Afterwords -- week 26
"Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD." (Psalm 36:6 ESV)
June 18, 2022
Dear friends,
Here are some random gleanings from my recent Bible reading:
PLAIN AND SIMPLE (Psalm 34). "Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it" (Ps 34:14; also Ps 37:27). And hear what Paul says: "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good" (Rom 12:9). The Bible is filled with beautiful and profound passages, but I appreciate that the Lord also speaks very plainly, simply, and directly: "Stop doing that; turn around and do this." I needed that this week.
HATED WITHOUT A CAUSE (Psalm 35). King David was aware that some people hated him and opposed him "without cause" (35:7, 19; also Ps 69:4). That doesn't mean that David didn't have any character flaws or personality issues that someone might dislike. It means that the vehement opposition he endured was not due to some act of injustice on his part but because of people's opposition to God's choice of David as anointed king. They hated what he represented, namely the rule of God over them (Psalm 2). This phrase is applied to our Lord Jesus in John 15:25... "They hated me without a cause." There really is no reason (no just cause) for people to hate and reject Jesus. He has done them no wrong. But they hated that he called out sin (Jn 15:22). People love their autonomy and despise the righteous rule of God. They reject the Lord's right to rule over them, as the parable said, "...his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us'" (Luke 19:14).
GOD'S STEADFAST LOVE (Psalm 36). I love the creation images that are given in this psalm: heavens, clouds, mountains, ocean depths, sheltering wings, a banquet, river, fountain, and light (vv 5-9). These are all images God intended to portray his steadfast love (hesed) to us, and they surround us still today. We should take time to notice them. Jonathan Edwards was an observer of nature, and he wrote of the many metaphors, types, and images that God embedded in this world to testify to his glory (Rom 1:20). Edwards wrote, “I believe that the whole universe, heaven and earth, air and seas, and the divine constitution and history of the holy Scriptures, be full of images of divine things, as full as a language is of words” (WJE, Types, Vol. 11:152). Take time to look up and look around at the many object illustrations God has placed in this world for us.
BIBLE READING. I wrote a Bible reading guide based upon the M'Cheyne reading schedule (over two years). Here are the readings for this weekend in Isaiah and Revelation. And here in Deuteronomy and Psalms.
IN OTHER READING. A quote: "Christianity has an objective side in doctrine and church, in worship and church government. But it also penetrates subjectively into the human being himself; into his mind, heart, and conscience; and there it cultivates a new world of ideas, conditions, and dispositions which are difficult to know and to describe. And from within, the Christian faith again extends to all areas of human life, exerts its influence in all spheres, and leaves its mark on all elements of culture. A description of Christianity that would be satisfactory in any way would have to take into account this inner power and do justice to this hidden, spiritual activity." (Herman Bavinck, What Is Christianity?)
RECENT ARTICLES.
-- "I’m a believer and I’m a skeptic—it just depends what things I’m being asked to believe (or doubt)." Glen Scrivener on "Everyone You Know Is a Believer".
-- "The point is that the privileging of sexuality over religion is itself a philosophical commitment that betrays Disney’s stated commitment to pure representation." (Samuel D. James)
-- "Thus one of the challenges of containing extremism lies not just in addressing the most intense individuals at the bottom of the funnel but also the prevalence of the terrible ideas at the top." (David French)
-- Here's "40 Random Pieces of Advice for the Christian Life" by Tim Challies. (I have found most of these to be true to my own experience, as well!) And here's 40 more.
FINAL QUOTE. "Learn to apologize. Learn to apologize first. Learn to apologize often. Learn that to apologize is a mark of strength of character, not weakness." (Tim Challies)
That's it for week 26! I will be unavailable for week 27, but I will send another newsletter on week 28.
Sandy
Image credit. Photo taken at Topsail Island, 2018, with a Nikon L810.