Taking Refuge

Psalm 91

I was brought to this Psalm today.  And do I ever need it.  I’m feeling a bit banged around by the world and by circumstances these days..  But I know that I can go to God, to the cool shade of His Shadow, and be safe.  And it is not enough that I FEEL safe, but I KNOW I am safe.

There are people in my life that hate God and especially Jesus.  They don’t hide it.  I need to be around these people every day, and that does take its toll on me.

But from this psalm I know that the Lord has my back.  If I obey Him, He will keep me safe.  He will not stop the arrows of  derision that these people fling at me., but He will shield me from the damage they cause.   He will keep me safe when the unbelievers in my life spew their hatefullness and sin before me like a pestilence. 

And not only will he protect me but he will honor me.  “With long life will I satisfy [her] and show [her] my salvation.” (Psalm 91:16 NIV)

The gateway to God’s refuge is in fellowshipping with Him in prayer and meditating on his word. 

Nothing can penetrate a fortress like that.

LJG (c) 2009

Wise Words from a Visitor

Last Sunday we had a guest speaker at church.  He spoke about his ministry in his home country.  One of the things he emphasized is that all believers have gifts.  He said his was not the gift of preaching, but his, instead,  was the gift of healing.  Then he gave an example of a person he had healed from substance abuse and the desire to commit suicide.  Our guest described how he felt heat leave his hands to pour onto the person he was praying over.  He stated that the person was, in fact, released from that bondage.

It was so refreshing to hear a testimony like that.   I think  most christians don’t have a problem in believing in the “non-spectacular” gifts like teaching, administration, preaching, helps, et cetera.  But I think we get a little nervous when we consider the more “spectacular” gifts like healing, or, heaven forbid, speaking in tongues.

Now I’m not saying that if we, ourselves, don’t have these gifts, or the people in our immediate circle of believers don’t display them, then there is something wrong with us or our group.

But what I am saying is that we should not be resistent to those gifts, that we should be open to them, and we should never, ever think that they are not for today’s church.

If you can show me an absolute clear verse from scripture that says that these gifts are no more, I would be interested in knowing that verse, because I sure can’t find it in the scriptures.

My thanks to our visitor……….

LJG (c) 2009

Haven’t been posting

If I do have any readers here, I thank you for coming back and checking for new posts and apologize for not posting in a week.  This seems to be the pattern for me:  I get excited over some portion of scripture and really get into it, then life  (AKA the world, the flesh and the devil) has a way of creeping up and snatching the enthusiasm out of it.  Then I fall out of the habit of reading and praying over the scriptures.

So say a little prayer for me (as the song goes) so I can get out of this spiritual ennui.

LJG (c) 2009

Psalm 103: 1-3 — Thoughts on Healing

I was casting about wondering what to read, study and write on for this week, when, on Sunday morning in church, Psalm 103: 1-12 was read as our “call to worship” .  I’ve always liked this Psalm; it has been one that I’ve come to time after time whenever have I needed encouragement, especially when I have been physically unwell.

The verses I particularly come to are:

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. (Ps. 103:1-3, NIV)

So, I decided I would share a few thoughts on this psalm.   When I write about a bit of scripture,  I like to draw upon the wisdom and experience of other teachers.  So  I opened Eerdman’s Bible Commentary and my heart dropped when I read this:

The enumerated benefits are all spiritual…’Diseases’ signifies here not bodily but spiritual disorder…(515).

This commentary is saying that this verse really does NOT mean that the Lord will actually heal your very real diseases.    This is all just figurative language.

I have to say I was a bit irritated with this.   As I was driving around this morning doing errands, I was thinking about this.  If this is true, if so many of the verses we rely on for comfort and encouragement for our daily trials are figurative and not literal, if they are not to be taking on face value, then why bother to read them.  Why don’t we just sit back and say, “Lord, fine, I won’t ask you to heal me because, well, quite frankly, I have nothing to base that request on.”

Well, I give that a big hearty raspberry.  In my opinion, some people who over-spiritualize simple statements in scripture do so because they might have some trouble really believing that  God will do what He says He will do.

