Consolation
I've begun praying again for God to use me in advancing His kingdom and purpose. Such prayers usually involve pleas to make me more useful, assuming my current condition precludes such usefulness. Yet, in view of His eternal power and the indomitability of His will, my character faults, regardless how gross they seem to me, cannot interfere with His plan .
Thus, I keep asking Him why He won't use me more powerfully—though not necessarily publicly—to influence my world for Him. The interrogative "why," however, is a futile appeal when addressed to the self-existent One; His infinite mind and eternal motives being completely outside my temporal frame of reference.
So I reckon I'll satisfy myself with the knowledge that He loves me more than I can ever imagine, and as the Bible says, works all things for my good.
Praise God for His faithfulness!.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
An Eye For Glory by Karl A Bacon--a review
For this blog tour I'll depart from my custom of posting a review largely borrowed from Bonnie Calhoun's CFBA blog. Instead, I began my personal response immediately upon finishing Karl A. Bacon's remarkable work, hoping to capture my passion for An Eye For Glory undiminished by passage of time.
I have a hard time imagining that An Eye For Glory is Mr. Bacon's first novel. Indeed, I had to continually remind myself throughout the book that it was a work of fiction, so authentic and transparent was Bacon's voice. As I read the last two chapters aloud to my wife Nancy, I struggled to get the words out between sobs as their eternal truth impacted me again and again. But the struggle was well worth the reward of beholding anew God's glorious grace toward me.
The novel's story line may have originated in Mr. Bacon's mind rather than as a fact of history, but its truth transcends any recounting of factual events. Without actually interviewing Mr. Bacon about his experience in writing this work, I know he shed many a tear throughout his research of correspondence and eye witness accounts of the Civil War's awful carnage.
As a child of the entertainment age, one would think my exposure to realistic, dramatic depictions of the Civil War would have desensitized me to one more telling, but I was entirely unprepared for An Eye For Glory. I recommend most strongly that everyone read this story of one soldier's journey from unchallenged belief in a Sunday school gospel to a deep, abiding faith tested by fire and flying lead, lost friends and disillusionment. I feel that An Eye For Glory changed my life, and it just might do the same for you.
If you would like to read the first chapter of An Eye For Glory, go HERE.
Watch book video trailer:
For this blog tour I'll depart from my custom of posting a review largely borrowed from Bonnie Calhoun's CFBA blog. Instead, I began my personal response immediately upon finishing Karl A. Bacon's remarkable work, hoping to capture my passion for An Eye For Glory undiminished by passage of time.
As a child of the entertainment age, one would think my exposure to realistic, dramatic depictions of the Civil War would have desensitized me to one more telling, but I was entirely unprepared for An Eye For Glory. I recommend most strongly that everyone read this story of one soldier's journey from unchallenged belief in a Sunday school gospel to a deep, abiding faith tested by fire and flying lead, lost friends and disillusionment. I feel that An Eye For Glory changed my life, and it just might do the same for you.
If you would like to read the first chapter of An Eye For Glory, go HERE.
Watch book video trailer:
Friday, April 01, 2011
Spiritual Springboard
This Our Daily Bread says nothing about springboards, diving, or anything aquatic. But it did serve as a springboard for my own thought process.
Through all the preaching I've heard--the informative, the convicting, and the comical preaching--the best and most productive is that which launches me into God's word on my own ... like a springboard, if you will. Any preacher worth listening to preaches with no intention of filling his audience's brains with all they need to live as Christ to their world. Instead, he or she preaches as God's mouthpiece, allowing His Holy Spirit to convince and convict those with ears to hear, of voids, needs, and sin in their lives.
Therein enters the Spiritual Springboard, launching seekers into God's word on a holy quest for His customized, tailor-made Truth. There we will find the true filet mignon of God's word, fork-tender and palatable to our yearning heart.
The same truth, however, delivered with the subtlety of a sledgehammer on cold steel, can harden the listeners' hearts against conviction. This should alert preachers to their need for intensive prayer right along with their in-depth study, because a good word delivered out of turn can do great damage.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
BUT FIRST, A WORD FROM OUR BLOGGER:
Okay, I tried. I really tried. But I couldn't get excited about Operation Bonnet.
