The Temple of the Lord

The Jerusalem Temple was the most sacred place on earth for the Jewish people in the Old Testament. David began the collection of the materials that would be used in the construction of the Temple that would be built by Solomon (3700 tons gold and 35,000 tons silver). The frame was constructed of the fabled cedars of Lebanon; its stone was so expertly quarried that no tools were used in the final construction. And every inch of the Temple’s interior and furnishings was overlaid with gold. But Solomon’s Temple wasn't holy because of its expensive materials and lavish construction; it was holy because of was God’s Temple! When the Temple was dedicated, the glory of God filled it (2 Chron 5:13). This Temple reminded the Jews God was present among them; He was “the Holy One of Israel among you” (Isa. 12:6). The Temple was at the center of Jewish religious life-- it was where sacrifices were offered and the priests ministered.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Temple... it became real estate. A tour guide showing off the sights of Jerusalem might say, “The king lives over there, the high priest lives here and God lives on the big house on the hill.” The Jews were convinced that God would never allow barbarians at the gate to destroy Jerusalem because God's house was there and He'd never allow His property to be so devalued. After all, when did God save Jerusalem from the Assyrians under Sennacherib? It was when Hezekiah went to the Temple to show God the pagan’s threats! As long as the Jews had had the Temple of the Lord, they didn't need to fear the foreign invaders.

So it makes sense that when Jeremiah warns of the coming end of days for the Jewish nation, they pointed to the Temple as their salvation. Jeremiah preaches his most celebrated sermon on Jeremiah 7,  the so-called “Temple Sermon.” He preached it at the Temple, and he preached it about the Temple. It wasn't his favorite sermon; in fact, it wasn't his sermon at all.  It was God’s. Three times in the opening three verses of Jeremiah 7, he says this is “the word of the Lord.”  

 3 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. 9 “ ‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord. 

Judah was trusting in her religious heritage and religious forms. After all, they were the people of God and the people of the Temple.  And yet, Jeremiah warns them of a coming destruction and calls them to repent. They refused to hear because they had their hands over their ears screaming, “The Temple of the Lord…” (7:5).  They saw the their Temple religion as proof they were accepted by God. Sure, they lived like the pagans around them with their idols and their ethics (7:9). But they were safe in their Temple and free to continue their sin (7:10). Jeremiah twice calls this reliance on the Temple “deceptive words” (4, 8). His message is that you can't live like the pagans and escape the judgment on pagans. Pointing to the Temple of the Lord was not going to be enough. Why?  Because God was not nearly as impressed by worship rites  and rituals as the Jews wanted to believe (7:5-7). God could not be bought off by worship at the Temple of the Lord!

And that is the point for us as well-- God isn't nearly as impressed by our worship as we want to think.  God isn't as fixated on what we do on Sundays as we are.  He isn't as focused as we are on our by letter-of-the-law correctness in following patterns of worship that may or may not be implied by scripture.  He isn't as moved as we are by our joyful enthusiasm and passionate praise.  He isn't nearly as impressed as we are by our creativity and imagination in presenting our worship. Sure, all those things impress us, and some of those things lead us to choose one church over the other.  And those are also the things we might point to as proof of our faithfulness.  But that is the same kind of pride that caused Judah to point to the Temple!

When we base our identity (and thus our security) on what we do or don't do in our Sunday worship while not focusing so much on how we live daily before God, then we place ourselves squarely in the crosshairs of Jeremiah’s Temple sermon. Israel cried out to Jeremiah, “The Temple of the Lord…” We cry out, “I go to church, the right church, the church that worships right…” And if our lives don't reflect the things that God cares about the most, then pointing to how we do church will make about as much difference as the Temple made to the Jews.  A generation before Jeremiah, Micah sums what God is really looking for, and it was nothing to do with the Temple, “What does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Mic 6:8).

The Call of Jeremiah

Today’s reading in our relentless march (or continuing crawl) through the Old Testament begins the book of Jeremiah and Jeremiah’s call as a prophet. God tells Jeremiah that he has set Jeremiah apart as His prophet since before he was born (1:5). Jeremiah immediately begins to make excuses, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young” (1:6).  Arguing youth is an interesting excuse since God said He had given Jeremiah the job before he was born! Twice in this opening God assures Jeremiah, “For I am with you and will rescue you” (8, 19). He will make Jeremiah “fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall.” That promise is repeated several times later in the book (see Jer 15:20).

Jeremiah was set apart as God's prophet, but his ministry as a prophet would not be an easy one.  God tells Jeremiah from the beginning that times were going to be hard.  The barbarians were at the gate and God's people would be punished (1:15-16).  Jeremiah was going to sounds the warning, but no one was going to listen to him.

• Jeremiah is not going to have a prophetic ministry like that of Jonah. You recall that Jonah preached one sermon and all of Nineveh responded in sackcloth; few would listen and fewer would respond to Jeremiah's sermons.
  
•  Jeremiah is also not going to have a ministry like Isaiah who was the confidant and adviser of kings; Jeremiah would be a pariah to  most of the kings to whom he preached... and persecuted by them.

I think we can understand Jeremiah's reluctance to take on this job!  But God promises that He would be with Jeremiah and would make him an iron pillar and a bronze wall. But what did that mean? Well, it's obvious what it doesn't mean! God’s presence with Jeremiah didn't mean everything would going to go nice and easy for him. God’s presence with Jeremiah would mean hard times and real struggles. Jeremiah would not pray the “Prayer of Jabez” and receive expanded territory and success! Jeremiah’s faithfulness would not mean the health-n-wealth in all its forms that are sometimes promised as the reward for faithfulness today. 

God's promise to Jeremiah was that no matter what he was called to endure, he would never endure it alone. The promise was not that there would be no struggles; the promises was that God would lead him through all His struggles. God’s promise to Jeremiah was “They will fight against you!” But the rest of that promise was “I am with you and will rescue you.” God’s ultimate promise isn't success or prosperity. The promise was that if Jeremiah was faithful, he would receive God himself. Whatever struggles and opposition he would face, he would never face them alone. And that is the promise God makes to us. Whatever our struggles and hardships, we are not alone. God is with us, God’s Spirit is in us, and God’s people are beside us. God never promises that we will not struggle; He does promise that we will never have to struggle alone!

