Betrayal, Heartbreak, Curses and Dirt

So your day goes something like this: you receive word that your talented and charming son is on his way to town to forcibly remove you from your job and kill you if necessary; you grab what you can and leave town with the few friends you have left and on the way you meet up with a man who tells you that the one person you had shown extreme kindness to has turned his back on you; not too far down the road an opportunistic critic shows up to accuse you, curse you and "put you in your place"; and as icing on the cake, the same man follows along throwing rocks and dirt clods at you.

This was King David's situation on the day Absalom implemented his rebellious plan. The story is fascinating, and even more incredible is David's response to the events as they unfold! Like Christ, he doesn't speak a cross word to his accusers or allow violence towards his aggressors.

I've never had anyone out to kill me, but I've certainly had days (or a series of days) when circumstances piled up on each other like wrecked cars on a foggy freeway. You wonder why some of the "junk" couldn't be spread out a little thinner. Like David, we arrive at the end of the day exhausted. The key is that somehow we also do what David did, and refresh ourselves. I'm fairly certain that what David did at the end of that horrible day was to find solace in the LORD, as he had done on so many other occasions. For David, for us, the hymn rings true: Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, great is Thy faithfulness!

Postscript: To get the full understanding of the part of Mephibosheth in this story, you have to read 2 Samuel 9 and 19:24-26...

Stealing Hearts

"Absalom . . . stole the hearts of the men of Israel." 2 Samuel 15:6

And so, the impostor, the usurper, the smooth talker, the handsome and good-looking son of David began his conspiratorial coup.

One key truth that can be harvested from this story is the danger of deception. All true followers of Christ must be alert and guard against those who would distort and misuse the pure Word of God for their own gain. We must not give ground in these matters. We must not allow the soft-selling of the Gospel. To offer a half-truth or easy-believism is to give lost souls a false sense of security.

The true king in Israel was David, but through lies, distortions, empty promises and good looks, Absalom led many astray. Let us not be led astray by any book, preacher or TV "ministry" that stands for anything other than salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as revealed in the Scriptures alone, for the glory of God alone!

Frost In March

Robert Frost is one of my all-time favorite poets. His lyrics are organic: heavy with meaning yet light for reading. In this part of the world we've already had some very warm days as winter gives way to spring. However, snow is forecast for the weekend and it's this strange time of year when daffodils, tulips and crocuses poke through the snow that remind me of poems like this one:

To the Thawing Wind

Come with rain, O loud Southwester!

Bring the singer, bring the nester;

Give the buried flower a dream,

Make the settled snowbank steam.

Find the brown beneath the white;

But whate'er you do tonight,

Bathe my window, make it flow,

Melt it as the ice will go;

Melt the glass and leave the sticks

Like a hermit's crucifix;
Burst into my narrow stall;

Swing the picture on the wall;

Run the rattling pages o'er;

Scatter poems on the floor;

Turn the poet out of door.

Me and Mephibosheth

I am crippled. I suffer disability from a long-ago injury. My injuries have healed, but left me less than perfect. This is the story of my sin.

One of the gems of all the beautiful stories in the Bible is that of King David and his relationship to Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, grandson of Saul.

When the news of the demise of Saul and his sons reached home, Mephibosheth's nurse fled. In the panic, there was some sort of accident and Mephibosheth - then only five years old - was injured and crippled for life. Years later, after David had assumed the throne of Israel and subdued most of his enemies, he discovered that Mephibosheth was still alive. This only-living-heir to Saul's dynasty was brought before King David.

Did he fear? Did he tremble? He knew God had exalted David, and David was ruthless with his enemies. But any anxiety he had must have melted away like fog when the sun rises in its strength when he heard these words from David's lips:

"Don't be afraid . . . for I will surely show you kindness . . ."