Don't get me wrong; it delivered everything the blurb says, was well-written, and introduced some great characters who, regrettably, didn't have the energy to vault off the page and into my imagination after being given 25% of the book to do so. The best books grab readers in the first paragraph. Great books might do it in the first page or two. A good book needs to hook the reader in the first chapter. Beyond that—well—they have about as much merit as this review.
If the blurb grabs you, Operation Bonnet may be your cup-of-tea. Otherwise, as the author stated in her bio, you "should move on to another author."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kimberly says:
I grew up in a book-loving home. Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. My mom loves books. My dad loves to read the first chapters of books and then make us all listen as he recites his favorite passages. I, however, enjoy reading books in their entirety and came into writing as a result of book-love. After earning two fancy degrees in education and Spanish, I promptly let the thinking part of my brain take a breather and instead became pregnant. (I’m sure a lot of other things happened between early literacy and pregnancy but I don’t really remember any of that. If you also have shared your uterus with another human, you understand.)
In an effort to author a book that would entertain my sassy, irreverent, breast-feeding/drooping friends, I wrote my first novel, Balancing Act. People were so nice to me after that, I decided to continue with writing. Also, I can’t craft, knit, or scrapbook, so what else was a nice, Christian girl to do?
In addition to writing books to make my friends laugh and cry, I observe the chaos at the home I share with my unfailingly supportive husband and three offspring. We’re doing our best and so far, no one’s been to prison.
ABOUT THE BOOK
So Nellie straps on her bonnet and goes undercover to get the dish. But though she’s brainy, Nellie is clueless when it comes to real life and real relationships. Soon she’s alienated her best friend, angered her college professor, and botched her case.
Operation Bonnet is a comedy of errors, a surprising take on love, and a story of grace.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Operation Bonnet, go HERE.
Watch the book video trailer:
Monday, February 21, 2011
Unnatural Acts
We've come to think of an unnatural act as something perverted. But what if we call it, "Supernatural?" It's still not natural, but the new word somehow redeems the act. Of course, lots of people view supernatural stuff as pure fiction, or plain stupid.
Look at the way the world works: Love is a quality so rare that some folks spend their lives searching for it, as for hidden treasure. Yet, as much as we hear about love, one would think it is quite common. Adolescent girls huddle together, quietly discussing this boy or that, and wondering if what they are feeling is "true love." If the love bug bites hard enough, a kid might wander home after school and, with a distant gaze, declare to his or her mother, "I think I'm In Love." Then comes the question all parents dread, "How can I know I'm In Love?" As if Mom or Dad is an authority on matters of the heart. Truth be known, most parents are as confused about love as their kids.
As often as "love" cools and sours, we may as well use it to begin a list of qualities so rare as to be considered unnatural acts. In fact, such a list already exists. And while it's not titled, "List of Unnatural Acts," that's exactly what it is.
Here is the full listing:
"The Fruit Of The Spirit."
Anyone curious enough about what makes these spiritual qualities different from their worldly counterparts will discover their defintions, or exemples, in God's New Testament.
And their natural counterparts — or counterfeits? That could be a long list indeed, and the subject of many more blog posts. As with most spiritual topics, many will find this unnatural/supernatural/plain-natural discussion counterintuitive(bass-ackward), but in this mixed up world, that's natural.
We've come to think of an unnatural act as something perverted. But what if we call it, "Supernatural?" It's still not natural, but the new word somehow redeems the act. Of course, lots of people view supernatural stuff as pure fiction, or plain stupid.
Look at the way the world works: Love is a quality so rare that some folks spend their lives searching for it, as for hidden treasure. Yet, as much as we hear about love, one would think it is quite common. Adolescent girls huddle together, quietly discussing this boy or that, and wondering if what they are feeling is "true love." If the love bug bites hard enough, a kid might wander home after school and, with a distant gaze, declare to his or her mother, "I think I'm In Love." Then comes the question all parents dread, "How can I know I'm In Love?" As if Mom or Dad is an authority on matters of the heart. Truth be known, most parents are as confused about love as their kids.
As often as "love" cools and sours, we may as well use it to begin a list of qualities so rare as to be considered unnatural acts. In fact, such a list already exists. And while it's not titled, "List of Unnatural Acts," that's exactly what it is.