One Thing

This is the classic (though slightly edited) scene from the movie City Slickers. Several eastern urbanites with issues at home go on vacation together to a dude ranch out west where they work as cowboys. The trail boss, an old crusty cowboy named Curly (Jack Palance), pulled aside one of the city slickers (Billy Crystal). "One thing!" he said. "Life is all about one thing." When Billy Crystal asked what that one thing was, Curly said that he would have to find that out for himself. The secret of life is that there is one thing... and it's our job to find out what that is. "One thing!"

That reflects several scenes from the life of Jesus. One is in Luke 10 where Lazarus' sisters Mary and Martha are entertaining Jesus. Or rather, Martha is preparing to entertain Jesus with all the details of cooking and cleaning that go along with that while Mary is sitting and listening to Jesus. Mary finally lashes out at Mary... and at Jesus Himself, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me" (Luke 10:40, ESV). Mary wasn't pulling her fair share of the housework, and it was Jesus' fault for monopolizing all of her time! Jesus replies gently, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary" (Luke 10:41, ESV). OK, Guys, when you are getting ready for company and your wife is rushing around fussing over all the details, I strongly suggest you NOT use this "Martha, Martha" line. Jesus' point here isn't that meal preparation with all of it's attendant details is unimportant. His point was that Martha, like Mary, needed to find out what was her one thing.

That scene from City Slickers is also mirrored in Mark 12:29-31. Here Jesus has been fielding a series of hot potato questions tossed to him by enemies. After sweeping aside their petty arguments, Jesus is approached by a teacher of the law who is impressed by His answers, and he has a question of his own, "Of all the commandments, which is most important?" Listen to the Lord's answer (Mark 12:29-31, ESV).

The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

God's kingdom is a single-minded love for and pursuit of God. His oneness is the central fact of our faith, and our "one thing" must be all about God. The greatest command is love God heart, soul, mind, and strength. One of the struggles we face as Christians is that we pulled in so many different directions by so many different things. Not only are there things competing for our time and our attention; these things are also competing for our loyalty. Our world tells us that there are many things that are important.  That's why Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler to give all to the poor and follow Jesus. He told him, "You still lack one thing" (Luke 18:22). The Ruler was unwilling to make God his "one thing" because his wealth and position were already occupying that position.  His "one thing" wasn't God.

What is our one thing?  Have we figured that out yet?

I'm Just Saying

I remember hearing comedian Paul Reiser (of “Mad About You” fame) do a stand-up routine based on the phrase “I’m just saying.” Where he grew up, you could say anything you want to say, no matter how outrageous or hurtful, as long you added, "Hey, I'm just saying." What may be insulting by itself really isn't as long as you add “I’m just saying” to the beginning or end or both. Because... you’re just saying. So Reiser would then go around insulting people in his audience and add his disclaimer. “Ma’am, that is one ugly baby you have there. Hey, I’m just saying.” That's not hurtful; he's just saying.

 Reiser's routine was really very funny... and also very, very wrong. Things that are said often do hurt others. We may want to believe that “sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never harm me.” But we all know that this really isn't true—words hurt. James warns us about the unlimited power of our words to destroy, "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell" (James 3:6). An entire section of this epistle (James 3:1-12) is devoted to warnings about our language. I'm just saying.

I ran across an article on Christian Post entitled “Poisonous Recipe: How to Destroy Your Church” that illustrates the power of our words to destroy. The article suggests how we can go about tearing up the church with the power of thoughtless, hurtful language. Here’s a partial list--

1. Be a whisperer or gossip (Proverbs 16:28) 
2. Hold others to a higher standard than yourself (Proverbs 11:9) 
3. Assume the worst of others (Psalm 41:7) 
4. Listen to rumors against others (Proverbs 17:4) 
5. Repeat every rumor you hear (Proverbs 17:9) 

Paul warns us not to use language that tears people down, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Eph. 4:29). The next verse adds, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…" Not only can we hurt others when we misuse words, the Holy Spirit is disappointed with us as well! Paul warns against things like “slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder” (2 Cor 12:20), “obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking” (Eph. 5:4) and “malice, slander, and filthy language” (Col 3:8).

So let’s hear no more of that "I'm just saying" nonsense. The words we use are extremely important. In fact. Jesus says, "For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned" (Matt 12:37). I’m just saying.

Are You Comfortable?

I was watching a ball game Saturday and noticed that Bella, our little Maltese, was going to an awful lot of trouble to get comfortable.  She went on and on on for several minutes before I got the bright idea to film her, and then it took me awhile to get the camera rolling.  What looks like a minute here probably took her 4-5 minutes.

Sometimes she'll do this same little dance in my lap before settling in.  And when she goes to all that trouble, you really do hate to disturb her for something as petty as getting up to go to work or get a sandwich.  And when you do, she looks at you with a combination of hurt and disbelief.  Bella takes getting comfortable very seriously indeed!

I'm afraid I probably do too; I like to be comfortable.   I was, after all, sitting in my easy chair watching a ball game while musing over Bella's comfort dance.  Or course, I have given Lynn the new comfortable chair and have taken the one that hurts her back-- my easy chair doesn't count as all that easy.  And the football game I was watching Wake Forest play Duke-- that doesn't really count as football. We don't have cable, so I don't have access to all the ESPN goodies that less spiritual people enjoy.  But I was pretty comfortable... and I liked it.

I ran across a quotation from Francis Chan in a video presentation that reminded me of the fact that "God has never called anyone to be comfortable."  One of the reasons Moses comes up with excuse after excuse in Exodus 3-4 was that he was pretty comfortable tending sheep in Midian.  If you translate "I am not a good speaker" or "I'm from an obscure family" or "they won't listen to me" really comes across as "Lord, I'm really pretty comfortable in Midian tending sheep."  God had other ideas; He usually does.  And He often has some choice things to say to people who get too comfortable; these texts make me uncomfortable--

Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come! (Amos 6:1)

But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life. He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways. (Job 24:22-23) 

Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.'  (Isaiah 47:8)

It was when Nebuchadnezzar was "at home in my palace, contented and prosperous" that God sent him the vision that made him afraid (Daniel 4:4-5).  Isaiah has harsh and stern words for the women of Israel who were "complacent" and felt "secure" (Isaiah 32:9-13).   Jesus tells of the Rich Fool who was so comfortable in his prosperity that he said to himself "Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry" (Luke 12:19-21).

So maybe we should be really uncomfortable when we get a little too comfortable!  That reminds me of something Dad would say before giving me my next chore he expected me to jump up and get done.  He'd say, "Don't get comfortable."  Maybe God is telling us the same thing?