The rest of the story reveals a gracious King David restoring Saul's lands to Mephibosheth, granting him a caretaker and a lifelong income. In addition, and perhaps even more importantly, David decrees that from that day forth Mephibosheth would eat at his table "LIKE ONE OF THE KING'S SONS." This cripple, this heir of the former dynasty that sought David's life, was brought into the favor and fellowship of the Shepherd King David.

If we pay attention when we read the Old Testament, we see Christ revealed everywhere. And here He is exemplified in the story of David and Mephibosheth.

There I was, crippled from birth by sin, broken and disfigured and unknown. Now here I am, sought out, known, still bearing scars, but brought close by Christ to live in the presence of the King.

"He always ate at the king's table, and he was crippled in both feet." 2 Samuel 9:13

Though a cripple, I am restored and dining daily with the King! Sola gratia! Soli Deo gloria!

Just Wondering

I wonder about my sons...

I wonder if they notice that I like to listen to music and even sing while I'm cooking dinner.

I wonder if they notice how much I love their Mom.

I wonder if they realize what a treasure the laughter is that we often share.

I wonder if they notice how many wonderful books we have in our house and how much I love reading them.

I wonder if they notice the same sunsets I do.

I wonder if they notice the things that make me righteously angry.

I wonder if they notice when I make mistakes and 'fess up to them.

I wonder if they notice how important their Mom is to me (that doesn't count as a repeat!).

I wonder what they're thinking when they see me leading worship at church.

I wonder if they realize what a humbling experience that is for me.

I wonder what they'll remember about our mealtime prayers.

I wonder if they'll remember the better things more than the rotten things.

I wonder if they'll ever understand how important they are to me.

Uillean Pipes

I like to blow the harmonica occasionally - goes nice with the guitar. But this, this is something in another category altogether. Not many folks have heard of uillean pipes, but most folks have probably heard them being played.

Harder To Believe Than Not To

This video from Steve Taylor begins with the hauntingly beautiful "Vocalise" from Sergei Rachmaninoff. Steve's hairstyle in the vid is unfortunate, but the song is powerful.

From the album's liner notes:
"The song takes its title from a line found in the collected letters of Flannery O'Connor, a critically acclaimed fiction writer from the Deep South. Her literary friends in New York City had a hard time believing that a writer of her caliber could be something as common and unfashionable as a follower of Jesus. She reacts in her letter to a criticism that Christianity's primary function is as a crutch for the weak-spirited. She writes how they just don't understand the cost involved in Christianity, that 'It's much harder to believe than not to believe.'"

Christianity demands things from us that we don't naturally want to give.

Pastor, teacher and theologian John MacArthur speaks against a "designer gospel...tweaked to overcome consumer resistance...The idea is to make Christianity easy to believe. But the unvarnished, untweaked, unmodified, unavoidable truth is that the gospel is actually hard to believe. In fact, if the the sinner is left to himself, it is absolutely impossible." (page 20, Hard to Believe)

Any sugar-coated sermon flavored to make "deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me" more palatable is not the Gospel at all.

"So you want to follow Jesus, do you? It'll cost you absolutely everything." (John MacArthur)

The Defending Shepherd

Most of us are familiar with the story of the lost sheep in the New Testament. It tells of a shepherd who is missing one sheep and searches until he finds it. Here we learn of the Shepherd's persistence in making sure that not one sheep belonging to Him should be lost.

Working our way back toward Deuteronomy, we read a blessing for those loved by Lord, that they "rest between His shoulders." This is a picture of a sheep being carried on the back of a shepherd. A shepherd might be carrying a sheep in this fashion if it were sick or injured or simply lost.

Jumping to 1 Samuel we see another description of our Shepherd that perhaps goes unnoticed by many. In many ways, the man David is a picture of the future Messiah. He is a shepherd king with a heart after God. In chapter 17 he describes his fearless strength in defending his sheep:

But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Vv 34-35

Our Great Shepherd carefully guards us, carries us in all our troubles, and rescues us from our enemies with decisive victory.

