iraq. I think he believed the
intelligence reports and considered that doing nothing was too
dangerous. The intelligence reports were wrong.
But instead of calling for improved intelligence and voting
for the money to fix it, some on the left prefer to call the
President of the United States a liar. That in itself is a lie.
Not only that, but it gives aid and comfort to the enemy in time
of war.
Be sure and read all of Mark Steyn's column. |
8:00 AM
Okay, What about Guantanamo Bay?
Should it be closed down? Should we care? I have a problem with the
growing chorus calling for shutting down the Terrorist detention facility
there. So far, I have heard none of the political types suggest what we
should do with these very dangerous men. I don’t see how we can possibly
let them go. And I worry a lot about second guessing the very able men who
are managing this situation.
It is legitimate for senators and congressmen to ask the defense
department any questions they want. There is no need for them to ask the
questions on the front page of a newspaper. Why do they do that?
Politicians are publicity hounds, but when they do this, they aren’t
considering the consequences of doing it in time of war.
Even the News Media, who are in business to make money, are behaving
irresponsibly. Even if the story of flushing a Koran down a toilet were
true, there are avenues for addressing this without inflaming an Afghan
mob and costing the lives of a dozen or so of the Afghan people. This was
not really news and Newsweek did not have to go with that story (which
they later retracted). It’s too bad they can’t redeem the lives the
article cost.
By the way, who is paying for those Korans and prayer rugs provided these
prisoners? It is American tax dollars or Moslem charities? This is an
important question, and we deserve an answer.
May 1, 2005
“Mindful” is a simple word, and it hardly
needs defining. It means simply “to bear in mind.” It seems natural enough
for the translators of the Bible to render the Hebrew word for it, “to
remember,” but to be mindful is more than that. To remember is to recall,
to have something brought back to mind, however fleeting the memory.
But to “bear in mind,” implies a carried recollection, one that stays with
you over time. Thus, to be mindful is to carry the memory forward with
you. Consider an example. At the peak of the great flood of Noah’s day,
“God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was
with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the
waters asswaged” (Genesis 8:1 KJV).
Nearly every translation follows this, but in modern English, one
imagines remembering something you had forgotten. “Oh yes,” we say,
slapping the forehead, “now I remember.” But the sense of this passage is
better understood, “And God was mindful of Noah and every living thing
with him on the ark.” He hadn’t forgotten Noah for a moment.
It is a small distinction, but one worth bearing in mind. A lesson comes
home from a common experience of those who observe the days of unleavened
bread by actually abstaining from leaven (I Corinthians 5:7-8). Nearly
everyone has absent mindedly eaten leaven during those days. It may have
been a slice of toast or a whole hamburger, but the chagrin that follows
the error is often quite deep, even though it seems like a harmless error
and hardly defiling or disqualifying. It may be important, though, for
another reason. What the little mistake reminds of is that we were not
mindful.
We might say, “I was not thinking,” but that’s not accurate. We
were thinking, we were just thinking of something else.
At the Lord’s Supper, the Christian Passover, we know that the unleavened
bread signifies the Lord’s body. It is all too easy, having gone through
the moment of reflection at the Lord’s supper, to then lay the matter
aside and go back to life as usual. So to help us be mindful, God gives us
seven days of unleavened bread to keep us mindful of the body of Christ.
What the little slip of eating a piece of unleavened bread does is to tell
us that we have not been mindful, we have not borne in mind the sacrifice
of Christ. The leaven is not so important as the failure to bear the body
of Christ in mind, not just for seven days, but for all our days.
When you grasp this little truth, a number of other things come to mind.
Take for example Peter’s admonition in his second letter:
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I
stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of
the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the
commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour (2 Peter 3:1-2
KJV).
We may have to be reminded of what we should be bearing in mind. It is
not merely a recollection, brought to mind and laid aside. The
translators, I think, miss this point in Genesis when, after the great
flood, he puts a rainbow in the cloud as a memorial and says:
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and
every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become
a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I
will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between
God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth
(Genesis 9:15-16 KJV).
These are no passing memories, nor a recollection of things forgotten.
God will bear in mind his covenant. He will look at the rainbow in the
cloud and bear in mind the everlasting covenant he has made with every
living thing.
God promises that he will bear us in mind and we must learn to
bear him in mind, as the psalmist: “When I remember thee upon my bed, and
meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help,
therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice” (Psalms 63:6-7 KJV).
Again, this is no fleeting recollection, but a determination to bear God
in mind, to always be mindful of him, even on those long night watches
when we can’t sleep.
There are, I think four significant exercises we can do to carry an
awareness of God through our days. One is reading the Bible, consistently
and systematically. Another is prayer. The third is mediation, and the
fourth is song. Paul calls it a kind of self talk:
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks
always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:19-20 KJV).
I read nothing in the Bible to suggest that this is effortless. To
“bear in mind” the God of creation, his covenant, his works, his sacrifice
is a matter of some discipline. Every one of us is different, but each can
find a way to apply a spiritual discipline to his life, to bear in mind
the Lord’s body, not just for seven days, but through all our days.
April 17,2005
At some time in our life, most of us will
sin and sail on as though nothing had ever happened. But then, God in his
mercy will call us on it like he did with David. There will come a moment
when we realize what we have done and a cold finger of fear will touch our
heart.
The superscription of
Psalm 51 tells us it was written by David after Nathan had called him
on his sin with Bathsheba. It is not hard to credit that. This psalm was
written by a man who had been cut to his very soul with what he had done.
He knew to the depths of his being that what he had done was not only
wrong, it was inexcusable.
Yet in his depths of remorse, he could call out to God and repent bitterly
for what he had done. He could confess his sin without any excuses. Here I
am, Lord. I am guilty, Lord. I am sorry. And there is nothing I can do to
redeem it. The only sacrifice I can bring is a broken and crushed heart.