Suffering in Silence

The story sounds something you might see on the TV news or a made-for-TV movie, but it happened to people we knew and loved. One of our former members came home from work to find that her whole family was dead. Her husband had shot and killed their two teen-aged children and then turned the gun on himself. The interviews with friends and neighbors we saw on the news were identical to the interviews we've all seen after similar tragedies before.  "They were a quiet family that kept to themselves." "He really seemed to adore his kids."  "I never dreamed that anything was wrong."    No motive was ever found for this senseless tragedy, but there was a reason somewhere. Something was going on behind closed doors or hidden deep within this man’s heart. And if someone would have only known, then maybe they could have helped him. But it seems that whatever the demons he was wrestling with, he chose to wrestle alone. He suffered in silence.

 Many people made the same choice. This morning I ran across a headline that I couldn't believe at first-- “More Americans Commit Suicide than are Killed in Car Crashes.” The headline, carried in multiple news outlets, was based on a study in American Journal of Public Health. The good news is that this statistic is partly true because the number of traffic fatalities has taken a radical dip. But the idea that more people kill themselves on purpose than are killed by accident on our highways is very surprising. Too many of us are way too proficient at keeping our pain and struggles hidden. We develop defense mechanisms to mask or deny our pain. We don’t want anyone to know that we don’t have the ideal family. We don’t want anyone to know that we aren't the ideal person. Sure, it is natural not to want to air all our dirty linen for the world to see. But this radical privacy that we have developed leads us to insulate ourselves from seeking the help we need from others. We want to keep our skeletons safely hidden in the closet. We may struggle with secret sin, failing marriage, wavering faith… and then invest our energy into keeping the problem safely hidden from others. We suffer in silence rather than reaching out for help and for healing.

 This is the "natural" response… as opposed to the "spiritual" response. Paul tells those who are spiritual to make themselves available to help those in the middle of struggle—

Brothers and sisters, if someone in your group does something wrong, you who are spiritual should go to that person and gently help make him right again. (Gal 6:1, NCV) 

True spirituality is the willingness to involved to help with the struggles of our brothers and sisters. The spiritual person is not some hermit monk who lives above the cares and concerns of this world; being spiritual is about making oneself available to get hands dirty in muck and mire of other people's lives. And that also means that being "spiritual" is about making ourselves vulnerable and accountable to others as we invite them into our mess to help us. God doesn't want us to suffer in silence. He invites you to “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” (1 Peter 5:7, NLT). And one way God works to take all our “worries and cares” is through His people that He puts in our lives.

A Servant's Heart

Evidently Tim Tebow, out-spoken Christian and famous back-up quarterback, has created something of a controversy. Again. He was recently interviewed by Vogue (so you could guess that this was not about the mechanics of running the Wildcat option offense in the NFL). He was asked about football, like his supposed rivalry with starting Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez (there evidently isn't one, "I can say that honestly I’m rooting for him to do his best").  No what raised eyebrows was the answer to a question about the future Mrs. Tebow-

Obviously looks play a big part. Being attracted to someone plays a big part, but there's also so much more than that for me. It's about finding someone sweet and kind – and that has a servant's heart. It's about finding a girl who likes me for me, and not because of what I do or who I am or the name.

So was it bad for him to admit that he was so shallow that he was looking for someone who was attractive? There's nothing wrong marrying someone who is drop-dead gorgeous; I did! (Of course, I am thankful my wife didn't have the same hang-ups on physical attractiveness).  So what's the problem here? Well, it was OBVIOUSLY sexist and chauvinistic for Tebow to suggest that his future wife have "a servant's heart." That is the same things, of course, as saying he wants someone who is subservient and servile. The secular press decided "servant’s heart" means he wants a wife with no mind of her own who bakes cookies and does what he tells her. As one critic put it

He basically made it seem like he wants some hot woman who dropped straight from 50 Shades Of Grey and will do what he wants and not talk back and certainly not mention that he is currently sitting on the bench 

OK, never mind that earlier in the interview Tebow said that he had "been blessed to have an amazing mom and two amazing sisters-so they set a very high standard." Never mind that he said "I want to have a life that can help people" (in other words, he wants a servant's heart). The fact that he was looking for a girl with a "servant’s heart" proves that he has a twisted, patriarchal view of women.

No, what it means is that he has a Christian view of life and marriage. Jesus told his followers that He Himself "did not come to be served but to serve" and that "whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave" (See Matt 20:26-28). Paul said, "serve one another humbly in love" (Gal 5:13). Peter tells disciples "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace" (1 Pet 4:10). Having a servant's heart is something that all Christian's should want to have.

So when Tim Tebow suggests to his interviewer that he is looking for a wife with a servant’s heart, he is simply saying that wants to marry a Christian. Good for you, brother! Keep on looking and keep on praying—one day you’ll find her. Just one word of advice during your search, Tim. Keep your shirt on!

In the Beginning...

It seems like every time you turn around there is some new English translation of the Bible being released.  I don't know why we have to have so many Bible translations.  I mean, if the NIV was good enough for Peter and Paul, why can't we just be happy with that?  Of course, I don't just use the NIV; every time I open my computer Bible, seven different translations open with it... and two different versions of the NIV! The more, the merrier, I always say.  Actually, what I always say is that the best Bible translation for anyone is the one they are the most likely to read.  I love the NLT-- not because I use it much (though it is one of the seven on my computer Bible). I love it because it's the version my wife reads and enjoys every day.

 Today, I received an unsolicited email advertisement (OK, it was spam;) for a new Bible translation called "The Voice." The translation is published by Thomas Nelson and was produced by a committee of 120 scholars. It is a modern, dynamic equivalence translation, which means it seeks to best translate each thought in the Bible rather than making a close word for word rendering. That makes it very readable, supposedly on a Middle School reading level. It also has some unique characteristics that make it, well, unique among Bibles. It renders conversations in a dialogue, screenplay style. So that Genesis 3 reads:

"Adam (pointing at the woman): It was she! The woman You gave me as a companion put the fruit in my hands, and I ate it. 

“God (to the woman): What have you done? 

“Eve: It was the serpent! He tricked me, and I ate.” 

