Psalm 103 (6)

To continue with the last two posts in this series: What is the linkage between verses 7 and 8 in Psalm 103, and how does this speak to us of intercession?

In our previous post we saw Yahweh revealing His name and His glory to Moses on Mount Sinai:

“Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of Yahweh. Then Yahweh passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.” Exodus 34:5 – 8.

In today’s post we want to consider Numbers Chapter 14 and how knowing the ways of God, as opposed to knowing only the acts of God, leads us not only into communion with God, but also enables us to intercede on behalf of others.

Numbers chapters 13 and 14 contain the account of 12 spies going into the Promised Land and returning to Israel with a description of what they had seen. While all 12 men agreed that the land was bountiful and would be a great place to live, 10 of the 12 were fearful of the inhabitants of the land and they did not think Israel could defeat such a strong people – it made no difference to them that God was telling them to go into the land. These 10 men spread fear into the people of Israel; we find the verdict of the people in Numbers 14:4, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

Moses and Aaron were stunned, and Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who believed God and had courage in God, tore their clothes and said to the people, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If Yahweh is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us – a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against Yahweh…” (Numbers 14:7 – 9).

The people of Israel responded by attempting to kill Joshua and Caleb – at which point God intervened. During God’s intervention He said to Moses, “I will smite them [the people] with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they,” (Numbers 14:12).

In other words, God was going to put an end to Israel’s persistent rebellions and start all over with Moses. If you had been Moses, how would you have responded? Would you have said, “I’m with you God. I’m tired of them too. Let’s begin again.” Or, would you have done what Moses did again and again, would you have prayed for the people, imploring God to be merciful and forgiving?

(Consider Moses’s earlier intercession in Exodus 32:32, when he prayed, “But now, if You will, forgive their sin – and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!”)

In Numbers 14 Moses once again intercedes for Israel, and within his intercession we read these words:

“But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’ Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”” (Numbers 14:17 – 19)

Compare what Moses said to God in Numbers with what God had previously said to Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus:

“Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of  Yahweh. Then Yahweh passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.” Exodus 34:5 – 8.

Yahweh declared His nature, His glory, His ways to Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus 34; later, when Moses intercedes in Numbers 14, Moses appeals to God’s nature, God’s glory, God’s ways – Moses is echoing back to God what God revealed to him previously on Mount Sinai.

The basis, the ground, of intercession is the nature of God; as we know His nature, as we know His ways, we can intercede on behalf of others.

This brings us back to Psalm 103:7 – 8: “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. Yahweh is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.”

(Note that Jonah, disobedient and petulant though he was, knew the ways of God – Jonah 4:2. Also note Nehemiah 9:17 and Psalm 86:15).

God has called His people to be a people of intercession.  We are to be a people of intercessory prayer and intercessory living. This means that it is not enough for us to know the acts of God, the things that God does – we are called to know His ways, to know His Way (John 14:6), to know His nature (John 15:4), to know His glory (John 17:22 – 24). If the Trinity lives in us (John 14:16, 17, 23), then we certainly ought to learn and know the ways of our God.

Yet, most of us have been taught and conditioned to stand afar and only observe. We live either outside the Tabernacle or, often at best, live in the Outer Court. We talk about what we see, not about Who we know. We talk about Jesus as we talk about a historical figure, or as we speak of a current political leader who we know only through others, or at a distance through media.

Our calling is to know God intimately, and in knowing Him to live in Him as He lives in us; and to live for Him and for others – laying our lives down in intercessory prayer and intercessory living.

Are we interceding for others in the midst of the present fears and uncertainties? Do we know the ways of God? Are we manifesting those ways to our generation?

Psalm 103 (5)

To continue with the last post in this series: What is the linkage between verses 7 and 8 in Psalm 103, and how does this speak to us of intercession?

In Psalm 103:7 we see that God made His ways known to Moses, and then in verse 8 we read that, “Yahweh is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.”  Verse 8 speaks directly to God making His ways known to Moses, for Moses knew the ways of God as God revealed Himself to Moses; Israel saw God’s acts, Moses knew God’s ways. To see a person’s actions is one thing, to see a person’s heart is another.

God’s ways express God’s nature, if a distinction can be made, and I really don’t know if it can – human thinking and words often fail us when considering the Divine essence; at least they fail me. I hope you will bear with me. 

