The Long Reach of Sin

It is to Jonathan's credit that he understands and accepts the fact that David will be the king of Israel and not him: And he (Jonathan) said to him, "Do not fear for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul, my father, also knows this (1 Sam 23.17).

Jonathan's plan is to serve with/under David when he is king. God's plan is different. Jonathan, while innocent of Saul's sin, is killed in battle along with Saul. We see here the long reach of sin. Saul destroys not only himself in his sin, but also his son, along with most of the rest of his household. What a heinous thing is sin, and how far the unforeseen consequences.

The Limits of (Human) Wisdom

You will never get to God through human wisdom, ever. This is the wisdom of God. So says Paul in 1 Cor 1.21. (For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preached to save those who believe). There is a wisdom of man, which will never get man reconciled with God. There is a wisdom of God (as Paul will go on to say in just a few verses, God's foolishness is greater than the wisdom of men—he leaves it to us to figure out what this would mean in terms of God's wisdom).

You will get to God by the foolishness of the cross and only by the foolishness of the cross.

Prayer: Oh Lord God may we gain a deeper understanding of the futility and limits of human wisdom in understanding you and your ways; and may we rest in the foolishness of the cross.

Cujo

A photo I snapped last night of Cujo, our Blue and Gold Macaw, with Matt. Anyone who owns parrots will tell you that they act like two year olds—sometimes they love you, sometimes they nip you. Yep, Cujo is a typical parrot.

When I picked him up from the breeder, I asked her, "why is he named Cujo?" (I knew that Cujo was the name of a famous rabid St. Bernard in a Stephen King novel). She answered, "Oh, you'll find out." When I opened his travel cage to let him out after we arrived home, he tried to bite me; then I understood.

Parrots need a lot of activity and interaction, so I try and keep him out of his cage as much as possible. He even sleeps on a T-stand in our room (yeah, I know it's weird, but then we are weird people, probably weirder than your average bird owners). They can also screech to wake the dead. Thankfully, Cujo is quieter than your average macaw (but yes, he can (and probably has) awoken the dead).

He's also EXTREMELY protective of his gang (that would be us). When Kelly's boyfriend first started coming over, he was harassing Kelly (in fun) and Cujo jumped off his cage, ran over and attempted to bite Andy. He has hated Andy ever since (parrots have long memories).

Speaking of gangs, parrots are flocking birds, so if you live in the house, you are part of his flock. This generally means that a. he likes you and will protect you, and b. if you are eating something, then he ought to be eating something as well (and not nasty bird food, real human food), after all we are part of the same flock and the flock shares its food.

Oh, and for some reason, he REALLY loves women in general, and blonde women in particular. He DOES NOT like strangers who talk loud and move fast, and he HATES Andy. Andy is the enemy.

Does God Deliver? Or doesn't He?

Reading in Psalms 34.17, this morning: When the righteous cry for help the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their trouble. I went immediately (in my Bible reading plan) to Lam 3, where (in part) I read: “He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.” (Lam 3:7–9 ESV)

What's going on here? Does the Lord deliver, or doesn't he? I think that the answer is obviously, yes, He does; and no, depending on what we see as deliverance. This is a case where we must compare scripture with scripture. It would be easy to make a blanket statement "Based upon Ps 34.17, it's obvious that the Lord will deliver me out of any and all trouble I have when I cry for help."

Suffice to say, that part of the answer to this rests in the fact that our definition of what deliverance looks like and God's definition may be (and often is) radically different. This fact clears up a lot of misunderstanding. Notice also, that after Jeremiah laments for 20 verses that God is against him and blocks his way with blocks of stones, he suddenly pens out some of the most majestic words about God in all the scriptures: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lam 3:21–23 ESV)

Sometimes deliverance can be in the form of "out of" our difficulties. Sometimes it can be in the form of deliverance "through" the problem. Other times it is deliverance "in the midst of." I don't think any of this deliverance violates what David has said. I say without hesitation that every martyr who has ever been killed on behalf of Christ would say, "Yes! God delivered me out of my difficulties (into life glorious and victorious)."

Surrounded by Hesed

"Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord." (Ps. 32.10)

When we are trusting in God (the truth here states), we will be surrounded by "unfailing love" (NLT) or "with mercy and lovingkindness" (AMP), or "steadfast love" (ESV), or "sa grace" (NEG). We struggle to come up with an adequate translation for the Hebrew word "Hesed."

Hesed is not easily translated into English. It could imply mercy, or loyalty, or "faithfulness to the covenant." In this case "covenant love" probably gets closest to the meaning. We are surrounded by God's love which is faithful to the covenant that he freely enters with those who trust him.

This truth will get us through a multitude of difficulties.

Prayer - O Lord God, may abide and rest in the comfort of your unfailing covenantal love, and may I pass that commitment on to others. May they see your hesed through me.

Location:SNA

Why Is Samuel Crying

In 1 Sam 15.11, this morning - "I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command." Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the Lord all night."

