Close...Close Enough?

In earlier articles, I’ve written about the Christian’s reluctance to name the name of Jesus Christ in his daily conversations, and even, at times, in his prayers. Astonishing as it may be, we are often ashamed to be known as a heartfelt follower and disciple of our one and only Savior.

Recently I watched a film presentation that I found both challenging and troubling. It concerned a fictional small town in Texas called Promise, where a husband and wife were mourning for a child who had died, and where the residents had been suffering from a severe drought for a number of years.

Mysteriously, a young boy about ten years of age wanders into this town, claiming to have come on a mission from God. This lad brings with him some sweet words of encouragement, some remarkable signs and wonders such as healings and prophecies about coming rainfalls, etc. He is even present when a girl who dies from an overdose is brought back to life. He also gives a ministry to the grieving mom. She agrees to make prayer mats for all the residents of the town, because the boy tells her that they all need to begin talking to God.

Toward the end of the movie, Gabe (the little boy) ministers to a dying doctor, who was the attending physician when the couple’s child passed away. The doctor says how unworthy he feels to leave this earth and get into heaven, but Gabe assures him that he is worthy, thanks to the blood of Christ. Then the doctor smiles, begins glowing with a heavenly light, and finally dies.

Throughout his ministry in the small town of Promise, Gabe claims that he is only a messenger, with no inherent power of his own. Then, at a town meeting where the folks are remembering the departed physician, Gabe finally reveals himself to be the angel Gabriel, complete with huge, spreading wings, causing everyone to respond with awe.

Now, obviously, this movie was a parable, designed to communicate the value of faith, hope and love, primarily to audiences who already have a basic belief in “God.” For that purpose, I found it entertaining and effective, keeping my interest and making me wonder who or what the boy Gabe would turn out to be. The fact that this character eventually used the term “the blood of Christ” with the dying doctor was reassuring, for I had feared that the making of the prayer mats was some obscure reference to Islam. Up to that point in the story, the “God” Gabe was serving was something of a puzzle.

So much of our media today portrays faith in God as a kind of panacea, that is, a cure-all for the troubles, pains, disappointments and fears that plague us as human beings. God is so good and so loving, we are told, that He cares about our dying loved ones, about our crops that need rain so desperately, about our dangers and afflictions. But it troubles me that so many of the viewing public, especially people who only attend church occasionally and read their Bibles only sporadically, may be forgetting that it’s not enough to “come close” when it comes to trusting “God.”

The true God–the only God who deserves our trust, the only God who EXISTS–is not only perfectly GOOD. He is also perfectly holy and just, and He hates our sins so much that He sent His beloved, eternal Son to suffer the judgment of HELL on the cruel cross. This God who is the ultimate Reality, determines reality for all those He has created. He has revealed this reality in a Book that tells the ultimate truth. He has revealed the reality of who He is in His Son who IS ultimate Truth: the Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again!

God warns us in His book that if we go on resisting His truth–truth about who He is…truth about who WE are…truth about the judgment awaiting sinners…truth about the only Savior from sin–then there will come a day when that truth will be taken away from us. And we will then be left with the watered-down half-truths of wandering, wishful storytellers who may occasionally “come close” to eternal life…

But not close enough to save anybody.

MNA

4/26/2023

As She Walked Away

Somehow I could tell she wasn’t acting

as she turned her face into the camera and 

a liquid glimmer caught light number two,

the one that Jerry set just so, to angle

feathery gold fringes of the hairdo

she arranged to get the night before.

Could she sense the extra pause? I faltered

with the dialogue, lines over-practiced

in between sips of neglected brandy

cross-legged on my sectional settee.

Late distraction when I heard her breathing

over in the corner, closed eyes smiling.

That was when I had to ditch my doubting

and admit my acting had to shut down

soon as this unending shoot wrapped up,

then I would tell her of the other writer

and the script my brain scanned unrelenting,

in between the wooden words we quoted.

Finally, our speeches were expiring

and the hip director beckoned blithely

for the cameraman to zoom in slow,

very slow, so slow as we sat clutching

for that final shot, then as we parted, 

she was magic as she walked away.