April 10, 2005
If we can’t grasp the meaning
of 49th Psalm, we are no
better than an old dog we have put down, so says the Psalmist.
Not long ago, I lost an old friend who I thought would surely outlive me.
I went to his funeral last year, and now he lies under six feet of east
Texas soil and no amount of money I have can ransom him from that cold
grave.
It is natural for men to feel confident when they have wealth, but nothing
brings this home to us like the simple fact that the best your money
and Medicare can do is postpone the inevitable.
The ransom for a life is costly, says the psalm, and no payment is ever
enough.
But, said the psalmist, “God will redeem my soul from the grave.”
How can anyone imagine that the OT doesn’t teach the resurrection?
“Man that is in honour, and doesn’t understand this,
is like the beasts that perish."
April 9, 2005
In its day, the Temple of Solomon must have
been an incredible thing to behold. Viewed from the heights of the Mount
of Olives, it would have been impressive to anyone, but especially for one
who believed in the God who had entered that temple.
And yet, there is an almost inadvertent acknowledgement in the
48th Psalm that it would
not always be there. “Walk around Zion,” he said. “Take note of everything
so you can tell it to the next generation.” The next generation, who might
not ever see it.
This psalm could have been written by the disciples of Jesus who were awed
by the second temple, pointing out things to Jesus. And the Lord might
have said them, “Take note of everything so you can tell it to the next
generation,” for not one of these stones will be left that has not been
thrown down.
The temple, and its eventual restoration looms large in the minds of Jews
and Christians to this day. And yet two temples have been destroyed, and
it may happen to a third. At the very end of all things, when the new
Jerusalem comes down, the tabernacle of God will be with men. The word,
tabernacle, is skene, a tent.
Maybe there is a lesson in there for us. God allowed Solomon to build a
temple because David his father wanted to, not because God himself wanted
one. Jesus told the woman at well in Samaria that the time was coming,
rather, was already here, when men would not worship in a place, but in
spirit.
April 6, 2005
There are 150 psalms. Why was the
first Psalm chosen to lead
off? It isn’t
everyone’s favorite. The 23rd Psalm takes that honor. But the
Holy Spirit sifted the collection and placed this one first. I think it is
here because it is a winner’s formula for life and it sets the tone for
the work to follow. There are two important principles that make all the
difference in a man’s life: You don’t take counsel of a certain class of
men. You make the law of the Lord your counselor, your tutor, the
foundation of your conscience.
The law of God is a descriptor of what works in life. The man who
internalizes it gains an edge. Men will study books day and night that
they think will give them an edge in the market. They do it for money. But
the law gives a man an edge in everything.
The law is a painful study because we break it so often. It is not that
we can’t keep the law in any one of its parts or on any special occasion.
Superficially, the law seems complicated, but that is only because the
law is about life. It is life that is complicated. So when we study the
law, and "meditate on it day and night," we are going to routinely come
across mistakes we have made. There is no gain in agonizing over past
mistakes. The gain is in recognizing them and correcting them.
The grace of God is what allows us to use the law without being
depressed by it..
The market analogy is interesting, because we do not feel guilty when
we make a mistake investing. We cut out losses and try not to make the
same mistake again. When we study the law of God, we do feel guilty. Yet,
what God really wants us to do is learn from our mistakes and not repeat
them. The law need not make us uncomfortable. All we have to do is say
we’re sorry and try not to do the same thing again.
"The LORD knoweth the way of the righteous," is a curious expression.
The word "know" is the Hebrew word yada which is also the word in
Genesis 4:1, "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and
bare Cain."It is also the root of the word for knowledge in "The tree of
the knowledge of good and evil." So it means rather more than "knowing
about" something.
Words often come to have special meanings beyond their denotation. For
example, we may can say that we hope a person will not see adversity or
know pain. In both cases, the verb has to do not merely with seeing or
knowing, but about experiencing. So when the psalm tells us "the
LORD knoweth the way of the righteous" it is saying something more than
merely that he watches us walk that way. Both the NIV and the NRSV render
the phrase, "The Lord watches over the way of the righteous."
Read Psalm 1 here.
April 1, 2005
There is a part of me that understands the
pain and frustration of the 43rd Psalm.
When you live in the midst of an ungodly people, it can get you down.
And the cry, “send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me,” is a
forceful an apt prayer. The law of God is a lamp to our feet and a light
to our path, but there is also the one Jesus called “the comforter,” or
the counselor. It is the Holy Spirit that is sent out to lead us, to stand
at our right hand and light up the path ahead so we can make better
choices.
Why are you depressed, O my soul? Is it because you are losing hope in
God? But didn’t you know all along that He was your only hope? Why are you
disquieted, edgy, sleepless? Spend a little time praising God. Sing a song
of praise. Sing in the morning. Sing at bedtime. Sing when you don't feel
like it.
Get your eyes back on the goal.
March 30, 2005
More often than not, when depression sets
in, we are like this singer who asks “Why are you downcast, O my soul?" We
have the blues, we feel low, and have no real idea why we feel that way.
But there are a couple of very real and related reasons.
Our life has no meaning and thus, no hope. So our singer tells himself,
“hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my
countenance, and my God."
But there is no point in pretending we feel better than we do. We might as
well tell God, for he already knows.
See the 42nd Psalm.
March 25, 2005
It isn’t so hard to be grateful for the good things in life, although some
people have a hard enough time even with that. We are grateful for a
beautiful day, good food in abundance, a comfortable home. What is not so
easy is to be grateful for the hard times, the losses, the pain, the
suffering of life. When we learn how to be grateful for those things, we
have come a very long way.
There was a man who hated Christians. He was present at the death of the
first martyr of the Christian faith and devoted himself to adding to the
number. He saw to the beating, imprisonment, and even the death of many.
