Category Archives: The Majesty of God

Old Wisdom

1 Reply

In “When Nations Die,” Jim Nelson Black examined the common causes behind the fall of Carthage, Greece and Rome.  These powerful empires didn’t fail because they were attacked from outside; they rotted away from the inside with what Black calls “Social, Cultural and Moral Decay.”  Such decay results when the people abandon traditional wisdom and values.  People turn away from the mores and beliefs of the past and attempt to rewrite new ones, based on what they believe is new and more sophisticated thinking.   That’s what happened to Carthage.  The same process brought down the empire of Greece and then Rome.  We have seen similar attitudes and consequences in Europe and Not-so-Great-Anymore Britain.  And here.

You might think we would get the point.  That guy you just passed on the highway with his hood up?  He ignored his “Check Engine” light.  If we paid attention to history, we would see a bright, flashing “Check Engine” light on the dashboard of the United States.  But the prevailing attitude is to put tape over it and drive on.

This is more puzzling since we also see examples in history of nations that have returned to old wisdom and have prospered.  The Old Testament is full of such examples.  Rwanda is a present day demonstration of this truth.

But it’s not just any old wisdom that matters.  It’s not about hanging on to old superstitions and myths.  The old wisdom that is critical for national survival is grounded on a deep reverence for our Creator, God.  Standing in humble awe before the One for Whom quantum mechanics is two plus two.  Recognizing He just might know what works best.

1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 2:1-6

More is More

Leave a reply

In “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the people who had seen the extraterrestrial vehicles in the sky, gathered on the hill in wonder and amazement, hoping to see more.  You should experience that attitude when you attend a church: people who have glimpsed a beautiful and powerful mystery and want more.  Sadly, many churches seem to know all the answers, to have everything tied up in neat bundles.  They have lost their taste for mystery.  Stay away!  Those so-called churches are dangerous; they have died.  A pastor who considers himself to be an expert has not encountered God.

When Paul encountered Jesus, it blew his mind so thoroughly he couldn’t see for days.  Before that, he was an expert.  After that, he wrote,

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12

Just One

2 Replies

If you had to pick just one rule to live by, one rule to teach your kids, which one would you choose?  Jesus picked this one:

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.  (Matthew 22:37-38)

God is not emotionally needy; He is not hurt or impoverished by our failure to love Him.  So what’s the deal?  Why is this the most important one?  Let’s start with this: If we could truly wrap our minds around the reality that we have personally been created by an infinitely superior Being, Who designed and created the universe, Who knows us, cares for us and loves us, if we could hold that truth present in our consciousness, our natural response would be wholehearted love for Him.  Anything less would be petulant rebellion.  

Presumably, as we obey the command to love God with our all, it has the effect of bringing us closer to the full realization of Who He is and how He loves us.  Aligned with that truth, we are more in tune with the rest of His design.

But how would such love be expressed?  A Hallmark moment wouldn’t suffice. As we are drawn into a closer relationship of love with God, it spills over and is naturally expressed in our love for others.  That is why Jesus added this:

And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”  (Matthew 22:39-40)

Simply put, if you could truly obey the first command, you would find yourself obeying the second, and would not need to worry about all the others.  

For Sure

2 Replies

Here’s the truth for Ann Maree, things she knows with certainty in Heaven:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

                                                           (Psalm 23)

In Plain Sight

Leave a reply

“Have you lost your mind?”  If the judge asks you that, your trial isn’t going well.  But when the king asked Paul that question during his trial, his response was simple.  He said, “You know what the prophets said would happen to the Messiah, and you were around to know what happened to Jesus.  I’m not crazy; I’m telling you things you already know are true.”  He wound up his argument with this:

For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.    (Acts 26:26)

“This has not been done in a corner.” 

Think how unique that is.  The origins of most religions are shrouded in secrecy or are at least confined to the personal experiences of their founder.  He says, “Trust me -I had a vision; I found a book… ”  Not Jesus.  He performed His work and delivered His teaching in public, where anyone could see and hear.  When they came to arrest Him, Jesus said,

… “Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”   (Matthew 26:55b-56a)

Two marks of authenticity:  1)The prophets said, “Here’s what God will do; when these things happen, you can be sure it is God’s Messiah.  2) When the events of Jesus’ life fit the pattern including His crucifixion, burial and resurrection, it was all done in public, for all to see.

Books like The DaVinci Code are based on the supposition that the Christian faith is based on a bunch of secret wisdom, carefully hidden from the gullible public.  Nonsense.  With Jesus, nothing was done in the corner.

By the way, Jesus said His second coming would be in plain sight, too.  Something to consider…

Too Much, Part 2

Leave a reply

Cramming for a final is like trying to put packing peanuts back in the box.  Put one back and two or three pop out.  Our brains can only hold so much.  There are some things too vast to fit in such a limited space.

Jesus’ love is one of those.  (If you haven’t read the previous post, scroll down to read it first)  It’s too much to comprehend, without a supernatural power boost from the Spirit of God.  But God gives that boost, not so we will have more information.  It’s not so we will have the answers to pass a test.  It’s for something that surpasses the mere possession of more facts.  Paul prays for believers to be strengthened to more fully understand the enormity of Christ’s love, SO THAT THEY MIGHT…

…  know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  –   (Ephesians 3:19b)

Read that again.  Let it sink in.  The more we know the love of Jesus, the more we become filled with the essence of God!   The “fullness of God” is manifested in the astonishing love of Jesus.  And we are meant to be filled to the brim with His “fullness,” so our lives would demonstrate His love, His essence, too.