MNA

4/6/2023

Deep Dive into Jesus

 

Jesus Christ is the most revered, the most respected, the most pivotal Person who ever lived. But He is also the most reviled, the most controversial, the most misunderstood, it seems to me. His entrance onto the stage of history changed everything, and yet, people still do all they can to explain away, deny, or resist the Savior’s influence.

To believers, Jesus Christ means salvation from all that is wrong with this world, and from all that is wrong with ourselves, as well as all that is wrong between us and our Creator. His humble birth, His sinless life, His atoning death, His victorious resurrection, and His promise of forgiveness and eternal life all make Him one of a kind.

So…I have to ask myself: Why am I so often ashamed of Jesus Christ?

If I truly, totally, savingly trust in Him as my Savior, Lord and King, then why is His name so seldom found on my lips, in my conversations, sometimes even in my prayers? Is it just that there is a pervasive anti-religious sentiment in our culture permeating the air all around me? Is it merely because of our pluralistic philosophical bent I’ve been steeped in here in the American “melting pot”?

If I had a machine in my possession that could completely do away with war, disease, hatred, greed, crime, poverty…and I was too ashamed to tell people about it–tell everybody I knew–wouldn’t you call me a fool…an insane monster…to keep quiet about it? Is my thinking so twisted and clouded and cowardly, that I tend to keep the truth of Jesus Christ to myself?

For the past year or so, I’ve been listening to a certain podcast on the internet that focuses on one of my favorite TV shows from back in the 1960s. It happens to be a very unique series that was adventurous, fun and thought-provoking. For its time, it was quite controversial in many ways. This podcast features two men in their 40s who were analyzing the series episode by episode, doing what they referred to as a “deep dive” into the writing, the characters, the direction, the messages, and the lasting impact of that TV program. Both hosts on the podcast confessed that they were so obsessed with the show, they considered it a major influence in their lives.

They also confessed that, when they were in their teens, their devotion to this particular show had been ridiculed by their peers, and they had both suffered from a kind of “geek shame” over their obsession, and secretly wondered if there was something wrong with them deep down. In their minds, while they loved this TV series immensely, they still felt alone and isolated in their devotion to it. But their love for the show persisted over the years, and when they finally met one another and discovered how they shared this obsession, they were eager to explore the show from a more analytical standpoint, digging into how it was written, how the characters were developed, etc.

One of the results was that they came to realize how absurd it was for them to have been ashamed of their obsession. The more they did their “deep dives” into each of the episodes, the more reasons they found to be proud of their original devotion to the series, its excellence, its ideals, its sense of adventure, its prophetic outlook toward the future. As they describe this growing realization, it almost comes across like a religious epiphany or a life manifesto.

While I listen to this podcast, and the rapturous words of the two guys hosting it, I can’t help but compare their obsession to the other fandoms that exist in our TV and movie-soaked culture today: Lord of the Rings…Marvel characters…Harry Potter…Jane Austen novels and films…the list is endless. Certainly we all have our favorites, our pet obsessions. And then I think…

What do we think of Jesus? How obsessed are we with the Savior? The King whose story wasn’t concocted in the mind of a TV or screen writer, but in the mind of Almighty God? All the heroic and grand ideals you and I meet in our favorite myths and adventure tales pale to nothing in comparison with the eternal God’s plan of redemption that features His one and only Son.

A wonderful book I’ve been reading by teacher and theologian Dr. Michael Bennett is entitled Beginning with Moses: Finding Christ in the Old Testament. Dr. Bennett does a fantastic job as he dives deep into the Scriptures to discover the clues of Jesus’ mission, His offices, His roles, His names, His appearances, His place in prophecy, things that span the entire timeline of this planet…and beyond! As I read this insightful book, my excitement swells considering the total tapestry of the Father’s plan–a plan to rescue and redeem a fallen, helpless, sin-ridden race, all for the sake of His beloved Son. Who could not be moved by the story of a Father who chose to sacrifice His Son for ungrateful sinners such as I?