I'm wondering why Samuel was so impacted by God's statement. Because he had appointed Saul? He understood what it would mean for the nation? It wad what he had expected and warned about? Whatever the reason he was so deeply moved that he cried out to the Lord all night. (We wish the author had explained THAT as well). The upshot of a night spent crying out to God is that Samuel goes and explains to Saul that God has effectively removed him from bring king. Sobering words to a king. Samuel was more concerned with God's glory than he was flattering a king's vanity. Perhaps that is the lesson here.

Prayer - Oh Lord, may I be more concerned for your glory than I am the approbation of man, and may I be obedient to your commands.

Location:SFO

I am Sure/Confident/Convinced

Reading in Rom 8.38,39, which we might call the summit of Paul's theology, the apex. He begins it with this statement, I am sure (ESV). I don't really like the ESV's translation here because Paul uses the perfect tense which one uses of something that was true in the past, is true now, and willl be true into the future. It is a very strong tense, and Paul makes a very forthright comment. He deliberately uses the perfect tense (pepeismai), meaning, ‘I have become and I remain convinced’, for the conviction he expresses is rational, settled and unalterable. (John Stott).

So whether we translate it as I am sure, or I am convinced, or I am persuaded, or I am confident, Paul's message is that he has no doubt about what he is about to say; he is firm; he is without hesitation. Of what? That any created thing would or will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. THAT you can take to the bank.

Free From Sin; Slaves to God

Paul describes the change in our lives when we come to faith in Christ in Rom. 6.22. Human nature bristles at the suggestion that we are slaves to anything (except our own passions, to which we seem to have no problem being enslaved). The reality, as Paul understands very well, is that, by nature, we are going to serve something or someone. This is how God created us. It might be false gods, it might be Satan, it might be ourselves (this is the typical state of modern man, we are usually serving ourselves); hopefully it is the Lord, but we ARE going to serve something. Of course we must not neglect the end result of being slaves to God, the fruit you get, says Paul, leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. Personally, I'll take that deal.

Insight for Living

I like the way that the NLT translates the second phrase in Psalm 19.8 -

The commands of the Lord are clear,

giving insight for living.

Just so. Perhaps this is where Chuck Swindoll got the idea to name his ministry. The point, however, is that God's commands give us wisdom into how to live our lives. We often think of them has hindrances to our freedom, and burdens to be borne. David understands them for what they are, limitations by which we thrive in life. God's commands allow us to live abundant lives, which is what we were looking for all along. How foolish of us that we do not see this.

In the Footsteps of Abraham

Reading in Rom 4.24,25 today where Paul tells us that, if we follow the Lord by faith then we walk in the footsteps of Abraham. In the same way that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness, so it will be to us also. Neither Abraham, nor we are justified by works, we are all justified by faith in our Lord Jesus.

Hannah

I am in Samuel 1, this morning, and struck again with the character of Hannah. As the New American Commentary points out, this is no accident. The narrative is constructed to point out Hannah's character in such a way that we do not miss it.

Hannah is portrayed as the most pious woman in the Old Testament. Here she is shown going up to the Lord’s house; no other woman in the Old Testament is mentioned doing this. In addition, Hannah is the only woman shown making and fulfilling a vow to the Lord; she is also the only woman who is specifically said to pray (Hb. pll; 1:10, 12, 26–27; 2:1); her prayer is also among the longest recorded in the Old Testament. Furthermore, her prayer includes the most recorded utterances of Yahweh’s name by a woman (eighteen). She is shown avoiding the faults of the first infertile covenant woman by seeking help from Yahweh rather than pursuing crafty schemes (cf. Gen 16:2). She also avoided the fault of Jephthah, who likewise made a vow that separated him from his child; whereas Jephthah gave his daughter as a burnt offering, Hannah gave her child as a living sacrifice (cf. Rom 12:1). NAC

In addition there is also a mystery here. What is the point in emphasizing Hannah's barrenness which the writer specifically says came from the Lord?

The Lord had closed Hannah’s womb. This surprising affirmation—without parallel in Hebrew narrative regarding the Lord’s people (but see Gen 18:20)—appears twice in these verses (vv. 5–6). Hannah’s infertility was no accident of nature; it was the deliberate work of the Lord. There is an inescapable irony in these statements. The same God who in the Torah commanded humanity, and specifically Israel, to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28; 9:1; 35:11) had made Hannah the Israelite incapable of fulfilling the divine command. The text’s statement that it was God who closed Hannah’s womb is significant here, for biblical narratives usually use God’s personal name when they describe activities that are significant in Israel’s covenantal relationship with God. Yet in this pair of statements lies a mystery: What good covenantal purposes can be accomplished through a woman’s sterility? NAC

Don't be fooled into thinking that this is an accident; that the writer did not understand what he was doing. He fully understands the tension between God's command (Be fruitful and multiply) and God's action (he closes Hannah's womb). That is exactly the point. He wants us to see the difficulty here.