Well, tonight was the election. I see various people on facebook have put their status in various nearly hopeless-sounding terms. I am not very thrilled about the outcome, but it was pretty much as I expected, considering the prevailing attitude toward Bush and the war, and the financial upheavals that have been happening. I feel calm about the election outcome, though, and of this I am certain: God has ordained that it would come out the way it did, and He will be glorified. He is not out of control, He is not off the throne. I'm not expecting that our new leaders will glorify Him in the way they lead; I expect that the pressures that might come upon Christians in the coming few years might bring us to rely more fully upon Him, and the distressing results might bring us to pray more faithfully for the salvation and guidance of those in authority over us.
I remember when Clinton was in office and everything seemed to be pointing to socialized health care. People I knew were praying fervently. Also when homeschooling looked like it was going to be outlawed with HR6, people were praying fervently. When since then has there been such impassioned prayer for the needs of believers, and for our country's leaders? It seems that there has to be such a thorn in our sides, any of various possible threats, to bring us to rely on Him, to realize the dreadful powers that would consume our nation, and to seek protection and defense from a power greater than our government, greater than the evil forces that surround and deceive those in authority.
Of course we should already be praying. Already we have a country where abortion is all too legal and convenient, where the most unthinkable forms of it are defended. There are various rights that should never be rights; whether they are scriptural is not even a concern. Whether these rights are right or wrong is not deemed a concern. Whether there is a God in heaven...well, that's already been under attack as well, in our schools and judicial systems. These evils won't be a new thing resulting from this administration; the avenue to extend them further will just be clearer, straighter, more streamlined. We already have evils in this country, and we have not been as fervent in prayer as we should have been. These challenges haven't been so bothersome for us that they would be as uppermost in our minds and hearts as they could be.
So I think perhaps this election may be the best thing for American believers. We are a complacent, comfortable, self-absorbed and shallow bunch, and I really think we would benefit from a little trouble. This wouldn't be the first time that Christians would ever face an evil government, now, would it? Far from it! The freedoms and comforts we enjoy are, rather, unusual--rare--and we take them for granted; we tend to consider ourselves entitled to them. It wouldn't be the first time, or the first place, that Christians in our world face the possibility that we might be opposed, maybe even some day attacked in some ways, by authorities. Tim today was imagining a time when we might have prayer made illegal (though I'm not sure how it could be enforced). I reminded him of Daniel, asking if he remembered what Daniel did when it was declared illegal; he knew that Daniel just kept on praying, kept on obeying God rather than men.
I also wonder how long homeschooling will be an option, and again I think of Daniel and his friends, who were in Babylon, having the Babylonian culture impressed upon them, and yet they stayed faithful. What we need to be doing, rather than fretting, is praying for those in authority, praying for the schools, praying for our children, and raising them in such a way as to be able to cope and be a light to unbelievers if they were required to attend public schools. Our children need to learn to stand firm for their faith, to know how to follow the Holy Spirit's leading, and to make the most of every opportunity. They need to learn to be Daniels. It could be the best thing that ever happened in their lives, to be made useful to God in their faith. This kind of trouble tends to separate the wheat from the chaff, and I think it will happen in our country at least to an extent; I think God has so directed the outcome of this election, directing the economic and political environment and the hearts of the voters to bring it about, because it will be good for His kingdom.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Saturday, November 01, 2008
The Older I am, the Less I Know...But I Know One Thing
I don't know when I've felt that I knew so little. I've always been pretty fine with how much I knew, how much I could figure out, whatever the subject I needed or was interested in at the time. I suppose I was cocky at times, having an over-confidence that may have been obnoxious, not too fitting with the reality of my finite understanding of this whole big world, the heavens beyond, or even my own little life and community. These days, though, I'm not sure what got it started, I'm getting a little overwhelmed. By now I should have most things figured out; though maybe in my own life, and at least for the sake of just getting through a day, I know what I need to know.