Here is the full listing:
LoveProperly defined, each of these qualities will be found rare enough in this world to be called unnatural acts. And what does the list's Author call it?
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-control
"The Fruit Of The Spirit."
Anyone curious enough about what makes these spiritual qualities different from their worldly counterparts will discover their defintions, or exemples, in God's New Testament.
And their natural counterparts — or counterfeits? That could be a long list indeed, and the subject of many more blog posts. As with most spiritual topics, many will find this unnatural/supernatural/plain-natural discussion counterintuitive(bass-ackward), but in this mixed up world, that's natural.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
They Are Watching Us
Dial into YouTube and view all sorts of compelling evidence that Aliens are around us, watching us—if not from mysterious spacecraft, then from next door. True Believers expose shadowy government conspiracies and cover-ups whose objective is to ensure the unwashed masses see nothing that will upset the status quo, and threaten the power elite.
Doesn't that seem like a real conspiracy nut's rant? At least a very small part of such. Reasonable people, among whom we no doubt number ourselves, view such rants as the ignorant assertions of those who really need to get a life.
Aren't we so very sure of ourselves. As unimaginably broad as is our universe, we readily presume our supremacy over any possible life forms that may have evolved independently from us. For our entertainment, Science Fiction presents a vast array of humanoid, alien life forms based on their assumption that Evolution, as it did for humanity guides all organism's development from the simple to the complex, from activated amino acids floating in the primordial ooze to the ascended beings we have become. And the more innovative Sci-Fi even abandons the traditional, anthropocentric model of possible alien evolution by positing transdimentional, formless, energy-beings occupying their own corner of the vast cosmos.
Were such beings to exist, why would they even want to communicate with this universe of reactionary, material, temporal organisms? Perhaps, existing beyond our physical constraints, they have adopted values infinitely beyond our petty, materialistic power lust, and believe humanity has potential for rising above our current, thieving aspirations.
Evolutionary science has progressed beyond the Big Bang Theory, into the burgeoning realm of Quantum Mechanics where literally anything is possible. Given the established possibility of parallel universes and dimensions, what is to prevent us from accepting the possibility of a Master Dimension, by which all subordinate dimensions are ruled, invisible to those of us constricted by a physical existence.
The ancient Hebrews saw evidence of a transcendent order of being from another, unseen dimension. The Elohim, after perfectly creating the first human beings, chose to reveal Himself to a few, select humans by the name translated to English as the "I Am," or "The Existing One." And why did He choose to do that? The Elohim, having created humankind with certain attributes unique to Himself, proceeded to guide His creation through its inevitable rebellion, ultimately into a right relation with Himself.
Many narrow-minded individuals reject any such possibilities out-of-hat, unwilling—or unable—to as much as entertain the idea of an order of being superior to exalted humanity and outside our own imaginings. Those who do maintain an open mind may perceive obvious evidences that the arbitrarily skeptical choose to ignore or are unable to see. And such evidences, objectively interpreted, lead them to an awe-inspired respect, even reverence, toward the Elohim. They are less likely than closed-minded skeptics to perpetuate the myth of autonomy, adopted by those who fear the possibility of a Higher Authority than themselves.
We must open our humanistic eyes and see that all the wrong perpetrated in this world stems from the "One-God-Self" delusion that has ruled humanity from its creation. This includes even those religious fanatics who feel chosen as The Hand of God, to wreak vengeance on the Infidels who happen to disagree with them.
The great question is, "How can we know who are chosen of Elohim and who are pretending?" The answer is both easy and hard. Elohim's word states simply:
So, who is watching us, hidden, invisible, and even estrainged from us? No one we need to fear … if we maintain a mind open to Him.
Dial into YouTube and view all sorts of compelling evidence that Aliens are around us, watching us—if not from mysterious spacecraft, then from next door. True Believers expose shadowy government conspiracies and cover-ups whose objective is to ensure the unwashed masses see nothing that will upset the status quo, and threaten the power elite.
Doesn't that seem like a real conspiracy nut's rant? At least a very small part of such. Reasonable people, among whom we no doubt number ourselves, view such rants as the ignorant assertions of those who really need to get a life.
