The Doctrines of Grace and the Regular Guy – pt 3 – Sola Scriptura (again)

Once again, I am a regular guy, and in addition to a healthy dose of procrastination, apparently regular guys go through stressful job situations, change jobs, clean off their computers at their old jobs only to realize that they saved their blog posts in an incompatible format so they have to hunt down friends to open the posts, save them to a compatible format and e-mail them back so that they can continue their posts after a month-long delay. What? This hasn’t happened to you? Okay, maybe that one is only me. Nonetheless (and gory details aside), today we continue the series of posts on the doctrines of grace as we seek to answer the question, “Why should the doctrines of grace make a difference to me?” Or, put another way, “What difference does it make if I believe in the doctrines of grace?”

Before we get into the promised discussion on depravity, it occurs to me that I did not completely answer that “so what” question with regard to the sufficiency of Scripture in the last post. Again, for the sake of clarity, the question would be, “What difference does a belief in the doctrines of grace make in regard to the sufficiency of Scripture?” So allow me a few paragraphs to speak to the impact that this had on my approach to Scripture.

The first affect was that it forced me to confront the fact that I did not have as high of a view of Scripture as I thought. This was a bit of a shock to me because I always considered myself to have a very high view of Scripture and doctrine in general. However, what I began to realize over time and through the influence of a few people was that when I was confronted with a passage of Scripture that was a little bit difficult, my natural reaction was to dismiss the passage and look for something a little more practical. For example, Ephesians 1:3-14 is a wonderful passage of Scripture that describes in great detail the transaction of grace that has taken place according to God’s wonderful and sovereign plan. But most of the time that I came across passages like this, I quickly set them aside so that I could get to something more “useful” for me, like Ephesians 5:22-32 (“Wives submit to your husbands…”). I can’t say that this was a conscious choice of mine, but it was certainly a practical reality. I had no patience to discover exactly what was being said in the former passage (even though it is rich with meaning), but I had great hunger to know how the latter could be used in my life and marriage. The affect was that I became like a sieve with very large holes in it. I would retain some of Scripture, but I would allow much of it to pass through, unencumbered by my thought and consideration. I believed in and cherished the authority and sufficiency of Scripture in the passages that I liked, but I dismissed the passages that held little interest to me. What I wound up with was the “Webster Authorized Version” that consisted of a few pet Scriptures, and some interesting historical passages.

Second, and most importantly, it caused me to understand Scripture (even familiar Scripture) in a different way. I want to be careful in how I say that because I do not want to be misunderstood as being a proponent of some new and mystical revelation. Far from it. What I am saying is that when I read Scripture now, I read it through the lens of God’s gracious choice, and not through the lens of my human effort or merit. For example, I used to be troubled by the behavior of God’s people in the Old Testament. Solomon’s wives and concubines, David’s adultery and rage, Jacob’s deceit and favoritism, Samson’s pride, Abraham’s lying about Sarah, and so on. If these people had chosen to follow God, how come they couldn't get it together more than that? Surely God's commands were clear. Surely they knew that their behavior strayed from His commands. Certainly they had enough common sense to know that their actions came with terrible consequences (with the possible exception of Samson--he might really have been that dim). The conclusion that I came to when I read these accounts through the lens of human merit and effort was that either they cleaned their lives up eventually or that God somehow turned a blind eye to those sins. Because really, those are some pretty bad sins—I mean, ugly, heinous stuff! Giving your wife away to some other dude just to save your own hide? Taking some other guys’ wife and having him killed even though he is selflessly committed to you? Sleeping with 1,500 women? Lying to your own dad and brother and expecting God to bless it? I mean really, it sounds like a “Best of Jerry Springer” marathon. What I failed to realize though, when I read these accounts through the spectrum of human merit, was that my sin was equally heinous to God. Jesus says so in Matthew 5. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” How many times have I done that? Once? Five times? Five thousand times? The point is that I had minimized God’s grace by believing that I had somehow earned it by my choice of Him, when the truth is that I was no more worthy of grace than His people in the Old Testament were. And my sin, even after having received His grace, was no less heinous to Him than theirs. And yet His matchless grace has convicted, covered, forgiven, and overcome my sin. Not because I have chosen Him, but because He has chosen me. We will explore this further in the next post.