As I study my Bible lately, I end up with more questions than answers, because I'm paying attention to details that I passed off before, and instead of feeling just satisfied, I feel more perplexed and unsettled. I find that many things I've been taught over the years have carried a slant and a misapplication that makes it all feel about as sturdy and safe as quicksand. I teach Tim in homeschooling and in the process learn some basic things that I never learned in school. I go to the church to hear a missionary, and she turns my vague notion of Israel's current political state upside-down. So my ignorance is showing lately, sometimes to others and sometimes just to me, but it makes me realize how little I know of the world around me, what is here now and what has happened in the past.
Tim has often asked how smart any particular animal is who catches his attention. That question always strikes me in a certain way, and he always gets the same response--that the animal is not stupid because he doesn't know what Tim knows, but he's smart because he knows everything that God designed him to know, everything he needs for this life. A spider may not know how to tie a shoe, but he knows how to make a web, so he's a smart enough spider. A cheetah doesn't know how to turn on the radio, but he knows how to run fast enough to catch a gazelle (maybe a slower gazelle)...so he's a smart enough cheetah.
So maybe I ought to be content with what I know, when it is enough. God also promises that He is happy to give us wisdom when we lack it, so even what I don't know and I need to know, God will gladly give it to me when I ask it. We live in a culture that values education, and knowledge even of the most trivial items, though it sometimes doesn't value wisdom all too highly. I need to value wisdom above these other things, and put aside the desire to seem knowledgeable, the fear of my own ignorance. Even saying this, I mentally protest and reach out to other lands and the cultures of which I am so ignorant. I reach to know the math I don't know, the history I was never taught or I forgot, and yet it is not the most necessary thing in and of itself. I need not to bemoan being misinformed by sources that were unreliable, or the enormous gaps in my knowledge in general. I just need to follow the leading that God gives me, the Word that gives me a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.
It brings to mind a tiny poem by Emily Dickinson. Though she says she never talked with God (and I read that her life was full of doubt in matters of faith, so maybe the poem is all the more questionable) and so it leaves the rest of the poem in question for me, the poem does otherwise aptly capture the mode I'm in. I don't know so much, but I do know the vital thing:
It reminds me that God has given me everything pertaining to life and godliness, and all I need to do is be trusting Him, following His leading, and not leaning on my own understanding. Not trying to increase my own secular understanding of this mortal world for the sake of my own perception of adequacy; it's sort of like when Paul speaks of knowing "Christ and Him crucified." He had put aside all the learning that he had received that had been so admirable as secondary, unnecessary, and rubbish; all his years of learning were not so useful in reaching out to the lost, or in knowing his own security. I need to follow that example, and seek understanding of Jesus and His ways, first and foremost, not bemoan what unnecessary things I don't know, and rest in the fact that my future course is already charted, that I can find comfort in knowing that Jesus will lead me there.
As I study my Bible lately, I end up with more questions than answers, because I'm paying attention to details that I passed off before, and instead of feeling just satisfied, I feel more perplexed and unsettled. I find that many things I've been taught over the years have carried a slant and a misapplication that makes it all feel about as sturdy and safe as quicksand. I teach Tim in homeschooling and in the process learn some basic things that I never learned in school. I go to the church to hear a missionary, and she turns my vague notion of Israel's current political state upside-down. So my ignorance is showing lately, sometimes to others and sometimes just to me, but it makes me realize how little I know of the world around me, what is here now and what has happened in the past.
Tim has often asked how smart any particular animal is who catches his attention. That question always strikes me in a certain way, and he always gets the same response--that the animal is not stupid because he doesn't know what Tim knows, but he's smart because he knows everything that God designed him to know, everything he needs for this life. A spider may not know how to tie a shoe, but he knows how to make a web, so he's a smart enough spider. A cheetah doesn't know how to turn on the radio, but he knows how to run fast enough to catch a gazelle (maybe a slower gazelle)...so he's a smart enough cheetah.
