A Thanksgiving Psalm

Psalm 103
Of David

Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

Praise the Lord, you angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
Praise the Lord, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Thanks for visiting. I wish you all an excellent Thanksgiving!

A Sobering Awareness

Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
1 John 2:6

My days in junior high were the most unhappy in my whole life.

It was a time of great malaise for me, this I was certain of -and I was very right about that. I blamed my circumstances, my school, my family, and some of the things I am now the most thankful for. Occasionally I suspected my own attitude had something to do with it, but I sent the suspicion away -calling myself the victim.

We studied the Bible in school. I considered myself to be a Christian, but I questioned whether or not I was actually living in the way God had commanded me to live.

The Bible readings were required, and not a matter of personal choice. It would have been easy to let the passages go in one ear and out the other, but I was full of questions. I didn't really want to know what happened to Noah's ark, or who the Nephilum were (although these were the questions I asked out loud).

The real questions I had about the Bible were really questions I had about myself.

With every command I read from God, I wondered to myself, 'Is this something I am doing? If I stood before God, if my appearances were as nothing as they are before Him, would He say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant'?'

One day the teacher introduced three verses we would be memorizing from 1 John. I had never seen these verses before. I remember the exact way that he wrote them on the green chalk board thirteen years ago:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2:15-17

I wondered how I could memorize a verse which seemed impossible to even read. Do not love anything in the world?

Really?

There were a LOT of things in the world I loved.

I loved cartoons. I loved the cheap pizza my mom would buy for my sister and I at Costco. I loved going to the movies. I loved pop culture. More than all of it, I loved video games.

And could it be that here in this very place, John was telling in the full authority of the Bible not to love these things? If I did love them, would the love of the Father not be in me?

It sounded like I would go to hell, except that it was worded in the present tense. 'The love of the Father is not in him.'

I didn't care that the Bible did not forbid these things. I could stop doing them. I could stop watching my favorite shows. I could stop eating cheap pizza. I could (maybe) stop playing video games. But how could I stop LOVING them?

The second verse in the passage -the one about the cravings and the lust of the flesh and boasting about what a person has and does- that sounded just like me, just like my style.

It was like I was singled out and laid bare.

After digesting this verse for some time, I gave this messy region of my heart over to God (at about the time I was baptized).

These days I don't struggle with loving video games. There are moments where I get to do fun things and sometimes I struggle with loving those moments.

Then I teeter-totter about it and say to myself, 'Well, I don't love those things that much.'

And then I think back and I remember the chalk board on that day. I remember the verse that God commissioned John to write to me ... to give me a warning.

I remember how serious that moment was. How terrified I was at the choice I had to make and how seriously God takes my actions.

Father, keep my heart from the idolatry of the world. Spare me from loving the things here. Guide me into the fullness of your ways. As you prepare a place for me, prepare also that place for you in me.

Amen.

In The World

"I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world."
John 17:15

It is a sweet and blessed event which will occur to all believers in God's own time -the going home to be with Jesus. In a few more years the Lord's soldiers, who are now fighting "the good fight of faith," will have done with conflict, and have entered into the joy of their Lord. But although Christ prays that His people may eventually be with Him where He is, He does not ask that they may be taken at once away from this world to heaven. He wishes them to stay here. Yet how frequently does the wearied pilgrim put up the prayer, "O that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest;" but Christ does not pray like that, He leaves us in His Father's hands, until, like shocks of corn fully ripe, we shall each be gathered into our Master's garner. Jesus does not plead for our instant removal by death, for to abide in the flesh is needful for others if not profitable for ourselves. He asks that we may be kept from evil, but he never asks for us to be admitted to the inheritance in glory till we are of full age.

Christians often want to die when they have any trouble. Ask them why, and they tell you, "Because we would be with the Lord." We fear it is not so much because they are longing to be with the Lord, as because they desire to get rid of their troubles; else they would feel the same wish to die at other times when not under the pressure of trial. They want to go home, not so much for the Saviour's company, as to be at rest. Now it is quite right to desire to depart if we can do it in the same spirit that Paul did, because to be with Christ is far better, but the wish to escape from trouble is a selfish one. Rather let your care and wish be to glorify God by your life here as long as He pleases, even though it be in the midst of toil, and conflict, and suffering, and leave Him to say when "it is enough".

Spurgeon, Morning and Evening Devotions May 2nd (Morning)

Satan often tempts people to chase after their ideals restlessly. Those who listen to Satan are deceived (and indeed deceive themselves) into thinking there is some terrible aspect of their lives -if they just had something else, or if they could just be free of their lives- then all would be well. The most restless pursuit of anything is suicide.

Yet, to be with God in the next life is certainly something to long for. The martyrs of the faith have met their end hoping to be with God, and this is lovely and becoming of faith. The difference is that those who have faith are not trying to escape from anything. If a man truly possesses faith he will not restlessly wish to be somewhere else or someone else because he is at rest knowing it is fine and acceptable to leave his lot as God sees fit.

When Christ imparts life to those who call on him, he does not just give them an eternal life that begins after they die. The life Christ gives begins as soon as a man or a woman receives it. The life that comes from Christ is not a matter of resisting or finding death ... it is a matter of finding Christ. Those who know him in life will also know him in death.

The Deep Things

Everyone with a broad understanding of life fails to understand life and its depth.

In the physical world, the jack of all trades is often in the master of none. The people who travel to the most countries usually fail to understand what it means to live there, much less their own home. The more a man learns to understand women in general (whether he is a playwright or a philosopher) the less he understands any particular women, much less love.

Of course, in the physical world there are exceptions.

A historian may have a detailed knowledge of all the US presidents, but if you found him alone and asked him about Cooledge you might be surprised to learn he is very intimate with the life of Cooledge. And we may hear of a man with many friends who genuinely seems to care about each one of them personally.

The spiritual world is different.

In the spiritual world a person either understands deeply or he does not understand at all. In spirit the narrow path leads only to life -and nowhere else. In spirit the broad road leads only to destruction -and no where else. Either a man is devoted to a singular master, or his devotion is disbursed among a multitude -which is another way of saying he has no devotion.

We are required to have faith, for it is what the righteous live by. The pagans have a certain kind of faith, yes, or at least on some occasions. When the flight is smooth they (may) believe they will arrive safely and on time. When the conversation is pleasant they (may) believe they have a good friendship. This common faith, this broad faith, is not the saving faith we are called to.

A common faith, a faith that is commonly held among men, is also a faith in many things ... in common things. Most people have faith in the fire department to put out fires, the rain to waters crops, and the effectiveness of many people working together. At the same time, no one is totally certain about any one of these things and in a very true sense the common faithful have no faith.

The understanding of the world (of the broad majority) is itself broad and of a majority of cases, in other words a probability. Most car travel does not end in death or even in an accident, and this is the assurance (which is not a complete assurance) that the world takes up as consolation in its fears. They try to extend this knowledge over many things, and, if they can, over everything. This is why it is so common to hear people package their decisions with "all things considered" and "when you take it all into account...". Their appeal is so extensive it is totally impossible for any human being to wrap their mind around it.