Something Different

There's nothing like a change of scenery. One of my most memorable motorcycle trips was to the mountains of north central New Mexico. While riding through the Santa Fe National Forest, it started to rain and we took a short break just after passing the Valles Caldera to batten down the hatches. Riding through the mountains is pure bliss, and riding in the rain is actually fun too, so this was an experience like no other. I actually felt sorry for the people in cars. BOOOORING. Trips like this are the antidote for stale living. A person must have a spirit of adventure to truly enjoy life, to remain vibrant and creative and full of wonder.

I would suggest that the same is true in our walk with Christ. How disappointing it is to hear the same wooden prayers being recited by passionless preachers or the same patterns for worship being employed to the point of numbness. I'm not calling for abandoning fundamental truths, but for the sake of keeping our relationship with Christ in "Spirit and in Truth", I certainly am calling for the abandonment of stale Christianity.

Why do the Psalms implore us many times to "sing a new song?" Why does God lament that people honor Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him? We should keep in mind that a change of scenery is not only nice, but necessary. We should sing a new song, find a new place to pray and pray in a voice that is our own, not filled with "Christianese". We should learn again to be filled with wonder as we read the Scriptures.

Our God is not a robot or a mystical god to be approached with special formulas and models. He is the Creator of all, infinitely creative, the Maker of music and art and language and color. Let us worship and serve Him in the "splendor of His holiness."

Prone To Leave...

Phil Wickham leads one of our Faith's most beautiful, compelling hymns . . . Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.

Indescribable

How do you quantify the love a parent has for a child? If it's even possible, how can you describe the extra dimension added to that love when the child is one that was given very little hope of survival by doctors?

My youngest as yet has no real conception of the miracle his life is. Sometimes (well, often) I'm simply overwhelmed by the fact that he is with us and is fully functional, beautiful, intelligent and ornery in spite of having ARPKD. Last night I sat with him on the couch and held him as if I were holding some wonderful treasure, awed by the realization that he is mine. He is a dream, a blessing from God, and a testimony to his brothers of God's goodness.

The point that I'm getting at, and won't get to no matter how hard I try, is to try and describe this kind of love. It can't be done. All I can say is that it's real, it's bigger than me, and it can't be stopped. It must be so, then, that the love of God for His children must be just as extravagant. Kissing my boy's scruffy little head every morning is pure joy. Could it really be true that my heavenly Father feels this way about me?

Five Solas Are Everything

It is a fact that my desk and shelves are adorned with many a clipped or copied quote from great men and women, along with the occasional Tumbleweeds cartoon. Sometimes I am diligent enough to cite the sources for these quotes, and sometimes I let it slip. The quote I'm about to share is one of those that dangles in my office without proper citation. I have no idea where I found it - somewhere in the vast ocean of the web.

The Five Solas; Evidence of the Genuine Gospel

"The Reformers from the 16th and 17th centuries gave us a method of understand this exclusive Gospel. The Fives Solas are the polemic, divisive, markers that are evidence of the genuine Gospel. They state that it is from Scripture Alone through Faith Alone in Christ Alone to the Glory of God Alone. Any emphasis outside of this marks that form of the gospel as false. No part of it can be removed and used instead nor can they stand apart from the rest.

"These Five Solas together with nothing taken away and nothing added seems quite narrow doesn't it? That is because the Gospel is narrow for it is the narrow gate. Christ is the only way to God and those whom He saves come to Him on His terms, not theirs. These terms do not include religiosity. No, there is nothing added. we come empty handed to the cross.

"What we must never forget is that God is Sovereign. He is going to save His people, not by our efforts, but as we obey Him in making disciples where He has us. He saves His people from first to last. He preserves them eternally. He has graciously given us the opportunity to be part of this great work of bringing people in to the Kingdom."

There are so many aberrations of the Gospel in our world today. No doubt there have always been. To know the Gospel in simple, rock solid, unadorned terms in priceless, and necessary.