We cannot always rightly understand God’s nature from His acts, in fact we can misinterpret them. An example is when God disciplines us (see Hebrews 12:4 – 11). We are reminded in Scripture that God disciplines those He loves (see again Revelation 3:19) and we are reminded of this because our natural tendency is to interpret difficulties and bad times as evidence that God does not love us when the opposite is true.

If we will take the time to ponder two passages of Scripture that provide the backdrop to Psalm 103:7 – 8 I think we’ll gain insight into both Moses knowing the ways of God and into an essential element of intercession.

The first passage is Exodus chapters 33 and 34, with a particular focus on 33:12 – 34:9.

While Moses has been up on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments, the people of Israel have been making a golden calf to worship. Moses comes down from the mountain, is shocked and angered at the idolatry, breaks the two tablets of stone containing the Commandments, and intercedes with God on behalf of the people (Exodus 32).

In Exodus 33, as Moses communes with God and prepares to once again ascend Mount Sinai to receive, one again, the Ten Commandments, we read:

“Now therefore I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight…” (Exodus 33:13).

“Then Moses said, I pray You, show me Your glory.” (Exodus 33:18).

Moses is asking God to show him His ways so that Moses might know God, and Moses is asking God to show him God’s glory.

Yahweh responds in verse 19, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you…”

Let’s please keep in mind that in the Bible a person’s “name” speaks of that person’s “nature”.

What happens as a result of this?

“Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of  Yahweh. Then Yahweh passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.” Exodus 34:5 – 8.

Do you see Psalm 103:8 in the above? Yahweh is proclaiming His Name, His Nature, His ways, to Moses; He is showing Moses His glory. Psalm 103:7 speaks of Moses knowing the ways of Yahweh, Psalm 103:8 reveals the nature and ways of Yahweh.

In the next post in this series we’ll connect this to intercession; the basis, the ground, of intercession is the nature of God; as we know His nature, as we know His ways, we can intercede on behalf of others.

Are we interceding for others as we navigate the uncertain waters of our times?

Musings in Samuel (9)

“Now the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.” (1 Samuel 5:1).

“After they had brought it [the Ark] around, the hand of Yahweh was against the city [Gath] with very great confusion; and He smote the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them.” (1 Samuel 5:9). (Keil and Delitzsch notes, “Jehovah smote the people of the city, small and great, so that boils broke out upon their hinder parts.” (Italics mine – what a picture!).

“And the men who did not die were smitten with tumors and the cry of the city went up to heaven.” (1 Samuel 5:12).

What do we have here? There are a whole lot of tumors going on; Ashdod has tumors (verse 6), Gath has tumors (verse 9), and apparently there aren’t any other cities volunteering to host the Ark and have their own tumors. Furthermore, the poor folks can’t even sit down to talk about what to do because the tumors are “upon their hinder parts” to quote Hebrew scholars Keil and Delitzsch – now there is a pretty picture; howbeit a picture probably not portrayed in an illustrated Bible for children.

In addition to the tumors, there is a “confusion” that envelopes the people, “a very great confusion” (verse 9). I suppose tumors would drive folks to distraction – in fact, the confusion is “deadly” (verse 10). The hand of God is “very heavy” (verse 11).

As bad as things are for the Philistines, they will be perhaps worse for the Israelites when the Ark is returned – something we will touch on again in the next chapter. Later, when David is King and wants to bring the Ark up to Jerusalem, David will learn a similar lesson.

Yahweh is sending the Philistines a message that He is above all gods, including their gods. Just as they didn’t flee in terror when Israel brought the Ark into battle (1 Samuel 4:9), so we’ll see in Chapter 6 that they thought about what was happening (6:9) and decided to see if these calamities were coincidental or whether Yahweh really was judging them. I think we’ve got to give the Philistines credit for both courage and thoughtfulness – it must be hard to be thoughtful when you have boils on your hinder parts.

I think God, in the midst of His judgement, is also showing His mercy to the Philistines. After all, God could have allowed the Philistines to remain obstinate. “The cry of the city went up to heaven.” Yes, this could just be saying that they were making a lot of noise, but I imagine that God heard them and took pity on them – otherwise they would have perished in their confusion and pain.

The Philistines were not held to the same standard in their handling of the Ark that the Israelites were, for to whom much is given much is required. When the children of the world handle the things of God they do so in ignorance…and at times arrogance. Our Father is always just and He dispenses His justice according to His perfect Nature – we may not understand all of His ways or the depths of His wisdom, but we can always trust Him.