This is the world the writers of the Bible responded against. In the haste of trying to swallow literally everything the world has truly acquired nothing. And Paul describes this as 'ever learning, they are unable to acknowledge the truth'. And when the pagans pray they try to be heard on account of their many words ... or their loud voices ... or their cutting and bleeding. In contrast to these broad half-measures Paul contends that he has resolved to only know one thing: Christ crucified.

To the Greeks this is foolishness.

In the same way, a person who has learned what they value most -over and above all things- will never be understood by the vast majority of people on this earth. A few deep words can be spoken by a person whether they are simple or very thoughtful. When the world hears a few simple words, they mistake the smallness in number for a smallness in value. This is the error of the world.

When the widow offered only her mite in the collection, few people would have counted her offering as greater than the offering of others. Perhaps they considered it comical. Maybe some people thought to themselves, 'If only she had obeyed God more, then she would have had more to give.' But it was the widow who gave the most.

And it was also the widow who received the most. 'How much did she receive?' The world asks, 'And how many things did she receive? Only one thing?! How pathetic!'.

These are the questions we are always hearing in the world. One can easily envision two school boys talking with each other: 'How many minutes did you spend making out with her? How many times did you kiss her? How many guys have dreamed of doing the same thing, and how much did you end up spending on her?' The numbers could answer each question with perfect exactness, and those who boast in numbers receive their reward in full.

It takes only a small change to ask deeper questions.

The change may even be so small that a sharp ear could not succeed in noticing the difference: 'How much do you like her? How lovely did you find her to be? How long did you want to be with her?' And the question which offends because of its soberness: 'How serious are you about her?'

The eyes of the world never have enough of seeing, and they are never satisfied. They look restlessly for the metrics, the measurements, the benchmarks even in the very matters which cannot be measured. The world searches for analysts, scientists, i.e. "The Experts", to tell them what love means and how they can 'get' others to 'love' them.

The eyes of the righteous are focused also -more focused actually. They are focused exactly and precisely on the very things which cannot be seen with the eyes. The righteous are able (and ready!) to notice the subtle movements of love, the quiet 'as you wish' and the 'it was my pleasure' which say so little and yet say everything.

Jesus tells us that those who act 'to be seen' receive their reward in full. This is another way of saying their reward is not very deep. By contrast, the righteous do not even know what they will receive as their reward because, as the Scriptures say,

No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love Him.
1 Corinthians 2:9b

This is the mystery of Godliness. No human being walking this earth is able to express or even conceive the depth of the gifts God gives to His children. The love of Christ is deep: it is like a fountain that springs up inside the heart of the believer and never runs dry. The broad cisterns of the world, however, are dry and they can hold no water -only the appearance of it.

The True Defense

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
1 Peter 3:13-17

In addition to holy direction from God, the letters of the New Testament can also tell us much about the concerns of the Apostles and the issues they found to be at stake.

A fundamental concern for Peter was the extent to which all believers in the church had set apart Christ in their hearts.

He did not seem to care about Christians having the most persuasive logic. He didn't seem to care about how the evidence for the resurrection was presented. He did not seem to care about how witty or smooth the invitation to know Christ was.

To Peter, the evidence was the faith of those who had a clear conscience. The persuasion was the faith of those who had set apart Christ in their hearts. The logic was the logic of those who were ready to tell others -without fear- about the reason for the hope they had inside.

And what was the reason for their hope?

When many people talk about having a 'ready defense' they mean a number of things.

They mean having evidence for the historical event of Christ's resurrection. They mean having the philosophical means to defend monotheism, or even the Trinity. They mean having doctrine so smoothed down, that everyone would find it nice to look at.

Is this what Peter was referring to?

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have within you.

If Peter was referring to the practice of apologetics, he would be implying that apologetics is the reason for the hope within us. Because the word for 'answer' means 'defense' he would be saying the defense of our faith is a matter of forensic evidence, philosophy, and logic.

But is reason the reason for the hope within us?

Certainly not!

It is true that the hope one finds in human hearts needs to be defended.

A bride may be hopeful on her wedding day. She may hope for her family to cooperate. She may hope for satisfactory food at the reception. She may hope for the flowers to show up on time.

But unless she has set her groom apart in her heart, all her hope is vanity.

We are all like that vain bride. Our eyes continually search the world to find confidence in our beliefs, but we refuse to turn our eyes inward. We refuse to set apart the most important thing.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

The ancient Greeks often spoke of their knowledge of the gods as a heavy burden to carry. In the pagan understanding of divinity, religion placed a heavy weight on the shoulders of people because the gods were standing on their shoulders.

This is essentially what the work of apologetics claims, that we need to defend Christ so he will be known. The apologist suggests, in a very wrongful way, that Christ reigns because he is standing on our shoulders.

This is the same misconception as paganism. As Kierkegaard noted, it was Christ who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Peter is not suggesting that the reputation of Christ was a trifling matter. He cared very much about what the unbelievers heard about Jesus.

Peter's emphasis, however, was in the genuineness of Christians, and not in the gravity of their logic or evidence.

The true issue at stake for Peter was the extent to which every believer was willing to set apart Christ in their hearts. Peter believed that if people had set Christ so apart in their hearts, that they would tell others about him without fear, and others would see something different about them.

Jesus is the reason for the hope inside the heart of the believer.

May the Lord Himself reign in the hearts of those who fear him, may His Son lay the foundation and legitamacy of hope in their lives, and may his Spirit guide His people into the fullness of peace.

Found By Jesus

Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"

They have taken my Lord away," She said, "and I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

Jesus said to her, "Mary."

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "

Mary magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

John 20:10-18

After the disciples had returned home, Mary remained at the tomb, crying.

Perhaps the other disciples had also wept and felt the full measure of grief. Perhaps they had all accepted Christ's death and moved on -each at the same time.

But Mary remained at the tomb, crying.

What must have that been like?

I suppose Mary may have thought there was something wrong with her. Something that prevented her from being like the other disciples. Something that prevented her from being ... normal.

And so, Mary remained behind ... alone ...

It was true and clear that something strange and wonderful was at work in the life and ministry of that man. Now the man was somewhere else. Who was this person left behind weeping ... ?

Surely not something grand or marvelous, like the food at a banquet. Maybe more like the food at a banquet saved until the next day ... like the left overs ... a forgotten dish that was simply there.

Whatever the disciples hoped to find by going home, Mary did not desire, or at least did not pursue it.

And when, in her grief, her eyes fell upon the face of angels, she could find no consolation in their heavenly appearance.

We are told the angels were sitting down, gazing while Mary was crying. They watched ... though they did not weep. When they spoke, did they address Mary or their own confusion,

Woman, why are you crying?

The angels -the ones who worship and obey God- have a singular way about them. Their path is one of rejoicing, and they do not know any other way.

Perhaps in that moment, Mary saw them sitting, calmly, and wished that she could be an angel also, perhaps wishing that her body and her spirit could be lifted into the glory of the heavens.

