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

Psalm 119 Themes (Part 3)

 Themes from the Psalm of Psalms

(Loving the God of Psalm 119)

Gimel: Seeking enlightenment and trusting God’s truth before the great ones.

17. Deal bountifully with Your servant, / That I may live and keep Your word.

18. Open my eyes, that I may see / Wondrous things from Your law.

19. I am a stranger in the earth; / Do not hide Your commandments from me.

20. My soul breaks with longing / For Your judgments at all times.

21. You rebuke the proud–the cursed, / Who stray from Your commandments.

22. Remove from me reproach and contempt, / For I have kept Your testimonies.

23. Princes also sit and speak against me, / But Your servant meditates on Your statutes.

24. Your testimonies also are my delight / and my counselors.

I am assuming that King David probably wrote Psalm 119 late in his life, or else worked on it on and off as an ongoing project during his kingly reign. There is a unique flavor or theme to each stanza of eight verses, each verse beginning with the next Hebrew letter of the alphabet. This time we are looking at the third stanza, beginning with the Hebrew letter Gimel. Gimel sounds like the letter G in the word “giving” or “getting,” and in this stanza God is giving some great truths about His word, and I hope you and I will be getting those truths as we consider David’s wonderful Psalm of psalms. The theme of this stanza we’re looking at is:

Seeking enlightenment and trusting God’s truth before the great ones.

David begins this stanza with a strange request, that God would “deal bountifully” with him, so that David “may live and keep [God’s] word” (v. 17). Throughout the stanza David seems to be blinded, a stranger, brokenhearted, under reproach and contempt---even by the Princes of the earth. This may well have been a time of great distress in the psalmist’s life, when he was having trouble finding wisdom and comfort, even from God’s word. He needed ENLIGHTENMENT. 

There are certainly times in my own life when I’ve felt lost and in distress. Times when I needed a fresh word from God, a reassuring word. I knew that ALL of the Bible was a precious gift from the Lord. I knew that every PART of God’s word was there for a purpose in my life. But at those distressing, difficult times of trial, I needed God to “deal bountifully” with me. I was feeling blind and in need of having my eyes OPENED and behold something WONDROUS and new!

David might even have been despairing of life itself when he wrote this verse: “Deal bountifully with me that I may LIVE,” he wrote. Apparently he was being confronted by “the proud–the cursed” ones who “stray from [God’s] commandments” (v. 21). Perhaps these proud lawbreakers were seeking to take David’s life and he was desperate for a special word from the Lord to quiet his doubts and reassure him. 

Have you ever felt this way? Like everyone around you was out to get you and had no intention of “playing fair” or being reasonable? History tells us that King David experienced many episodes like that in his life, like when King Saul seemed to have him cornered like a rat in a trap, or even times when his own sons turned against him and tried to take his throne! When we face such crises, we cry out to God in our distress, looking for some extra-special answer. This might be one reason God gave us such a LARGE book, such a LONG history of His own dealings with us, His people. When we encounter characters like Abraham and Sarah, like Jacob and Joseph, like Job and Naomi, like Ruth and King David, we see people like ourselves who faced doubts and struggles. People who often needed a special, fresh revelation from their God.

At this point in his life, David is feeling like a “stranger in the earth” (v. 19). He may have been actually away from his home, fleeing from some threat that drove him out into the wilderness. Away from all the familiar comforts of home. David did, in fact, dwell for a time in the land of the hated Philistines. People who had no regard for David’s God or God’s commandments. In a sense, when we are among ungodly people, we might think that God’s law is off someplace else, seemingly HIDING from us and from people generally. One of the ways Paul describes the fallen human race is: “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18). Even David’s own people, Israelites who HAD God’s commandments in writing, were often guilty of breaking them, acting as if those laws were hidden from their eyes.

In this desperate situation, David confesses that his heart is indeed BREAKING with his feelings of “longing for [God’s] judgments at all times” (v. 20). Here, he uses the word “judgments” as a synonym for God’s word. A judgment is a decisive pronouncement. When a judge brings down his gavel in the courtroom and declares the defendant guilty or innocent of the crime. What David is certainly longing for is relief from his distressing enemies. He yearns to be vindicated as an innocent man, and to have his enemies pronounced guilty and liable to God’s punishment for what they’ve put David through. They have wrongly accused King David and shown contempt for his kingship and his claims of innocence. There seems to be no one in David’s corner to defend him, counsel him, even care about what happens to him.

And so, in this time of longing, he reminds the Lord of His own holy character. He praises God for what He is like, what He customarily does with the ungodly. “You [Lord,] rebuke the proud– the cursed, Who stray from your commandments. [So, Lord,] Remove from me reproach and contempt, For I have kept Your testimonies” (vv. 21-22). Notice the contrast between these two verses of the psalm: those who STRAY from God’s word, and those who KEEP God’s word. 