Those who make idols do not stop and think that they are worshipping things that they’ve made themselves – or had made for them. The material things we worship, the possessions, the philosophies, the transient values, the things we build, the positions we covet…all of these ideas and values and things originated with us…and yet we worship them…usually we arrogantly worship them.

Our Father will bring the wisdom of mankind to nothing (1 Corinthians 1:18 – 31); professing ourselves to be wise we have become fools (Romans 1:18- 32). See also Isaiah 44:9 – 20 for one of many depictions in Scripture of the folly of idolatry.

Unlike the Philistines, our generation persists in its folly, we insist in pursuing our own self-destruction. We are destroying ourselves, we are destroying animals, we are destroying our environment – we are pulling God’s wonderful creation down around us and upon us. We worship the dollar, the Euro, the yen…everything has its price…even the souls of men and women and children. Our idols fall down and we prop them back up (1 Samuel 5:3 – 4); they fall again and we prop them back up again. Unlike the Philistines we persist in our arrogance, in our stupidity.

It seems we are examples of having a strong delusion sent to us, so that we would believe what is false, since we did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness (2 Thessalonians 2:11 – 12).

We should be on our knees…we aren’t…even the Philistines cried out to heaven.

Psalm 103 (4)

“He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. Yahweh is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.” Psalm 103:7 – 8.

There is a linkage between verses 7 and 8. In fact, verses 8 – 14 flow from verse 7. Can you see this relationship? We’ll explore this in the next few posts on Psalm 103, including  how this relationship can help us understand  intercessory prayer and intercessory living. Can you see how verses 7 and 8 provide a foundation for intercessory prayer?

But let’s first consider that God made known His ways to Moses and His acts to the children of Israel.

It is one thing to know what a person does, to see a person’s actions, and another thing to know a person well enough so that you know his or her ways. An element of friendship is when we accept another person for who he is and we come to understand that he has certain “ways” about him…and usually those ways are not likely to change, especially as we advance in years. This confronts us with a choice, if this person is truly my friend then I will choose to live with his “ways”, especially those ways that I don’t care for – but I realize they come with the package, they are part of who my friend is, so I get on with life and with our friendship.

Of course with God, since His ways are perfect, if I have a problem with His ways I had better ask Him to search my heart and conform me to His image and His ways – because somehow my problem with the ways of God is rooted in my sinfulness and in the effects of sin on my soul and cognitive abilities. The problem is never with God, it is always with me.

This does not mean that we do not speak with God about our struggles to understand and accept His ways; Moses had conversations, perhaps even arguments, with God about God’s actions and ways – if we won’t talk to our Father and listen to Him how will we grow? This is a process because it is a relationship, a relationship that God initiated and that God sustains through our Lord Jesus Christ.

But…let us remember, let us always remember, that our Father is holy; Moses was denied entrance into the Promised Land because he did not remember that God is holy, he did not sanctify, hold holy, God in the presence of the people of Israel. Let us not be foolish, let us learn from Moses…both the good and bad. The fear of the Lord remains the beginning of wisdom.

God made His ways known to Moses. In Deuteronomy 34:10 we read, “Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face.” In Exodus 33:11, “Thus Yahweh used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.”

Abraham was called “the friend of God” – 2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23.

Jesus says, “You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you,” (John 15:14 – 15).

Friends know the “ways” of friends. It is one thing to observe the acts of someone, it is another thing to know the ways of someone.

We can live our lives standing afar off from God and observing His acts, or in Christ we can enter into the Holy of Holies, into an intimate friendship with God in Christ…and in doing so we can learn His ways. As we learn His ways we will find that His ways become our ways in Christ.

In this time of uncertainty, let us ask our Father to draw us ever closer to Himself through Jesus Christ so that we can learn His ways and reflect His love, mercy, compassion, truth, and glory to the world.

Meditation

Below is a devotional from Charles Spurgeon, I think it is particularly applicable for us today in the midst of Covid-19. Along with this devotional, we might want to reacquaint ourselves with Psalm 1.

Much love,

Bob

October 12th — Morning Reading

"I will meditate in Thy precepts." — Psalm 119:15

There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in His service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. Truth is something like the cluster of the vine: if we would have wine from it, we must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times. The bruiser's feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else the juice will not flow; and they must well tread the grapes, or else much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So we must, by meditation, tread the clusters of truth, if we would get the wine of consolation therefrom. 