But Mary was separated from her Jesus, and her spirit knew only grief.

If the disciples had seen angels, perhaps if we had seen angels, we would become excited and say, "Look! Do you see them?!" And our minds would ask questions like, "Do we have proof?" And, "What was their appearance like?" And a hundred other such places.

But Mary remained in her place, which was her sorrow.

"They have taken my Lord away," She said, "and I don't know where they have put him."

How quickly we cast aside Mary's concerns here. We consider her cares nothing because we (today) know that Jesus was not so very far from her.

Perhaps some people have even dared to laugh at Mary in her sorrow. If only she had known ... as though knowledge, the true consolation, will give us peace in our time of distress.

We think we know many things ... and that this makes us somehow better than Mary. Even if, like Mary in this passage, we do not know the day or the hour when we will see Jesus with our own eyes.

In many ways, Mary here has a knowledge of Jesus that we will not have in this life. She knows the color of his hair. How tall he stands. How deep his voice is. How he usually dresses. Now all she needs to know is what place his body is in.

Or does she need to know something else?

When Mary speaks to Jesus she does not recognize him. She sees a man who, like the angels, observes the depth of her grief, but understands it not. He asks her why she cries.

Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.

Mary is looking for someone of a certain height, with a certain color of hair, a certain style of clothing. Perhaps she is so focused on finding such a person -the person she knows with her mind- that she fails to notice the person she already knows in her spirit.

Jesus said to her, "Mary."

In that moment where she is alone, she hears the Son of God address her alone.

The Mary who truly sees and recognizes Jesus has come back to life. She is awakened again. As his words extend out of the heavens and land specifically on Mary and Mary alone, she realizes again who Jesus is.

Mary is able to see Jesus, the Jesus who was there all along.

For many of us, we may have a sense that Jesus is close to us, and truly he is! He is standing right outside the door of our lives. He is close, indeed!

When Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts, our befuddled human minds do not know what to do or how to recognize him. On our own we are confused, distressed, and of a sorrow that neither the angels in heaven nor Christ himself understands.

In the same way that Mary could not recognize Jesus by looking at him, flesh and blood cannot reveal Jesus to us. All of our historical knowledge about the Son of God will only serve to keep him at arms' length, however close he may be.

After Jesus asks Mary who it is she is looking for, he reveals himself to her. Jesus already knows who Mary is looking for, but he wants Mary to be perfectly clear with herself who it is she is looking for. In the same way, Jesus wants to know who it is we are really looking for.

Jesus gives Mary clear instruction about how he is leaving her ... and indeed how he is leaving every one of his disciples. He is leaving to return to his Father and her Father ... to the Father of everyone who knows Jesus.

This is the wonder of discovering Jesus ... to know Jesus' Father as his own Father, to know the Father as her own Father.

The day is coming when all who are in Christ will see Christ with their own eyes. Until that day, Christ is teaching people to see him without their eyes. After that he will lead them and take them back to be with his Father and their Father.

The Second Beginning

The Greek word Genesis means origin or source. The book contains a passage about beginning that many people are familiar with:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1

Another beginning is also mentioned in the book of Genesis. It is brief, subtle, and often over-looked.

At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord.
Genesis 4:26b

These two beginnings were not the same.

In the first beginning many things came into the world out of nothing. All of these things -the sun, the moon, the land, the ocean, the animals, and the people- all of this had a beginning before the second beginning.

And certainly God was there long before either of these beginnings.

So when people began to call on the name of the Lord, how could it be said that something was "beginning"? Wasn't it all there already?

Men began to call on the name of the Lord.

This was not the beginning of men, nor was it the beginning of the One who never had a beginning. This was the beginning of men relating to God in a very new way.

In the same way, Jesus came to earth -not to create new bodies, or a new law, or a new government. Jesus came to tell us that we could have a new beginning. That a man could be born again.

To some, this seemed to be a very strange proclamation.

"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
John 3:4

Confused Nicodemus thought the first beginning was like the second. In some ways the two are very similar. God brought out in a strange and wonderful way something which was not there before.

But Jesus explained a key difference between the two beginnings: flesh gives birth to flesh, and the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

The Psalmist David indicated that human birth takes place when God knits a baby together in his or her mother's womb. The second beginning takes place when God takes a human body and puts someone -a spirit- into that body.

Why does the Bible describe these events as distinct and separate?

The question could be asked in a number of different ways.

Someone could say, 'I am alone here in my house about to eat dinner. Everything is in place, so who is it I hear knocking on my door?'

Or they could say, 'Our ancestors have used this well for over a thousand years. What makes the water you offer any different?'

In the first beginning, everything seems to be set and put into place.

It is like a date that has been arranged by a man for whom the woman has no regard. The candles are lit, the violins play softly in the background, the food -how fragrant! But something is missing. The night has begun, but ... it has failed to start. It has everything ... yet it has nothing.

The second beginning is the completion, even if everything from the first beginning is terminated or destroyed. Not even death itself can stop the second beginning.

Soon after we hear about the "new beginning" in Genesis, we also hear about Noah. The book continues to tell us about Melchizadek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

When God reveals Himself later to Moses, He says, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Jesus notes that if God is indeed a God of the living, of those who have not ended, these men who had died are alive even though their bodies have ended.

The second beginning has no end.

Paul writes as he is led,

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39

What of you, my reader? Have you found a new work beginning inside you? If not, know that God sent His Son and that he knocks upon the door of your heart to offer you a new hope and a new beginning.

If you have found this beginning, search it out and you will find that its wonders far exceed every difficulty the world threatens us with.

Mary's Song

And Mary said:

My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me- holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.

Luke 1:46-55

I often find that a single verse in the Bible has enough space to live in it -not only for an immediate moment or a day or a week but for a lifetime.

Mary's song recorded by Luke has a depth to it which is hard to search out. The full meaning is available to us, however, if we will only take the time to meditate on the words as God reveals them to us through His Spirit, just as the Spirit revealed them to Mary.

With that in mind I would like to review Mary's Song -not gulping down the words for a 'big picture' view- but slowly, verse by verse.

"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior"

Mary begins her song expressing the state of her soul and her spirit. She later speaks of how God has blessed all Israel, but she begins by focusing on the praise in her own soul and her own spirit.

So often it is common to hear of the 'world historical' significance of Christ's birth.

When Christ is discussed in our day there is no possessive sense in the words. We hear them in a more academic tone, as if there was some extravagant System to structure them. Consider Mary's words without the possessive adjectives:

'The soul glorifies the Lord and the spirit rejoices in God the Savior.'

The words are so similar, and yet how vastly different from the way Mary actually spoke! Who's soul glorifies the Lord? Who's spirit rejoices in God their savior?

Mary is not singing on behalf of other people or there opinions. Her song does not admit of a plurality of voices, only Mary's voice can be heard in her words as her God leads her. The possessive voice claims to speak of what is clear to her and not clear to the masses or any kind of historical generalization -even if her blessing is a blessing for all.