Third, reading Scripture is no longer a chore. I used to read Scripture so that I could say that I had done it. You know the drill—5 Psalms, 1 Proverb every day; seven chapters in the Old Testament; three in the New; through the Bible in a year. Whatever the program was it was exactly that—a program. Not that reading the Bible that way is totally fruitless, because there were many times when the Lord spoke clearly to my heart through His Word. However, often times I would walk away from what I had just read and have no recollection of it whatsoever. The greatest benefit that I gained was being able to say that I did it—a level of self-righteousness that I am ashamed to admit. Now, it is much different. Don’t get me wrong, it still takes self-discipline and focus to set aside time to read Scripture, and I still have times when I skip Scripture reading to do other things like watch TV or sleep in. There are gaps in my journal entries just like everyone else’s. But now, reading Scripture is rich with meaning to me. It is not something that has to be done during the day, like getting the oil changed or going to work. And I don’t have a goal for getting a certain amount done during the day, week, or year. I just want to read with my mind fully engaged and my heart open to hear. When I do that (although very imperfectly) I am continually amazed at how clearly God speaks through His word.

Fourth, trials become much more significant in the plan of God. Now I notice that God not only ordains victory for us according to His word, He also ordains suffering and affliction according to His word. Jesus’ statement in John 16:33 that He has overcome the world is no more important than His statement in the same verse that we will have tribulation in this world. And both statements are to be attributed to His sovereignty. I used to think that only the part where Jesus has overcome the world should be attributed to His sovereignty, and the part where we have trouble is the devil’s fault. But the truth is that all things happen under God’s sovereign care and control. This is not to minimize the work of a cunning and malicious enemy of our souls, but even Job’s trials, though inflicted by Satan, came under God’s watchful eye, and were used to draw Job closer to Him. When we read Scripture carefully, we see God’s kind intention, even in our trials and difficulties (see II Corinthians 4:7-18).

Well, I’m sure that there are other things that can be said about the doctrines of grace and the sufficiency of Scripture in the life of the regular guy. But right now this regular guy’s son wants to use his computer to get on to cartoonnetwork.com. Next post, we will explore my total depravity. I can't wait!

Soli Deo Gloria!

The Doctrines of Grace and The Regular Guy - pt 2 - Sola Scriptura

Well, I am a regular guy. And apparently I failed to mention in my last post that regular guys procrastinate. It has been more than a week since I posted part one of this series, and I apologize that it has taken me this long get to part two. I will try to do better with the rest, but I make no guarantees. After all, training camp has begun in the NFL and the preseason college football poll is out, so there are many things that can distract a regular guy like me. All right, enough with the excuses and on to the topic at hand.

One of the most important discoveries for my spiritual growth over the last couple of years has been what is sometimes known as the doctrines of grace. In this series of posts I will explore these doctrines from the perspective of a regular guy and seek to answer the question, "Why should the doctrines of grace make a difference to me?" As we tiptoe into this topic it seems that some background is in order. It occurs to me that before you can answer the question, "Why should the doctrines of grace make a difference to me?", you may need to answer the question, "What in the world are the doctrines of grace?" A very helpful and succinct explanation can be found on Gregg Harris' website. To say it even more succinctly, though, the central idea (not the first in order, nor the only, but the central one) is that God actively predestines us for salvation in eternity past, not based on any works that we have done, either good or bad (see Romans 9:10-13).

I must confess that it was not that long ago that I completely disagreed with that sentence. Indeed, you may have just read that sentence and thought, "I had no idea that he was talking about predestination when he referred to 'the doctrines of grace'. I've heard about predestination, and I believe in grace, but certainly don't see how the two could be linked together and lumped under one umbrella of doctrine. In fact, predestination sounds like just the opposite of grace, if you ask me." You may be tempted at this point to discontinue reading and go surf a different wave on the wonderful World Wide Web. I would like to encourage you to endure my ramblings through to the end of this series of posts. You may ultimately disagree with the doctrines of grace, but what I would like to explain here is why they matter. And I want to do it from the viewpoint of one that formerly did not believe in the doctrines of grace as they will be subsequently laid out.