Straying has the idea of a sheep or other domestic animal who wanders away. Whether because of confusion, forgetfulness, willful disobedience, carelessness, whatever, they wander from the proper path, away from what’s expected of them, away from what’s GOOD for them as well as others. The prophet Isaiah wrote that “All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way. And the Lord God laid on [Christ] the iniquity of us all.” When a human being strays from the laws of God, it is called iniquity, another word for SIN. And it is for those iniquities that Jesus Christ went to the cross to die.

Those who “have kept [God’s] testimonies,” on the other hand, have treasured and memorized God’s truth in their hearts (v. 11) so they “might not sin against” Him. The word “testimonies” refers to God’s sworn account of how things have been, are now, and shall be in the future. His reliable word of truth. In the Ten Commandments, we are prohibited from giving “a false witness against [our] neighbor.” Every word in the Bible is a true witness from God, our Maker, Ruler, Redeemer and Friend. He will never lead us astray from the right path. Rather, He marks out that right path for us in His perfect, infallible word. And those who treasure and keep His word will one day be totally vindicated, WHATEVER the ungodly might say to accuse and reproach us.

When we read verses 23 and 24, we might think of the great Reformer Martin Luther. On the last day of October, we remember Reformation Day, the date in 1517 when the monk named Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany. He had begun to question the practices of the Medieval church in selling special indulgences that would give extra forgiveness of sins for people and their dead relatives. Eventually, Luther’s eyes were opened to the true gospel of God, the good news that promises forgiveness and eternal life through the finished work of Jesus Christ alone! He began to preach that it wasn’t the church that granted freedom from sin and its punishment, it was a free gift of God received by faith in Jesus.

History tells us that Martin Luther became an outlaw both from the church, and from the state government. The pope and the emperor both wanted him silenced or put to death! And on the day that he stood before the emperor and the emissaries of the church in the council chamber in Worms, Germany, these verses were surely among those that had been on Martin’s mind: “Princes also sit and speak against me, But Your servant meditates on Your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight And my counselors.” Luther told the princes of the state and the church that he COULD NOT recant the writings he’d made that proclaimed the true gospel. He couldn’t revoke the truth of those writings because, he said, “My conscience is held captive by the word of God.”

It was God’s will that Martin Luther would escape from his enemies and go on to lead a great Reformation for the church that would renew mankind’s knowledge of God’s saving truth. God’s will for King David would be that he, too, would be saved from all his enemies and pass on his kingship to his son Solomon. 

Then, one day about a thousand years later, the greatest descendent of King David would take the throne of the universe when the risen Christ ascended to God’s right hand. Those who place their hope and trust in Jesus Christ alone, can have their slate wiped clean of all their sins, and get all of Christ’s righteous deeds transferred to their account to make them perfect in the eyes of a holy God. These truths are not just man’s claims; they are the true and trustworthy “testimonies” of the God of truth, of Christ who is “the Way and the Truth and the Life.” 

They are the truths that should delight US as they delighted David. They should counsel us and comfort us even when we stand alone among the great and ungodly of this earth.

Amen

MNA

11/07/22

To Make One Wise

How long that couple dwelt in Paradise

Before the serpent tempted Eve to sin

Cannot be known, yet surely, in their eyes

That Tree of Knowledge sought their hearts to win.

The Good they knew so well: the will of God…

But Evil, Death nor Sin was known at all;

No Grave, no Tears, no need of chastening rod

Had yet marked out the dangers of a Fall.

There stood the cursing Tree with fruit so fair

That sparkled in the bright primordial Sun;

And Eve and Adam must have wondered where

The path might lead some disobedient one…

Oh Man! Oh Woman! Could you not have seen

The Test that faced you in that fateful Tree?

Could you not build some wall, some fence, some screen

To hide the thing from sight away from Thee?

You had no axe, no saw, to cut it down,

No flame of fire to burn it to its root,

So, daily gathering food you passed it round,

Perhaps admiring its alluring fruit…

Was neither of you wise enough to guess

The beauty of that Tree might be a snare

To keep your naked feet from righteousness

Or slither near to catch you unaware?

For on that fateful day, a wily snake

Proposed to you the charming, reasoning Lie

That you from naive slumbers could awake

And gain the wisdom God would dare deny…

That Good and Evil are Yours to define

And You, God’s children, could cheat your demise

By quoting Satan: “All of His, be MINE!”

By eating fruit desired to make one WISE.

MNA

10/14/2022