When I think of this story–this true story, I want to dive deep, deeper, deepest, into the chronicle of God’s truth, God’s holy Scripture. And I want to become so obsessed with the riches of His living Word, His only begotten Son, that His name is continually in my mind, on my heart, falling from my lips. I want everyone to hear of Him, to love Him, to trust Him, to know Him eternally. I want you, my friend, to become part of His story.

MNA (3/21/2023)

Psalm 119 Stanza 6

                       Themes from the Psalm of Psalms

(Loving the God of Psalm 119)

Stanza Six

Waw: The Mercies of God’s Salvation Empowering Me to Live Out His Truth

41. Let Your mercies come also to me, O LORD—/ Your salvation according to Your word.

42. So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, / For I trust in Your word.

43. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, / For I have hoped in Your ordinances.

44. So shall I keep your law continually, / Forever and ever.

45. And I will walk at liberty, / For I seek Your precepts.

46. I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, / And will not be ashamed.

47. And I will delight myself in Your commandments, / Which I love.

48. My hands also I will lift up to your commandments, / Which I love,

And I will meditate on Your statutes.

This poem of King David is without a doubt the Psalm of Psalms! Like no other passage in God’s word, Psalm 119 extols the virtues and the awesome value of the law of God. When the ancient Jews and the early church confessed their love and respect for God’s “law,” they weren’t just speaking of the rules and regulations and commands given to the nation of Israel. They were extolling ALL the words of the sacred Scriptures. All the utterances from the holy mouth of their Lord and King Yahweh.

Long ago, English translators brought the sacred name of God into our language using the title “Jehovah.” This is to many people a more familiar translation than the name Yahweh, but Yahweh is a more direct rendering, as it uses the sounds of the four Hebrew consonants that were given as the Lord’s covenant name: YHWH, a four-letter term that means “I am.” Every time a Hebrew addressed his covenant God using that name, “I AM,” he was reminded of how God revealed Himself to Moses from the burning bush, telling him: “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: I AM has sent me unto you.” David uses this eternal, holy name for God when he begins many of the stanzas of 119.

There is a remarkable contrast between the two stanzas HE and WAW. David’s focus throughout the last stanza HE was on his requests of the Lord for understanding and guidance so that he could resist unrighteous ways and run in the path of God’s commandments. The sixth stanza, however, has a different focus. Stanza WAW begins with one additional request. David includes the word “also” in verse 41, indicating that this request follows the ones he made previously. In effect, he is saying, “O Yahweh, in addition to your wisdom and your guidance, let your MERCIES come to me as well!” And he continues by defining what those mercies mean: “Your salvation according to Your word.”

This is the first of six times the word “salvation” appears in Psalm 119. The use of this word, and the fact it is used as a synonym for the word “mercies,” is very instructive, especially to people who have a love and respect for the laws of God, as David did. We already saw that David admitted that he needed to “cleanse his way.” He saw himself as a young man, a child in need of being taught and guided. He was very aware that he was a sinner in need of salvation, not only from sickness, danger, enemies and calamities, but salvation from the judgment of a holy, perfectly just God. This verse makes it plain that, while he longed for God’s salvation, he didn’t fool himself with the idea that God owed it to him. It is only by the MERCIES of God that any person receives salvation from the Lord.

Mercy is a quality that places a limit on the carrying out of JUSTICE. It is an act of mercy when a judge sentences a murderer to life in prison instead of the death penalty. It is mercy when a father withholds a spanking from his child because the child has tears in his eyes. It is mercy when a debt is forgiven because I know the person who owes me is having a hard time. And whenever a sinner receives any kind of blessing from God, that blessing is an act of DIVINE mercy. David asks for God’s merciful salvation, “according to [His] word.” It is a promised salvation. He’s asking God to keep His word by rescuing him, even though he knows he doesn’t deserve it!