That's kinda interesting... and it might get a little annoying after awhile. One of the criticism that has been thrown around the internet, "This Bible doesn't have "Jesus Christ" in it. No, it has "Jesus the Anointed," which is a TRANSLATION of the Greek word "Christos." King James and those who followed him transliterated Christos into English. so, contrary to what you may have heard, no the Voice does not remove Jesus Christ from the Bible. In the same way, Psalm 23 begins “The Eternal is my shepherd …” Horrors? Well, "The Lord" really stand in place of YHWH, the covenant name of God, the name Moses was given when God said, "I am that I am." So is "Eternal" not one way translate that? Of course. Is it annoying that it goes out of its way to be different? Of course. Anyway, here is a good feel for how different "The Voice" really is, a video of John 1:1-18 based on "The Voice." And of course, it starts "Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking..."

 

Before a Fall

The Bible has a lot to say warning us against the dangers of our pride. When Solomon lists things that God hates, he begins his list with “haughty eyes.” (Prov 6:17). Literally this expression is “high eyes,” but "haughty" works. The same word is used in Numbers 15:30 for “sins defiantly” (NIV) or “with high hand” (ESV) or “brazenly” (NLT). When we lift our eyes, we are to see God-- not raise them in arrogance and defiance. Many of the Proverbs warn us about the dangers of pride (see Prov 8:13, 11:2, 16:18, 29:23). And our reading today from Amos begins with a scathing denunciation of the pride of Israel, “I abhor the pride of Jacob and detest his fortresses; I will deliver up the city and everything in it” (Amos 6:8). “Pride goes before a fall” (Prov 16:18) and Israel was going to fall big time!

The problem as Amos presents it is really “the disease of ease,” that led to a proud complacency, "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion,and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria" (Amos 6:1). Amos attacks the rich, privileged class who are totally clueless about God and “at ease in Zion” (KJV). This was a time of great prosperity, and Israel did what you do in boom times and bull markets— they assumed it would last! And so the rich basked in their arrogance and ignore the sufferings of others and the call of God.

Our present economic darkness was caused in large part by huge banks and investment companies lending money (and the rest of us borrowing it) like the boom time would last forever. And it never does. I recall seeing a 60 Minutes piece on a bank in Iceland that continued to thrive despite the bust. Why? It is totally run by women, and the theory is that women are more social and tend to act based on what’s best for whole group.  This particular bank did not make all the bold, risky, get-rich-quick moves that caused the economic collapse in much of the banking world. After all, it wasn't “Lehman Sisters” that went bust!

Why did Israel act like they thought the good times would roll on forever? Pride! Amos points them the to the examples of the city-states that Israel had captured (Amos 6:2-3). Those cities thought that they would last forever as well. Their arrogance led them to think that there wouldn't be a price to pay. And if those cities thought they would never have to pay the piper, why did Israel think they were protected? Israel’s pride blinded her to her own vulnerability.  That same pride led Israel to be unconcerned about anything or anyone else. Amos is known as the prophet of social justice for sermons like this. (Amos 6:4-6)

4 You lie on beds adorned with ivory and lounge on your couches.
       You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves.
5 You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments.
6 You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions,
but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

What a picture of a prideful, self-absorbed and self-centered people... that sounds too much like too many people today.  These were the rich and important people who only had time for rich and important things. And they didn't care about the people round them not about the things of God. Their pride blinded them to everything except themselves. That is what is what pride does; that is why pride goes before a fall.

Boy, it's a good thing Amos was talking to 8th century B.C. Israel.  This would be scary if it had any application to our country or our church!

In the Year That King Uzziah Died...

Personally, I don't like books or movies that make use a of the literary device of the "flashback." You know what I’m talking about— they start the story then jump back in time (maybe several times) and then flash-forward to the present and then back again a couple of times so that you never quite sure whether your reading what is happening, what has happened or what will happen. I like stories that start at the beginning, end at the end, and have the middle in the middle. Well, some authors don’t write that way… authors like Isaiah (whose book we started reading together yesterday). Isaiah’s book is organized into oracles or sermons that are not presented in chronological order. There are a lot of flashbacks and (Isaiah is a prophet after all) flash-forwards.

Today’s reading in Isaiah 6 flashes back to tell the beginning of Isaiah’s career as a prophet.  Isaiah call as a prophet was a vision of God high and exalted with His robe filling the temple and angelic seraphs flying above covering both their faces and their feet (you don’t show the king your face or your feet... you bow) crying “Holy, holy, holy” as their voices shake the temple. And all that was just Isaiah’s first day on the job!

But it is important that we don’t miss the flashback. Isaiah dates his call, “In the year that King Uzziah died” (which would have been 740 BC or so). With this impressive vision of God to describe, why does Isaiah bother to date the flashback? The point here really isn't the date so much as the fact that this was the year that King Uzziah died. Uzziah was the greatest and most powerful of Judah's kings since the time of David and Solomon. He raised and equipped a large and powerful army (2 Chron 26:11ff) and built great war machines for his archers (2 Chron 26:15a). Uzziah defeated the Philistines and exacted tribute from the Ammonites. The fame of King Uzziah spread all the way to Egypt (2 Chron 26:8b). Judah didn't have many politically powerful kings after David and Solomon, so the death of the great King Uzziah would have been devastating. What was going to happen now that the great king was gone?  That’s why Isaiah vision of the exalted God was dated "in the year King Uzziah died."

You see, before Isaiah could fill the role of prophet, he had to know which king was really the King. Isaiah's faith could not be in kings like Uzziah; his faith had to begin with God Himself. The Jews would have seen Uzziah's throne more clearly than they could see the throne of God. And when the great king died, they wondered whether their world had fallen apart. And we make the same mistake! When we put our trust in the things of this world, then what happens when those things let us down? If Isaiah was writing today, he might begin his book with something like...

• “In year of the great recession following the banking collapse...”
• “In the year that the Twin Towers were destroyed…”
• “In the year that that Republican or Democrat was elected…”
• Or more personally, "In the year that I got cancer..."

No matter what it is that happens that seems to make our world fall apart, what is important is that we  continue to see the Lord, high and exalted. His throne is above all thrones, and his rule is sovereign and supreme. He is the One who rules over all creation as the Lord of all lords and the King of all kings. If we with Isaiah will see the Lord high and exalted, then we will never be so wowed or worried by the things of this earth. When we truly see the Great God, we won’t take ourselves or our desires so seriously. If we see God high and exalted, then we cry out with the seraphs, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.” And we say with Isaiah, “Here I am. Send me!”