You see, it didn't make sense to me that God could choose whom He would save before they ever lived. I believed in an all-loving God that was able to save anyone that "believes in him" (John 3:16) and "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord" (Acts 2:21). But as far "predestination" goes, the best that I could come up with was that God saw in advance everything that was going to happen, including which people would accept Christ and which ones would reject Him, and that constituted "predestination". I was very comfortable with that explanation for a very long time. It fit very well in my life and fellowship circles. In fact, when given the opportunity, I taught it that way and even counseled others from that perspective. I was not seeking another explanation at all, nor did I see a reason to. But I had a problem. And that brings us to our topic today.

My problem was that although I did not believe the doctrines of grace (more specifically, I did not believe in predestination), I did believe, or at least I thought I believed, in the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. I believed that Scripture was the all-sufficient rule for faith and practice. This is the doctrine that the reformers called "Sola Scriptura", which is Latin for "Only Scripture". Now I must pause at this point and interject an observation. Many, many people believe that they believe in the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. However, some of them have come to very different conclusions with regard to what Scripture says. They leave out significant portions on foundational ideas, such as sin and wrath and holiness and other essentials, and they are left with a Bible that says what they want it to say. Nonetheless, they proclaim Scripture to be their only foundation, and they do so with zeal. "Our church preaches the Bible!" is the statement of the leadership and the faithful followers. In that sense, a statement by a church or a pastor or a Christian that they believe in the Bible can be a very misleading one. Certainly, most of us realize that you can go into four different churches on any given weekend, in any given city, and though all of them may proclaim that they believe in the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, it is likely that they will have come to four very different conclusions on some significant matters.

Please do not misunderstand me--I am not here to say that others are all wrong, and that I am all right. I only point that out to say that there was a time in my life that my belief in the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, along with my study of Scripture, ran in opposition to other things that I actually believed. In other words, I said that I believed in the Bible, but there were many times that I would read it and think, "That says something very different than what I believe." In fact, at one point I was surprised to find out that the word "predestined" was actually in Scripture. For a long time I thought that it was just something that someone made up out of their head. But there it was in black and white; nestled right up against one of my favorite verses, Romans 8:28 (it is in other places as well). We all know that verse well and love to quote it (with good reason I might add). "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (NASB) I love that verse, and I am not alone. Many people love that verse and have no idea what the next verses say. Allow me to quote, "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified." (Romans 8:29-30, NASB)

I have to say that this was more than a little annoying to discover. This meant that predestination was not just an idea that came out of some guy's head—it was something that was in the pages of Scripture. And if it was in the pages of Scripture that meant that I had a choice to make. One possibility was that I could ignore it and pretend like it wasn't there. Certainly there are many other things in Scripture that could keep my attention, and at the same time provide some more practical preaching and teaching points. Sort of the "10 steps to a better you" approach to Scripture. I tried that and it worked for a while. The only problem is that God's sovereign choice in election is not a minor point in Scripture. It seemed like the more I tried to ignore it, the more that I found it. John 6, John 10, Romans 9-11, Old Testament, New Testament. And it was popping up in some of my favorite Scriptures: Romans 8:28-39, I Peter 2:9-10, Proverbs, Psalms, and other places. I studied the life and conversion of Paul in Acts, and that lead me to some questions that could not be answered the way that I wanted them to be answered. On and on it goes. The point is that even though I tried to ignore it, the frequent instances in Scripture were too prevalent for me continue to sidestep.

Another possibility was that I could try to explain it away. This really didn't work. You see, one of the things that I believed about the sufficiency of Scripture is that Scripture is the final authority on Scripture. Therefore, the more I looked into Scripture for an explanation that would support my beliefs, the more that I saw that my beliefs were not supported. Every time I honestly looked into Scripture to explain itself I did not like the explanation. Once again, that is very annoying and humbling at the same time.

The final option was to submit to the authority and sufficiency of Scripture and allow Scripture to have the final say. Don't try to ignore it; don't try to explain it. Study it, embrace it, and let it change me. I must confess that this option was not preferred, but ultimately it was the only option that was left.