He was so devoted that he asked for and got authority to pursue the
disciples of Jesus all the way to Damascus.
His name was Saul of Tarsus, and he had a close encounter with Jesus on
the road. He was struck down by a bright light and the voice of the
Master, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” When he got up, he was
blind and they had to lead him by the hand into Damascus.
For three days, Saul lay there, eating nothing, seeing nothing. I can’t
imagine the hell he went through in those days. He had to relive in his
minds eye every saint he had abused. Not only that, he saw everything he
had believed in so passionately lying in ashes around his feet. It was a
hard time. But it would seem in later years that he learned to be grateful
for this experience.
He wrote a letter in which he describes himself in terms of “a man in
Christ.” This man, he said, had been caught up to heaven, into paradise
where he heard unspeakable words, words unlawful for a man to utter. (2
Corinthians 12:1 ff.)
It was an awesome experience, but not without risk, for he carried ever
after what he called, “a thorn in the flesh.” He declines to tell us what
it was, but also called it a messenger of Satan and said that it served a
purpose. It was there lest he become exalted in his own mind by what he
had seen and heard. Humility, he realized, was an essential virtue for
what he was called to do, and a virtue that did not come naturally to
Paul.
He had indeed prayed that the thing would go away, and he got an answer
from God in due time.
"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my
strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I
rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when
I am weak, then am I strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 KJV)
It was vastly encouraging for him to realize that his affliction was
there to make him strong and to teach him to rely on God rather than
himself. Paul became thankful for the hard times.
March 24, 2005
Sometimes the law is just a little bit too
legalistic. Judgment tempered with mercy. Granted the husband knows what
his wife wanted. There comes a time to let go. Especially when he is no
longer the husband, if fact if not in law.
With no living will, when Michael Schaivo decided to start a new family
with another woman, I don't think he should have maintained his position
in law as her guardian. He should have long since bowed to the family and
bowed out of the picture.
And the courts should be ashamed for not seeing this a very long time
ago. One of the reasons we have judges is to put a human face on the law.
Sometimes you have to allow common sense to prevail.
March 23, 2005
Out of the most terrible times of life, some of the greatest music arises.
Men do not rise to their highest levels of nobility on the ladder of
wealth. Self sufficiency never wrote a great hymn. Deepest loss, profound
pain, and abject poverty and helplessness: these are the fabric from which
greatness arises. The greatest of all Negro Spirituals arose out of
experience of slavery. They didn’t come from Africa or post abolition
black America. It was from a deep and apparently hopeless pit that these
songs arose. It was in slavery that men learned to appreciate freedom. And
it was in slavery that they learned where their only hope lay.
Sometimes, in singing these songs, or in hearing this music, we are able
for a moment to see through the times they experienced. Men who never came
near the scene of a battle still come to see from a distance what those
men went through and even their music can pass the experience through. A
hymn sung at Ronald Reagan’s funeral came from the movie, “We were
soldiers,” and is profoundly moving.
Listen here and
read the words.
The highest worship of the Lord of all does not come in the best of times.
It arises bright and clear from the deepest and darkest days of our lives.
March 22, 2005
One of the most striking things, not only in the
Psalms, but in the prophets as well, is God’s concern for the poor and
powerless. It is true enough that God condemns Israel for forsaking the
Sabbath and worshiping idols, but his singular condemnation is for the way
we treat one another – especially how we treat the poor and weak. It seems
to be a litmus test God applies to man. What sort of a man is this fellow?
How does he treat the weak. Is he concerned for the poor? And it was Jesus
who said that when we give food clothing and shelter to those who are
without it, we have given these things to him. “By this,” he said, “shall
all men know that you are my disciples: If you have love for one another.”
March 21, 2005
But I am poor and needy;
yet the Lord thinketh upon me:
thou art my help and my deliverer;
make no tarrying, O my God." (Psalm
40:17)
Perhaps the most astonishing thing about this psalm is the simple truth
that God thinks about us all the time. Did you catch it?
I am poor and needy;
yet the Lord thinketh upon me:
And earlier:
Many, O LORD my God,
are thy wonderful works,
and thy thoughts which are toward us:
they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee:
if I would declare and speak of them,
they are more than can be numbered.
How can we ever say that God has forgotten us? There is not a day that
goes by that we are not in his thoughts. The psalmist believed this with
all his heart, and that is why we so often hear him cry out to God, “Why?”
He knows that God has already thought through this crisis. He is not in
trouble because God has neglected him. So, he naturally wants to know what
is going on. What is God's purpose in remaining silent?
This man proceeds through life with an awareness of the presence of God.
March 20, 2005
Sorry to be gone over the weekend. Allie and I drove down to Austin for
church services with the brethren there. They have a marvelous place to
meet, and the warmest of hospitality and fellowship. If you plan to be in
Austin, let us know and we'll put you in touch.
March 18, 2005
Was Jesus a Liberal or a Conservative?
That’s easy enough. He was neither. In fact, those labels really don’t
mean very much when you get right down to it. Have you noticed that people
who talk politics have to distinguish between liberals and classical
liberals? There is a big difference. Now, we have conservatives and
neo-conservatives–that’s neocons in political speak. I can’t describe
myself in political terms. On some issues I might agree with the liberals,
on other issues with conservatives, and on some, I might be libertarian.
So why should I imagine that we could describe Jesus in political terms.
After all, he said famously, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
But, here we are, his children living in a society where we are actually a
part of the government. We can too easily believe that this is a
government of the people, by the people, and for the people. And we are
faced with a host of questions that we really can’t sidestep. Jesus also
said, “Ye are the light of the world.” So if people who believe in Jesus
and who, like it or not, are responsible for the governance of this
country, don’t speak to the world and its issues, then we aren’t doing out
job.