Then, based on God’s granting this one final request, David gives a list of his noble intentions: a number of commitments or resolutions he wishes to fulfill in response to his God’s saving mercies. In this stanza we get a picture of the redeemed soul’s desires. When a man or woman is genuinely saved by the grace and mercy of God, through faith in our Savior Jesus Christ, that person’s heart is changed. Made willing and eager to think, speak and act in accord with the word of God. He now has a new trust in the character of God: His truth and faithfulness in keeping His promises. His perfect power and wisdom to give her strength and guidance and understanding.

Verse 42 speaks of the saved person’s confidence in answering those who mock and taunt him for his new God-pleasing path of life. “I am simply trusting in the word of my God,” he will say. It doesn’t bother him that those who reproach him talk and act the way he himself once did. He has an answer for them: the very message of salvation that has been shared with himself. It is up to the God of mercies to do His work in the mocker’s own heart, as the child of God shares the truth he’s been given.

Verse 43 expresses a redeemed one’s desire to never speak anything that contradicts God’s truth. The best way she can fulfill that desire is to always have that truth “in her mouth.” Her hope has been placed in the “ordinances” of God—that is, in the revealed expressions of his perfect will: His word. I have recently been impressed, even amazed, hearing the testimony of several women who have committed whole chapters…even whole BOOKS of the Bible to memory, so that God’s word will continually be in their minds, their hearts, and their mouths.

That hope in God’s revealed truth carries over into the following verse. “So shall I keep Your law continually…forever and ever.” Again, here we hear the heart cry of David the psalmist, the “man after God’s own heart.”  The precious, treasured, savored, memorized word of God is his source of hope. It is in that divine truth that he received God’s promises: promises that Yahweh would grant him victory. That He would never leave him. That He would grant an eternal kingdom to one of His descendents: the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s truth in David’s heart and in his mouth, would assure his obedience.

“And I will walk at liberty, / For I seek Your precepts.” Verse 45 continues David’s list of resolutions. The word “liberty,” of course, is a familiar word to Americans. We cherish our liberty as citizens of a largely free society where we can speak, think, worship and travel as we choose. But David is extolling more than just political or social freedom. He is hailing the blessings of SPIRITUAL liberty, where his heart and mind have been set free to walk in the paths of righteousness, rather than remain in bondage to his own sinful flesh and the slavery to Satan that opposes the gracious words of Yahweh. 

Having the written word of God gives us a deep, deep mine of purest gold—His own wisdom and knowledge that He’s seen fit to share with us. Sometimes we must dig into it to find our answers. We must be willing not only to be FED the truth of God, but also to diligently SEEK it, lest our liberty be impeded by the wrong turns we’re liable to take. Careful study of God’s word is never to be seen as a burden or a chore. It is rather a privilege, a journey of joyful discovery, an exercise of our liberty!

How many of us would be prepared to “speak of [God’s] testimonies also before kings” (verse 46)? David was resolved, as one who received Yahweh’s saving mercies, to do just that. Certainly as the ruler of ancient Israel, King David had many opportunities to confer and take counsel with other rulers who surrounded the holy land. His victories in battle had subdued the armies of many nations such as the Philistines, but this also gave him opportunities to testify about the one true and living God who had given him those victories. Naturally he hoped and prayed that Yahweh’s renown would spread and be respected in all the earth, even as the prophet Nathan had predicted (see 2 Samuel 7). When we are knowledgeable about God’s testimonies, we can be confident in the presence of the most imposing leaders. For the wisdom of the Scriptures is far superior to the mere philosophies of human beings. 

Verses 47 and 48 conclude David’s resolution list he wants to fulfill, having received the mercies of salvation, according to the promise of the Lord. He writes: “And I will delight myself in Your commandments, Which I love. My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, Which I love, And I will meditate on Your statutes.” When we take delight in something, like the birthday of a loved one, or the victory of a sports team, or the receiving of an award, whatever, that delight often takes over control of our bodies. We might throw up our hands in joyful ecstasy. We might actually jump up and down, even do a little “happy dance!” When is the last time we truly took delight in the commandments of our God? When did we throw up our hands in appreciation for what our Creator has chosen to reveal to us in His word? Without the Bible, we could know nothing of His merciful salvation He provided for mankind through the giving of His only begotten Son, who died on the cross to free us from sin, death, Satan and everlasting suffering in hell.