The bottom line was that I did not want to believe in the doctrines of grace because I did not want to believe that God was like that. The question that I could not resolve, however, was, if God is like that, and if He chose to clearly and repeatedly reveal this about Himself in Scripture, isn't it incumbent upon me to understand that? One of the conclusions that I reached in all of this is that I was trying to make Scripture say what I wanted it to say, and only what I wanted it to say. Unfortunately, that meant that I was allowing large portions of God's Word to fall silent in my heart. My prayer now is that I will always allow God's Word to have the authority in my heart.

The only problem with that is that I am a natural born habitual sinner…but I'll save that for next time.

Soli Deo Gloria!

PS - For an excellent post on the sufficiency of Scripture check out my friend Randy's blog.

The Doctrines of Grace and The Regular Guy - pt 1 - Introduction

I am a regular guy. And I mean that in every sense. I like football (go Steelers!), ultimate fighting, and red meat. I have an inordinate obsession with the remote control that is commensurate with others that tote the Y chromosome. (By way of full disclosure, I should say that it may be a little bit more out of balance in me than some. You see, I don't just like the remote control; as soon as I get a new remote control in my hand, whether it is mine or someone else's, I must immediately acclimate my fingers to it so that I can operate it by touch. I know, that's weird, but what can I do? I love the remote.) I don't like Bed and Breakfasts (more can be said on that, but I'll leave it alone). I do like watching TV with my wife, but (and don't tell her this) most of the time I'd rather watch a sit-com than HGTV or TLC. I'm bald, but I really don't mind, because when I consider the energy that women have to expend just to do their hair in the morning--no thank you!

And that's just the "guy" part of the "regular guy" statement. As far as regular goes, they don't get much more non-descript. Some might even say that I have the typical "baby of the family" syndrome. My brother was noteworthy in almost everything he did. He was an excellent swimmer, Homecoming King in high school, voted best looking in his class, and even now as he nears the twighlight of his 30's, he has achieved All-American status in the amateur triathlon rankings. Me? I finished first in my age-group at the Western Days 5K and Fun Run two years ago! Impressed? Don't be--I also finished last in my age-group. Nobody else in my age-group entered (It was still pretty cool to get the medal at the awards ceremony). Don't get me wrong. This isn't a pitty party. I like being a regular guy. I have long since come to terms with the fact that I'm pretty average. I know that I won't be an All-American triathlete, or write the Great American novel, or break a 3-hour marathon. I'm comfortable with the fact that I'll have to live to be 112 to shoot my age in golf, and pretty confident that by then I won't care. In truth, I don't really care right now--I mean seriously, who shoots 112 and stays awake at night worrying about it?! Not me. I've got other things to worry about, like how to operate the satellite remote and the surround sound remote with just one hand. Let's face it. I'm a regular guy, and I'm comfortable with it.

It's with that in mind that I begin a series of posts on the Doctines of Grace. Because I am a regular guy and not a theologian, the question on the table will not be, "Are the doctrines of grace true and scripturally supported?" If you are interested in that question I will refer you to smarter people than myself, like Sam Storms and John Piper. But if you are anything like me, your objections to the doctrines of grace most likely center around two thoughts. 1) "I don't want to believe the docrines of grace because I don't want to believe that God is like that (specifically with regard to predestination)" or 2) "I don't want to believe in the doctrines of grace because I don't see what difference it makes. After all, once I am saved, what difference does it make if God predestined me for salvation, or if I exercised free will to choose Him?" It is on this second objection that I will focus in the coming days as we explore the doctrines of grace from the perspective of the regular guy.

Starting next time.

Soli Deo Gloria!

The Necessity of Grace in Illumination and Strength

Today I am going to post one more entry on Psalm 119 before beginning the series, "The Doctrines of Grace and the Regular Guy" next week. Remarkably, though, this post and the series next week are not unrelated.