But, it isn’t always easy to know what to say, because as soon as you open
your mouth, someone hangs a label on you. It’s just a whole lot easier to
label someone than it is to think about what he had to say. And nowadays,
people don’t give you very much to think about. Television has all but
ruined the political process, because every political idea has to be
distilled into sound bites. We are given spin, not explanations and ideas.
And spin...., well, spin is just a polite word for propaganda. It’s a way
of lying so that you can claim that you didn’t actually lie. Frankly, it’s
insulting to you and me as ordinary Americans. It makes it harder for us
to do our job as citizens.
It’s awfully easy to forget that we are the government, and that if God
ever decides to hold this country accountable, it is all of us that are
going to pay the price.
In case you overlooked it, I just
put God in the equation, and that is the fundamental issue on the table in
this country today. Are we a nation under God? Or, are we determined to
divorce ourselves from God?
The vast majority in this country want no such thing. They may not
understand what it is that God wants of us. They may not be ready to let
God be the Lord of their life. But they are not at all ready to ask God to
go away. As the country becomes increasing polarized, hardly anyone wants
to talk about the central political issue being fought out today.
The issue is whether we will be a nation under God, or whether we will
become a Godless nation. Right now, as most Christians sit on the
sidelines and wring their hands, the trend is to increasing secularization
-- the polite description for a Godless nation.
March 17, 2005
I just finished recording a reading of the book of Proverbs and it was, as
always, a learning experience. Proverbs is not a comforting read. At times
it can be downright distressing. No one likes to be called a fool. And
though our face may burn when we think of the times we have played the
fool, there is a small comfort in realizing that we are not much different
from everyone else. The truth is, we all come into the world as fools: If
we were blessed, we had parents that helped us grow out of most of that.
There is no one who has left all his foolishness behind.
That said, there is a very large difference between foolish sinners and
what the Bible calls, “the wicked.” Most of us fall in the former
category, not the latter, and we depend on the grace of God to see us
through the stupid times.
The reading of Proverbs will be available on both cassette tape and CD in
a few weeks. We still have to do the final re-mix and create the masters.
If you are on our mailing list, we’ll let you know when they are
available.
March 16, 2005
There is something really strange going on
the Middle East. Yes, I know, it’s the middle east and that should say it
all. The normal rules don’t apply. But something is happening in the
Middle East that ought to give pause to any thinking person.
For a very long time, while the “peace process” went on in the Middle
East, our evening news was seasoned with bloody bombings of restaurants,
or school buses filled with children. The Israelis did their share of the
killing as well, although they have mainly been targeting known terrorist
leaders. The Palestinian killers seem to have adopted a deliberate policy
of attacking and killing the innocent.
It is a deplorable situation, and so we all dutifully deplored it. What
did the Israeli’s want? An end to the killing of the innocents. What did
the Palestinians want? It depends on who you ask. For some, what they want
is the Israelis to withdraw from “the occupied territories.” For others,
they want Israel driven into the sea.
So we sit in front of our television sets and watch all this, assuming
that the people who are killing one another are pursuing some rational set
of objectives. There ought to be a still small voice in the back of our
mind whispering to us. How can there be a rational objective that is being
pursued by completely irrational means?
We have assumed that if we could just solve the Arab/Israeli problem, we
could have peace in the Middle east. We are going to have to adjust our
assumptions. And we have to be careful not to let our personal
predisposition lead us to wrong conclusions. A lot of people who talk
about these issues are pessimistic by nature. They have learned that if
you always expect the worst, you aren’t so likely to be disappointed. I
tend to be optimistic by nature and I hope to see a democratic Iraq at
some point in the future.
But there is a reality intruding into this picture that we are all
reluctant to admit. Let me put the question to you this way. How many
Israelis were killed in suicide bombings in Iraq in the past year? Now
that’s a silly question, isn’t it. There aren’t any Israelis in Iraq. It
is very perceptive of us to notice that. But there have been
suicide bombings, car bombings, mortar attacks galore, and LOT of
innocent Iraqi men women and children have been killed by them. Do all the
killings in Iraq have anything at all to do with the Israeli/Palestinian
conflict? No. Nothing at all.
Well, you say, they are trying to drive the Americans out, to end the
occupation. Sorry. Everyone, including the terrorists, knows that the
quickest way to get the Americans out of Iraq is to elect a democratic
government and stop the killings.
So what is really going on? What is the motive behind all the killings and
destruction? Well, think about it. What is the range of possible motives
available? Religion? Not really. Which of the great ayatollah’s has blown
himself up or encouraged his own children or family to do so?
What are the time honored, familiar motives, the ones all of us
understand? Power and Greed. Afghanistan was and still is one of the
biggest sources of illegal drugs in the world. Iraq has been the base for
one of the most profitable criminal enterprises the world has ever seen.
No, not drugs. Oil. And the mechanism that made it possible? United
Nations sanctions and the oil for food program.
But there is one other motive we don’t like to think about and I
will leave you to think about it. Some people actually enjoy killing,
destruction and chaos. The Bible refers to such people as “The Wicked.”
For a clear description of who these people are and what they are like,
read the 10th Psalm.
March 15, 2005
In reading through the book of Proverbs
this morning, I came across an old friend.
He, who being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly
be destroyed, and that without remedy. (Proverbs 29:1)
I can’t think of many proverbs that are more important to a young man.
There will be many occasions in your life where you will be reproved. It
may be your mother, your father or your friend. It may be your boss, it
may even be circumstances. Self assurance is a good thing when you are
right. But when you are reproved, self-doubt can save your bacon. At least
take a little time to think it over. Don’t just reject a reproof out of
hand.
March 14, 2005
What does God require of us? Not much, or
nothing at all depending on whose theology we are talking about. But the
truth is, God requires everything of us.