Our bodies are not supported by merely taking food into the mouth, but the process which really supplies the muscle, and the nerve, and the sinew, and the bone, is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not nourished merely by listening awhile to this, and then to that, and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing, reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies for the most part in meditating upon it. 

Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord, and be this our resolve this morning, "I will meditate in Thy precepts."

Take A Fix

While many people in our world live in uncertainty and chaos for much of their lives, we in the West feel that we are in control of most things and that if something does go awry that we can fix it. This attitude is not only pervasive in society, but in much of the professing – church. For us in the West, the current health, economic, and social situation is uncharted waters.

I asked a retired Coast Guard admiral what principles he would use if his ship were in uncharted waters, here is his reply:

Q:  What principles would I use if I found myself in uncharted waters?

First, take a fix.  You can’t decide which direction to head until you know where you are.  Until you have the fix, slow down, and be prudent.    That is exactly what the government is advising the public to do — back off on the speed of normal life.    Problem is, we aren’t accustomed to slow.   We have been trained to expect all problems to be resolved within 30 minutes and five commercial breaks. This thing will teach us all a few lessons — patience among them.  I pray.  

Of course, the admiral’s reply makes a pretty basic assumption, and that is that someone on the crew knows how to navigate. In navigation, what may seem to be a minor error may cause the ship to deviate hundreds or thousands of miles from its desired destination.

Even worse, suppose the people teaching navigation to future crew members didn’t know what they were doing, suppose they had departed from tried and true navigation principles and skills? What hope could there be for the crew? In this case the entire crew would be trusting in a false hope.

What are our navigational principles in our uncharted waters? Where have we learned our principles? How are we calculating our bearings?

For the disciple of Jesus Christ, and anyone who wants to become a disciple, the answer is Jesus Christ and His Word, the Bible. I don’t mean a Jesus who died 2,000 years ago and remained dead, nor do I mean a book that is lifeless; I mean a living Jesus Christ and His living Word – a Word to which we submit and allow to form us into the image of Jesus Christ.

But how can professing – Christians navigate if they have been taught to look to themselves and not to Jesus? If they have been taught to take their direction from society and not Christ and His Word? How can we accurately navigate when we have substituted ourselves for Christ, and the pleasures of this world for the Cross? When we have lived lives of denying ourselves nothing in the face of Christ’s call to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him?

The beginning of arriving at a navigational fix is determining our relationship to Jesus Christ – this includes our relationship to His Word – the two cannot be separated. If our relationship to the North Star, Jesus Christ, is off – than all other navigational calculations will be off and we will be sailing into rocks that will destroy our vessel.

We are easily deluded. I’ve been reading and rereading the Letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 and, among other things, I’m struck how self-deluded most of these churches were – Christ warned five of the seven that if they did not repent that He would remove them.

Our eyes are not to be on Fox News, CNN, or whatever your choice of poison may be – it may even be a media “Christian” or “ministry” who would rather have numbers than preach and teach sacrifice and self-denial in Jesus Christ and His Cross. Christ calls us to die so that others might live – if you hear anything different run from it.

Disciples ought to be slowing down and looking to Jesus Christ (Psalm 123:1 – 3; 130:5 – 6) and our souls ought to be weaned from the electronic cocaine that invades us via television, the internet, and radio (Psalm 131:2).

Our eyes ought to be on Jesus Christ, and on Him alone (Hebrews 12:1 – 3; Colossians 3:1 – 4; 1 John 3:1 – 3).

We ought to be reminding ourselves and one another that we are citizens of heaven before anything else (Philippians 3:20).

We cannot help others if we don’t have a true navigational fix on our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Let us submit ourselves to the scrutiny of God’s Word, let us submit to the conviction of the Holy Spirit as His Word works deeply within us (Hebrews 4:12). Let us cry out to our Father to purify us.

Jesus says that the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church. This is an offensive picture, it is a picture of His Church storming and dismantling the gates of hell.

Hell is all around us: The hell of fear. The hell of hopelessness. The hell of injustice. The hell of hunger. The hell of narcissism. The hell of a Christless Christianity. The hell of a people obsessed with money and possessions. The hell of congregations having left their first love and substituting themselves for God…and bringing idols into the church. The hell of popular political agendas – from the left to the right, and from the right to the left.

Is it possible that we can break out of the opium den in which we live? Or have the pleasures of our society placed us in a descending stupor from which there is no return?

