Here, David is crying out to God for mercy in confession. In the whole of Psalm 38 one feels the angst bound up within his heart. Question: When was the last time we voiced such a plaint before God? I think it is perhaps unusual these days. Read just 3 verses selected from the whole of the 22 verses. . . .
“My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness, I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning. For my sides are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart. ” (Psalm 38:5–8)
Several factors in this Psalm emerge when sin overtakes:
1) There's no attempt to avoid, or re-frame the sin to sound better than it is.
2) He feels free to "dump on" God, to tell the Lord everything he feels. There's a freedom in such complaining.
3) He recognizes the source of his sorrow (sin), and the Source of his salvation (God). He is not just having a "bad day."
4) He gets help, not from the bottle, or from sports or from the phone, but from God alone!
5) He doesn't throw his hands up in disgust saying, "Where is God when you need him?" He goes to God and sort of "forces" upon Him his sorrow. He unloads on God.
Again I ask, how frequently do we just unload on our loving Lord? Are we quicker to turn to a friend than to the One who should be our BEST friend? Just wondering.
Don't be a complaining person, but if you will, complain to the One who cares and solves our troubles.
Way back in college, my sister, Kathi and I attended the same elective (a "yawner"), . . . ready? "Seventeenth Century Prose and Poetry." Really, I had hope that this class may yield something out of my normal range (which wouldn't have taken much). And though much was a bit on the dull side (especially then), at least one writer loomed large in my mind -- George Herbert. Now, some 37-ish years later, here's an example:
Love II
Immortal Heat, O let thy greater flame
Attract the lesser to it: let those fires,
Which shall consume the world, first make it tame;
And kindle in our hearts such true desires,
As may consume our lusts, and make thee way.
Then shall our hearts pant thee; then shall our brain
All her invention on thine Altar lay,
And there in hymns send back thy fire again:
Our eyes shall see thee, which before saw dust;
Dust blown by wit, till that they both were blind:
Thou shalt recover all thy goods in kind,
Who wert disseized by usurping lust:
All knees shall bow to thee; all wits shall rise,
And praise him who did make and mend our eyes.
And there is an example . . . But, if you read this carefully, there is a very modern prayer inferred. How do our minds compete against our hearts in love for Jesus Christ. Herbert was well aware of this and wrote often of it. Whether or not you enjoy poetry, his sentiments are accurate and (as poems can do) surfaces our hypocrisy, exposing it so that it may be amended. May it be so . . . and thank you 17th C Prose and Poetry. Hope you enjoyed it too, Kathi! :-)
“When small men begin to cast long shadows, it is a sure sign that the sun is setting."
So, too, I would claim that when men’s views of God are low, they will inevitably run hard to promote themselves. The following quotation from Blaise Pascal will not tickle the ears of the modern who loves to laud mankind, treating him as a god! But it will reveal what a great scientist and a true Christian felt about humanity.
What is man in nature? A nothing compared to the infinite, a whole compared to the nothing, a middle point between all and nothing, infinitely remote from an understanding of the extremes . . . equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed. . .
Let us then realize our limitations. We are something and we are not everything. Such being as we have conceals from us the knowledge of first principles, which arise from nothingness, and the smallness of our being hides infinity from our sight.
Our intelligence occupies the same rank in the order of intellect as our body in the whole range of nature.
Limited in every respect, we find this intermediate state between two extremes reflected in all our faculties. Our senses can perceive nothing extreme; too much noise deafens us, too much light dazzles; when we are too far or too close we cannot see properly; are argument is obscured by being too long or too short; too much truth bewilders us.
Right views of God promote right views of man. None can be compared to the greatness of the great God "who dwells in light unapproachable." We rise or fall over our own thoughts of truth. Let's make sure we are on the right side of it!
“He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ” (1 Peter 1:3–4)
Those words, "kept in heaven for you" suggest two marvelous truths. 1) Someone does the keeping, which is God himself through Jesus Christ. And, 2) someone is being kept, and that is the true believer. That Peter is writing to believers is easily identified in the phrase "to those who are elect exiles . . ." (v. 1). The term, "elect" is more often than not used in order to accentuate the security of the redeemed who find themselves under great duress and therefore liable to feeling neglected, unloved or even rejected. The term "elect" is meant to encourage the saints, not become a watershed doctrine between Calvinists and Arminians. Elect by God means (among other things) held tightly, lovingly, and powerfully by none less than God himself, a doctrine which becomes increasingly dear as one's life hangs in the balance for Jesus' sake!