Eleven Years Ago...

Eleven years ago, four hijacked jetliners crashed and our world was changed-- the Twin Towers were destroyed, the Pentagon was attacked, and a third attack was thwarted and a fourth plane lost. At the end of the day, more than 3000 innocent people were dead, and with them died the unstated but widely held view that terrorism was something that happened in the Middle East and we read about in Time or watched on CNN.

Alan Jackson's song asks, “Where were you when the world stopped turning?” Most of us can remember exactly where we were and what we were doing that day. That was the first day that Elaine Denman was to start a counseling ministry in our church building once a week. We spent all morning in the teen classroom completely transfixed by the TV. We were watching when the second plane hit and when each of the towers fell. No work was done that day; a lot of prayers were prayed. The world didn’t really stop turning, but it was changed forever.

The last war fought on American soil was the Civil War. (Regardless of what my kids think of my rapidly advancing age, I don’t remember a lot about that war.). Every war since then has been fought, to use the words of a Word War I era song-- “Over There”

Over there, over there, send the word, send the word over thereThat the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming,The drums rum-tumming ev'rywhere.So prepare, say a pray'r, send the word, send the word to beware.We'll be over, we're coming over, and we won't come back till it's over, over there

After September 11, war didn't seem to be just fought "over there." This new kind of war fought by extreme fundamentalists against us and our way of life was now being fought over here. It was a new war against a new enemy that didn't fight fair. This was an enemy without an army, uniform or country that turned our planes into bombs and used our own freedoms toagainst us to bring their terror to our shores. This was an enemy that seemed to be everywhere, and seemed to be nowhere. Ironically, our response to 9-11 was to launch a "War on Terror" that has once again sent brave men and women to fight “over there.”

What has changed in the eleven years since 9-11?  Has the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan made the world a safer place?  That depends on who you ask, but the world doesn't feel safer.  But then the world never has been a safe place, has it?  One thing that hasn't changed is this-- despite how the nations may "conspire" or "rage," (Psa 2:1), God is still sovereign. Psalm 47:8 is just as true today as it was when the sons of Korah wrote it so long ago, “God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.” We live in a fallen world where the evil choices of evil people hurt the innocent. That is not exactly a new development in the history of the world. Jesus said to those who came to arrest him, “But this is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53, NLT). But just as Jesus looked to God in that time of darkness, so we look to God and his power today. We pray for His peace. We pray His justice. We pray for His will. We pray for His mercy. And we pray for His coming. Peace on earth will always be the impossible dream until the Prince of Peace returns.


(updated repost of blog written 9-11-2008)

What a Great Day!

There’s an old joke about the little boy drawing a picture in Sunday School. The teacher asked him what he was drawing; he said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” The teacher smiled and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.” The little boy answered, “Well, they will when I’m done!”

I felt like a little bit that yesterday before our first “Baby Dedication Service.” Someone could well have asked me, “What exactly does a baby dedication service at Denbigh look like?” I would have answered, “I don’t know; I’ll you when we are done!” We have never done a baby dedication service before (though I've done a private service when requested by parents).  We've talked about it, but it never went any further than that. Well, Jenn Glaspell really, really wanted to dedicate Willa to God before the church, and she started talking to some of the other young parents and soon the ball started rolling. Thanks Jennifer!

And I think it was, one of the best services that we've ever had! Nine young sets of parents stood before the church and promised to raise their child in the training and instruction of the Lord, the love of God and the fellowship of His family. The church stood with them and promised to stand with them as one of our shepherds prayed over us.  Of course, the hard part now is translating the church service into real life. But then, that’s the hard part after every Sunday service, isn’t it?

And if yesterday wasn't special enough already, Andrew King came forward confessing his faith in Jesus and was immersed into Jesus Christ.  Yesterday was Andrew’s physical birthday; he was born in 2003, a week before Hurricane Isabel slammed into Virginia and took out power in our area for well over a week (Will and Michele ran off with him to Roanoke... wimps). And September 9 is also Andrew re-birthday. It was great that his parents and grandparents were all here to share in Andrew's big day.  So nine babies were dedicated to God by their parents and Andrew dedicated himself to God... 10 is a good Biblical number!

Yesterday was also the kickoff of our 2012-2013 Body Life Small Group season. If each of our groups was only half as enjoyable as our group over at at Bes and Sam Hoxha's last night, then we’ll have a great season! Our rather diverse group (including a college student, a college professor and two of the babies dedicated yesterday) had a great discussion and really seemed to enjoy each other.  OK, the fact that Sam cooked us a great meal for us didn't hurt either!

Yesterday was a great day!  We give glory to the One who made it!

And Fell Down in Worship

In our reading from 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat was having one of those days when it was not fun to be king. There was an alliance of Edomites, Moabites and a bunch of other-ites were massing to attack Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat knew he was totally out-manned and out-gunned. True to his character, Jehoshaphat (no he didn’t jump) bowed down in prayer and praise. His Temple prayer (see 2 Cron 20:6-12) was pretty basic stuff--

• He recognizes the past and God's power to save 
• He explains the distress being suffered in the present, 
• He asks God to intervene and rescue his people. 

There is nothing earthshaking about the form and format of this prayer.  What is powerful is his faith, and faith seen most clearly in his last line, "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you" (20:12)

Have you ever prayed like Jehoshaphat? You don't really know what to do, so you pray? You don’t really know what to say, but you pray anyway? You just pray and let God be God. When the going gets tough, we're more apt to do something-- figure it out, call a meeting, commission a study. Don’t just stand there, do something. Well Jehoshaphat does something. He prays.

Jehoshaphat gets his answer through Jahaziel, a descendant of Asaph (the writer of many of the Psalms). Jahaziel told Jehoshaphat that the battle belongs to the Lord (see 2 Chron 20:15-17). God, not Jehoshaphat, would fight and win the battle. Oh, the king wouldn’t be sitting around twiddling his thumbs-- he must bravely march out to face the enemy. But Jehoshaphat would not be the power that would secure victory. He was to rather look to God and God would fight the battle. And as it happened, God threw the enemy into a great confusion and they destroyed each other. Jehoshaphat and his men simply walked in and picked up the spoils of war. And what was the response of Jehoshaphat and Judah to the goodness and graciousness of God? Worship!

Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD. Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. (2 Chron 20:18–19)

Worship! It was immediate and unplanned— they just fell down. It was also planned and liturgical— led by the Levites. The form and format wasn't what made their worship powerful; it was their heart of gratitude for the goodness and salvation of God.