Aren't we so very sure of ourselves. As unimaginably broad as is our universe, we readily presume our supremacy over any possible life forms that may have evolved independently from us. For our entertainment, Science Fiction presents a vast array of humanoid, alien life forms based on their assumption that Evolution, as it did for humanity guides all organism's development from the simple to the complex, from activated amino acids floating in the primordial ooze to the ascended beings we have become. And the more innovative Sci-Fi even abandons the traditional, anthropocentric model of possible alien evolution by positing transdimentional, formless, energy-beings occupying their own corner of the vast cosmos.
Were such beings to exist, why would they even want to communicate with this universe of reactionary, material, temporal organisms? Perhaps, existing beyond our physical constraints, they have adopted values infinitely beyond our petty, materialistic power lust, and believe humanity has potential for rising above our current, thieving aspirations.
Evolutionary science has progressed beyond the Big Bang Theory, into the burgeoning realm of Quantum Mechanics where literally anything is possible. Given the established possibility of parallel universes and dimensions, what is to prevent us from accepting the possibility of a Master Dimension, by which all subordinate dimensions are ruled, invisible to those of us constricted by a physical existence.
The ancient Hebrews saw evidence of a transcendent order of being from another, unseen dimension. The Elohim, after perfectly creating the first human beings, chose to reveal Himself to a few, select humans by the name translated to English as the "I Am," or "The Existing One." And why did He choose to do that? The Elohim, having created humankind with certain attributes unique to Himself, proceeded to guide His creation through its inevitable rebellion, ultimately into a right relation with Himself.
Many narrow-minded individuals reject any such possibilities out-of-hat, unwilling—or unable—to as much as entertain the idea of an order of being superior to exalted humanity and outside our own imaginings. Those who do maintain an open mind may perceive obvious evidences that the arbitrarily skeptical choose to ignore or are unable to see. And such evidences, objectively interpreted, lead them to an awe-inspired respect, even reverence, toward the Elohim. They are less likely than closed-minded skeptics to perpetuate the myth of autonomy, adopted by those who fear the possibility of a Higher Authority than themselves.
We must open our humanistic eyes and see that all the wrong perpetrated in this world stems from the "One-God-Self" delusion that has ruled humanity from its creation. This includes even those religious fanatics who feel chosen as The Hand of God, to wreak vengeance on the Infidels who happen to disagree with them.
The great question is, "How can we know who are chosen of Elohim and who are pretending?" The answer is both easy and hard. Elohim's word states simply:
Luke 6:43-44 ESV For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, (44)for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.And what is that good fruit alluded to in the Scriptures?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.The five words beginning that passage hold the key to its correct interpretation: Its title, The fruit of the Spirit, qualifies this unique fruit and sets it apart from any other "good," even similar behaviors.
Galatians 5:22-23 (English Standard Version)
So, who is watching us, hidden, invisible, and even estrainged from us? No one we need to fear … if we maintain a mind open to Him.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Going To Pot—Our Highest Calling
Generations ago, when food prepared in the kitchen was reduced to scraps, the cook simply dumped them into the stew-pot, or the pig-pot, depending on how plentiful the raw materials were. So when someone observed you had gone to pot, it wasn't a complement. Thus, the term's modern use.
When the Eternal God of Israel wanted to slap His people into shape, He called His prophet Jeremiah to observe a potter at work. (Jeremiah 18:1-6) Jeremiah witnessed a potter terminate his current, ambitious project when he uncovered a fault in the clay. Rather than throw out the whole lump of clay and start over, the potter realized there was still plenty of good clay left on the wheel for a vessel of lesser purpose. God's point? His people Israel had failed repeatedly to conform to the shape for which He chose them. But they were still as clay in His hands, not quite as glorious as they had been, perhaps, but God was determined to work them into a vessel suited for His purpose.
Okay, good lesson for those old-timey guys, but now it's time we got back to our own lives. Well, hold your horses, cowboy. Don't go ridin' off the potter's wheel into the sunset. You're still raw clay, and God isn't finished with you yet. The decision as to when you're a finished vessel is not yours to make. Have you ever heard of a half-baked pot turning into anything good? Certainly not in God's pottery shop.