...For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

Mary continues to speak of herself, although now she speaks indirectly of herself ... as a servant of humble state.

Mary is reflecting on her identity indirectly. These are the things her heart is hearing from her 'heart of hearts'.

She sees that God pays special attention to those of humble state. She realizes dramatically that she herself is such a person.

From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me- holy is his name.

Just as God's holiness sets Him apart from all things, so too has the Almighty set Mary apart from all generations.

Mary cherishes the way God has set her apart. She does not laugh and delight as the pagans do in their worldly distinctions. She does not find her happiness in her appearances -the color of her hair, the cost of her clothes, the decor of her home.

Those honors come and go through time, but Mary has found a distinction that transcends history. She has been set apart by God. If we listen to Mary with a teachable spirit, we will learn to cherish the way God sets His servants apart.

His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

This verse parallels Zechariah's song later in the chapter, that God takes it upon Himself: "to enable us to serve him without fear" (v. 74).

On the one hand, Mary is able to praise God for the mercy He shows to those who fear him, and Zechariah praises God for enabling his people to serve him without fear.

Could these speakers praise God in such different ways? Could they be praising the same God? If there was some common praise that united Mary and Zechariah's thanksgiving, what would it sound like?

The mystery is this: God enables those who fear Him to serve Him without fear.

On the one hand, his people have every reason to fear Him, and yet, at the same time, those who truly serve him have no reason to fear Him.

Zechariah and Mary praise God for this. If a person will take a careful account of their lawless thoughts and then turn to the mercy of God, they will also understand the mystery and the wonder of praising God in this same way.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

Here we see a common theme in Mary's song: that God has chosen the lowly to know the fullness of His blessings.

Mary is so puzzled, so amazed that God has committed Himself to the least of all people that she finds herself praising God and thanking Him for his generosity which exceeds every human conception.

What would it take to join in with Mary in this song?

Doesn't Mary openly understand something which we also understand? Doesn't she realize something we try to conceal? If we were going to be honest with ourselves about ourselves, wouldn't the song of our lives sound a lot like her song?

He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.

Now that Mary has spoken the way she feels about how God has dealt with her personally, she continues to praise God. Though she continues personally praising God, it is for what He has done for others.

How many others?

She refers to the way God has helped His servant Israel. Is she referring to the descendents of Isaac's son -the descendents who would become more numerous than the sands of the coast or the stars of the sky?

Maybe.

As over-educated believers, we so often forget that long before Israel was a nation, Israel was a single individual who was earlier called Jacob.

God sees the Jacobs. The crafty and the deceivers are in His eyes. This is another way of saying that God sees us personally and the work which we have done against Him.

Perhaps -if we are able to confess to God this unseemly aspect of our ways- we will be able to say with Mary, "He has helped his servant Israel". He has given us a new name, and a new gift - His Son, Jesus.

"...remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever"

Often we remember Mary as a woman who faced harsh circumstances: rejected by her fiancee, becoming an unmarried mother, and so forth.

This is all certainly true. There is a lot we do not understand about the depth of Mary's praise simply because we do not know the depth of her hardship.

But the harsh circumstances did not make Mary who she was. To paraphrase her son's words, God can make harsh circumstances out of rocks in the ground.

Mary identified with Abraham, the father of faith.

Abraham also faced difficult tasks: waiting so long to receive his first-born, and then his calling to sacrifice him.

Abraham's difficulties did nothing to inform God of Abraham's obedience, but when Abraham trusted that God would bring Isaac back from the dead -though he raised the knife against him- the angel told Abraham, 'Now I know that you fear God' and then later that all nations would be blessed because of his obedience.

Mary praised God for remembering Abraham and showing mercy to his descendants forever.

In saying this, Mary was not refering to the mortal offspring of Abraham. She was refering to those who were descendants of Abraham by sharing in his faith.


During Christmas time it is easy to become so busy, so hurried, that one forgets the things one values the most.

How peculiar for a time when we thank God for giving us what we claim to value the most! (And then to consider the burden He bears to hear His people say that they are doing this very thing in His name ...).

If one wishes to identify with Mary this year, consider the way she identified with the least, the way she praised God for caring about the nobodies, the ragamuffins, the so-called leftovers of society. Consider the way God regards those who have shown Him no regard, considers sinners that God sent His Son to, and how like those sinners we are.

As you meditate on God's providence and His wonderful gift, may your heart rejoice with Mary during this time of celebration and promise.

The Wise Foolishness

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraclous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
1 Corinthians 1:20-25

In this passage, Paul invites his readers to consider two kinds of people: the student of secular genius and the student of religious doctrine.

The Greek philosphers in Paul's day relied on the weight of their ideas. 'What is Justice? What is Courage? What is the Soul?' These were the answers they looked for.

In a world of pain and sorrow, the Greeks longed for something to transcend the year to year events, fortune and, yes, even history itself!

Imagine, approaching such a person and saying, 'The only solution is a man who lived at such-and-such a time and died on a cross.'

'How foolish!' They might say. Yes, but here we have the foolishness of God.

What can equality and equitability teach a man who fails to see his indebitedness to God?

What burden do thoughts and ideas bear to show their concern for anyone? Do they even lift a finger?

In the same way, the religious scholar is undone by his wisdom.

The Jews were fully aware of God's all powerful rule over the earth. They believed He would send a Messiah to save His people.

Imagine approaching such a person and telling them, 'Yes, it is all as you say, although it must be added that this Messiah -the very one who is foretold to deliver his people- will die a criminal's death on a cross.'

In the Jewish way of viewing it, this was to say God was not powerful enough to fulfill His promises, or maybe He sometimes found injustices to be acceptable, or perhaps He was indifferent to the prayers of His people.

To the Jews, this was a stumbling block ... something that caused people to err.


The word Paul chose to describe the Jewish reaction is 'skandalon', related to our word scandal. Paul claimed that to unbelievers, the gospel seemed scandalous.

The Greek critic of the gospel and the Jewish critic of the gospel were very similar in this regard: both were offended.

As Kierkegaard noted, offense is a form of hidden admiration.

There is a well-remembered phrase from the Shakespearean tragedy, Hamlet. The Queen hears a woman contend that 'she will never remarry, even if her husband dies', to which the Queen responds, 'The lady protests too much methinks'.

The woman is offended at the suggestion she will remarry, and so, in her shock she extensively defends herself saying she will never remarry. And the Queen, who has conspired in the death of her husband and remarried, is offended with the offence of the woman and protests her protests.

Beneath the veil of offence lies concealed approval.

This covering, this mask, is the doom of those who reject the gospel. Paul notes that it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.

The world has changed little over the years. The resistence it holds against heaven is certainly unwavering.

Like every culture before it, Greek culture has fallen.

Like every temple where God does not dwell, Herod's temple has fallen.

Yet the people of this age trust in their lofty ideas and in their religious appearances.

We send our sons off to college and tell them, 'If you study hard, people will respect you, and you will prosper.' And we tell them, 'If you appear to be religious you will gain the confidence of others and prosper.'