Dying from Covid-19 is not to be feared…but dying without Jesus Christ is an eternal tragedy.

And for those of us who have embraced a cheap Gospel with cheap grace, let us not be deceived – we will all give an account to Christ of our lives – we will all be held accountable (2 Corinthians 5:1 – 10; Romans 14:10).

Can we say with Paul, “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself…” (Acts 20:24)? This is our calling.

What is our navigational fix?

Ponderings on a Monday Morning (March 16, 2020)

We have a certain God in uncertain times. The prophet Haggai tells us that God will shake all things and that those things which cannot be shaken will remain – let us not be surprised at uncertainly around us, but let us be surprised if there is uncertainty within us, for those who abide in Christ have a certain God within them and He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. (Haggai 2:6 – 7; Hebrews 12:25 – 29; 2 Timothy 1:7; Colossians 1:27; 2:10; 1 John 3:1 – 4; 4:4).

As Christ is to us, we are to be to others. Will we, by God’s grace, live like this? Will we be the Presence of Christ to others in times of uncertainty?

When we awake our first response to each new day is to worship God. It is not to catch up on the news, it is not to read our emails, it is not to look at our phones or tablets – it is to worship God in Christ. Our calling in Christ is to worship God throughout each day – our minds, our hearts, our souls, our bodies do not belong to us who know Jesus Christ, they belong to Him – this fundamental question of worship and ownership is critical if we are to fulfill our destiny in Christ and be a blessing to others. (Romans 12:1 – 2).

Shall we allow the world and all that is in it, including media and entertainers and politicians, to form our souls and thoughts and attitudes? Or shall we submit ourselves to God and His Word and allow ourselves to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ?

When we live as if this world is our home, and when we live with the priorities and values and standards of the world, we build our lives upon sand and when the equilibrium of the world is disturbed we are disoriented along with the world. (Matthew 7:24 – 27; Philippians 3:20 – 21; Hebrews 11:8 – 16).

The man or woman whose life is oriented around, and in, Jesus Christ will know the Presence of God through the waters, the fire, and the vicissitudes of life. If we live, we are the Lord’s; if we die, we are the Lord’s – while we are here let us worship our Lord Jesus and be a blessing to others. (Isaiah 43:1 – 2; Romans 14:7 – 8).

Business as Usual

If we are accustomed to living our lives in a “business as usual” mode, if we have conformed  to the status quo from year to year, if we are unaccustomed to challenging the popular assumptions of society and the professing – church, if we have not had the courage to speak -up…then it is unlikely that we and our churches will make much, if any, difference as societal equilibrium is upended.

The City of God and the City of Man, the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world – are not only not the same, they are in conflict with each other. This conflict will continue until the Kingdom of God and its King fill the earth (Daniel 2, Psalm 2). 

The dollar and its international equivalents will not have the final word – the final Word will be the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ.

The term “business as usual” and the term “status quo” should never be used in the same sentence as the term “Kingdom of God”... unless it is for purposes of contrast.

Musings in Samuel (8)

No Glory – continued

I can think of no better passage to challenge us when thinking of what we glory in, and how we think of glory, than 1 Corinthians 1:30 – 31:

“But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, Let him who boasts [glories], boast [glory] in the Lord.”

Leading up to these verses, Paul teaches that what the world glories in is not what God glories in; what God values is not what the world values. What the world considers wise, God considers foolish; what the world considers foolish, God considers wise. This is a fundamental premise for Christian living and teaching – God’s ways are not our ways. If we believe this then we will seek God’s wisdom and God’s way and our primary sphere in seeking will be the Scriptures as we are enlightened by the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 – the natural man simply cannot  understand the things of God – they are foolishness to him).

Paul is writing that, for the Christian, life is all about Jesus Christ. Christ is our wisdom, Christ is our righteousness, Christ is our sanctification (our transformation into His image), and Christ is our redemption. Therefore, if Christ is truly all of these things to us (quoting from Jeremiah 9:23), let us glory in the Lord!

If I glory in something, then I will boast about that something. If I glory in a person, then I will boast, I will talk, about that person.

The people of Israel in 1 Samuel thought that simply possessing the Ark of the Covenant meant that they had a relationship with God; it did not matter that the head priests were not living in holy obedience to God and their calling to the priesthood; nor did it matter whether they, the nation, were living in obedience to God – they thought simply having the Ark would ensure victory over their enemies. Having Bibles in our pews, on our smartphones, or on our bookshelves does not mean that we are in a holy and obedient relationship with God in Christ.