Like Jehoshaphat, we cry out overwhelmed and powerless as we face an enemy we are too powerless and puny to defeat. Like Jehoshaphat, God fought and defeated that enemy for us, making him a spectacle at the cross (Col 2:15). And our only response is worship! Think of the last time that you were incredibly moved by worship. Was it songs? Prayers? Sermon? Or was it what God had been doing in your life? If we really realize how lost we are without God and how victorious we are because of God-- we worship. We don’t talk about worship; we don’t worry about the forms and formats. We just fall down and worship.

Jumpin' Jehoshaphat

Our reading today provided a great contrast in the directions taken by the two kingdom of divided Israel. In 1 Kings 15, we read of the illustrious carriers of Nabad, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri and the rise of Ahab. Many of these guys shared the same basic plan for becoming king—kill the guy on the throne and take his seat. (When we get frustrated with the bloodletting during our election process, we need to remember the old method for succession of power). Contrast that to the stability in Judah during the reign of good King Jehoshaphat who "followed the ways of his father David before him" (2 Chron 17:3). The first thing that came to mind after I read the text was, "Funny, but he never seemed to do a lot of jumping." I remember Officer Toody (Joe E. Ross) on the old “Car 54 Where Are You?” TV show kept saying “Jumping Jehoshaphat!” (See the clip if you are too young to get the reference).



So no, Jehoshaphat didn’t do a lot of jumping. But aside from that, three things came to mind from today’s reading. First, Jehoshaphat was that rare righteous king who followed in the footsteps of his father Asa, who was also a righteous king. Judah holy kings like Hezekiah and Josiah had fathers who were scoundrels and produced sons who were scoundrels. In fact, the reforms of both Hezekiah and Josiah were impressive largely because of how their predecessors drove the country into the ground. Not so, Jehoshaphat. His reforms simply followed in the footsteps of his father Asa.

Second, Jehoshaphat was so consistent in his righteous reforms that people around him took notice. The Chronicler writes, "The fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, so that they did not go to war against Jehoshaphat" (2 Chron. 17:10). The next verse describes the tribute paid to him by the Philistines. The righteousness and reforms of Jehoshaphat were not just political expediencies that went skin deep; they were real and relevant and people tended to notice.

Third, Jehoshaphat was not content to just follow the law of God himself, he was careful to teach it to his people. The text says, "In the third year of his reign he sent his officials… to teach in the towns of Judah… They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of the LORD; they went around to all the towns of Judah and taught the people." (2 Chron. 17:7,9). Rather than pass laws to force compliance of the people, he sent teachers with the “Book of the Law” to teach the people what God actually said.

And for a time, it worked. For a time, the nation of Judah followed God and God’s people were faithful to His ways. Jehoshaphat was able to teach the law of God to the people because FIRST he was known to follow it himself. Unlike Constantine and countless over rulers, Jehoshaphat did not use religion in order to establish his control over the people. He was dedicated to God and the ways of God, and as a result he was able to teach it to the people.

Do we want to be able to share the ways of God with people today? The first step is to be completely dedicated to following it in our own lives. How can we hope to teach the culture about the sacredness of traditional marriage if our divorce rate matches theirs? How can we say much about the importance of sexual purity if our marriages are broken by adultery? We will gain a hearing for the gospel in our secular, post-Christian culture only after that culture sees that our gospel changes lives-- our lives. Jehoshaphat didn’t use politics to push his religious agenda, and he was the king! No, he lived it first. Then he taught it to others. Jumping Jehoshaphat, that makes sense!

Jugglers of the World...

In 1847, John Sutter was busy establishing himself as a land baron in California. Sutter hired a man named James Marshall to build a saw mill on his property near Coloma. During the construction project, Marshall found a shiny nugget in the stream where the saw mill was to be built. He didn't think too much about it (he had a saw mill to build), but the news of his discovery swept across country. There's gold in them thar' hills!  The California Gold Rush of 1949 became the greatest migration of people in our history. One sleepy little village grew from about 1000 people in 1848 to more than 20,000 people by 1850! (That little village is San Francisco). People totally abandoned their lives back east to get their piece of the golden rock in California. Opportunity doesn’t knock but once. When you find something of incredible valuable, then you give up everything else in order to make it your own.

Jesus told a little story that sounds a lot like that. It’s also about a great treasure, this one buried in the ground rather than in a stream in California. It’s a story, frankly, that bothers me. A lot.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. (Matthew 13:44)

It was fairly common in Bible times for people hide valuables in jars buried in the ground. According to Barclay, an old Rabbinic proverb stated that, “The only safe place for money is the earth.” And that is likely the background of the parable. People buried their treasure during times of danger (outbreaks of robbers or perilous political times) and would retrieve them when the danger was over. But what if the danger never was over? What if the treasurer owner died?  What if he simply forgot where he left the treasure? Finders keepers!

Jesus’ parable is of a man who comes across such a treasure hidden in a field. He puts it back where he found it and then immediately sells everything he owns so that he can buy the field (and the treasure). Treasure is so valuable that he is willing to sell everything to have it! Well, that raises some pretty interesting ethical questions, doesn’t it? Is it really ethical to buy a field like this? Should he not have tried to find the owner? Those aren’t the point of the story.  And this also isn't my problem with the parable.

The point of the story is that if we recognize the kingdom of God for the treasure it is then we will joyfully  give up all that we have in order to possess the treasure. All of the treasures of this earth pale into insignificance compared to treasures of the kingdom of God. And THIS is my problem with the parable. Not a problem with the interpretation of the parable; a problem with its application. I’m not sure I’m very good at joyfully giving up the things of earth to more firmly gain a hold on the kingdom of God. I think I spend too much time trying to juggle two different sets of treasure. I can’t really hold onto both… so I juggle. I spend some time trying to keep up the bowling pins or spinning plates of the world... and then I steal some time for the things of the kingdom.  Maybe I can't grasp fully the kingdom of God because so much of the time my hands are full of the things of this world.

The guy in Jesus' story gave up everything to possess the treasure that was truly treasure.  May God give me the grace to let drop the things of this earth so that I can take a firmer hold on the kingdom of God.  How about you? Are you a juggler too?