If you're one of those rare Christians who still feels stresses in their lives there's a very good reason for it. Part of the Potter's work is to apply stresses to the whirling clay lump, and if we continue thinking of ourselves as lumps, we won't get all inflated with pride.
The rest of the process is kind of interesting ... if you're a generic info-geek like me. Once all the pots are in their final shape, dried into bisque, and coated with raw glaze, the potter moves them into the kiln, stacking them carefully and densely for uniform firing. Inside the kiln, heating elements or gas jets slowly bring up the temperature until all the pots glow just the right shade of red.
But there's a little-known hazard always present in the firing process. If one of the pots contains an air cavity as small as a pinhead, the air will expand in the heat until its pressure explosively fractures the clay surrounding it. A significant air cavity can explode with enough violence to shatter part or all of the potter's batch of vessels.
Under the heat of final firing, a single pot's fault can ruin not only that pot, but all the potter's hard work. And it's all because of an air bubble. How crucial it is that we not become inflated with our own importance, so that under the heat of firing we won't blow it.
Generations ago, when food prepared in the kitchen was reduced to scraps, the cook simply dumped them into the stew-pot, or the pig-pot, depending on how plentiful the raw materials were. So when someone observed you had gone to pot, it wasn't a complement. Thus, the term's modern use.
When the Eternal God of Israel wanted to slap His people into shape, He called His prophet Jeremiah to observe a potter at work. (Jeremiah 18:1-6) Jeremiah witnessed a potter terminate his current, ambitious project when he uncovered a fault in the clay. Rather than throw out the whole lump of clay and start over, the potter realized there was still plenty of good clay left on the wheel for a vessel of lesser purpose. God's point? His people Israel had failed repeatedly to conform to the shape for which He chose them. But they were still as clay in His hands, not quite as glorious as they had been, perhaps, but God was determined to work them into a vessel suited for His purpose.
Okay, good lesson for those old-timey guys, but now it's time we got back to our own lives. Well, hold your horses, cowboy. Don't go ridin' off the potter's wheel into the sunset. You're still raw clay, and God isn't finished with you yet. The decision as to when you're a finished vessel is not yours to make. Have you ever heard of a half-baked pot turning into anything good? Certainly not in God's pottery shop.
If you're one of those rare Christians who still feels stresses in their lives there's a very good reason for it. Part of the Potter's work is to apply stresses to the whirling clay lump, and if we continue thinking of ourselves as lumps, we won't get all inflated with pride.
The rest of the process is kind of interesting ... if you're a generic info-geek like me. Once all the pots are in their final shape, dried into bisque, and coated with raw glaze, the potter moves them into the kiln, stacking them carefully and densely for uniform firing. Inside the kiln, heating elements or gas jets slowly bring up the temperature until all the pots glow just the right shade of red.
But there's a little-known hazard always present in the firing process. If one of the pots contains an air cavity as small as a pinhead, the air will expand in the heat until its pressure explosively fractures the clay surrounding it. A significant air cavity can explode with enough violence to shatter part or all of the potter's batch of vessels.
Under the heat of final firing, a single pot's fault can ruin not only that pot, but all the potter's hard work. And it's all because of an air bubble. How crucial it is that we not become inflated with our own importance, so that under the heat of firing we won't blow it.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Isaiah 50
Vs. 4
After the Eternal God finishes rebuking Isaiah and his people as chapter fifty begins, Isaiah responds with a summation of his ministry.
The way many translations render vs. 4, Isaiah appears to tout his qualifications to teach, but reading the ESV suggested another possible meaning. That version says, "The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary." It carries the idea of the teacher adapting his presentation style to the peculiarities of his students, speaking so they can readily understand.
The second thought in vs. 4 describes the process in more detail: "Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught." The phrase "Morning by morning" suggests the process includes the prophet's daily time of confession, praise, supplication and meditation.
Vs. 5
The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.
(Isaiah 50:5 ESV)
Isaiah carefully credits 'ădônây yehôvâh, the Eternal, Self-Existent Lord with enabling the teacher to discern his students' needs.
Vs. 6
I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.
(Isaiah 50:6 ESV)
Does this verse sound as appealing as the previous two? The other side of the teacher's figurative coin is the abuse any prophet/teacher can expect by preaching and teaching God's word without respect to his audience's preferences.