So maybe I ought to be content with what I know, when it is enough. God also promises that He is happy to give us wisdom when we lack it, so even what I don't know and I need to know, God will gladly give it to me when I ask it. We live in a culture that values education, and knowledge even of the most trivial items, though it sometimes doesn't value wisdom all too highly. I need to value wisdom above these other things, and put aside the desire to seem knowledgeable, the fear of my own ignorance. Even saying this, I mentally protest and reach out to other lands and the cultures of which I am so ignorant. I reach to know the math I don't know, the history I was never taught or I forgot, and yet it is not the most necessary thing in and of itself. I need not to bemoan being misinformed by sources that were unreliable, or the enormous gaps in my knowledge in general. I just need to follow the leading that God gives me, the Word that gives me a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.
It brings to mind a tiny poem by Emily Dickinson. Though she says she never talked with God (and I read that her life was full of doubt in matters of faith, so maybe the poem is all the more questionable) and so it leaves the rest of the poem in question for me, the poem does otherwise aptly capture the mode I'm in. I don't know so much, but I do know the vital thing:
I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.
I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given.
It reminds me that God has given me everything pertaining to life and godliness, and all I need to do is be trusting Him, following His leading, and not leaning on my own understanding. Not trying to increase my own secular understanding of this mortal world for the sake of my own perception of adequacy; it's sort of like when Paul speaks of knowing "Christ and Him crucified." He had put aside all the learning that he had received that had been so admirable as secondary, unnecessary, and rubbish; all his years of learning were not so useful in reaching out to the lost, or in knowing his own security. I need to follow that example, and seek understanding of Jesus and His ways, first and foremost, not bemoan what unnecessary things I don't know, and rest in the fact that my future course is already charted, that I can find comfort in knowing that Jesus will lead me there.
Monday, October 27, 2008
One Singular Specific Reason Why I Will Vote Against Obama
I was out weeding my unruly vegetable garden--which I never planted this year since it was too cold and wet too late into the spring, but we've had a phenomenal crop of weeds that I've never been able to keep up with. As it is, about half is still covered with weeds though I've been working hard on it. While I work, I ponder the issues that have recently surfaced in my life. Today, though it's hardly my favorite topic, I pondered the election.
I used to be passionately political, as if all earthly hope depended on my work (knowing logically of course that it couldn't even fully depend on the president)...and I got passionately burned out. I am thankful that I got burned out so fast, rather than further into the game, because I look back and really don't see that my place in it was all that fruitful or well-guided. If this seems a digression, I'm just setting the stage, relating my mindframe. When this political season heated up, I went about my business and did my best to ignore it. I didn't like either candidate. I still am not crazy about them. But I've found that I have to take a crazy-against-the-worst stance in order to roust any feeling in this campaign. And I've found specific material that defines the worst candidate, from my perspective, and I can say that I am now rather crazy against him.
It all came about in a very roundabout way. Katie's off to college and I keep tabs on her in a significant way via facebook. Lately, she and her schoolmates started up a website mockingly in favor of Obama, to the point that at first glance someone could think she went hook, line and sinker for him, and not only that, went a little more extreme than he had ever gone--which from what I read, is a rather extreme place to land. And I stress that it was all a mockery; but she got various messages from loving and supportive friends warning and pleading that she check her details a little bit further. I am very grateful to have such friends who check in on her! I love them! And I myself learned from what they had to share, particularly from the link to a Snopes article (Snopes is a website that investigates whether things such as "urban legends" that go around the internet are true or not) that related some facts about Obama, and had determined them to be true. I learned more than I wanted to know. I am thankful to know that God is in control and I have no reason to fear--or I would be afraid this moment, thinking that Obama could become our next president.
The defining issue for me is not just the pro-life issue, though that would be enough; it isn't the fact that Obama is documented by his voting record as more liberal than Clinton or Kennedy. It is Obama's murderous mindset that wants to keep a horrendous practice legal--not just regular abortion, that everyday (and also horrendous) practice that is such an old issue as to almost evoke yawns, an "oh, that issue again" type of reaction from hearers. How much more heinous can a person be than to perform an abortion, the killing of an unborn baby? Let me tell you, too, that last I heard, in every state in the union, abortion is legal right up to the point of delivery. That is heinous, but not what I'm referring to.