Before I get ahead of myself, let's get to the passage and some background. The passage for today is Psalm 119:25-32, the section titled "Daleth" in our accrostic poem. What I would like to point to from this passage again is the insufficiency of human effort and the absolute necessity and incomparable beauty of God's grace. It is a wonderful picture of a kind, merciful, and loving God that we find here in the Old Testament hymnal, and it should inspire gratitude in the heart of every New Testament Christian. Let's begin:

Verse 25 begins with a dramatic statement, "My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!" What a beautiful picture of salvation! But let's explore this a bit further by asking a couple of questions.

First of all, what does the Psalmist mean when he says, "My soul clings to the dust"? After all, most of the time when there is a complaint in the Psalms, or an agony of soul expressed, I can really relate to it. For instance, in the last post we noted the question from Psalm 73, "Why do the wicked prosper?" Surely we can all relate to that question. Or what about the cry of the David in Psalm 25:17-18, "The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins."? I must admit that I have read that many times and not thought of David at all, for the prayer seemed to come directly from my own heart. And how many times have I made David's prayer my own in Psalm 51:3, "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me."? But here in Psalm 119, we have a strange lament--"My soul clings to the dust". I can't relate to that. I don't even like dust, much less like it enough to cling to it. In fact, I'm allergic to dust--makes me sneeze my fool head off. Now that I think about it, I don't know anyone that likes dust. And I've known some really messy people before. But dust?! Surely nobody likes dust enough to say that their soul clings to it like a spouse to their beloved or a mother to their child. You can see why the less literal translations soften the metaphor. Like the NIV, "I lie in the dust" (yuck, nobody likes that), or The (subliminal) Message which chucks the imagery all together in favor of, "I'm feeling terrible—I couldn't feel worse!" Who couldn't relate to that?

But isn't there something that the Psalmist is trying to say by choosing this imagery? And don't we lose that when we depart from the literal? Let's answer the first question here, and I'll let you draw your own conclusions on the second. So, what is he trying to say? I believe that the dust is a metaphor of the lifeless existence apart from God. In a word, death. Consider Genesis 2:7, "then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." In this case the Psalmist would in effect be saying, "I am a dead man in my sin, and my soul loves it. It clings to it. Please deliver me from this death and give me life according to your word." Would this be consistent with other salvation statements that are made in Scripture? Certainly Ephesians 2 springs to mind. "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins...But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ." (2:1, 4-5a). (Notice that it does not say, "And you were feeling really terrible in your sins.") Now, does the picture of salvation become more stark, and more amazing? Because of the work of Christ on the cross, we are no longer dead, but alive in Christ! R.C. Sproul says it better:

"Man...is stone cold dead at the bottom of the ocean. That’s where you once were when you were dead in sin and trespasses and walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. And while you were dead hath God quickened you together with Christ. God dove to the bottom of the sea and took that drowned corpse and breathed into it the breath of his life and raised you from the dead. And it’s not that you were dying in a hospital bed of a certain illness, but rather, when you were born you were born D.O.A. That’s what the Bible says: that we are morally stillborn." (in The Pelagian Captivity of the Church)

Here is the truth that I believe that the Psalmist is trying to convey: we have a powerful bent towards sin. Our soul is drawn to it like a magnet. As illogical as it may seem, we love to sin, even when it means choosing death ("dust") over life. Consider what Paul says in Romans 7:18-19, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." That is how powerfully we are drawn to sin.

So what is the solution to this? Paul says it in Romans 7:24-25, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" But amazingly, we find the solution in the Psalms, too! In verse 26 the Psalmis says, "When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!" In his commentary on Psalm 119, Augustine says, "For he seems to me to say this; I have confessed my sins, and You have heard me; that is, so that You would remit them. 'O teach me Your statutes.' I have acknowledged my ways: You have blotted them out: teach me Yours." In other words, God not only saves us, but He changes us too. What a wonderful hope we have in the gospel. When we are dead in our sins and loving it, God brings life to us through Christ! And then he teaches us how to live!

Following this is a series of strong statements of the inability of man in comparison to the ability of God. "Make me understand the way of your precepts." "Strengthen me according to your word!" "Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!" This is more than a statement of weakness; it is a cry of dependence. Now, with God's intervening grace, the Psalmist is able to change his statement from "My soul clings to the dust" to "I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame!" (v. 31)

Cast yourself on the Lord and see the wonder of His benefits. According to this Psalm, some of them are: life, God's gracious answer, the gift of meditation and understanding, strength and purity. And that is Good News!