Trouble is, in today's economy the preacher/teacher must remain, to a degree, in his audience's favor to remain employed. On the rare occasion, however, when he is invited to guest-preach, he can speak his mind without political constraint.
Vs. 7
But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
(Isaiah 50:7 ESV)
Is this a promise today's preacher/teacher can take to the bank, perhaps, in lieu of a pay check? It certainly stands as a challenge to present God's truth without respect to the audience's sensibilities.
That said, we must balance this truth with vs. 4 of this chapter. While those in authority must not worry about offending sinners with God's truth, they must present it in a way they will understand, without allowing personal prejudices to alienate them. If sinners in the audience are to be offended, it must be God's word, and not the preacher's personality that does the offending.
Vs. 8
"He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me."
(Isaiah 50:8 ESV)
Here is the prevailing attitude any prophet/teacher must seek. He must not attempt to vindicate(make excuses) for himself. If we proclaim God's truth, it is His job to vindicate us. And let people try to argue against God's truth; when God speaks through someone, He stands with the speaker.
This is where God's prophet/teacher must not allow God's truth to languish under his own pride. Where one stands confident in his own personal grasp of the truth, he endangers God's eternal truth with his own mediocrity and the stain of his own pride.
Vs. 9
"Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up."
(Isaiah 50:9 ESV)
Isn't the confidence displayed by one bearing God's commission a beautiful thing? Cleopas and his friend observed that very thing when, on the Emmaus Road, Jesus joined their party and spoke with them: They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?"
(Luke 24:32 ESV)
Our reaction to that account goes like this, "I can't hope to speak with the same power and authority as the resurrected Jesus."
God's response? Luke 21:10-15 ESV Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. (11) There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. (12) But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. (13) This will be your opportunity to bear witness. (14) Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, (15) for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.
Vs. 14 of Luke 21 shouldn't be taken as license to avoid studying God's word, but just the opposite. Readying ourselves to give an answer to our inquisitors by rehearsing prepared scripts is always counterproductive. Such an approach gives us no flexibility in responding to challenges. Only an in depth understanding of God's word will do that, and only time spent in His word will provide that understanding.
That said, those of us with a less than adequate understanding of God's word can't allow our ignorance to intimidate us. If the Spirit of Jesus has filled our blood-cleansed soul, He has changed us. God commanded us to share those changes with others, even if we don't know the book-chapter-verse of Biblical proof-passages.
The last two verses of chapter 50 fire a parting shot at not only God's prophets and teachers, but at their constituency as well, and pretty much speak for themselves.
Isaiah 50:10-11 ESV Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. (11) Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.
Vs. 4
After the Eternal God finishes rebuking Isaiah and his people as chapter fifty begins, Isaiah responds with a summation of his ministry.
The way many translations render vs. 4, Isaiah appears to tout his qualifications to teach, but reading the ESV suggested another possible meaning. That version says, "The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary." It carries the idea of the teacher adapting his presentation style to the peculiarities of his students, speaking so they can readily understand.
The second thought in vs. 4 describes the process in more detail: "Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught." The phrase "Morning by morning" suggests the process includes the prophet's daily time of confession, praise, supplication and meditation.
Vs. 5
The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.
(Isaiah 50:5 ESV)
Isaiah carefully credits 'ădônây yehôvâh, the Eternal, Self-Existent Lord with enabling the teacher to discern his students' needs.
Vs. 6
I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.
(Isaiah 50:6 ESV)
Does this verse sound as appealing as the previous two? The other side of the teacher's figurative coin is the abuse any prophet/teacher can expect by preaching and teaching God's word without respect to his audience's preferences.
Trouble is, in today's economy the preacher/teacher must remain, to a degree, in his audience's favor to remain employed. On the rare occasion, however, when he is invited to guest-preach, he can speak his mind without political constraint.
Vs. 7
But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
(Isaiah 50:7 ESV)
Is this a promise today's preacher/teacher can take to the bank, perhaps, in lieu of a pay check? It certainly stands as a challenge to present God's truth without respect to the audience's sensibilities.
That said, we must balance this truth with vs. 4 of this chapter. While those in authority must not worry about offending sinners with God's truth, they must present it in a way they will understand, without allowing personal prejudices to alienate them. If sinners in the audience are to be offended, it must be God's word, and not the preacher's personality that does the offending.