All of the elements of a relationship with God were represented in the Ark – mercy, vicarious sacrifice, living bread, God’s Word, resurrection, holiness. That which was physically present, was also sacramentally present for those who were seeking the Face of God – sadly, those people were few.

I have been around Christians for all of my life, and at some point it dawned on me that we do not talk about Jesus Christ when we are together. Yes, of course this is a generalization, but I think it is a fair generalization. I think this has gotten worse with the advent of slick “Christian” marketing and the promotion of marquee speakers, authors, music artists and the like. We make franchises out of how-do teachings, “new” insights into life, special ways to get more out of life, and of course prophecy – we love buying books and DVDs about prophecy!

Yes, this has always been a challenge in our history; heresy has often arisen because of our sinful attraction to the novel, to something which others don’t have, or to things that are centered on us rather than on God and others. Heresy is not limited to erroneous belief, it also encompasses erroneous practices – just because we recite the Apostles Creed and say that the Bible is our authority for faith and practice doesn’t mean our lives reflect the Creed or obedience to the Bible.

How often does God give us insights into life, insights to glorify Christ and to help others, and we take those insights out of the context of Christ and the Bible and make them merchandise, make them our glory, make them what we boast about? When Jesus Christ ceases to be the explicit and unambiguous message and center of our lives then we have exchanged the glory of God in Christ for a lesser glory.

If Jesus Christ truly is our sanctification, our source of transformation into His image, then all teachings on marriage, on family, on parenting, on living in peace versus living in anger, on our faith in the workplace, on prophecy, on forgiveness – ought to be centered in Christ, rooted in Christ, and with transformation into the image of Christ and His glory as their goal. Jesus Christ ought to permeate all that we say and do and His glory should be our supreme desire.

We ought not to look at Jesus Christ in the context of a subject, whatever that subject might be; rather we ought to look at any and all subjects and practices in the context of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is Lord and we do not submit our Lord to our thinking and practice – we submit our practice and thinking to Him and to Him alone. We do not judge Him, He judges us. We do not evaluate Him, He evaluates us.

And so when people excitedly tell me about a new program, a new self-help regimen, a new teaching, a new way to do something, a new way of seeing prophecy, new music…the list goes on…I want to know where Jesus Christ is in it all. Is He its center, its focus, its goal, its glory? Because if He is its glory then why isn’t the person telling me about how they are seeing more of Jesus? Drawing closer to Jesus? Seeing the glory of Jesus?

Also, if people are rooted in an aspect of the past to the point where they are frozen in time, to the point where what has happened in the past is the key to the present – say a practice or an emphasis on doctrine – I want to know the same thing. We often take the good things God gives us and turn them into idols (consider the bronze serpent in the Wilderness).

I think most of us have a propensity to do this – I’ve done it; this doesn’t mean you’ve done it, but maybe you have, maybe you are doing it now. I can see, at least I think I can see, when we’re glorying in sociology because I’ve done it myself. I didn’t realize what I was doing, I was justifying what I was doing, I thought I was on the “cutting edge” in one sense, but now I regret some of my thinking and practice. I’ve done this with a few things, I’m sure I’ve done it with more than I realize (I’ve done it with music too!). Maybe you have too, probably not, but just maybe.

Well, in 1966 when I met George Will he was preaching 1 Corinthians 1:30 – 31. The last time I talked with George, just 3 – 4 years ago (I think he is with the Lord now), he was still preaching 1 Corinthians 1:30 – 31. Not a bad way to live your life. Not a bad way to preach.

Jesus really is our glory – He truly is.

Musings in Samuel (7)

No Glory

“And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.’ But she did not answer or pay attention. And she called the boy Ichabod, saying, ‘The glory has departed from Israel,’ because the Ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband. She said, ‘The glory has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God was taken.’” (1 Samuel 4:20 – 22).

We are not told the name of Phinehas’s wife, but hers is the fourth death in Eli’s family on the day the Ark was captured and Israel was defeated. Her husband Phinehas and his brother Hophni were killed in battle. Her father-in-law Eli died when, reacting in shock to the news of the death of his sons and the capture of the Ark, he fell off his seat and broke his neck.

Phinehas left his wife a widow, and the widow left her son an orphan – all in one day. Rather than rejoicing in her newborn son and giving him a name to be proud of, a name to encourage him throughout life, the dying woman names him Ichabod – meaning “the glory has departed.”

