Afterwords -- his active presence
"If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me." (Psalm 139:9-10)
January 27, 2023
Dear friends,
Last week I wrote about the presence of God, and that his purpose is to dwell among us forever. This week I was reading Psalm 139, which is a passage we often go to in support of God being present everywhere, which is also called his omnipresence. But what does this mean for the believer especially? We take comfort in knowing that God is with us in every situation in life, but what else does that imply?
HIS ACTIVE PRESENCE (Psalm 139). Sometimes we speak of God's presence and mean that "he is with me." But there's more. In Psalm 139 David speaks of the challenges he faces. He contemplates fleeing to remote places. He feels he is in darkness. He is surrounded by violent and malicious enemies. David takes comfort in God's omniscience (all-knowing) and omnipresence (everywhere present). But notice the verbs David uses to describe God's presence: God searches and knows; he discerns; he hems in (or confines) David; he lays his hand upon him; he leads and holds on to David; he forms, knits, and weaves David's existence; he sees and writes; his thoughts are like the sand of the shore; and he tests David's heart. God's presence means more than "being there". Even less does it imply passive inactivity on God's part.
NOT A BYSTANDER. God is not a cosmic bystander. He is present, and he is active in his presence. He is purposeful, protective, guiding, working, and yes, even testing us. We should take great comfort in this. C. S. Lewis wrote, "We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with him." Instead of fretting about the darkness, we should respond in faith as did David: "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" (Ps 139:23-24)
SPIRITUAL REALITY. Francis Schaeffer wrote, "The first reality is spiritual reality. Let us emphasize again as we have before, we believe with all our hearts that Christian truth can be presented in propositions, and that anybody who diminishes the concept of the propositionalness of the Word of God is playing into twentieth century, non-Christian hands. But, and it is a great and strong but, the end of Christianity is not the repetition of mere propositions. Without the proper propositions you cannot have that which should follow. But after having the correct propositions the end of the matter is to love God with all our hearts and souls and minds. The end of the matter, after we know about God in the revelation he has given in verbalized, propositional terms in the Scripture, is to be in relationship to him. A dead, ugly orthodoxy, with no real spiritual reality must be rejected as sub-Christian." (Francis Schaeffer, 1974, from "Form and Freedom in the Church.")
CONTENT AND REALITY. "Form and Freedom in the Church" was Francis Schaeffer's position paper given at the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelism in 1974. The published version is now entitled Two Contents and Two Realities, and it's combined with 25 Basic Bible Studies (Crossway, 1996). Both of these works highlight Schaeffer's view that sound doctrine (truth) was essential to apologetics and evangelism, but that doctrine must not be merely in propositional form but also real to personal experience. The two contents Schaeffer deals with are: 1) sound doctrine, and 2) honest answers to honest questions. The two realities are 1) spirituality reality and 2) the beauty of human relationships. Read the original address here.
ON CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING. When I was in seminary forty years ago, one of my professors made this comment in class one day: "Christian publishing will be the death of us!" (I've remembered that statement all these years!) What did he mean? He said this at a time when many Christian publishers were being bought by secular media companies. The average lifespan of a Christian book (being in print) was changing. Previously this was measured in years but was now beginning to be measured in months. Titles came out more quickly -- men's issues, women's issues, current political issues, youth adventure, more fiction, etc. In other words, Christian publishing was being driven more by market demands than by traditional, biblical standards of measure. Maybe some of this was inevitable, and even desirable, but when the market becomes the prime mover (and the measure), publishing will largely follow after the new, the innovative, the young, and the contemporary. Edginess will replace orthodoxy. The felt needs of the market should not replace our real needs in the sight of God.
LEWIS AND ATHANASIUS. C. S. Lewis once wrote an introduction to a translation of On the Incarnation by Athanasius. His brief introduction (found here) became an apologetic for the reading of old books. Here are a few excerpts...
"There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books... This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology.
"Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light.
"Every age has its own outlook. It is especially good at seeing certain truths and especially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. All contemporary writers share to some extent the contemporary outlook - even those, like myself, who seem most opposed to it.
"It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between."
TODAY. To bring this issue into our own day, Samuel D. James (an editor with Crossway Books) answers questions from Christianity Today about the importance (or not) of digital platforms and social media influence in Christian publishing. He is giving reasons why "internet famous" is a house of sand when it comes to publishing...
"...the pitfalls of platform and celebrity aren't just publishing issues. They're temptations facing churches, ministry organizations, and a lot else. I think a lot of problems start from a publisher/church/org either not having solid theological and ministry principles, or else not sticking to the ones they have. The temptation to chase the next big thing is just endemic to human and institutional nature."
Read more here. We may not be able to change the priorities of Christian publishing today -- I for one appreciate the high standards Crossway -- but we can be discerning regarding what we purchase and what we read. Lewis's guidance to read tried-and-true old books in between reading newer books is good counsel.
FINAL QUOTE. "This is the fundamental thing, the most serious thing of all, that we are always in the presence of God." (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
That's it for this week!
Sandy
Image above is my photo of a recent sunrise on Price Mountain near Blacksburg, VA. The cartoon below is by Tom Gauld in the New Scientist. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