Worshiper Renewal

"I like my song writers good and dead!" That’s what I heard someone say in response to some of the contemporary songs we were beginning to sing. I wanted to say that they also preferred their worship "good and dead," but I didn't. It’s OK to like old songs. I suspect that our “Anceint of Days” God sees all our music as pretty much "new music."  The God who is "yesterday, today and forever," sees everything as pretty much contemporary. Sure, I prefer contemporary music, but I don't blame that on God.

But then again, Psalms 149 (our reading today) begins with the call to "sing to the Lord a new song; his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.” There you have it in black and white—God loves contemporary praise. Maybe not. The call to "sing to the Lord a new song" appears six times in Psalms, once in Isaiah and twice in Revelation. And it is generally used to reflect a new order of things following God’s deliverance.

• Sometimes it appears as a general call to worship God, "Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy." (Psalm 33:3)
  
• But it is also used following God's deliverance, "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God." (Psalm 40:3)
  
• In Isaiah, it is used of the restoration of Israel, "Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 42:10)
  
• In Revelation, praise in heaven is given in a new song, "And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders." (Revelation 14:3)

Basically, "sing a new song" is a call to worship God in a renewed way. When we come to see God and understand all He has done for us, then there is a renewed impetus to worship Him. Our hearts overflow, and we throw ourselves in praising Him for what he has done. And the way scripture puts that is that we “sing to the Lord a new song.” The call in scripture to sing a new song is a call for "worshiper renewal."

The psalm says a lot about worship, but notice how it ends, "May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands" (v. 6). Being the people of God meant that Israel executed God’s judgments against the nations; they served God with a sword in their hand. But don’t get bogged down in the details; the point here is service. After calling Israel to a renewed worship of God, the psalmist then reminds them to serve. With the praise of God on their lips, they were then led to serve God. There is a connection between the life of worship and the life of service. What we do when we assemble as a church is connected to the life of service we lead when we are not assembled. The two aren’t the same, but they go hand-in-hand. If we give God exuberant and heartfelt praise while we are here, then we are better able to serve when we leave.  On the other hand, if we serve God by serving others in our daily lives, then we are more motivated to worship with the saints.

Here is the nexus between worship and service. Israel was to live with God's praise on their lips and the sword of service in their hands. They could not do one without the other. The same is true for us. We must combine hearts that give God praise and hands that give him service. We can't do one without the other. If we fail to sincerely and exuberantly worship God, then we will not be as motivated to serve God. In the same way, we aren't serving God as we should in our daily lives, then we won't be motivated to worship Him. Worship renewal is not tweaking the externals to make our assemblies more exciting or relevant (or more traditional and faithful to the "old paths").  We are to continually renew our hearts as we encounter God in a worship that prepares and inspires us to go out into His world and serve Him.

To Hell in a Handbasket...

From our “to-hell-in-a-handbasket” department... It was reported today that the Damson Dene Hotel in England’s picturesque Lake District was replacing its traditional Gideon Bibles in each room with a copy of the popular “adult” (“adult” as in “pornographic”) novel Fifty Shades of Grey.”  The hotel, which was ironically bought from a Methodist group several years ago, decided that having Gideon Bibles around was “wholly inappropriate” in our postmodern, secular society.  What better way to be “appropriate” than to provide free of charge a widely popular smut novel?  Jonathan Denby (not Denbigh), the hotel’s owner remarked, “Everybody is reading ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ we thought it would be a hospitable thing to do, to have this available for our guests, especially if some of them were a little bit shy about buying it because of its reputation.”  But then Denby quickly added that he himself had not read the book.  Well, maybe now he can get a room and read it.

We do live in a postmodern, post-Christian, secular society.  One of the things that means is that we can forget the nod and special treatment that our culture once gave the church.  When I was a kid (granted, a long time ago), we didn't have school events on Wednesday nights because that was church night for many of the students and the school didn't want to interfere.  Well that has gone the way of the dodo bird, hasn't it.  People in our culture no longer just accept the Bible as the “The Good Book.” It is just one book among many.  People no longer describe good manners and helpfulness as “the Christian thing to do.”  In fact, they may be more likely to see waving a hateful sign and telling people they are going to hell as “the Christian thing to do.”  The Christian faith is going to have to compete in the marketplace of ideas with a host of other and conflicting ideas.  And in that marketplace, putting a pornographic novel in the nightstands of hotels is just as likely as putting a Bible there.

So how are we going to get people to take the Christian faith seriously today?  There is only one way.  And it’s not wringing our hands and shouting “Woe is we” as we complain about how our society is going to hell in a handbasket.  No, what Christians have to do today is to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and go out and live the joyous, triumphant, expectant and praise-filled life that Christianity was and is designed to be.  We are to reflect and replicate as best we can the life and teaching of the most amazing, gracious, loving, accepting and positive person the world has ever produced… because He was the power that produced the world.  The way we get people to take faith seriously today is to live it as it was meant to be lived. 

Oh sure, people died in the arena for doing that in the first century.  So what’s your point?

Idlewild 2012

Another year at Camp Idlewild is in the books. Every year I decide that I'm getting too old for such things; in fact, this year I had decided that this was my last. But then God saw to it that I had 24 middle-schoolers (12 boys and 12 girls) who were cooperative, enthusiastic, good-natured, well-mannered and just plain fun... how could I go out with a group like that? Also, I had a crack staff of volunteers that made the week smooth as silk. And maybe a redesigned staff quarters (that we nicknamed "The Taj Mahal") made "roughing-it" at camp not really rough at all. It was a great week; thanks to all the campers and staff that made it so. Here is a sampling from the week--



The theme this year was "Heroes of the Faith." The classes each day looked at different Old Testament characters who had to trust in God during difficult times. My favorite moment from class was when Keri relabeled a can of tuna fish as "Cat Food" and then challenged the boys to try it (which, surprisingly, they fought for the chance to do). Point: Job (or Moses or one of the other heroes of the faith) had to endure some things that were yucky on the outside but they trusted God to get them through it (the boys were disappointed when they found out that the cat food wasn't really cat food). The winning cabin skit (from Boys Cabin #1) retold in Idlewild fashion the story of Moses, one of our heroes of the faith--



In the evening devotionals, we looked-- not at God's heroes from the Old Testament, but his rules. The kids learned the Ten Commandments in order and we looked at several and tried to make applications to their lives. The kids were super attentive during these 30 minutes at the end of a long, tiring and hot day; I sometimes had a hard time getting through all my material because of all the (mostly) good comments they were making. Here is Girl's Cabin One reminding us of what Jesus really wants from us--