Was it just then, just that day, that Phinehas’s unnamed wife realized that the glory of Yahweh had departed from Israel? Or was this day a confirmation of what she had known for years? Was this day the culmination of sin after sin in her husband’s family and in the people of Israel?

She must have been aware of how her husband and his brother had turned the priesthood into a licentious pleasure – palace for themselves. She must have seen Eli countenance the perversion of the priesthood. Did she look the other way? Did she grieve over the sin? Or was she insensitive to the perversion of the service and worship of Yahweh and not realize until the dreadful day recorded in 1 Samuel Chapter 4 that a Day of Accountability and Judgment had come upon her family and her people?

We don’t know the answer to these questions. Perhaps, like many of us, she went along to get along and was shocked when the Day of Reckoning swept over the land like a flashflood. Surely, she may have thought, God would never let anything really bad happen to His People – after all, they had the Ark and the Tabernacle.

What about us? We look to our past and we cherry pick highlights that make us look good and we think, “God will give our nation and the churches in our nation a pass.” We think about the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and know that within that Ark of the United States reside the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and we think, “That sacred place, those sacred documents, are holy; we are better than others and more high and exalted; God will protect us.” We do not want to consider the disconnect between those documents and our actual history. (Having grown up in the Washington City area I spent many days in and around the monuments and museums; I was raised to consider them “holy”.)

There was little glory in Israel before the Day of Reckoning in 1 Samuel Chapter 4. Perhaps the one flicker of glory was Yahweh speaking to Samuel, “And Yahweh appeared again at Shiloh, because Yahweh revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Yahweh,” (1 Samuel 3:21). As the glory of Yahweh dawned on Samuel, the glory of Yahweh departed from the priesthood of Eli and his sons.

Did Hophni and Phinehas see Samuel as a threat to their debauchery the way the religious establishment would later view Jesus? Perhaps not, because of both Samuel’s young age and because the priesthood was hereditary; they may have thought that Samuel could not threaten their hereditary positions. We don’t really know.

At least Eli realized that God was speaking to Samuel, at least Eli still had a sense of the True and Living God, at least there was some spark of Divine light within Eli – but then, to whom much is given much is required.

I am somewhat amused, in a sad way, when I hear professing – Christians indignantly talk about legislative and regulatory interference in churches and religious organizations. I am perplexed when I hear us rail against the removal of prayer and Bible reading in public schools – as if its return would sprinkle religious and moral fairy dust on our land. We complain about so many things but we do not repent. We think that if we have the equivalent of the Ark of the Covenant in our churches and our nation that we need not live lives of obedience to Jesus Christ – that our churches can remain our churches and not God’s Church. We do not want to belong to God, we want God to belong to us.

The glory of Christ has left us and we don’t know it. We conjure “glory” in so many ways – things that may have once been true and holy have been turned into merchandise, just as Hophni and Phinehas turned the priesthood into merchandise.

If we are honest in the light of the Scriptures, perhaps we should all join one denomination and call it Ichabod. (Yes, I know there are faithful Smyrnas and Philadelphias).

When Jesus Christ is no longer our glory, we have no glory.

Perhaps more on this in the next post.

Psalm 119 – The Grand Canyon

Yesterday I encouraged us to spend time in the Psalms of Ascent, today I want to touch on Psalm 119. As you probably know, Psalm 119, with its 176 verses, is not only the longest psalm in the Bible, it is the longest chapter in the Bible.

About the time I reach Psalm 110 in my daily Bible reading I become aware of Psalm 119 looming before me. It is a mountain of a psalm, and yet it is also a Grand Canyon of a psalm – it has both incredible height and incredible depth.

Since Psalm 119 was written as one psalm, I believe that it ought to be read at one sitting in order to experience its fulness. Yes, we can also read sections of it and meditate on those sections. I recall that once I read the same section every day for a week, and then moved onto another section for a week, and so on and so forth – it took me 22 weeks to read through the psalm this way, but it is an approach I wanted to take; of course I also kept reviewing the entire psalm so I could maintain a sense of perspective and interrelatedness.

As the Grand Canyon, Psalm 119 takes my breath away when I approach it, look over the rim, and then begin to explore its intricacies. If you’ve been to the Grand Canyon you know that just one overlook offers perspectives enough for a day. As I read and ponder Psalm 119 at one sitting I see the glory of God’s Word bursting forth in wave after wave of light and glory – and I see God revealing Himself to us through these waves and drawing us into communion with Him as we journey on our pilgrimage.