I want to encourage you, and myself, to take time to meditate on God’s statutes: His uplifted, established word, words that will never be broken, and will never fail. Words that reveal what a great, holy, righteous, mighty, merciful, gracious Creator He is. His justice, His holy hatred of our sin could have caused him to wipe us all out and imprison us in chains of torment forever. But praise Jehovah! Instead He chose to show us the divine smile of His mercy. Have you opened your heart to this God? Has his gift of eternal life and forgiveness of sin become yours? If so, let’s resolve, you and I, to treasure, ponder, study, hope in, speak about, and delight in, the truth of David’s merciful God!

Amen.

MNA

3/6/2023

God's Love Differs from Ours

Yes He is a God of Love.

In fact…God IS Love.

But God’s love is not like ours.

Our love is only a dim shadow of His.

His love is not a reflection of ours.

We cannot love in the divine sense,

until we truly know this loving God.

Until we know the God who is love,

our love will be poor, blind, selfish.

How does His love differ from ours?

God’s love springs from His desire

to extend His own perfect holiness and favor,

shared by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from eternity.

The loving Trinity chose to create heaven and earth

as the outflowing of their love for one another:

a perfect love that required nothing in return,

but for the creatures to enter into this love,

and enjoy their Creator’s benefits forever.

God made Adam and Eve innocent and upright,

able either to enter into this perfect love,

or to choose a path of disobedience.

Their bad choice set the life course for all of us,

resulting in a race of fallen sinners,

bound only for eternal judgment.

How does His love differ from ours?

God’s love, though unrequited, never gave up

on the fallen, sinful race of humanity.

The sentence of death He gave us was delayed—

ultimately to be paid by a Savior He promised to send.

All who heard and believed in this promised One

would never have to pay the price for their sins.

Down through the ages, the Savior was called by many names:

“Seed of the woman,” “Offspring of Abram,” “Lion of Judah,”

“Shoot of Jesse,” “Son of David,” “Son of Man”...

And, finally, John the forerunner called Him: “The Lamb of God.”

How does His love differ from ours?

God the Son became a Man to show us how:

Jesus gave up the splendor of his divine glory

to take on the creaturely form of the lowliest servant.

He voluntarily submitted to the smallest letter of the law

to reflect and obey the holy character and demands of God.

His love was so obedient that it totally pleased the Father,

and His love for people was accepting of the worst of sinners.

His love for God’s truth made religious hypocrites hate Him.

His love of God’s mercy made penitent lowlifes love Him.

His love of God’s justice made Him die as a cursed man,

as the final sacrificial Substitute for all who trust the Promise.

His love for His people made Him bear all their sins on the cross.

His love for His Father caused Him to be raised to heaven’s throne.

How does His love differ from ours?

God’s love is more than a concept. More than a sentiment.

More than a lenient whim. More than a fawning niceness.

More than a self-serving passion. More than a heroic martyrdom.

God’s love created. It gave us freedom to choose.

God’s love held back His justice from those who sinned.

God’s love promised freedom from the bondage of our sins.

God’s love pursued fallen sinners with truth, goodness, mercy, grace.

God who IS love, became the MAN who is love.

God loved the world by giving His only Son,

so that all who believe in Him shall not perish,

but have everlasting life.

MNA

3/5/2023

Psalm 119 Themes (part 4)

 Themes from the Psalm of Psalms

(Loving the God of Psalm 119)

Daleth: Revival and Strengthening to Run in the Path of God’s Truth

25. My soul clings to the dust; / Revive me according to Your word.

26. I have declared my ways, and You answered me; / Teach me Your statutes.

27. Make me understand the way of Your precepts; / So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.

28. My soul melts from heaviness; / Strengthen me according to Your word.

29. Remove from me the way of lying, / And grant me Your law graciously.

30. I have chosen the way of truth; / Your judgments I have laid before me.

31. I cling to your testimonies; / O LORD, do not put me to shame!

32. I will run the course of Your commandments, / For You shall enlarge my heart.

Under the Holy Spirit’s divine inspiration, King David has already taught us much in the first three stanzas of Psalm 119. This Psalm of Psalms reveals David’s longing to be like the blessed ones he saw around him who faithfully walk in the ways God has mapped out for the righteous. He has shown us that he regards himself humbly, as a “young man” who needs to have his ways cleansed so he can truly delight in God’s word. And in stanza three he seeks enlightenment, special wisdom from the Lord when he is under the threat of the great ones of this evil world.