Do we truly desire to stand on such flimsy stones?

The foolishness of God is wiser than all the wisdom of the world. It says, 'Though I may fail to find prosperity in the world, I may still find prosperity in knowing my Jesus and the foolishness which is true wisdom.'

The death Christ died is stronger than all the strength of the world and its wavering alliances. For truly, Christ did not allow even death itself to stand in the way of his obedience and devotion to the Father.

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: 'Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.'
1 Corinthians 1:30-31

Sermon on Ezekial 18

There are many voices in the world today.

One does not need to listen hard to hear them, or to sense their number.

Many are those who tell us we are all in this life together and how 'this person' is not at fault and 'that person' is not at fault, but really it is society that is at fault.

Or the government ... or 'big' business ...

And if there is sorrow, these voices say it was their fathers who set their teeth on edge, that our parents are the ones to blame. Or our children are to blame. Or the public is to blame.

And they make the understanding of justice so complex ...

They preach that the path to goodness is a matter of having the right circumstances ... of having the right education, the right resources, the right ideology.

But the God of Israel has determined that our solution is a new heart, and a new spirit.

The voices speak today as they spoke in the time of Ezekiel. They are a chattering of gossipers, a slandering against God, and yet they talk of proverbial wisdom. In their craftiness they accuse God of being unjust.

There's nothing for the criminals to do. They have to turn to crime.
The rich just keep getting richer -and they don't deserve their riches.
People that do good things are punished for them.

Are God's ways unjust? Or are our ways unjust?

Certainly there are occasions when misfortune strikes the just, and God allows His rain to fall on the evil as well as the obedient.

Yet, God assures his people that the soul who sins will die.

A man who appears to do evil seems to succeed, but death is already coming for him.

God is not blind to the cries of the oppressed. We may not see the work he does to protect and to change, and we may not hear clamboring voice drawing the least attention to it, but the one who sins will die.

The word of God is a different voice. One only needs to catch a glimpse of it to see that it is not like the voice of worldly wisdom.

The world never singles out a person and says, "If you hear me and follow my ways you will certainly live." The world only understands probabilities, trivia, and generalities.

'If you steal the sour grapes, someone else will (probably) be punished...'

How great is the depth of the scorn and deceit of the world!

It first sets itself up as a judge to scoff at the criminality of others, when it is clearly one's own life that is at stake. Mixed with the pride in judging these invisible criminals, it begins to envy them and say, 'How much better I am than the evil-doers, and how much I would wish to be like the evil-doers eating the sour grapes!'

The second practice of the world is to join in the acts it condemns. To what can we call the agony of duplicitly holding such opposite intents, but death? We have the assurance of God Himself that death waits for those who sin and do not turn from their evil ways.

How unlike the voices and proverbs of the world, to say everything is left up to the individual! To say that life and death are at hand! To identify the singularity of the moment and say, 'This is when you must decide!'.

To count a man's sins against him no longer!

Very often a worldly man will welcome someone with a tarnished background. He will smile and excuse his acts with societal proverbs about grapes -the very proverbs he excuses his own behavior- and even before the lowly one reluctantly agrees the worldly man is already saying to himself:

What a despicable man, wholly inferior and a reminder of my greatness.

The worldly man is quick to recall the injustices of others, but unable to survey the criminality of his own ways.

The ways of the Lord are set apart. When a wicked man turns from his ways and sets in his heart to obey all the decrees of God's Word, the Lord himself says,

None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him.

When a famous person errs, he often gathers the crowds and apologizes. The spectacle draws many, but no one forgets and the condition of the man is the same.

But when a sinner errs and turns to God, it is as though the jabbering of the crowd quiets down and vanishes away. His offences will not be remembered against him, and, behold! He is a different man because he is alive!

In the same way God calls everyone -the ones who have deaf ears as well as the ones with ears that hear- to repent and be saved from the downfall of sin and death.

Teach us, O Lord, to view our sins, and to turn from them that we may find our wrongs forgotten and our hearts full of life.

Ezekiel 18

The word of the Lord came to me: "What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel:

"The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'?

"As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son - both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.

"Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right.
He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel.
He does not defile his neighbor's wife or lie with a woman during her period.
He does not oppress anyone, but returns what he took in pledge for a loan.
He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked.
He does not lend at usury or take excessive interest.
He withholds his hand from doing wrong and judges fairly between man and man.
He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws.
That man is righteous; he will surely live,
declares the Sovereign Lord.

Suppose he has a violent son, who sheds blood or does any of these other things (though the father has done none of them):

He eats at teh mountain shrines.
He defiles his neighbor's wife.
He oppresses the poor and needy.
He commits robbery.
He does not return what he took in pledge.
He looks to the idols.
He does detestable things.
He lends at usury and takes excessive interest.

Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he will surely be put to death and his blood will be on his own head.

But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things:

He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel.
He does not defile his neighbor's wife.
He does not oppress anyone or require a pledge for a loan.
He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked.
He withholds his hand from sin and takes no usury or excessive interest.
He keeps my laws and follows my decrees.

He will not die for his father's sin; he will surely live. But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people.

"Yet you ask, 'Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?' Since teh son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.

"But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

"But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die.

"Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die. But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save hsi life. Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die. Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Are my ways unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

"Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

Ezekiel 18

There are many voices in the world today.

One does not need to listen hard to hear them, or to sense their number.

People in these times preach from the roof tops about how we are all in this life together and how 'this person' is not at fault and 'that person' is not at fault, but really it is society that is at fault.

And if there is sorrow, these voices say it was their fathers who set their teeth on edge, that our parents are the ones to blame. Or our children are to blame. Or the public is to blame.

And they make the understanding of justice so complex ...

They preach that the path to goodness is a matter of having the right circumstances ... of having the right education, the right resources, the right ideology.

But the God of Israel has determined that our solution is a new heart, and a new spirit.

The voices spoke today as they spoke in the time of Ezekiel. They are a chattering of gossipers, a slandering against God, and yet they talk of proverbial wisdom. In their craftiness they accuse God of being unjust.

"There's nothing for the criminals to do. They have to turn to crime."
"The rich just keep getting richer -and they don't deserve their riches."
"People that do good things are punished for them."

Are God's ways unjust? Or are our ways unjust?

Certainly there are occasions when misfortune strikes the just, and God allows His rain to fall on the evil as well as the obedient.

Yet, God assures his people that the soul who sins will die.

A man who appears to do evil seems to succeed, but death is already coming for him.

God is not blind to the cries of the oppressed. We may not see the work he does to protect and to change, and we may not hear clamboring voice drawing the least attention to it, but the one who sins will die.

The word of God is a different voice. One only needs to catch a glimpse of it to see that it is not like the voice of worldly wisdom.

The world never singles out a person and says, "If you hear me and follow my ways you will certainly live." The world only understands probabilities, trivia, and generalities.

'If you steal the sour grapes, someone else will (probably) be punished...'

How great is the depth of the scorn and deceit of the world!