Perhaps it is not an accident that Psalm 119 precedes the Psalms of Ascents in that Psalm 119 portrays the author as a pilgrim on this earth:

“Your statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage” (119:54)

“I am a stranger in the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me” (119:19).

To travel from my home in Virginia to the Grand Canyon requires a commitment, but the reward is well worth it. To make a commitment to journey to, down into, and through Psalm 119 also requires a commitment – the reward is far greater than what the Grand Canyon offers – (though of course they have the same Author and they do compliment each other!) – and that is saying something.

Perhaps once you’ve journeyed through the Psalms of Ascent you might consider a trip to Psalm 119?

A Favorite Place in Psalms – The Ascents

I love meditating in the Psalms! They are the first thing I read in the morning; it is like opening the window shade in the morning and being engulfed in brilliant sunrise.

While I have followed various reading patterns in my life, my current pattern begins each day with a psalm, which is then followed with other Bible readings and readings from other Christians. Of course, these are more than readings, they are ponderings, meditations, seasons of communion with our Father, our Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit – in the communion of the saints (Hebrews 12:18 – 24).

On February 29 I started the Psalms of Ascent, Psalms 120 – 134, this morning was Psalm 125 (today being March 5). While there are different perspectives as to how these psalms were first used as a group, and as to how they may have been used subsequent to their original usage, I don’t think there is much dispute that the theme of this collection is “upward and onward” – whether it is upward to Jerusalem from Babylon, from Egypt; or upward while ascending steps in the Temple; or upward while traveling from towns in Israel and Judah to appear before Yahweh in Jerusalem for the three Great Feasts every year.

The fact that much as been written and preached on these psalms speaks to their unity and diversity, for there seem to be countless ways to view their interrelatedness as they are woven together and as they build on one another. I often read them in one sitting, and more often I scan them all as I focus on one of them. As you will note, most of them are rather brief, and yet while they may not be wide, they are deep, very deep – I have yet to see the bottom of this ocean trench.

How do these psalms speak to you? How does Christ reveal Himself to you through them? What patterns do you see? How is the Holy Spirit revealing your heart to you in these psalms?

Why not take four weeks and spend daily time in Psalms 120 – 134? These are psalms of pilgrimage, what will your pilgrimage be like for this four-week journey? The only way to know is to take the trip!

Musings in Samuel (6)

“When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has Yahweh defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.” 1 Samuel 4:3.

Israel treated the Ark as a good luck charm, a kind of religious magic. It mattered not to them that the Ark of the Covenant spoke of God’s desire to have communion with man, or that within the Ark were the Ten Commandments, the manna, and the rod of Aaron, with all that those holy items communicated. Israel did not care about the Mercy Seat or the sacrificial blood sprinkled on it, or the cherubim guarding the holiness of the True and Living God. Israel thought that by just bringing the Ark with them into battle that God would fight for them against the Philistines

Not only did the Philistines defeat Israel, they captured the Ark. So much for a lucky charm.

Note the amazing self-deceit of the Israelites, “As the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded” (1 Sam. 4:5). Much noise does not mean that God is present. A consensus of deceit does not turn false thinking and practice into the truth. The priests Hophni and Phinehas were with the Ark, but that did not mean that what they were doing was right. Phinehas and Hophni were leading sinful lives, they were desecrating the priesthood, the Tabernacle, the sacred worship of Yahweh – much as many pastors and priests are doing today. The Ark would be captured and Hophni and Phinehas would be killed in the battle.

Perhaps the Bible is our lucky religious charm today. We think that if we say that we and our churches “believe the Bible” that we need do no more. We need not read the Bible. We need not really know the Bible. We need not obey the Bible. Our sermons need not be from the Bible. Our Sunday school and small group curriculum need not submit to the Bible. We need not bring our Bibles when we gather. We need not preach the Christ of the Bible and belong to Him and to Him alone.

Our priests and pastors need not study at schools that function under the authority of the Bible, our leaders need not really believe the Bible and live under its authority.

We may have Bibles in our pews, on our bookshelves, on our tables – as comforting religious charms. What is within the Bible is not important, not really – surely simply possessing a Bible is enough.

What do you think?

How do we compare with Israel and its attitude toward the Ark of the Covenant?