Birthed by God The One who keeps is the same who births. This occurrence "caused us to be born again" does not appear elsewhere in the Bible (OT or NT) except one other time in 1 Peter 1:23.
"Peter’s conception of new birth includes 'entrance into a new order of existence, but combines with it that of divine parentage: men enter the new life as children of its Author' (Hort 1898: 33, in Baker Exegetical Commentary).
The emphasis here is not on our being born ANEW (though that is included), but rather on God having produced new children by His seed, or "the word of God" (1:23). One of the reasons we can be said to be "kept" is because God produced children of his own incorruptible seed! Our security does not rest, therefore, in our own ability to keep the law, or to obey God as important as these things are. But our being kept is owing entirely to God's own fathering of a new child, even we who have been born-again!
Birthed to What? God caused us to be birthed to what? 1) A living hope (not a bunch of legalistic dead activities, and forced worship)! Oh, no! Lively, as in full of life! Do we have it? Further, we were birthed to 2) an inheritance (in heaven, with Jesus Christ and God, the Father), which is described with three modifiers: it's imperishable, it's undefiled, and unfading.
Kept in Heaven for You If indeed, it is God himself who "keeps" us and therefore who secures our place in heaven, it is outside ourselves and thus not liable to our human whimsy, our ups and downs. Can we see that once we've gotten through the other descriptions of the birthing process and the nature of our final inheritance with Christ, that our being kept is a natural result of such a magnificent work of grace! Of course we are kept, and our inheritance is undefiled and unfading. After all, look Who insured that we'd be birthed--God himself!
Thanks to Justin Taylor's site, Between Two Worlds for this explanation. If you do not read the whole article, at least check out the Mormon views on God, Christ and salvation! Please, if you say you love Jesus Christ as savior, do not allow this world to "squeeze you into its mold," but rather "test" (judge) so as to "discern what is the will of God" (Rom. 12:2).
BETWEEN TWO WORLDS . . .
The following is adapted from the section on Mormonism (or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) in the ESV Study Bible article on religious cults. The attempt is to be concise yet still accurate. I’ve added questions in bold to break it up a bit.
What do Mormons believe about apostasy and restoration?
Mormons claim that “total” apostasy overcame the church following apostolic times, and that the Mormon Church (founded in 1830) is the “restored church.”
What’s the problem with this understanding?
If the Mormon Church were truly a “restored church,” one would expect to find first-century historical evidence for Mormon doctrines like the plurality of gods and God the Father having once been a man. Such evidence is completely lacking. Besides, the Bible disallows a total apostasy of the church (e.g., Matt. 16:18; 28:20; Eph. 3:21; 4:11–16), warning instead of partial apostasy (1 Tim. 4:1).
What do Mormons believe about God?
Mormons claim that God the Father was once a man and that he then progressed to godhood (that is, he is a now-exalted, immortal man with a flesh-and-bone body).
What does the Bible teach about the nature of God?
Based on the Bible, God is not and has never been a man (Num. 23:19; Hos. 11:9). He is a spirit (John 4:24), and a spirit does not have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39). Furthermore, God is eternal (Ps. 90:2; 102:27; Isa. 57:15; 1 Tim. 1:17) and immutable (or unchangeable in his being and perfections; see Ps. 102:25–27; Mal. 3:6). He did not “progress” toward godhood, but has always been God.
What do Mormons believe about the Trinity and polytheism?
Mormons believe that the Trinity consists not of three persons in one God but rather of three distinct gods. According to Mormonism, there are potentially many thousands of gods besides these.
Mormons believe that humans, like God the Father, can go through a process of exaltation to godhood.
What does the Bible teach about humanity?