In my book there's a level that is more heinous and unthinkable, and Obama fights for this level of incredible practice to remain legal. It was for years legal to perform what is called "partial birth abortion," where the practitioner holds the feet of the almost-completely-born living, squirming baby, and violently enters the base of the cranium to suck out the brains of the baby, and then brings the limp dead baby into the world. I'm not sure what except just a murderous heart would motivate a mother or a practitioner to engage in such a thing, but there can't be any good or valid or even understandable motive though supporters claim it can be for the health of the mother. It's unthinkable. Obama voted to keep it legal in our country, on our soil, where we could vote in a candidate who would oppose it, and he wants your vote. He won't get mine, for this reason, if only this reason. I will vote for McCain, who doesn't excite the socks off of me, just if only for the hope of ending the practice of partial birth abortion on our soil.
For your own information, read www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/huntleybrown.asp
Washington Times Editorial: Barak Obama is a 'Liar' on Abortion
Yahoo.com, "Does Barak Obama still support partial-birth abortion?
I used to be passionately political, as if all earthly hope depended on my work (knowing logically of course that it couldn't even fully depend on the president)...and I got passionately burned out. I am thankful that I got burned out so fast, rather than further into the game, because I look back and really don't see that my place in it was all that fruitful or well-guided. If this seems a digression, I'm just setting the stage, relating my mindframe. When this political season heated up, I went about my business and did my best to ignore it. I didn't like either candidate. I still am not crazy about them. But I've found that I have to take a crazy-against-the-worst stance in order to roust any feeling in this campaign. And I've found specific material that defines the worst candidate, from my perspective, and I can say that I am now rather crazy against him.
It all came about in a very roundabout way. Katie's off to college and I keep tabs on her in a significant way via facebook. Lately, she and her schoolmates started up a website mockingly in favor of Obama, to the point that at first glance someone could think she went hook, line and sinker for him, and not only that, went a little more extreme than he had ever gone--which from what I read, is a rather extreme place to land. And I stress that it was all a mockery; but she got various messages from loving and supportive friends warning and pleading that she check her details a little bit further. I am very grateful to have such friends who check in on her! I love them! And I myself learned from what they had to share, particularly from the link to a Snopes article (Snopes is a website that investigates whether things such as "urban legends" that go around the internet are true or not) that related some facts about Obama, and had determined them to be true. I learned more than I wanted to know. I am thankful to know that God is in control and I have no reason to fear--or I would be afraid this moment, thinking that Obama could become our next president.
The defining issue for me is not just the pro-life issue, though that would be enough; it isn't the fact that Obama is documented by his voting record as more liberal than Clinton or Kennedy. It is Obama's murderous mindset that wants to keep a horrendous practice legal--not just regular abortion, that everyday (and also horrendous) practice that is such an old issue as to almost evoke yawns, an "oh, that issue again" type of reaction from hearers. How much more heinous can a person be than to perform an abortion, the killing of an unborn baby? Let me tell you, too, that last I heard, in every state in the union, abortion is legal right up to the point of delivery. That is heinous, but not what I'm referring to.
In my book there's a level that is more heinous and unthinkable, and Obama fights for this level of incredible practice to remain legal. It was for years legal to perform what is called "partial birth abortion," where the practitioner holds the feet of the almost-completely-born living, squirming baby, and violently enters the base of the cranium to suck out the brains of the baby, and then brings the limp dead baby into the world. I'm not sure what except just a murderous heart would motivate a mother or a practitioner to engage in such a thing, but there can't be any good or valid or even understandable motive though supporters claim it can be for the health of the mother. It's unthinkable. Obama voted to keep it legal in our country, on our soil, where we could vote in a candidate who would oppose it, and he wants your vote. He won't get mine, for this reason, if only this reason. I will vote for McCain, who doesn't excite the socks off of me, just if only for the hope of ending the practice of partial birth abortion on our soil.