In this fourth stanza, we see some signs that David is in a more contemplative mood. His soul, he confesses, “clings to the dust.” Another translation says he is “laid low in the dust.” Another verse says, “My soul melts from heaviness,” or “drops because of grief” or “melts away for sorrow.” In this stanza he is concerned about “false ways,” “lying ways,” “deceitful ways” threatening to divert him from “the way of truth.” He even expresses fear that God Himself might put him to shame in verse 31.

Whatever situation brought the Psalmist to this low period of contemplation, we are so richly taught in this stanza, each verse starting with the D of the Hebrew alphabet: “Daleth.” It is full of David’s love for God, and the delight he longs to take in all the words God has spoken, both to him personally, and to us, and all His chosen ones. Twice King David uses the repeated phrase: “according to Your word,” which appears about twenty times in Psalm 119. This section of the Psalm shows that David turns to God as a beloved Friend for love and understanding when he is brokenhearted and feels lifeless.

When we ask a friend to act “according to their word,” what are we saying? We’re asking him or her to be GOOD to their word, to KEEP their word, to FOLLOW THROUGH with what they have promised. David was reminding His heavenly Father that He had pledged to be there for David no matter what. So often, when we are down emotionally, it can make us feel alone and friendless. David held on to the words, especially the promises of God, like a security blanket. A treasured possession that assured him he was NEVER alone. What the Lord had promised David was basically two things: LIFE and STRENGTH. 

“My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to Your word.” Another translation says, “Preserve my life.” When God gives life to a lifeless body, like He did when He breathed into Adam the breath of life, and man became a living soul–a living being–He doesn’t simply abandon that man or woman to just go on living on their own. He continually enlivens the person. He preserves the person’s life, prolongs it, keeps it going. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus had been dead for four days by the time Christ arrived at his grave, Jesus had the stone rolled away from his tomb and then REVIVED the dead body of his friend. God is the source and the Sustainer of all life.

In the previous stanza, David felt blind and asked God to “Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in Your law!” In this stanza, he feels like a dead thing, in the dust. He’s asking God for revival. New life and liveliness. We sometimes joke about being “down in the dumps.” Or “in a slump.” Apparently, David was very depressed and felt lifeless. Perhaps he had no person he could share his feelings with that really understood. Maybe David’s pain was too deep or too personal to share with anyone else. But He shared it with his God, his best, highest Friend. And you know what? God answered him.

David shared with God how it was with him: “I have declared my ways,” I “told” or “recounted” my ways… “and You answered me.” When we are honest with the Lord as His beloved child, we’re not speaking into a vacuum. The very God of the universe is listening to our every word, hearing what is on our hearts–things we don’t even dare put into words. And how did God give an answer to the sweet singer of Israel? He taught Him. God is the best, most understanding, most insightful Teacher of them all. “Teach me Your statutes,” David begs. “Lord, accept me back into Your classroom again. That’s where I really feel cared for.”

Does it ever occur to us that God wasn’t obligated to teach us ANYTHING? He could have just left us in the dark, to cope with the miseries and mysteries of life as best we could. To flounder around in the void and lose our way like mice in a hopeless maze. But no, our Creator is too loving to do that. When he created us, He took our welfare upon Himself. He chose to give us the instruction book for life in our own language, and send His Spirit to enlighten us to understand it.

When we open up our ways before the Lord, He is pleased to open our understanding to His ways. The ways of His statutes and His precepts. The ground rules and keys to making sense of the world as He’s created it to be. All outlined and enumerated in the pages of His holy word. This is one of the main things the Bible has to tell us: that its words and its wisdom are vitally necessary to make sense of life and all true learning. 