Animal sacrifice is no longer required of the man of God, but it was never
the important thing with God. He always required of his people that they
have a positive impact on the world around them. We tend to think that
religion is only a personal thing, but the Christian faith is an outgoing
faith.
Just how demanding is God? At one level, it doesn’t seem very difficult.
"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require
of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy
God?" (Micah 6:8)
How hard is this? It is only three simple ideas. But it is by no means
easy, nor is it natural to man. Take the simple requirement to “do
justly.” This is not merely an admonition to live a righteous life. The
Hebrew word is mishpat, which normally has to do with a verdict rendered
in court. And justice is perhaps the most crucial element in a stable
society, be it church or nation. It is no coincidence that one of the most
common condemnations of Israel by the prophets is that they have corrupted
judgment. A person could no longer get a fair shake in court.
Moses puts it differently: "And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God
require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways,
and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with
all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes,
which I command thee this day for thy good?"
“Oh, well,” someone will say, “how can any man ever succeed at that. No
one can actually keep the law of God.” Perhaps not, but think about it
this way. There is no single command in the law that a man cannot obey. A
man doesn’t have to steal. Nor is it necessary for man to lie. Nearly
everyone does, but it isn’t because the mountain is too high to climb.
The law of God is not unreasonable. Nor is it burdensome. To modern man,
the sacrificing of animals may seem burdensome, but that was primarily the
job of the priest. And, we kill animals all the time so we can eat. All
the ceremonial did was to control the manner of the killing and eating of
the beasts. This is no “yoke of bondage.” It is merely a regulated life.
March 13, 2005
As I was speaking to a Church of God yesterday, another Church of
God in far away Wisconsin was suffering a terrible tragedy. One of the
members of that church, reportedly a mild mannered, harmless man, rose and
shot seven of his fellow members to death. Incidents like this are
shocking, incomprehensible and they sometimes shake the faith of the
faithful. How could God allow something like this?
It is understandable that, in the hours following such an event, people
are confused and lost – sometimes even doubting God. But there is nothing
new under the sun. It has happened before and will probably happen again.
And whether it is 200,000 people who die in a tsumani or 20 kids in a
school bus, everyone wonders why God allows it to happen. But in truth,
everything that happens is something that God allows. For reasons beyond
us, God seems to be not very inclined to interfere in day to day events.
He disappoints us.
Some time ago, I wrote and published to the web an article titled,
“The God who
Disappoints.” Perhaps this is a good time to read it again.
March 12, 2005
Why didn’t God make a better world? He could have, couldn’t he? Questions
like this arise every time a natural disaster takes human life in great
numbers. I can’t say it is an unfair question, but it is rather shallow.
Consider this. Human beings have a certain size and shape. We are all
different, but we fall into a predictable pattern. We walk around on a
planet of a specific size that moves in predictable ways. Our planet has
mass, and consequently gravity. Gravity is not a law, mind you, it is a
property of matter. Matter has mass and mass exerts and influence on other
objects that have mass. For humans and their planet, this is important,
because it means we don’t fly off the ground as the earth spins.
But for this to work, the earth has to be a certain size. Much larger and
gravity would crush us. Much smaller, and we would grow very tall and
might inadvertently jump tall buildings at a single bound.
Now here is the problem. If you make the planet large enough to provide
gravity enough for human beings to be the way they are and not otherwise,
the mass of the planet and the pressures on the earths core will melt that
core into liquid fire. This is not a problem as long as the fire stays
down there. But the mere fact that the earth’s crust floats on that core
means that it moves. And when it moves, it allows some of that molten core
to flow through to the surface.
The movement of the crust causes the earth to shake, sometimes rather
violently. We don’t like earthquakes. They are dangerous and scary, so we
tend to blame God for not making the world the way it ought to be. But if
you are in a safe place when the earthquake occurs, it is not such a big
deal. It is actually rather exciting.
Adam and Eve started out in a safe place. There were no houses to fall on
them. They weren’t living on the coast where a tsunami could carry them
out to sea. An earthquake would merely shake some fruit off the trees
which might even have been convenient.
The world is a dangerous place, not because God wanted it to be dangerous.
It is a dangerous place because of the properties of matter and the
foolish way we have conducted our affairs in this world.
There is more to be said, but I have to run. I hope your day goes well,
and the ground doesn't shake under your feet.
March 11, 2005
The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about folly, and it goes two ways. I
find it a painful read, because I have never made it through the book
without repeatedly being called a fool. The other side of the equation,
though, is that we encounter fools by the dozen. We just don’t want to
recognize them as fools.
This first occurred to me as I was preparing to read the
26th chapter of
Proverbs for a recording session. The chapter presents the most
concentrated description of what you have to watch out for in dealing with
a fool. It is a useful passage, but there is a problem. Most of us are
simply unwilling to admit to ourselves that we are dealing with a fool.
There are reasonable grounds for not identifying a person as a fool. After
all, Jesus said that we should not judge people. And he also said that if
we should say, “You Fool,” we would be in danger of hell fire. But Jesus
is speaking of a face to face encounter. You mustn’t call a man by a
derogatory name right to his face. It might well lead to a fight.
And while Jesus said we should not judge people, he was not telling us to
ignore reality. You aren’t judging a man if you recognize that he is of
Asian origin. Nor are you judging a man when you recognize that he is
acting the fool.
The book of Proverbs is of value only if you act on the warnings. And to
act on the warnings, you have to evaluate carefully the people you deal
with in the world. You don’t need to judge them to condemn, but to avoid
placing confidence in a person who will, in the end, let you down.
[I am currently reading the book of Proverbs onto tape along with some
personal observations. The recordings will be available on tape or CD in
two or three weeks. If you are on our mailing list, you will be notified
when they are available.]