Vs. 8
"He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me."
(Isaiah 50:8 ESV)
Here is the prevailing attitude any prophet/teacher must seek. He must not attempt to vindicate(make excuses) for himself. If we proclaim God's truth, it is His job to vindicate us. And let people try to argue against God's truth; when God speaks through someone, He stands with the speaker.
This is where God's prophet/teacher must not allow God's truth to languish under his own pride. Where one stands confident in his own personal grasp of the truth, he endangers God's eternal truth with his own mediocrity and the stain of his own pride.
Vs. 9
"Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up."
(Isaiah 50:9 ESV)
Isn't the confidence displayed by one bearing God's commission a beautiful thing? Cleopas and his friend observed that very thing when, on the Emmaus Road, Jesus joined their party and spoke with them: They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?"
(Luke 24:32 ESV)
Our reaction to that account goes like this, "I can't hope to speak with the same power and authority as the resurrected Jesus."
God's response? Luke 21:10-15 ESV Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. (11) There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. (12) But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. (13) This will be your opportunity to bear witness. (14) Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, (15) for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.
Vs. 14 of Luke 21 shouldn't be taken as license to avoid studying God's word, but just the opposite. Readying ourselves to give an answer to our inquisitors by rehearsing prepared scripts is always counterproductive. Such an approach gives us no flexibility in responding to challenges. Only an in depth understanding of God's word will do that, and only time spent in His word will provide that understanding.
That said, those of us with a less than adequate understanding of God's word can't allow our ignorance to intimidate us. If the Spirit of Jesus has filled our blood-cleansed soul, He has changed us. God commanded us to share those changes with others, even if we don't know the book-chapter-verse of Biblical proof-passages.
The last two verses of chapter 50 fire a parting shot at not only God's prophets and teachers, but at their constituency as well, and pretty much speak for themselves.
Isaiah 50:10-11 ESV Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. (11) Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
What House?
Take, for example, 1 Kings 9:1-3, where God told Solomon that He would put "My name there(in the house that Solomon built) forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually." Everyone knows what happened to Solomon's Temple; the Babylonians completely destroyed it only about 400 years after Solomon built it. Was it that easy for some army to destroy God's perpetual house? Does God define "forever" and "perpetual" as some limited span of time?
Obviously, the temple in question, a temple built by human hands, did not, and could not, last forever. One theme God revealed for us in His New Testament is the fact that temporal humans cannot create eternal things. Consider 2 Corinthians 5:1, and Hebrews 9:11&24 as clear statements of man's nonexistent, eternal building skills.
Exceptions to our understanding of terms such as perpetual, forever, and eternal, reveal our need to carefully weigh each thought or idea of God's word with the balance of His entire word(2 Timothy 2:15).
But to answer the question in today's title, we look once again to God's answer book, His New Testament, where He dealt specifically with the true temple:
Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all that Solomon desired to do, that the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. The LORD said to him, 'I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. (1 Kings 9:1-3)One way to wind up confused or disillusioned is to take every passage of God's word literally. Truth is, the Word(that's Jesus) gave His creation enough credit to include figurative language when He, through His Holy Spirit, breathed His word into the Bible authors.
Take, for example, 1 Kings 9:1-3, where God told Solomon that He would put "My name there(in the house that Solomon built) forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually." Everyone knows what happened to Solomon's Temple; the Babylonians completely destroyed it only about 400 years after Solomon built it. Was it that easy for some army to destroy God's perpetual house? Does God define "forever" and "perpetual" as some limited span of time?
Obviously, the temple in question, a temple built by human hands, did not, and could not, last forever. One theme God revealed for us in His New Testament is the fact that temporal humans cannot create eternal things. Consider 2 Corinthians 5:1, and Hebrews 9:11&24 as clear statements of man's nonexistent, eternal building skills.
Exceptions to our understanding of terms such as perpetual, forever, and eternal, reveal our need to carefully weigh each thought or idea of God's word with the balance of His entire word(2 Timothy 2:15).