For your own information, read www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/huntleybrown.asp
Washington Times Editorial: Barak Obama is a 'Liar' on Abortion
Yahoo.com, "Does Barak Obama still support partial-birth abortion?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The Unfolding of His Word
I'm becoming increasingly aware of how God displays His glory only according to His timeline. He gives us understanding of Him only according to what He wants, when He wants, no sooner, no later. He will not show the fulness of His goodness to us before we are ready, and especially before we are seeking Him! And then He sometimes gives us more than we anticipate...sometimes He seems to unfold it much more slowly than we would have Him do.
We are studying the Gospel of Mark these days at our wonderful little church. It's clear in the study that Jesus is not giving His truth to people in such a way that they don't have to grapple with it a bit in order to make it their own. He wants us to seek Him, and He will respond fully then. He tells the demons not to tell who He is. He tells those He heals not to go announcing it everywhere, but to go see the priests, or whatever His will is at the time. It's surprising to me even though I have read this before; surprising in this American Christian culture that stresses the need to tell the entire gospel message at every opportunity, no matter how awkward it might be. I've never exactly understood this disparity, and in the past I believe I've sided more with the culture than with the Scriptures on this issue.
I remember in one church we had a Bible study where the teacher asked for questions, and I had asked why sometimes Jesus would tell people (or spirits) either to tell others or to be quiet about who He was and what He had done. The teacher did bring up my question and was just on the verge of giving his answer to it. However, Katie was a baby in the nursery at the time, and she started hollering in such a way that I could not see clear to stay there and listen to the answer, though people urged me to. I went to Katie and never did hear what our teacher had to say. Even though I asked others what his answer had been, I never found out. I think it was one of those things that God was holding for another time...such as just lately! Maybe the teacher's answer was misguided, and God protected me from that confusion. Maybe he was right on. I do not know.
A clarification regarding this question, from the Gospel of Mark, came about thanks to our Pastor Ken's latest sermon--that Jesus was clearly destined to be recognized as King, but kept suppressing it--why? Because He was to be publicly acknowledged as King only at His death--by the centurion, who said that surely He was the Son of God.
Why was He publicly acknowledged as King at His death? Why not in His life on earth? Why not especially after His resurrection, when by my thinking His whole ministry, suffering and sacrifice were fully validated or authenticated? This reminded me of when I had been in Bible Study Fellowship right after I became a new Christian. The lesson had to do with communion, and I was puzzled that it was a remembrance of His death, not of His resurrection! Why not His resurrection? Why His death? I asked the teaching leader, who was a gifted speaker and teacher, who expanded upon many of the Scriptures in what seemed to be a very clear and solid way. But when I asked her, she had no answer. I've asked a few people since then, and never gotten an answer then either. I asked our Pastor Ken, though, and he gave me John 12:23-26 to ponder, about a grain of wheat being buried and sprouting and producing a crop; it's basically about what Katie calls "dying to self"--that once we do that, we can be of use to Him. We need to die to self in this life, to be useful to Him in this life. We need constant reminding of Jesus' death, because we are so intricately embedded in these selfish, sinful...selves. We can't break free from them, and so we need to continually and repeatedly be retrained upon Jesus Christ. We need to remember His death for us, so that we can be coaxed to die to self for His Kingdom purposes, or we are just not any good at all. I'm still learning on it, and I gather we'll discuss it at our next lesson, but I'm making progress, I think. Finally! God has revealed two of my long-standing mysteries in this study of Mark already. I thought I'd be ready to learn them as a new Christian, and of course, I did "know" the importance of dying to self in other contexts, but this just sheds more light on the same thought, expands on it, makes it richer in illumination. Maybe I'll be better at breaking through this insistent old self as a result. I can hope and pray!