This is where many of the most intelligent people on earth and throughout history lose their way. They convince themselves that they can find the meaning of life in this world without God’s word. They become highly educated fools. They reject the way of God’s precepts, and they miss the wonderful works God has performed, including the salvation of sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ. 

“Lord, I feel lifeless: Revive me!” “Lord, I feel powerless: Strengthen me!” David felt the grief and sorrow and heaviness closing in on him and sapping his sense of well-being. He told God that his very soul was “melting away.” He wasn’t content to go on languishing with a heart that was drowning in sadness. As a redeemed child of the living God, he realized that he was meant to be lively and strong, vital and useful, enthusiastic and joyful. God had work for David to do and David was too thankful for all God’s blessings to let Him down!

Our Creator was and is the Source of all life. He is also the Source of all strength! I imagine that David might have come to his senses at some point during this stanza and thought, “Part of my trouble is that I’ve been on a false path; I’ve been lying to myself. It’s high time to get back on the path of TRUTH. The path of FAITHFULNESS. The path of FREEDOM! I imagine this because the last part of this stanza seems to build up from the “way of lying” to the way of “running” in the course of God’s commandments!

God’s “law,” God’s “judgments,” God’s “commandments” paved the way back to vitality and strength for this shepherd king who led Yahweh’s ancient people into their Golden Age. And they also strengthened David’s greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who told Satan in the wilderness that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus truly did “run in the course of [God’s] commandments” and win for His people the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness of God that comes by faith in His sacrifice.

In Isaiah 53, it was prophesied that Christ would be “despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” Our Lord Jesus knew well what it was like to be sapped of strength and to despair of life. And He, even more than David, knew where to turn for revival and for renewed strength. Because you and I needed a Savior, Jesus was forsaken by God the Father when He died on the Cross. Yet, even there on Calvary’s cross, He never forsook the path of truth. He continued to trust in the promise of the Father to raise Him up on the third day… “according to His word.”

Thank you, Gracious Father, for sending Your Son to rescue sinners like us. And thank you for showing us the path of life, and truth, and power. The path mapped out in your holy word.

Amen

More than Incredible

“No matter how many times we save the world, it always manages to get back into jeopardy again. I say to myself, ‘I just cleaned up this mess!’ Sometimes I wish that the world would just STAY SAVED!”

Those “immortal” lines I paraphrase above, came from one of my favorite cartoon characters, the Pixar/Disney creation, Mister Incredible. In the movie, Mr. Incredible is wearing a microphone, being interviewed by a TV person about his heroic exploits. He apparently was born with super-powers, including unbelievable strength and stamina, as well as a physical body virtually impervious to harm. Incredible indeed!

My affection for super-heroes goes w-a-a-a-y back. I forget whether it was George Reeves’ old TV portrayals of the Man of Steel, or the comic book version of Superman that got me hooked, often running around the house with a bath towel around my neck, pretending I was flying, and, at least vaguely, wondering if I could launch myself into the sky literally from the top of my back porch steps…

Supported in my childish daydreams by an equally fascinated older brother, we began collecting comic books about such improbable characters as Flash (“The Fastest Man Alive!”), Green Lantern (His power ring could project any imaginable object, composed of green energy!), The Fantastic Four (Their powers involved stretching, turning invisible, bursting into flame, and clobbering people as a Thing made up of rocks!), and of course, “Your friendly neighborhood” Spider-Man (Wall-crawling, web-shooting, etc.).

Anyway, it took Disney far too many years to catch on to the appeal of super-heroes to moviegoers. The Incredibles (both 1 and 2) explored a “what if” world in which “supers” abound and, due to a battery of lawsuits, are driven underground by an act of Congress. Mr. Incredible (and his super family) come out of hiding to face a threat called Syndrome, who creates an attack robot that only he can neutralize. The robot runs amok and the Incredibles save the day as they work together, combining the powers they have hidden for so long.