But to answer the question in today's title, we look once again to God's answer book, His New Testament, where He dealt specifically with the true temple:
Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.(Hebrews 8:1-2 ESV)Whatever question the sincere seeker might pose, God answered it in His New Testament. Of course, He never said He'd make finding ones answers easy. In fact, while finding answers may give great satisfaction, it's the search that provides the greatest benefit. Many well-meaning believers—such as myself—endeavor to answer all questions others may ask, and many they probably won't ask, but God blesses those who find their own answers through exhaustive Bible study. He made finding answers hard in order to cull out casual enquirers. He wants His heavenly house filled with those who love Him enough to "hit the book," and internalize each hard-won nugget of truth. Are you that student?
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
A Rest For God's People
Since God's church first hit the ground running—usually away from their persecutors—Gentile believers and Judaic believers have managed to find plenty of issues to dispute. At the head of that hot-list was, and is, God's appointed day for corporate worship.
Jewish disciples believed in keeping the seventh-day Sabbath ordained for God's people since before the Mosaic law was instituted. For them, the Sabbath Day was, is, and shall always be the seventh-day of the week.
Gentile believers, referred to as Hellenistic, celebrated Christ's resurrection, which was on the first day of the week as recorded in the gospels. These non-Jewish believers had never honored the Sabbath and saw no reason for starting the custom.
So the dispute grew, along with the issues of circumcision, dietary restrictions, ceremonial cleansing, and keeping the rest of the Jewish holy days. Even after the New Testament was completed, the disputes continued, despite the many passages therein which were written specifically to put them to rest.
This issue could fill books that would only add to the many tomes already published by theologians representing all sides of the argument. But we'll focus on the basic Scripture passages concerning the New Testament application of the Sabbath rest.
In the following passage, Luke faithfully reported some of Stephen's last words as he addressed the Sanhedrin before being stoned to death.
Since God's church first hit the ground running—usually away from their persecutors—Gentile believers and Judaic believers have managed to find plenty of issues to dispute. At the head of that hot-list was, and is, God's appointed day for corporate worship.
Jewish disciples believed in keeping the seventh-day Sabbath ordained for God's people since before the Mosaic law was instituted. For them, the Sabbath Day was, is, and shall always be the seventh-day of the week.
Gentile believers, referred to as Hellenistic, celebrated Christ's resurrection, which was on the first day of the week as recorded in the gospels. These non-Jewish believers had never honored the Sabbath and saw no reason for starting the custom.
So the dispute grew, along with the issues of circumcision, dietary restrictions, ceremonial cleansing, and keeping the rest of the Jewish holy days. Even after the New Testament was completed, the disputes continued, despite the many passages therein which were written specifically to put them to rest.
This issue could fill books that would only add to the many tomes already published by theologians representing all sides of the argument. But we'll focus on the basic Scripture passages concerning the New Testament application of the Sabbath rest.
In the following passage, Luke faithfully reported some of Stephen's last words as he addressed the Sanhedrin before being stoned to death.
Act 7:49 "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?"
In that statement, Stephen paraphrased Psalm 132:13 & 14.
Psa 132:13 For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place:
Psa 132:14 "This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.As if all that weren't enough, the author of the letter to the Hebrews continued the theme in Hebrews, chapter three, where he quoted Psalm 95:10 & 11.
Heb 3:10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.'
Heb 3:11 As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest.'"
Heb 3:12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Heb 3:14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
Heb 3:15 As it is said, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
Heb 3:16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?
Heb 3:17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
Heb 3:19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Below, find the verses Stephen quoted.
Psa 95:10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways."
Psa 95:11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."
Whether we see this verse in the New Testament or here at its source in Psalm 95, it speaks of how God's people constantly failed Him, with the final insult of not only rejecting His only Son, but of murdering Him in the most disgraceful way possible. Remember, that was after God had shown Israel nothing but grace and forgiveness since He chose Abram out of all the ancients.
Did God institute His Sabbath for His disobedient people Israel, or for all who obeyed Him by faith? As God's resting place was never in a temple built by men, the Sabbath rest He commanded for His people was never to be limited to the seventh day of the weekly calendar. God intended His literal, periodic Sabbath only for a shadow of the True Sabbath to come, in the Person of His Son, God incarnate. Only those who, by faith, enter the eternal life of Christ Jesus, may enter into God's Eternal Rest, because they are One and the same.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)