So Jesus is gradually unfolding His truth to me...a little more gradually in some ways than I would expect, but His timing is perfect. The way He's unfolding these things to me is so in keeping with the very Gospel we are studying. Who would have seen that coming? I should have! How good is that! It's marvelous to me. Hallelujah!
Psalm 119:130 The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
We are studying the Gospel of Mark these days at our wonderful little church. It's clear in the study that Jesus is not giving His truth to people in such a way that they don't have to grapple with it a bit in order to make it their own. He wants us to seek Him, and He will respond fully then. He tells the demons not to tell who He is. He tells those He heals not to go announcing it everywhere, but to go see the priests, or whatever His will is at the time. It's surprising to me even though I have read this before; surprising in this American Christian culture that stresses the need to tell the entire gospel message at every opportunity, no matter how awkward it might be. I've never exactly understood this disparity, and in the past I believe I've sided more with the culture than with the Scriptures on this issue.
I remember in one church we had a Bible study where the teacher asked for questions, and I had asked why sometimes Jesus would tell people (or spirits) either to tell others or to be quiet about who He was and what He had done. The teacher did bring up my question and was just on the verge of giving his answer to it. However, Katie was a baby in the nursery at the time, and she started hollering in such a way that I could not see clear to stay there and listen to the answer, though people urged me to. I went to Katie and never did hear what our teacher had to say. Even though I asked others what his answer had been, I never found out. I think it was one of those things that God was holding for another time...such as just lately! Maybe the teacher's answer was misguided, and God protected me from that confusion. Maybe he was right on. I do not know.
A clarification regarding this question, from the Gospel of Mark, came about thanks to our Pastor Ken's latest sermon--that Jesus was clearly destined to be recognized as King, but kept suppressing it--why? Because He was to be publicly acknowledged as King only at His death--by the centurion, who said that surely He was the Son of God.
Why was He publicly acknowledged as King at His death? Why not in His life on earth? Why not especially after His resurrection, when by my thinking His whole ministry, suffering and sacrifice were fully validated or authenticated? This reminded me of when I had been in Bible Study Fellowship right after I became a new Christian. The lesson had to do with communion, and I was puzzled that it was a remembrance of His death, not of His resurrection! Why not His resurrection? Why His death? I asked the teaching leader, who was a gifted speaker and teacher, who expanded upon many of the Scriptures in what seemed to be a very clear and solid way. But when I asked her, she had no answer. I've asked a few people since then, and never gotten an answer then either. I asked our Pastor Ken, though, and he gave me John 12:23-26 to ponder, about a grain of wheat being buried and sprouting and producing a crop; it's basically about what Katie calls "dying to self"--that once we do that, we can be of use to Him. We need to die to self in this life, to be useful to Him in this life. We need constant reminding of Jesus' death, because we are so intricately embedded in these selfish, sinful...selves. We can't break free from them, and so we need to continually and repeatedly be retrained upon Jesus Christ. We need to remember His death for us, so that we can be coaxed to die to self for His Kingdom purposes, or we are just not any good at all. I'm still learning on it, and I gather we'll discuss it at our next lesson, but I'm making progress, I think. Finally! God has revealed two of my long-standing mysteries in this study of Mark already. I thought I'd be ready to learn them as a new Christian, and of course, I did "know" the importance of dying to self in other contexts, but this just sheds more light on the same thought, expands on it, makes it richer in illumination. Maybe I'll be better at breaking through this insistent old self as a result. I can hope and pray!
So Jesus is gradually unfolding His truth to me...a little more gradually in some ways than I would expect, but His timing is perfect. The way He's unfolding these things to me is so in keeping with the very Gospel we are studying. Who would have seen that coming? I should have! How good is that! It's marvelous to me. Hallelujah!
Psalm 119:130 The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Monday, October 06, 2008
I Know Whom I Have Believed
I wish I could just for a short time enter into the mind of another and receive an insight into the way that they think. I wish I could understand what blocks a person from receiving Christ, or all the more, from receiving the fulness of joy once a person has received Christ. I would only want this so that it might give me a key to unlock the door to all that God has for those who love Him. Not that I have attained all that God has for me, but I'm sure that at this point I couldn't contain much more than He has given me already.