January 23, 2005
No Longer Useful
[Originally published, December 2003]
Why do they send mothers to jail for killing newborn
babies? It happens all the time. Babies are left in toilets, thrown into
dumpsters, or otherwise disposed of. And if they can prove who the mother
was, she is prosecuted for infanticide. Now why do we do this? And what
right does society have telling parents how to treat their kids? Don’t the
kids belong to the parents? Can’t the parents do as they please with their
own children?
Well, no, of course not. Children are persons under the law, and are
entitled to all the protection of the law. Children don’t belong to
parents. They are in the care and custody of parents, but they are
persons, not property, and the law rightly protects children.
Then comes the next question. At what point does a newborn become a person
who is entitled to all the protection of the law? At what point does it
become murder to kill a child? You would think this was a simple question,
but it turns out not to be. Not long ago, the Michigan state legislature
drew a bright line to answer this in law. The moment any part of the
baby’s anatomy emerged outside its mother’s body, the law concluded, the
baby is considered a person under the law. Then, to deliberately kill this
child in some medical procedures would be deemed murder. That is to say it
would have been murder if the governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm, had
not vetoed the bill.
Now the whole question might have been rendered moot because the president
has at long last signed a federal bill prohibiting partial birth abortion.
But before the ink was dry on the president’s signature, two federal
judges had put a stay on the bill. We can’t be sure of the outcome,
because the supreme court may well invalidate the law.
World magazine wrote up the story, and the governor’s complex reasons for
vetoing the bill were explored, but I can’t help feeling there is
something going on here that defies rational explanation. Jennifer
Granholm is Roman Catholic and says that she is personally opposed to
abortion. She objected to the bill because of some vague fault in the
wording and said she wanted to work with the legislature to find other
ways to reduce abortions. The governor’s problem is easy to understand.
She accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the abortion lobby for
her campaign and now she has to deliver. She has, to use an overused
metaphor, sold her soul to the devil–not an unfamiliar thing where
politics is concerned.
I don’t know if the governor is a serious Catholic or not. But I should
think a serious Catholic would be sweating bullets over this. The reason I
say this is that a serious Catholic in office can say he is bound to
follow the law. But in this case, Governor Granholm is vetoing the law.
She then becomes the law. And so it is not at Governor Granholm we must
look. We have to consider those shadowy forces that bought her veto.
And while we are looking, there is another parallel case we have to
consider as well. Why are these same forces hell bent on killing Terri
Schiavo? Terri is brain damaged. Doctors say she is in a vegetative state,
but her family and other doctors say she is not. I can easily believe that
Terri is brain damaged to such a degree that she can never recover. But
here is my problem. Sheis plainly still alive.
World Magazine quoted Carla Sauer, a nurse that used to care for Terri,
who said that they could feed her with a spoon and she could swallow. The
nurse, who now demonstrates outside the clinic said, “She is not a
vegetable. She knows voices, she responds, she can follow commands, and
she tries to communicate by blinking her eyes yes and no.” She used to
receive regular therapy but that ended some time ago because of money.
Now there is a battle between forces that want to maintain her life and
those who want to end it. No, this is not a matter of simply letting a
dying person die. What some are proposing is that she be starved to death.
And here is my question. If you really believe her life should be
terminated, why not give enough morphine or other drug to kill her
painlessly? Why starve her to death?
There is a fundamental flaw here that needs to be explored. Our society
does not allow euthanasia. But we do allow the removal of feeding systems
and the starving to death of helpless people. In both cases we are
terminating a life that could go on with minimal help. A feeding tube is
not a heroic method of maintaining life. Terri is not in any pain. Her
parents are willing to assume all the responsibility for her care. Why put
the parents through the agony of seeing their daughter starved to death?
Do they not matter at all?
What’s going on here? What is the real conflict taking place in the
partial birth abortion debate, and the battle over Terri Schiavo’s life?
Exactly what are the real issues and who are the real opponents?
The battle going on in both of the cases I mentioned is a battle between
two faiths. One is a faith in God. The other is a faith in man. The one
says we should look to God for moral standards. The other says we should
look to man. For a very long time now, our kids have been taught in school
that there is no creator. And even though many people still believe in
God–they may even attend a church--They no longer, in their heart of
hearts, believe in a creator.
The founding document of this country, the declaration of independence,
claims that our rights come to us from a creator. There is a strong
element in our society that no longer believes that. And when that
foundation is gone, it must be replaced by another. And so instead of any
kind of belief in God to direct us in matters of right and wrong, we are
left with Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is a kind of secular religion,
because, like religion, it tries to define right and wrong, but by human
standards, not divine. It defines right and wrong in terms of what
produces happiness and good. I.e. what works and what doesn’t. And it
looks exclusively to man to decide what that means. Keeping Terri Schiavo
alive is not useful. It does not produce happiness. So kill her. Keeping a
handicapped baby alive is not useful. Kill it. Even keeping a healthy baby
alive might make the mother unhappy. Kill it.
Old people had better watch their step and maintain their usefulness. For
the time may come when Utilitarianism sees you as a useless old woman who
can be disposed of. No, we aren’t there yet, because society as a whole
still maintains too much faith in God. But that is changing as fast as the
schools can change it. And the courts may ultimately decide that you are
no longer useful and can be terminated.
Medical science is making so much progress that they are going to present
us with ethical dilemmas we never imagined were possible. And we are
headed into this brave new world with no road map except what works. What
is useful.
This is not to say that there is not a better way. There is. But there is
a growing element in society that no longer wants to hear it. The better
way is the revelation to man of the Creator and his law. But even the
Christian churches have, by and large, abandoned the law of God as their
guide and are looking to society. This is nowhere more clearly presented
than in the ordination of a gay bishop in the Episcopal church.
The law of God, written clearly in the Bible prohibits sex between certain
persons. It prohibits sex with persons near of kin, with animals, and
between persons of the same gender. I have simply read these scriptures on
the air in previous programs and have made some radio station managers
uneasy. If I were in Canada, I could have my program banned and receive a
fine for that.