Soli Deo Gloria!

God's Great Word

A short week of posting this week because we have some family visiting from out of town. Next week I am going to begin a series called, "The Doctrines of Grace and The Regular Guy", but for now I am going to give just a few more thoughts on the Psalms. Psalm 119 is the subject for today, and what a glorious one it is. Most know it as the longest chapter in the Bible (coincidentally, my last post was on the shortest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 117). Most also know that it is mainly about the Word of God. It is also fairly common knowledge that this Psalm is an acrostic poem that follows the Hebrew alphabet. Within each section or stanza, each verse begins with the same Hebrew letter. Because I am already prone to long postings, I will not comment on the entire length of the passage, just the second portion, "Beth" (the Hebrew letter, not the female nickname for "Elizabeth").

The passage begins with a familiar question, "How can a young man keep his way pure?" This question may be familiar to you because you have heard it from this passage before. But it also may be familiar to you because it is a question that you have asked yourself in your own spiritual walk. This type of honest and relevant questioning is one of the things that I appreciate most about Scripture. Scripture is chock-full of questions that all of us ask ourselves at some point or another. At our church we just heard an excellent sermon on Psalm 73, which asks, "Why do the wicked prosper?" What Christian hasn't struggled with this question? Indeed the Bible doesn't even shy away from the most difficult of questions. In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul asks 85 questions, many of them about some of the most challenging theological issues that all Christians face. In the marvelous providence of God, He has included these questions in Scripture so that we know where to turn when we are exasperated by them. I point this out here because I think that it is a natural temptation to read a question like, "How can a young man keep his way pure?", and see the answer that immediately follows ("By guarding it according to your word"), and imagine the author to be a young man that has always kept his way pure. I think that is a mistake. I don't think that we should imagine a young man that has always kept his way pure, but a young man like us (37 is still young, isn't it?) that has repeatedly struggled with this question in the face of temptation. It is possibly a young man that has exerted much effort in the pursuit of purity (see v. 10), yet has also experienced the sinful cravings of a wandering heart. In exasperation he wonders, "How can a young man keep his way pure?!?" (italics and extra punctuation mine). And in sweet inspiration the Holy Spirit brings the answer, "By guarding it according to your word." It is an "a-ha" moment brought about by struggle and grace. So powerful is the word that it can even overcome the sin-chained heart with grace.

The next verse also shows the tension in that struggle. "With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!" This is almost a variation of Augustine's famous prayer, "Command what thou wilt, and grant what thou commandest", that became so offensive to Pelagius. Though it is not entirely the same, it does show the insufficiency of human effort. The Psalmist is essentially saying, "I am trying my hardest, but even that isn't enough. Don't let my sinful heart stray!" Isn't that the way it is? We can white-knuckle our way through our Christian walk with great effort and determination only to find our sinful hearts leading us consistently astray. It is not enough to only seek God with all of our effort; we must thrust ourselves upon His grace to carry us.

Lastly, I would point out the wonderful ways that we can appropriate Scripture in our lives, and the importance of it.

• Desiring to know God's word - "I have stored up your word in my heart" (v. 11)
• Humbly seeking to learn it - "teach me your statutes!" (v. 12)
• Boldly proclaming God's word - "With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth." (v. 13)
• Delighting in the Word - "In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches." (v. 14) "I will delight in your statutes;" (v. 16)
• Meditating on it - "I will meditate on your precepts..." (v. 15)
• Focusing on it - "...and fix my eyes on your ways." (v. 15)
• Remembering the Word - "I will not forget your word." (v. 16)

Remember, Scripture is Sufficient for all of your life. Appropriate it! That's all for now.

Soli Deo Gloria

God's steadfast love and faithfulness

I read Psalm 117 this week as a part of my journey through the Psalms. In comparison to some of the Psalms it is tiny. A mere pair of verses completes it, but it is packed with good stuff. It would serve us well in observing this congregational hymnal to note that even the "lighter" Psalms are still intensely God-focused and packed with strong truths. So here it is:

"1 Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! 2 For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!"