If you are thinking, “No way I could ever pull that off,” remember, this is a prayer for God to do it!   And Paul wraps up this prayer with this encouragement:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  –  (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Too Much

Leave a reply

Ever feel like your head is about to explode?  Maybe it was in a class or seminar where the information was  shooting out of a fire hose.  I’ve felt that way, trying to wrap my mind around what Einstein was thinking, or figure out why my computer wasn’t working.  The first time I saw the Grand Canyon, I just couldn’t comprehend the size and scope of it.  It was too much to take in.  At times like that, it would be nice to push a button to get a mental power boost.

There’s a prayer for that kind of a power boost in the Bible.  The prayer is for the power to comprehend the vast love of Jesus!  It’s too vast, too much.  There’s no way to take it all in, without a supernatural power boost from the Spirit of God.  Check it out.  I’ve highlighted the main ideas in the prayer, but don’t dance lightly over the other stuff; it’s all important and all amazing:

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, …  (Ephesians 3:16-18)

The idea is that the love of Jesus is so immeasurable, it would make your head explode.  It’s too much to comprehend without spiritual help, even for those who, by faith in Jesus, have been “rooted and grounded” in His love.  We are like seedlings who cannot imagine becoming a flower.  Or a tree.

Perhaps that is why some reject Jesus, saying His crucifixion is too cruel to be required by a good God.  Perhaps they only see the cruelty because it is impossible to comprehend the love.

More on this next time…

Know Better

1 Reply

You say, “I’ll pray for you,” but then, what do you ask in your prayers?  “Lord, please bless Amy, please heal her foot…”?  Something like that?  Me too, most of the time.  That’s what makes this prayer of Paul so startling and attractive to me:

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.  (Ephesians 1:17)

Here’s my hunch:  When we need prayer, when we struggle or suffer or lack certainty, if we could somehow really know God as He truly is, know Him at that moment of need, it would make things much better.  It might satisfy us.  I suspect Paul understood that from personal experience.

Chew on that.  See if it doesn’t taste good and nourish.

Powerfully Weak

1 Reply

It was malpractice and folks got so upset, the doctor skipped town for good.  He had applied hot poultices to the eyes of a 6 week old infant, causing her to become permanently blind.  But that tragedy didn’t stop the child.  Even without the American Disabilities Act, Fanny Crosby managed to live a triumphant and happy life. 

You probably know she wrote the hymn, Blessed Assurance (maybe not; I had to  Google it…) but how many other hymns did she write?  How about 5500, and that’s just the ones she submitted to her publisher.  She had another 2000 in reserve.  But we cannot measure her life by simply counting the number of songs she wrote. Try to imagine their combined impact. Someone slides into the back pew of a country church, devastated and grasping for hope. When the song begins, she cannot bring herself to sing but soon the swell of the voices and the encouraging lyrics penetrate her gloom. As she hums along and then quietly, tentatively, joins in, her spirits are lifted. Multiply that experience by many thousands. Only God knows how profoundly Fanny blessed others as her hymns are still sung, well over 100 years later.  How could a blind person have led such a powerful life?  The answer is simple and yet profound: The Holy Spirit revealed His power through her weakness.

Paul said it like this:

…I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan [some believe this was also trouble with eyesight], to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  …For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7b – 9 & 10b with my comments in brackets)

If you see a strong man bend a pipe, you think, “No big deal; He’s strong.”  You see a little kid do it, then you start wondering, what’s the secret?  The same principle is at work when the Holy Spirit gives special strength to someone who is weak. 

Like Fanny.

Or you.

Beyond “Wisdom”

Leave a reply

“Help! Rape!”  My little boy eyes bulged as wide as yo-yo’s as I read the damp message I’d found in a bottle, floating in the lake.  I knew it was something bad, but back then, little boys were not taught much about rape, or even sex.  I had no recourse but to ask my mother what it meant.  I laugh to think back on that moment, the look on her face, because she would have been profoundly uncomfortable if I’d asked her what necking was!  She went through a few inarticulate false starts and then informed me that rape meant “misbehavior.”  Aha!  New information, I thought.  I hurried over to my brother to impress him with my advanced knowledge and wisdom.  “I know what rape means,” I proclaimed.  “Really?”  “Yes,” I said, drawing myself up to my full, second grade stature, “it means misbehavior!”   That was a moment of great pride for me.   That is, until I began to realize how incomplete my lofty wisdom really was.

There have always been people who think they know it all, who draw themselves up and make proclamations based on the fullness of their great wisdom.  God laughs.  In their wisdom they have been blinded to some of the most basic elements of reality.  So Paul wrote:

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”.  (1 Corinthians 3:18-19)

Every year about this time, as we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, we hear from the “wise” who consider us foolish. They draw themselves up and proclaim how ludicrous it is to believe in a God Who would allow His Son to be tortured, and how naive it is to think He could have been restored to life.  Which is tragic, because Jesus endured that torment out of love for them, to rescue them.  And they cannot see it.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”  –  (1 Corinthians 1:18-19)

Before you bet your life on the wisdom of those who sound smug, consider the difference between what it means to be “perishing” and “saved.”  No doubt, there were some experts on the Titanic who knew it was folly to think such a ship could go down.  After all, it had been designed by the best engineers to prevent such a thing.  If only they had been able to see beyond their own wisdom…    Just possibly, the God of the Universe knows a bit more than those who think they are wise here on earth.