Two weeks before camp started, I had no male counselors (always the hardest position to fill); I ended up with four and let one of them stay home (he was going as a counselor the next week and needed to conserve his energy). Thanks to Ethan Bynum, Jerrod Tatum and Will Respess for stepping up... and keeping Roger and I out of the cabins! Here is Girls Cabin #2 reminding us that we need to be careful what we hope for and focus on things that last--



The weather was HOT, hitting 100 once and hovering nearby most of the week. But the weather was for the most part dry, which made it easy to stay on schedule. As great as the camp facility is (and it was in great shape this year-- the pool was perfect and the new staff quarters and girls bath house were great), there is really not much to do at camp when it rains. We did have a real frog-strangling gulley-washer the last afternoon and evening, but we got through it. Here is Boys Cabin #2 telling us what to do and not do in a thunderstorm--



My one request from the board for a facility change would be to re-position the volleyball court back under the trees in the shade. It was too hot much of the time on some days that physical activity was dangerous. But it seemed 15 degrees cooler in the shade. Back in the olden days, the volleyball court under the trees served as the functional center of the camp-- when there wasn't anything organized going on, the kids played volleyball under the trees where it was cool )and the net was lower and the court smaller than regulation)... or they say on the benches around the volleyball court and talked. I would like to bring that back.

It was a great week. If you didn't get a chance to go to camp this year, start making plans for next year. I am.

I Don't Have a Clue!

One of my teachers in college used to tell us never to “preach your doubts.” This is similar to warning trial lawyers never to ask questions in court that you don’t already know the answer to. Preachers aren't to raise issues or questions in a sermon for which they have no answers because that will just confuse and frustrate people. Maybe that's why some people think that preachers know everything about the Bible; we aren't allowed to bring up the multitude of questions for which we have no answers.

Does that same principle apply to blogs? Is it OK to raise questions in my blog that I don’t have answers for? Well, that is precisely what I'm going to do this morning. Because I don’t have a clue in what is going on in our daily Bible reading from 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. Here’s my summary of the story—

David angers God by conducting a census of fighting age men. David finally realizes (too late) that this was a bad idea and repents and God offers David his choice of punishments—3 years of famine, three months of fleeing from enemies, or three days of plague. David chooses the plague and 70,000 people died… and David realizes he made the wrong choice.

The story ends with David offering sacrifices of repentance on the threshing floor he bought from Araunah, the site upon which Solomon would later build the Temple (2 Chr 3:1). So what’s the problem with this story? From my limited and perplexed perspective, there are plenty of questions here.

• First, we aren't ever told why this census was such a horrible sin. Moses had been commanded to do that very thing in preparation for the conquest of Canaan (Exo 20:12). Maybe the census shows a lack of trust in God?  Later David resists another census because “the LORD had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky” (1 Chron 27:23).  But we aren't told.
  
• Second, who was it exactly that incited David to take this census? In 2 Samuel, the idea seems to come from God, “the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah” (24:1). In 1 Chronicles, the idea comes from Satan, “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel” (21:1).  Sure, David made the decision, but did the temptation come from God or Satan?
  
• Third, Joab (himself no spiritual giant) instantly knew that this census was a bad idea and tries to talk David out of the plan. OK, that a little our of character for him, but then why in 1 Chron 27:24, is it Joab that begins his own effort to count the fighting men?
  
• Fourth, does the punishment fit the crime? David commits adultery and murders his faithful servant to cover up that sin, and the punishment was the death of a child and constant turmoil within David’s family. But here David counts his army and the punishment is 70,000 deaths of innocent and ignorant people? Maybe it’s just me, but something seems a little out of kilter there.

God is God and God is All-Sovereign. One of the fringe benefits in being God is that you don’t have to explain yourself to anyone.  Maybe the point of stories like this is to remove the fiction that we have allowed ourselves to buy into that we can reduce the Bible to neat and simple stories that fit nicely together with one another and with our theological understandings. God is too massive for us to understand, even in these stories that He has left for us. These stories speak to us of the One who lives in unapproachable light, and thus they sometimes jostle against one another in ways that don’t fully make sense to us. Should that surprise us? Or should it rather surprise us if those stories fit together too neatly and nicely so that we would wonder if they were really about God?

Second Verse Different from the First...

Our reading for today from Psalm 95 should sound very familiar to many of us. Not because we read the Psalms so much that we have them memorized but because we sing them so much we have part of them memorized. Several of the praise songs we sing from time to time come from Psalm 95. In fact one of them is cleverly titled "Psalm 95" (Music by Jason Hill, Dick Dalzell and words by God)

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord
Let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving (and extol)
And extol him with music and song...

Actually that song is Psalm 95:1-5 word for word out of the NIV.  So you might not like the song, but it's hard to complain much about the lyrics! The same is true for the song "Come Let Us Worship and Bow Down" by Dave Doherty. He picks up where Hill and Dalzell leave off in Psalm 95:6-7a

Come let us worship and bow downLet us kneel before the Lord, our God our Maker.For He is our God,And we are the people of His pastureAnd the sheep of His hand,    And the sheep of His hand.

These two songs are very different (the first is way uptempo, the second is slow and reflective) but they come (almost) word for world from Psalm 95. They also share in common the fact that ignore the second verse and stern warning of the Psalm--

Today, if only you would hear his voice,8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

So maybe that part of the psalm is just harder to put to music; it is definitely not happy-clappy. But the message of this part of the psalm must be important because that is the part that is picked up and used by the writer of Hebrews... twice (Heb 3:7-11, 4:3).

God is "the Rock of salvation" and we are "the people of his pasture" not because of what and how we sing on Sundays. The stern warning here is not to harden our hearts as Israel did at Meribah and Massah when they complained against Moses because they did not trust God to provide them water in the wilderness. They complained about the hardships of the journey and did not trust God to provide for them. You see, if we really believe that God is our Rock (from where water comes) and that we are the people of his pasture (thus taken care of by Him), then we will not have hard harts and become discouraged by the difficulties of our journey. That generation of Jew did not enter the rest of Promised Land because they didn't trust God on the journey.

It's one thing to sing the praise songs on Sunday. We need to sing them because they remind us of who God is and what God does. But those songs have meaning only if they lead us to trust and obey God daily as we live through the wilderness that can be our lives. We need to sing that last verse of Psalm 95, because that verse is the point.