It first sets itself up as a judge to scoff at the criminality of others, when it is clearly one's own life that is at stake. Mixed with the pride in judging these invisible criminals, it begins to envy them and say, 'How much better I am than the evil-doers, and how much I would wish to be like the evil-doers eating the sour grapes!'

The second practice of the world is to join in the acts it once condemned. To what can we call the agony of duplicitly holding such opposite intents, but death? And we have the assurance of God Himself that death waits for those who sin and do not turn from their evil ways.

How unlike the voices and proverbs of the world, to say everything is left up to the individual! To say that life and death are at hand! To identify the singularity of the moment and say, 'This is when you must decide!'.

To count a man's sins against him no longer!

Very often a worldly man will welcome someone with a tarnished background. He will smile and excuse his acts with societal proverbs about grapes -the very proverbs he excuses his own behavior with- and even before the lowly one reluctantly agrees the worldly man is already saying to himself:

What a despicable man, wholly inferior and a reminder of my greatness.

The worldly man is quick to recall the injustices of others, but unable to survey the criminality of his own ways.

The ways of the Lord are set apart. When a wicked man turns from his ways and sets in his heart to obey all the decrees of God's Word, the Lord himself says,

None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him.

When a famous person errs, he often gathers the crowds and apologizes. The spectacle draws many, but no one forgets and the condition of the man is the same.

But when a sinner errs and turns to God, it is as though the jabbering of the crowd quiets down and vanishes away. His offences will not be remembered against him, and, behold! He is a different man because he is alive!

In the same way God calls everyone -the ones who have deaf ears as well as the ones with ears that hear- to repent and be saved from the downfall of sin and death.

Teach us, O Lord, to view our sins, and to turn from them that we may find our wrongs forgotten and our hearts full of life.

On Asking

What does it mean to pray?

Many people think of prayer as a time where you close your eyes and recite a checklist of things you are thankful for, and then, at the very end, if there is something someone else needs to have, if after all that time of thanking God and reflecting on abstract theology you still want God to do something for someone, you can probably get away with it -but if your view of the Bible is all about yourself, then go ahead, you selfish man, and ask for something for yourself. It just means you aren't really thankful enough and, by the way, your requests will go unanswered.

When I was in the third grade, some of my Sunday School teachers taught me to pray in this way.

"Prayer is asking for something."
Fred Rogers

The word 'pray' means 'to ask'. How great are the walls we build to avoid asking God for anything!

We refuse to ask God, and then we posture piously about how little we think of ourselves and our desires, and then we wonder why God seems to do little for us!

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"
Matthew 7:7

Why do people hesitate to ask God?

Is it not because we are afraid to expect good things and then get let down?

If we ask God for something, He can always say 'no'. We can be disappointed when God says 'no'. No one wants to severely disappointed.

So we build up walls in hopes of scraping the bottom of the barrel.

And then what do we do?

We turn to complaining, although not because we like to complain.

We whine and complain about our world as a means of indirectly twisting God's arm. If someone defiantly disobeyed God, if he shouted blasphemies at heaven, heaven could punish him. We fear God just enough to avoid obvious disobedience while we stockpile bitterness inside.

One would do well to remember that God knows our needs before we even ask Him.

It is difficult to ask someone for something if we think he has little knowledge or concern for our needs. How wonderful to have a Father who cares and knows about the things we need, even before we ask Him!

"Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you."
Mark 11:24


There is also another obstacle to asking God for our concerns: our fear that others will find us selfish.

I commonly hear people thank God because of what He has done for another person, but to appear truly intelligent and sacrificial some people thank God because of His nature -as if this had nothing to do with the generous way He treats us.

To fully accept God's generousity, one should also accept the fact that He rewards those who pray to Him in the privacy of their closets.

How slow people are to accept that God rewards those who pray! How frightful to gaze into the magnitude of our indebitedness to God!

It is even daunting to consider a small aspect of another's debt to heaven. To gaze at one's own indebitedness seems maddening, and most people will do anything to avoid it.


Part of entering the life God has for us is to make our attitudes like little children. May God send His Spirit to live inside us and teach us everyday to depend on Him for our needs and to ask Him for many things.

If we choose to become like little children, we will also be able to accept the times when God says 'no'. When God tells us 'no' it can be sad, but trusting God never leads to the true disappointment most people carry with them.

And if we praise God for His generousity towards us, people may consider us selfish. Or they may think we are unintelligent. Or unpopular. God knows all the things people think about, and He also takes into account those who appreciate the good things He gives them.

May our lives grow in thankfulness all the more as we learn to trust in God and enjoy His great generosity.

The Storm And The Fall

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.

The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell-- and great was its fall!"

Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Matthew 7:24-29

My wife and I were talking about depression tonight.

When does it come upon a person? What can they do to avoid it?

She mentioned a certain woman who died from diabetes. Her husband became greatly depressed, talked about taking his life, and eventually did take his own life.

Of course there would be no way for us to go inside the man and see his sorrow, but his final act does shed some light on it. Consider the possibilities.

Either:

1) The man was full of joy, but this changed when he lost his wife. He became so sad at her passing that his sadness became unbearable, and so he decided to end this burden by taking his own life.

Or:

2) The man had ceased to live long ago. His wife brought him drama, desire, and distraction. He eventually forgot he already had a foot in the grave. When he lost his wife he lost his ability to forget he was already dead, and so he took his own life.

Let us say the first possibility is the case. If this man had meaning in life only to lose it when his wife left then it follows that meaning in life is a matter of external consequence.

It would follow that the best way to find meaning in life is to learn every means of hanging onto the things one finds valuable as long as possible. Research diabetes. Start government programs to assure oneself that diabetes will almost never take anyone's spouse.

And what kind of certainty can one have of happiness in such a life? If such a grand effort could make such a difference, it would still be a risk. The rest is just a matter of how long it lasted.

Maybe one could enjoy meaning in life for a short while, or perhaps for a longer while.

And what of the certainty of death? Suppose this man was reflectively aware that his wife gave him meaning in life. Would he be unable to realize that she would one day be separated from him, as we all are, in death?

Perhaps he had hoped to hang on to his meaning in life as long as he could. Then when she was taken from him in death he could look back and say, "Surely I have no meaning left in life, but there was a time when it did have meaning. I can go on living because I still remember when my life did have meaning."

Or perhaps he would exit as abruptly as a film watcher who had only hoped to see a certain scene in a movie. Could you see him rising suddenly and walking out in the middle of the movie?

Suppose an employee approached him before he left the building. "But sir, this is the only showing you are permitted to see with this ticket! This is a great insult to the director who gave you this ticket."

"That was the only scene I wanted to see." Perhaps he could have walked right out of the theater. Maybe he could even smile as he did it. But how far down could such a smile go?


The other explanation also remains.

The man may have said to himself (though perhaps in a secretive way): "I hate all this, and myself. The choices that follow, the events, the circumstances, why even fate itself means nothing. I might as well get married, I do not care."

Or he could have said it differently:

"My life means nothing to me. The Bible says that, 'He who findeth a wife findeth a good thing'. I should at least be compensated for having this life that means nothing to me."