Yesterday we were talking at prayer time about the Psalms; the sermon was on the Laments, and discussion covered them further. One of the women shared a prayer request for her niece, who has been going through some awful trials. It reminded me of when I was at the point of receiving Christ, and then the things that God lifted from me, and then the things that He has brought me through...and as a result, I have seen His love and kindness and power. So I tried relating it in a few sentences, but I could not adequately in such a short time.
The one who gave the sermon on the Laments didn't understand. I'm afraid perhaps he thought I was belittling the subject of his sermon, or that my joy is a glib happiness without substance, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't realize what God has brought me through. His walk of faith has been full of trials too, and perhaps being younger he doesn't yet see very fully the victory and the joy that God gives in faith.
This morning a song goes through my head, one that I learned when I was a brand-new Christian going to Bible Study Fellowship. I've never heard it anywhere else, but our pastor (who wasn't the preacher of yesterday's sermon) has lately been mentioning the verse from which it comes. This song shows me, as do so many others, that many other people have found reason to exult in the faith that God has given them, no matter what He brings them through. I long for this joy and exultation to be cast far and wide into the hearts of men. I wish I knew how to give it to those who lack it, especially once they have come to Christ! That is a puzzle for me. Perhaps it is just a matter of prayer. Anyway, here is the wonderful old song that comes to mind; you can get the words and the tune at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/k/ikwihb.htm:
I Know Whom I Have Believed, by Daniel W. Whittle, 1883
I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.
Refrain
But I know Whom I have believèd,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.
I know not how this saving faith
To me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His Word
Wrought peace within my heart.
Refrain
I know not how the Spirit moves,
Convincing us of sin,
Revealing Jesus through the Word,
Creating faith in Him.
Refrain
I know not what of good or ill
May be reserved for me,
Of weary ways or golden days,
Before His face I see.
Refrain
I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noonday fair,
Nor if I walk the vale with Him,
Or meet Him in the air.
Refrain
I am thankful to know this song and so many others, and that I see this joy in some other Christians, or I might be persuaded to think that I was just a little shallow, a little nutty, in my walk with Christ, that I wasn't grappling properly with all the issues that are set before me. Still I wonder whether I'm not, and it's good to keep in the Scriptures--but all the Word ever does is keep promising me that God is good, all-knowing, and all-powerful, and that He has done great things, and that it isn't a matter of what I've gone through for Him, or with Him, but what He's gone through for me, and with me, and that He loves even me, and He will never leave me nor forsake me. What more can a person want?!
In case you were to think that this type of faith is really just old-fashioned stuff of the 1800s, something that is not really a modern-day way of looking at God, I would present to you a song sung by Chris Tomlin, "How Can I Keep From Singing Your Praise." (Scroll down, if you would. Listen to any of the songs along the way, for that matter!) If any modern song expresses my feelings, this one does it! I'm afraid to post the lyrics to it in case I should mess with copyright, but I have it in my playlist below. Many of the songs in my list reflect this whole idea, that there is nothing mundane about God, that we have every reason to rejoice in Him. It's not just that we should, but how can we not?
And so because of His goodness, I fly a couple of feet above the ground and hope that I can lift a few souls along the way! What can I do to help you fly too? All I can point to is the Scriptures. I remember when my Katie was about 12 and grappling with whether Christianity was her faith too or just something in the parental realm--and I told her something to this effect: "I can't make you believe, all I can do is tell you about the Old Testament prophecies that have been fulfilled in the New Testament, what God has done for us in the Scriptures, what He's done in my life, how He's answered my prayers. But I can't make you believe." After a little while of studying some more, she concluded rightly that He indeed is all the great things that anyone can say about Him and more. There is no trial we can go through that He is not right there with us. There is no good thing for which He has left us lacking. There is nothing we need Him to do for which He is incapable. He is able to make all things abound to all of us!