This fanciful journey into my love of super-heroes was brought on this morning as I heard part of Robert Godfrey’s series about Samson, Israel’s final judge in the latter part of the Old Testament book of Judges. I’ve found his series on Samson fascinating for a number of reasons, chief of which is Samson’s ordination by God Himself, and the repeated mistakes and rebellious acts that nearly made Samson a walking disaster.

I relate to Samson in so many ways. And, in many ways, Samson’s weaknesses represent those of the entire Israelite nation throughout its history. Surrounded by enemies who worshiped a variety of false gods, they were continually within ear-shot and eye-shot of temptation to idolatry. 

During the days of the Judges, Israel drifted away from the teachings of their great leaders, Moses and Joshua. Indications are that they rarely, if ever, visited Shiloh, the site ordained for the erection of the Tabernacle once they’d conquered the Promised Land of Canaan. The dismal watch-word in this Old Testament book: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” 

Very apropos for the judge named Samson, for it was always “his own eyes” that got him into trouble. Seduced and deceived by Delilah (whose name means “flirty” by the way! No, really!), Samson strung her along when she, in the employ of the Philistines, asked him to reveal the secret of his super-strength. After teasing her with some false explanations, he finally “revealed to her his whole heart” and betrayed his secret to her.

Samson’s love for Delilah was a one-way street. “If you loved me,” she whined, you’d tell me everything! You’d tell me the truth!” Never in the text are we told that this woman loved Samson in return. To her, he was just a riddle to be solved for money. This makes me think of all the lovely ladies who plaster their wares over the internet. They and their filmmakers and producers are laughing at all the guys tuning in to have a peek. Laughing all the way to the bank!

Samson’s fall into idolatry wasn’t caused by some devotion to a god of wood or stone. It was by giving his love to a lying female devil named “Flirty.” The love he gave away was one he was called to reserve for God alone. He’d been set apart for divine service even before his birth. Much like Samuel…much like John the Baptist…much like Jesus of Nazareth. 

Judges teaches me that, without our eyes in the right focus, we will always “manage to get into jeopardy again,” in Mr. Incredible’s semi-immortal words. Over and over again, the disunited tribes of Jacob failed to be satisfied with their one, true, exclusive Deity. They saw other worshipers around them having a ball with their gods and the illicit practices they enjoyed, and they tiptoed into those strange, forbidden temples of pleasure. They forsook the lessons of the past, the holy requirements of their loving, holy Savior and Lord. They had no human king to remind them of their heavenly One.

Like Samson, like Israel, you and I are no good on our own. We need the body of Christ to encourage us, to instruct us, to remind us, to challenge and warn us. We need the Word and the Holy Spirit to keep the Lord “always before my eyes” (Psalm 16:8). Otherwise, we are “flirting” with disaster just like Samson. Perhaps it was his own super-powered giftedness that made him so vulnerable. Like Simon Peter among Jesus’ twelve apostles, he might have thought, “I can handle it. I won’t fall. I’m capable of passing this test on my own.” Then, BOOM, denial…denial…denial…cock crowing.

Throughout Samson’s ministry as Israel’s final judge (not counting Samuel in the following book), he seemed to be denying his commission again and again and again. By what he looked at, by what he said, by what he did. But there were redeeming moments that made it clear that Yahweh was still at his right hand, ready to strengthen the poor sap when he came to his senses. Faltering, willful, foolish Samson was, for all his faults, GOD’S MAN. Sadly, it was by his death that he gained the ultimate victory over his enemies. Just as, by HIS death, our perfect, virtuous Savior gained HIS.

The word “judge,” as used in the Old Testament book, doesn’t really mean a person in a black robe who rules in a courtroom. It rather has the connotation of a chosen savior and leader who rallies the faithful for battle and eventually achieves victory. Praise the Lord that His choice of such leaders doesn’t always depend on their sterling character or flawless track records. Bone-headed “Samsons” like me are often the very people our gracious God might choose to rally the troops and gain the victory.

To me, that is truly the INCREDIBLE message of Samson’s life.

Blessings!

MNA

11/10/2022