Or he could have said it another way:

"I have this intense longing. What I long for I do not know, it escapes me. When I find it I will look at myself in the mirror and say, 'Now my life has importance to me.' Until I find such a thing I might as well get married."

In such a view a person may pursue all kinds of successes and distractions, but the real despair has nothing to do with the success or failure of such efforts. It was there all along.

Consider the one Jesus identifies as the foolish man:

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell-- and great was its fall!

In this parable we hear about a foolish man who built his house on the sand. He was too foolish to avoid building his house upon a rock.

Suppose there were more foolish people afterwords who said, "How sad! This man had an excellent house! The only problem was the outer circumstance: the storm blew it down!"

Christ calls all such talk folly.

The difference between the wise and the foolish man had nothing to do with the ferocity or the mildness of the storm.

The house of the wise man faced the storm and it stood firmly.

The difference between the two houses was not their surroundings. The difference was in that secret place that no one could see. The difference was that hidden thing holding up the house.

The foolish man did not have such a foundation, and so much the worse for every person who looks longingly in life and says, "If only I had a career so that people would respect me," Or, "If only I had a fetching wife who met my desires."

Suppose such a person finds and keeps a career or a wife. Everything seems to hold together, just as the house of the foolish man seemed to hold together.

But then suppose their final day comes. Suppose they look back on their lives and remember, "Ah, yes, there was really nothing more to my career, or to my spouse... my ticket has come up, and I feel I have won nothing."

On the other hand, this conscious realization is sometimes avoided. People die suddenly without recalling anything. Has such a person escaped justice?

I wonder if a person were to build a house on the shore, and, let us say imaginatively that he was able to avoid remembering his foundation through rigorous mental training, if he could enjoy his time living there?

Would he not have an unnameable fear, a sweat on the back of his neck, following him along and stealing the delight of his every achievement? Would he not exchange his awareness of a conscious, terrible disaster for a worse dred of something vague and devastating?

The Apostle clearly states that a man reaps what he sows.


Another possibility: if a man were able to die unconscious of his already being dead, would it be possible to die in consciousness of still living?

Suppose the suicidal man had taken the fatal poison and said to himself -in spite of his earlier speculations- "You know what? I do believe God still loves me! This love is totally unsearchable and yet I see it so exactly!" Would it be too late for the man who had forgotten he was already dead to find himself oddly alive?

The question is of decisive importance for all.

Certainly we have not all put ourselves in a place where we will all die immediately, but neither is anyone able to say how long it will be before they die.

And it is not too late for anyone now alive to hear Christ's words and put them into practice, to believe on the one sent by God, to forgive one's enemies, to ask earnestly -as the thief did- to be remembered by Christ in His kingdom!

Life has its storms, it is too true, and we are right to weep over them. At the same time it is also true that every house has a foundation, either one that can be shaken or one that cannot be shaken.

A person would do well to ask, "What foundation is my life resting on? Have I heard the words of Christ and put them into practice?"

Fear and Trembling

As a child my mom would read me Bible stories.

She read them out of a book with large pictures. I didn't know how to read the text, so I did what I could to read the faces in the pictures.

We always read from the Old Testament, and the pictures usually depicted weeping of some kind. The shepherd boy, David, at least seemed at peace playing his harp.

The story of Abraham and Isaac had a very unusual picture.


The first time I saw the picture it seemed as though there was an old man who had tied up a beautiful, young woman and was about to stab her with a knife.

The image terrified me.

I had no idea what a beautiful woman was 'supposed to' look like. The only one I had ever seen at the time (I was three or four) was probably my mom. The painting probably dated to the renaissance, which had a way of portraying men in womanly ways.

I remember thinking to myself something like, 'There's only a couple beautiful women in the world, and this old man is killing one of them! How terrible!'.

I asked my mom about the story because the image made me tremble. I thought she would have a ready explanation for what was happening -perhaps the old man was about to cut the woman loose, or he was going to fight a snake with the knife, or something.

The more I learned about the details, the more dredful the story seemed to me.

The old man, whose name was Abraham, was told by God to kill his own son, Isaac. Isaac was not a young woman Abraham had been attracted to. Isaac was the promised son Abraham had waited many, many years to receive.

...

When my wife and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary we stayed at a beautiful resort hotel -her choice. The next morning was Sunday and she asked me to pick a chapter in the Bible to read.

I turned to Genesis 22 and started reading.

The chapter starts off dramatically with God telling Abraham:

Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.

Which Isaac was God referring to? The Isaac whom Abraham loved. This was the only qualification God made in referring the sacrifice to Abraham. No further description was needed. One can almost imagine Abraham thinking to himself: 'That Isaac. I know exactly who you are referring to.'

At times God has been known to allow people to face difficulties. My wife's father, whom she loved, was killed in a terrible automobile accident. It was very sad for her and her family, although though no one had been instructed to kill her father.

Was Abraham tempted to disobey God?

The chapter opens saying that, "God tested Abraham". But I don't think Abraham was tempted in the same way we might have been tempted.

I don't think Abraham thought to himself, "Maybe I should just go to bed, forget the whole thing ever happened. It was probably just the spicey roast beef dinner anyway."

Abraham's temptation was probably more along the lines of:

'Is this the God I worship? Is this who He is? Is this what he considers good? To require me to kill my own son, who I have waited to behold for so long for?'

As unusual as the story maybe, I do not find bitterness against God to be very rare. I can think of a time -only a month ago- where I had a bitter attitude against God over breaking open the vinyl floor while pushing my new washing machine into its closet.

If my attitude was not truly bitterness against God, it was something a lot like it. On the other hand, tearing up the floor on accident is very different from intentionally drawing a knife on your own son.

Was Abraham bitter against God?

In the book of Hebrews we learn that Abraham was not only taking his son, his servants, and some supplies with him to the mountain in Moriah. He also brought something else with him.

Faith.

Like God, no one could really see Abraham's faith, except perhaps indirectly.

When Isaac asked his father, "Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered in faith, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son."


How easily one comes to tremble in the details of this story.

After I read the story with my wife on our anniversary my wife told me that she became afraid as soon as I started reading the story, and that it was very difficult for her to listen to. I told her it was exactly that way for me as well.

How sad the way many people try to escape from this fear!

In junior high I asked my teacher about the story, about how one should respond if they hear God asking them to kill someone they loved.

And my teacher, who I consider to this day to be wise in many ways, told me that this story took place before God provided the ten commandments saying not to murder.

'So we don't have to be afraid because God would not ask this of any of us.'

Or so she seemed to suggest.

In a way it is like saying that at one time God was Someone to be feared. He laid armies to waste, killed the first-borns, and even destroyed the entire earth and all the people (Noah's family excepting) in a flood, but today? Today, He always behaves in a way that society can approve and accept immediately.

I tried to find consolation in her words, but I never could. Something seemed to linger in the story that terrified me, and it seemed like I was just overlooking it.

One time while discussing the story with a local pastor, he said to me, "But it's not like Abraham killed his son. God intervened at the last second."