Does that mean that if we are not healed it is because we are not believing enough?  No, I’m not saying that either.  What I am saying is that verses like this one show us a pattern of behavior that will lead us in the direction of true physical healing.   How do I come by that?  I found this commentary that demonstrates what I mean:

The pardon granted is a present one—forgiveth; it is continual, for he still forgiveth; it is divine, for God gives it; it is far reaching, for it removes all our sins; it takes in omissions as well as commissions, for both these are in-equities;and it is most effectual, for it is as real as the healing, and the rest of the mercies with which it is placed. Who healeth all thy diseases. When the cause is gone, namely, iniquity, the effect ceases. Sicknesses of body and soul came into the world by sin, and as sin is eradicated, diseases bodily, mental, and spiritual will vanish, till “the inhabitant shall no more say, I am sick.”

What this is saying is that when the Lord forgives us, our souls are cleansed, and then our minds and emotions are liberated, and because of that, our bodies can be healed.    When we live a life of repentance and forgiveness, we set the stage for a physical healthful existence.  It is truly a holistic life-style.

Now before you start accusing me of engaging in “airy-fairy ooga-booga New Age-y” thinking, please note that the observation I just quoted was made by Charles H. Spurgeon, a 19th century Baptist preacher, in his commentary on the Psalms, The Treasury of David.    If he could accept that moral healing brings emotional and physical healing, then I think we can afford to be a little less rigid in our own thinking on this matter.

So, my point is that we should examine yourself daily and ask for God’s forgiveness of sins (yes, you did sin today, friend).    Let the rest go from there.

LJG (c) 2009

Psalm 134

I was cruising through the Psalms and I came across this lovely little gem:

1 Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD
who minister by night in the house of the LORD.

2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and praise the LORD.

3 May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth,
bless you from Zion.

Eerdman’s Bible Commentary says that this psalm was for a vigil of a night festival in the Temple. It references Isaiah 20:29: And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. We hear the congregation exhort the temple leaders who respond in kind.  Furthermore, the blessing God gives is for individuals as the word “you” is singular (534)

In the Archaeological Study Bible, the editors write that what  is emphasized in this Psalm is that “Yahweh does not cease to work simply because it is nighttime; indeed, the Protector of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps…Worship of the Lord is to continue uninterrupted by day and night (941). “

Finally, Charles Spurgeon quotes Samuel Martin in the Treasury of David:

1. God—Jehovah—the fountain of blessing.
2. The heavens and the earth, evidence of divine capacity to bless.
3. The church, a channel of blessing.
4. The saints, the means of spreading blessing, through the spirit of blessing.
5. The riches involved in the divine benediction.—Samuel Martin.

My point is mentioning all this is that I wanted to draw attention to this short, compact Psalm,  to emphasize that our praise of the Lord should not be limited to Sunday morning, but in the evening and, if I may extrapolate, all of the time, and to show that the blessing we receive for corporate worship is met with personal, individual blessings from the Lord

LJG (c) 2009

Coming Full Circle

You shall not covert your neighbor’s house.  You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (Exodus 20:17, NIV)

Snell’s observations bring us full circle.  My notes on his observations:  Obsessive selfishness and longer for satisfaction.  A long is built into us that connot be filled by anthing except God.  This brings us back to the first commandment.

This commandment is one of the hardest for us in our modern, materialist, me-me-me culture to wrap our minds around.  What is coveting?  It is when we do put things before God (Commandment #1), when we make “idols” out of the things of this world (#2), when we misrepresent God to ourselves and to the world (#3), when we busy ourselves to gain the things of the world to the point where we do not honor God, our relationships, or our very lives (#4), when we do not honor the foundational relationships of our society (#5 and #6), when we hate and destroy others (#7), when we take and exploit what does not belong to us (#8), when we lie about others, ourselves, and God (#9), when we sink so low that the emptiness echoes in our hearts until we try to cram a substitute into it to dull it to silence.  Breaking the 10th commandment kills our spirits.

It brings us back to the core of the Law:  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV).

Thank you, Mr. Snell, for reminding me of this.

LJG (c) 2009

Based on Adrian Snell’s video on the 10 Commandments.