2 Timothy 1:11-13: And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
Yesterday we were talking at prayer time about the Psalms; the sermon was on the Laments, and discussion covered them further. One of the women shared a prayer request for her niece, who has been going through some awful trials. It reminded me of when I was at the point of receiving Christ, and then the things that God lifted from me, and then the things that He has brought me through...and as a result, I have seen His love and kindness and power. So I tried relating it in a few sentences, but I could not adequately in such a short time.
The one who gave the sermon on the Laments didn't understand. I'm afraid perhaps he thought I was belittling the subject of his sermon, or that my joy is a glib happiness without substance, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't realize what God has brought me through. His walk of faith has been full of trials too, and perhaps being younger he doesn't yet see very fully the victory and the joy that God gives in faith.
This morning a song goes through my head, one that I learned when I was a brand-new Christian going to Bible Study Fellowship. I've never heard it anywhere else, but our pastor (who wasn't the preacher of yesterday's sermon) has lately been mentioning the verse from which it comes. This song shows me, as do so many others, that many other people have found reason to exult in the faith that God has given them, no matter what He brings them through. I long for this joy and exultation to be cast far and wide into the hearts of men. I wish I knew how to give it to those who lack it, especially once they have come to Christ! That is a puzzle for me. Perhaps it is just a matter of prayer. Anyway, here is the wonderful old song that comes to mind; you can get the words and the tune at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/k/ikwihb.htm:
I Know Whom I Have Believed, by Daniel W. Whittle, 1883
I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.
Refrain
But I know Whom I have believèd,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.
I know not how this saving faith
To me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His Word
Wrought peace within my heart.
Refrain
I know not how the Spirit moves,
Convincing us of sin,
Revealing Jesus through the Word,
Creating faith in Him.
Refrain
I know not what of good or ill
May be reserved for me,
Of weary ways or golden days,
Before His face I see.
Refrain
I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noonday fair,
Nor if I walk the vale with Him,
Or meet Him in the air.
Refrain
I am thankful to know this song and so many others, and that I see this joy in some other Christians, or I might be persuaded to think that I was just a little shallow, a little nutty, in my walk with Christ, that I wasn't grappling properly with all the issues that are set before me. Still I wonder whether I'm not, and it's good to keep in the Scriptures--but all the Word ever does is keep promising me that God is good, all-knowing, and all-powerful, and that He has done great things, and that it isn't a matter of what I've gone through for Him, or with Him, but what He's gone through for me, and with me, and that He loves even me, and He will never leave me nor forsake me. What more can a person want?!
In case you were to think that this type of faith is really just old-fashioned stuff of the 1800s, something that is not really a modern-day way of looking at God, I would present to you a song sung by Chris Tomlin, "How Can I Keep From Singing Your Praise." (Scroll down, if you would. Listen to any of the songs along the way, for that matter!) If any modern song expresses my feelings, this one does it! I'm afraid to post the lyrics to it in case I should mess with copyright, but I have it in my playlist below. Many of the songs in my list reflect this whole idea, that there is nothing mundane about God, that we have every reason to rejoice in Him. It's not just that we should, but how can we not?
And so because of His goodness, I fly a couple of feet above the ground and hope that I can lift a few souls along the way! What can I do to help you fly too? All I can point to is the Scriptures. I remember when my Katie was about 12 and grappling with whether Christianity was her faith too or just something in the parental realm--and I told her something to this effect: "I can't make you believe, all I can do is tell you about the Old Testament prophecies that have been fulfilled in the New Testament, what God has done for us in the Scriptures, what He's done in my life, how He's answered my prayers. But I can't make you believe." After a little while of studying some more, she concluded rightly that He indeed is all the great things that anyone can say about Him and more. There is no trial we can go through that He is not right there with us. There is no good thing for which He has left us lacking. There is nothing we need Him to do for which He is incapable. He is able to make all things abound to all of us!
2 Timothy 1:11-13: And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
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