He could have just as easily said, 'Look we're making spaghetti tonight, but, come on, it's not like we going to get it all over our white shirts. We can keep it in these bowls the whole time.'

And I feel like so much of my life has been a continual striving to do exactly this: to draw these imaginary lines and say, "God would never allow this to happen...".

But He does allow it to happen. And in this story He commands it of Abraham.

Abraham believed that God could bring Isaac back from the dead. He did not know God was going to do that. And he certainly didn't know God was going to intervene.

To consider only the end of the story and say, 'Well, that worked out pretty good,' Is to overlook the entirety of the obedience that God approved of.

Looking back on it, I suppose my pastor and my teacher were trying to do the same thing with their explanations: they were both trying to take all the fear out of the story.

According to the account, however, it was the fear which God commended Abraham for:

Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.

The strange thing about this story -and the many times I tried to grasp it- is that I probably understood it better when I was a child. Before I tried to explain the scary things away.

Faith can be scary, and because of it most refuse to have it. If you believe something good will happen to you, you can become very disappointed.

Faith says, 'I can accept disappointment. Yes, I can have it all taken from me, but I believe I know the One in charge, and I dare say that He has good things in store for me.'

A Dark Face

Then Adam had sexual intercourse with Eve his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to a son, Cain (meaning "I have created"). For, as she said, "With God's help, I have created a man!" Her next child was his brother, Abel.

Abel became a shepherd, while Cain was a farmer. At harvest time Cain brought the Lord a gift of his farm produce, and Abel brought the fatty cuts of meat from his best lambs, and presented them to the Lord. And the Lord acccepted Abel's offering, but not Cain's. This made Cain both dejected and very angry, and his face grew dark with fury.

"Why are you angry?" the Lord asked him. "Why is your face so dark with rage? It can be bright with joy if you will do what you should! But if you refuse to obey, watch out! Sin is waiting to attack you, longing to destroy you. But you can conquer it!"

One day Cain suggested to his brother, "Let's go out into the fields." And while they were together there, Cain attacked and killed his brother.

But afterwards the Lord asked Cain, "Where is your brother? Where is Abel?"

"How should I know?" Cain retorted. "Am I supposed to keep track of him wherever he goes?"

But the Lord said, "Your brother's blood calls to me from the ground. What have you done? You are hereby banished from this ground which you have defiled with your brother's blood. No longer will it yield crops for you, even if you toil on it forever! From now on you will be a fugitive and a tramp upon the earth, wandering from place to place."
Genesis 4:1-12 The Living Bible

People often draw attention to the sacrfice of others - or the lack thereof.

For example: "That car pulled out ahead of me and slowed me down. Couldn't he have sacrificed a few seconds so I wouldn't have been inconvenienced?"

Presumably the one who does not sacrifice is a selfish person and therefore a bad person.

... But Cain gave a gift of his fruits to the Lord.


Here is the puzzling aspect of the matter: nearly everyone sacrifices. Almost everyone has -at one moment or another- given up something good for what they considered to be something greater.

But is every offering pleasing to the Lord?


Consider Abel's sacrifice. The writer of Hebrews tells us:

By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
Hebrews 11:4 NIV

These two men willingly separated themselves from their gifts to God. There is no indication that anyone twisted their arms. Two gifts were given to God, but only one was pleasing to Him.

By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice.

The writer of Hebrews focuses not on what kind of thing these brothers did. The emphasis is placed squarely on the way they did that thing.

Abel sacrificed in a way that was pleasing to God. Cain sacrificed in a way that God did not accept.

Consider the case where two small daughters find two pennies on the ground. Their father notices and says to them, "I see you have found some money that belongs to me. Give them back to me."

Suppose the first girl says, "This money is yours to do with as you please. I am glad to return it to you." And the second girl says, "If this is the way you treat your own daughter, I do not want anything to do with your money. Take it back!".

Is it not clear that the two daughters are completely different people? The one daughter acts in a way that is pleasing to her father and the other daughter does not.

Yet, in such a case they both return the money.

In a procedural, clinical way of looking at God's response it is easy to be confused. Cain gave God the gift of his fruits. Check. He did exactly the same thing Abel did -on the outside.

The difference was in a place where no procedure could inspect or even comment ... the difference was in Cain's spirit, and it was Cain's spirit that God called into question.

Cain was going through the motions of his relationship with God. There was no Cain expressing his love before God. The love which Cain had toward God was locked far, far away in his heart. The farther away it went, the darker his face became.


God confronts Cain and says:

"Why is your face so dark with rage? It can be bright with joy if you will do what you should! But if you refuse to obey, watch out! Sin is waiting to attack you, longing to destroy you. But you can conquer it!"

What does it mean to be destroyed? The Bible says that after death we will be brought back to life again. We shall all continue in heaven or hell forever. So in what sense can someone be destroyed? Isn't Abel's life the one in danger?

And yet God tells Cain that sin is longing to destroy him.

The Apostle Paul once noted that if he gave all he possessed to the poor and surrendered his body to the flames -but did not have love- he would gain nothing. What is to be gained? He tells us in the earlier verse that if he has not love, he is nothing.

What does it mean to be nothing? For someone to be nothing? What does it mean to have no self?

Was Cain angry because God disapproved of his sacrifice? Or was it the case that Cain was angry because he sensed that he was beginning to lose his self? What can all the justifications and explanations amount to at the expense of losing one's self?


Very often a person will spend all their time trying to justify their behavior. Very few people hunger and thirst for living the life which needs no explanation.

When God confronts Cain again, Cain has a ready justification. In an attempt at shrewdness he replies that he cannot possibly be expected to track Abel everywhere he goes.

As human beings we are inclined to doubt anyone's behavior if they do not have a reason. And if they do have a justification for their actions we can accept it.

But love needs no explanation, no defense, no justification.

One time at work, a colleague said to me, "The law is meant to be practical and not to be fair." I took up the issue because I felt he was looking for an excuse to behave in an unjust way.

When I asked for an example he told me in anger, 'Do you think it is fair for you to have your beautiful wife?'

Although much could be said of the way desperate questions alienate us from ourselves -and the ways in which we have all been just like that wicked coworker- I will note instead that worldly legality has no knowledge of love's great happiness.

I gave him no defense in return. When I could not decide for myself why I had not I realized for myself that when two people truly love each other there is nothing left to be accounted.

All honest accounting, in truth, depends on the happiness of true love and not the other way around. Explanations, defenses, justifications are lacking and very much in need of love.

God told Cain earlier that if he had acted obediently, Cain's face could, "be bright with joy if you will do what you should!"

This is the facial expression which God does not concern Himself with confronting. Instead, Cain's disobedience lead to a darkened facial expression ... a facial expression which demanded to justify itself but never really could.


May we never be fooled (or fool ourselves) into thinking that our external acts of service to God are any substitute for true love and devotion.

May we never behave in such a way that we do not agree with.

May we seek to live in a way that needs no justification, and not in a way that constantly searches for justifications.

Amen!