Facing the Truth

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. (Exodus 20: 16, NIV)

Snell draws out a lot more from this commandment than simply “don’t tell lies.”  My notes of his comments state:  Speak truthfully.  Build each other up.  Speak good.  No gossip.  No judging, no speaking to cause harm.  What is truth?  Jesus.   Jesus makes us see ourselves as we are.    Also faciing painful truths sets us free.  Lyiing can become a lifestyle.

Again, it brings us back to the foundation of all the commandments:  love each other as God loves us.  Therefore, our words must not be filled with hatefulness.  They must built up.  And when we begin to speak truthfully to and about others, then we start to see ourselves in the light of God’s truth.  Then, and only then, can we break free from sin and live free.

LJG (c) 2009

Based on Adrian Snell’s video on the 10 Commandments.

Other peoples’ stuff

You shall not steal. (Exodus 20: 15 NIV)

My notes on Snell’s presentation on the eighth commandment says this:  Not just taking…also waste, negligence, violence, indifference.  Plundering the earth.  We are responsible for looking after God’s created world.  If we honor others, we honor their possession.  Remember poor.  Give.  Do not steal.  Give like Jesus.

Well…. I have to say at first consideration, I thought he might be reading a bit much into this commandment.    I couldn’t really see how you could derive a “green” or  a “help the poor” agenda from this commandment.   That’s not to say that we shouldn’t be concerned about these things, but at first glance all I can see in this commandment is simply  “don’t take other peoples’ stuff.”

But, when I step back from my reading of the ten commandments, I’m beginning to see a pattern here:  all of the commandments seem to be intertwined and wrapped around the concept of if you love God you are going to take care of the things He has created:  His world, other people, the things that belong to other people.   We are not to hate others.  We are to respect others — even down to things they possess.

It’s a bit of a stretch and I have to consider this some more — but I think I see what Snell is getting at.

LJG (c) 2009

This is a continuing examination of notes I took from Adrian Snell’s 10 commandment video series several years ago.

The Foundation of All Human Relationships, Part II

You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)

When I wrote about my notes for the fifth commandments and entitled the post “The Foundation of Human Relationships”, I hadn’t looked ahead to my notes of Snell’s comments on adultery:     Let God be a part of the most fundamental of human relationships.  Our bodies don’t belong to us, but to God.  Our bodies and spirits are combined.  What we do to one affects the other.  Take care of partner’s needs.  Marriage is model of all human relationships (God there).  Three-strand rope.

But I think it would not be incorrect to say that marriage and the family are the foundations of our society and that letting God be part of the equation is paramount.  A couple needs to realize that in marriage, they are no longer  solitary entities.   Spouses must honor and take care of one another.   Body as well as spirit are linked to a person’s mate as well as to God Himself.    As it is on earth, so it is in Heaven… and vice-versa.

LJG (c) 2009

Notes derived from Adrian Snell’s 10 Commandment video series.

Let it Go

You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13, NIV)

From the previous commandment, we see that we must strive to honor all people. My margin notes from Snell’s video regarding the sixth commandment say this:   All human life is valuable. Resentment leads to hate which leads to murder. When we destroy life, we destroy God’s creation.  I am valuable.

Immediately it came to my mind Jesus’ statement that whoever hates someone has committed murder in his heart. I’m pretty sure that most of us haven’t murdered anyone in actuality but I know that we have all had resentments. It is not easy to dig that out of the heart. I know I struggle with it. There are simply people in this world that I do not like. Whenever someone irks me, I struggle with letting the slight go. This is especially hard in those relationships where there is unequal status — like at work — where I can’t deal with the obnoxious customer or the overbearing manager in a way that would resolve the situation and diffuse my resentment. Sometimes I just have to “suck-it-up.”

But that’s not to say that I push the resentment down to where it boils and seethes. Sometimes I have to be straight with myself and say “Look, you’re really irked at this person because he/she pricked your precious ego. Let it go. It doesn’t matter what anyone says to you since the God of the universe loves you. God loves that person too. Yes, really. What more do you need? So just let it go.”

It takes a little work, but as with any habit, over time I will get better at it.

LJG (c) 2009

Notes based on Adrian Snell’s 10 Commandments video series