Here is the dilemma. If said candidate for bishop had left his wife and
children and shacked up with woman, would he still have been a candidate
for bishop? Certainly not. Then why is it okay for him to leave his wife
and children and shack up with a man? Mind you, we are not asking whether
or not we could accept him as a Christian brother. We are asking whether
he should serve in holy orders–as a high ranking minister in the church.
Why am I bringing the rogue bishop into this discussion? As an
illustration of my point that even Christians no longer educate their
consciences by means of the law of God. To be sure, there are laws in the
Bible that we cannot obey. There are laws that are not relevant in our
age. But every one of those laws was given to man by a righteous God and
they are there for our instruction. People are not discussing how these
laws might or might not be applicable. They are dismissing them out of
hand. They are not even bothering to learn from them. And they are leaving
themselves with no guide to morality. No guide of right and wrong.
In the end, I fear that God is going to say to us as a people, “Since you
have decided that utilitarianism is your guide, you are no longer useful.
You should be terminated.”
Recently, I developed this theme with extensive references from scripture
to back up what I say. I would very much like to send you a free cassette
tape of that presentation titled, “No Longer Useful.” While we may not be
able to reverse the trend in society, we may be able to save ourselves and
our loved ones. To get a free cassette tape of the presentation, send me a
note and request it. Click here to find
out how.
December 28, 2004
Why is God so subtle? He is, you know.
The Holy Spirit on occasion has not been subtle, but in the main, it is.
Jesus compared it to the wind in the leaves of a tree. You can see the
result, you can feel the wind on your cheek, but unless it is hurricane or
tornado time, it isn’t all that big a deal.
Laying aside for the moment all the big manifestations, why is God
otherwise so subtle in his guidance. I think there may be many reasons,
but two come immediately to mind. One is the answer of Abraham to the rich
man in the parable: "They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them.
If they won’t listen to Moses, they won’t listen if someone rises from the
dead." God has told us, why should he tell us again?
But then there is the broader question of all those things where we
need guidance but the Bible is silent. Naturally, there is not book big
enough to contain answers to all our questions, but I think more is
involved than that. God does not (in spite of what some preachers may say)
want to run our lives for us. He doesn’t want us to be perpetual
teenagers, having to be told when to get up in the morning and when to
clean up our rooms. He wants us involved in the decision making process.
He will help, he will guide, but we have to decide. He can make any
of our decisions work for the good if we love him and are called for his
purposes. But sometimes the good for us involves failure and all the
lessons learned from failure.
So, be sensitive to the direction of the Wind of God, but be decisive
as well. I thought recently while standing in the road with the wind
whipping around me that if I just stood there the wind would pass me by.
It would continue on as though I hadn’t even been there. But if I were in
a boat and spread my sails, the wind could take me almost anywhere I
wanted to go. I suspect it is that way with the Holy Spirit.
Serving God is an adventure, but nothing happens if you stand still.
[Note: Some of this repeats material below, but is a further
development of it.]
December 22, 2004
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you:
yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of
blood. (Isaiah 1:15)
Mind you, these people had not ceased to be religious. They had their
worship services, they had their religious holidays and their special days
of assembly, but the whole thing had become hateful to God. It wasn’t that
there was anything wrong with worship. But when you hold up your hands to
God, they had better be clean. All of their worship of God was vain and
offensive to the God they thought they were worshiping. Jesus himself said
that it is possible to worship God in vain, and Jerusalem had come to
that. The remedy?
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from
before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come
now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall
eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be
devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
(Isaiah 1:16-20)
What you are doing has consequences, said God to Jerusalem. When you
start rotting away from the core, you invite aggression by your enemies.
Sometimes, it sounds like Isaiah has been watching our cable news.
December 21, 2004The Holy Spirit is something of an
enigma. The nature of the Spirit and how it moves may have been the major
cause of division between the eastern and western Catholic church. The
very uncertainty should have given men pause. A little humility might have
saved a lot of heartache.
What is known about the Holy Spirit is that it is a kind of "Divine
Wind." Jesus compared it to the wind in the leaves of a tree. "The wind
blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where
it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the
Spirit." (John 3:8 NIV) The Greek word for Spirit is pneuma,
precisely the same word a Greek would use for the wind.
And this leads directly to an important thought. If you stand in the
wind, it will swirl around you and go on its way as though you were not
even there. And you can live your life for the most part without giving
the wind a second thought. But if you set your sails and man your rudder,
the Spirit can take you places you never thought you could go. The analogy
is apt, because even with the Holy Spirit, you still have choices. That
said, it is much harder to sail against the wind. Sailors call it
"beating" to windward because that is what it feels like.
The Spirit of God is a "Divine Wind" in your life. You can live
oblivious to it, or your can watch the leaves on the trees, see the
direction the wind is blowing, and set your sails. God only knows where it
can take you. But if you just stand there, you are going nowhere.
December 20, 2004
There are some souls who are plainly
tortured. What prompts the thought is the look of pain that is on some
faces during worship. Either they have been very bad and still carry the
guilt with them, or they are imitating what they think is godly worship.
The pain we read about in the Bible is real, but it doesn’t last forever.
There is joy in the morning.
(Psalms 30:4-5 NIV) "Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his
holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a
lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the
morning."
There are several things that are troubling about this. One is that
those who have this demeanor in worship may yet carry guilt they have not
laid off on the Lord. They may know with the mind that God has forgiven
them, but their heart still condemns them. And so the earnestness in
worship is that of a person who is still in doubt about God’s forgiveness.
They still feel under condemnation. But the only one still accusing them
is the "Accuser of the Brethren." That little voice in the mind that says
you are still guilty is not the Holy Spirit.