Here are my thoughts...

- God's steadfast love and faithfulness

• In a post on Psalm 115, I alluded to the prominence of God's steadfast love. Interestingly enough, I found a full text of Augustine's Expositions on the Psalms, and he makes a similar statement in his commentary on Psalm 115, "Observe how often these two qualities, loving mercy and truth, are joined together in the holy Scriptures." Poor Augustine. He didn't have fancy online Bibles where he could simply type in a search, and in mere moments know exactly "how often" something like this occurred. Here are the real numbers. The ESV contains the phrase "steadfast love" 196 times in the Old Testament. 126 of those occurrences are in the Psalms.
• But before the accountant in me obliterates the power and warmth of this truth with statistics, let's go back to the phrase. "Steadfast love." Amazing--I can't even type it without being captivated by it. There are many powerful phrases in the Bible, but I am hard-pressed to think of two words together that are more powerful than these two. "Steadfast". Think of the word. What image does it conjure? An anchor? Maybe, except an anchor sways in the water and drags along the soft ocean floor. This is not like God at all. More like a solid iron post--12 feet in diameter and 100 feet tall, planted in concrete a mile wide and 50 feet deep. Strong enough to absorb a head-on hit from a semi-truck and not be shaken. Multiply that times a billion and you are coming close to the idea of "steadfast" when it is used about God. Now pair that with the second word. "Love". No word is so over-used in the English language, and yet no word is so often misapplied and misunderstood. This is not the same as loving ice cream (although I am very affectionately attached to it) or even loving a spouse or a child (I am also affectionately attached to them). This is the benevolent affection of God, who invented love, toward his creatures. This is not a desire or an emotional attachment, it is an intention by the Creator towards His creatures. And it is kind and affectionate.
• Now put the two words together--"steadfast" and "love". Steadfast love. This is God's revelation of Himself to me in Scripture. Steadfast love. Unchanging, unwavering, constant, kind affection toward me. And He reveals himself in this way 126 times in the Psalms. And verse 2 says that His steadfast love is "great". Indeed it is.

Praise the Lord!

Soli Deo Gloria!

"Simple" Thoughts

After one day back on the blog, I have remembered some things from blogging before. The first is that I have a tendency to post long blogs. That's an understatement. It is rumored that some Senators are considering reading from my blog in their next philabuster. The second is that posting long blogs discourages me from posting on a regular basis. So, I am making conscious effort to walk before I run here. When I don't have time or energy to post a lengthy discourse, I am going to try to pare down my thoughts and make a "simpler" contribution.

Along those lines, Psalm 116 was very helpful this morning. A couple of quick thoughts... Psalm 116:5-9 (ESV), "5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. 6 The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. 7 Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living."

My thoughts (in order of how they struck me, not in order of importance, or in textual order)

1) The Lord preserves the simple - v. 6

• I don't know about you, but that speaks to me. Because most of the time I feel like the mayor of the Simpletons when it comes to actually having some meaningful insight into life. Thank God that brilliance is not a requirement for salvation!
  
• The gospel is so powerfully presented here too. "When I was brought low, he saved me." Do not despise the low places because they cause us to lean on the Savior.

2) Return, O my soul, to your rest - v. 7

• What wonderful comfort there is, not in my strength, but in the Lord's unchanging ability to preserve the simple. It appears that we are to rest in this knowledge.

3) The Lord has dealt bountifully with you - v. 7

• It is quite honestly a temptation for me to think that the Lord is dealing sparsely with me--holding my by the thinnest of threads until I "get it". Teaching me one hard lessen after another in His school of hard knocks. But if I step back for just a moment, I realize that even in the most challenging of times the Lord has dealt bountifully with me. In fact, it is His lavish kindness that upholds me day by day. Considering the fact that I deserve Hell, not in the future, but right now, anything else is a remarkable display of the kindness of the Lord. On top of that, when I consider that he uses each of those circumstances to draw me to Him for His glory and my good--that is even a greater display of His bountiful kindness.

That's all for now. Thank God for His kindness.

Soli Deo Gloria