The other troubling aspect of this question is the possibility of
pretense in the worship of God. I am reasonably certain that some of the
expressions of worship I see and imitations of the conduct of other
persons who are admired. When the 24 elders around God’s throne fall on
the faces and cast their crowns before God, there is no pretense. It is
not a religious form. It is all one can do in the presence of God.
December 8, 2004
Psalm 38
One night when I was thinking I needed some encouragement, I opened my
Bible and came across the 38th
Psalm. It occurred to me how
much of the Bible is bad news or is written out of hard times. The
prophets bring good news, but it is often tacked on after the bad news.
The truth seems to be that when times are routinely good, men have little
to say. There was no reason for God to send a prophet and tell us how good
we are doing when all we are doing is what we are supposed to do. Thus,
when a prophet does show up, it is almost always because of our failures.
This psalm is a real classic of depression. David is sick with a
disease that makes even his best friends stand apart. It almost sounds
like he has a sexually transmitted disease. It is in his loins, it is a
sore, and it is a result of sin. But the cure for David’s depression is
repentance: "I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin."
One of the curious and sad things I have seen about people is that it
is very hard for them to say those three magic little words, "I am sorry."
I have learned that is much, much easier to say "I’m sorry" than to
continue to maintain the struggle for my own righteousness. Those words,
spoken from the heart, work well with God and man.
December 5, 2004
What do you do when your church splits?
The answer to that question is relatively simple. Accept it and get on
with life. The answer to what not to do is a little more
complicated. From personal experience and from observation, I have learned
seven important things.
- When you find a wall rising between you and your friends, stop
adding bricks. This is a corollary to the old, "When you find yourself
in a hole, stop digging."
- Don’t try to remove any bricks that your friends are putting up.
That will only make them work all the harder.
- Don’t engage in self-justification, because that will only lead to
more self-justification on the other side.
- Don’t even try to explain what happened. You can’t do that without
the other side thinking you are putting them down, and they will bristle
all the more.
- Just keep quiet. It will drive them crazy trying to figure out what
you are up to.
- Try to determine which way the "Wind of God" is blowing, set your
sails and go where he is taking you. If it turns out that you set a
wrong course, he can straighten that out soon enough.
- Don’t even try to see where God is taking you. You’ll find out when
you get there.
Finally, to borrow a line from Dr. Laura, "Now go out there and do the
right thing."
December 4, 2004
The man who went down to the sea
One day a man followed a river down to the sea and sat for a while
watching the water flow into the sea. Being a thoughtful sort of person,
he looked at it a while and considered that the river had always run to
the sea, sometimes in great flood. And yet the level of the sea never
rose beyond modest daily fluctuations that had nothing to do with the
river.
He wondered why that was, and finally concluded there was only one
answer. Somehow the water from the sea made it back up the river and ran
down to the sea gain. He added this to another observation. The wind came
from the north, then the east, then the south and then from the north
again. The wind did the same thing the water did. It went around in great
circles. And then the sun went down in the west every day, but it didn’t
come back up in the west. It came back up in the east. So the sun must
also go around in great circles.
From endless repetitions of family history, he knew that generations of
men came and went, but the land remained the same. And he realized that
man works and works and works, but in the end, nothing much comes of it.
Man, too, runs around in circles and goes nowhere.
The man called himself the Preacher, and he wrote his thoughts down for
his children. It was, for his kids, a kind of attitude adjustment, a
getting of things in perspective. And so, when I need an attitude
adjustment, I like to read the Preacher’s book. You have a copy of it
yourself. The book of Ecclesiastes. In your Bible. Give it another read in
a modern translation and let it adjust your perspective on the world.
October 15, 2004
Borrowed Prayer
Not all of us have the eloquence of a David, and that
may be just as well. The eloquence we read in the Psalms arose from the
fires of great pain, terrible loss, even of betrayal by his own son. And
lacking that eloquence, it is not wrong for us to borrow his.
There was a time when I thought the speaking of a memorized prayer was
unworthy. I don't think that way any longer. There are times of pain and
despair when we are simply unable to pray. And there are times when we
read a prayer that is so eloquent that we are moved by it. We could
program our computer to pray for us, but we know that would be
pointless. But when we read a prayer and make the words our own, I think
God hears. I know our own soul can be lifted by it.
And not a little of the music we sing is nothing more than a prayer set
to music. The music is a language, a prayer all its own, and the way we
sing can convey a wide range of emotions, emotions that are good for us
and pleasing to God. They are a kind of internal body language. And we
all know our body language is seen by God when we pray.
From time to time, the Holy Spirit blows through this world, touches a
life, and produces a great piece of music that can stir our hearts. Some
terrible loss takes a man to the very bottom, where the Holy Spirit
touches him and produces a song like, "It Is Well with My Soul."
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should
come,
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and hath shed his own blood for my soul.
It is well with my soul,
it is well, it is well with my soul.
Once in a great while, the Spirit speaks through great
genius as a man with singular talent is lifted to new heights, as Bach
with the St. Matthew Passion. We should never, never despise such a
gift. Bach wrote at the end of every manuscript of his music with his
own hand, "To God alone the Glory."
I am beginning to understand in a new way what Paul wrote about prayer
and the Holy Spirit:
"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our
weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit
himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And
he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the
Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."
(Romans 8:26-27 NIV)
When we lack the words, when all we can do is groan
within ourselves, the Spirit can speak on our behalf, sometimes with
groans, sometimes with words we borrow from others. We need that kind of
help, hence Paul's warning: "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:30 KJV)
So don't hesitate to borrow a prayer or a song when you are feeling low.
And when you want to praise God but feel inadequate to the need, borrow
a Psalm of David who really knew how it was done. And listen to great
music. The man who wrote it is not important. But if you listen
carefully, you may hear the Holy Spirit as it moves the leaves on the
tree.
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