The Bible teaches that the yearning to be godlike led to the fall of mankind (Gen. 3:4ff.). God does not look kindly on humans who pretend to attain to deity (Acts 12:21–23; contrast Acts 14:11–15). God desires humans to humbly recognize that they are his creatures (Gen. 2:7; 5:2; Ps. 95:6–7; 100:3). The state of the redeemed in eternity will be one of glorious immortality, but they will forever remain God’s creatures, adopted as his children (Rom. 8:14–30; 1 Cor. 15:42–57; Rev. 21:3–7). Believers will never become gods.
What do Mormons believe about Jesus?
Mormons believe that Jesus Christ was the firstborn spirit-child of the heavenly Father and a heavenly Mother. Jesus then progressed to deity in the spirit world. He was later physically conceived in Mary’s womb, as the literal “only begotten” Son of God the Father in the flesh (though many present-day Mormons remain somewhat vague as to how this occurred).
What does the Bible teach about Jesus?
Biblically, the description of Jesus as the “only begotten” refers to his being the Father’s unique, one-of-a-kind Son for all eternity, with the same divine nature as the Father (see note on John 1:14; cf. John 1:18; 3:16, 18; see also John 5:18; 10:30). Moreover, he is eternal deity (John 1:1; 8:58) and is immutable (Heb. 1:10–12; 13:8), meaning he did not progress to deity but has always been God. And Mary’s conception of Jesus in his humanity was through a miracle of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20).
What do Mormons believe about our eternal destiny?
Mormons believe that most people will end up in one of three kingdoms of glory, depending on one’s level of faithfulness. Belief in Christ, or even in God, is not necessary to obtain immortality in one of these three kingdoms, and therefore only the most spiritually perverse will go to hell.
What does the Bible teach about our eternal destiny ?
The Bible teaches that people have just two possibilities for their eternal futures: the saved will enjoy eternal life with God in the new heavens and new earth (Phil. 3:20; Rev. 21:1–4; 22:1–5), while the unsaved will spend eternity in hell (Matt. 25:41, 46; Rev. 20:13–15).
What do Mormons believe about sin and atonement?
Mormons believe that Adam’s transgression was a noble act that made it possible for humans to become mortal, a necessary step on the path to exaltation to godhood. They think that Christ’s atonement secures immortality for virtually all people, whether they repent and believe or not.
What does the Bible teach about sin and atonement?
Mormons believe that God gives to (virtually) everyone a general salvation to immortal life in one of the heavenly kingdoms, which is how they understand salvation by grace. Belief in Christ is necessary only to obtain passage to the highest, celestial kingdom—for which not only faith but participation in Mormon temple rituals and obedience to its “laws of the gospel” are also prerequisites.
Work Hard and Don’t Be Lazy! Thanks to Grace To You!
PROVERBS
Here are twenty practical principles from Proverbs to motivate you to work hard and avoid laziness. After you read through these principles, take the time to go back through and look up the origin of each principle in the book of Proverbs.
1. Remember, working hard is first a mindset (and so is laziness). [Proverbs 10:5; 15:19; 22:13; 26:13, 16]
2. Working hard and staying on task is a matter of self-control. [Proverbs 16:32b; 25:28]
3. Get up early. Try to stand up right when the alarm clock goes off. [Proverbs 20:13; 24:30-34; 26:14; 31:15]
4. Do hard jobs first and easier jobs second; then you can have fun. [Proverbs 22:29; 21:20; 24:27]
5. Love what you do as a vocation, regardless of what it is. Ask God to grant His blessing and favor in your work (cf. the account of Joseph in Genesis 39). [Proverbs 12:11, 14b; 28:19]
6. Don’t try to make money by deceit or fraud. If you do, God will punish you, sooner or later. [Proverbs 3:9-10; 10:2; 11:18; 15:27; 16:8; 20:14; 28:8, 20]
7. Be honest with your employer about how much you work. If you’re lazily collecting a paycheck, that’s stealing. [Proverbs 14:23; 20:17; 22:16; 30:8-9]
8. Don’t work so much, however, that you need to re-introduce yourself to your family. Strive for a healthy balance between your work and your family life. [Proverbs 13:11, 25; 15:16-17; 23:4-5; 24:3-4]
9. If you travel too much (according to your wife’s/family’s honest, loving assessment), seek to curb your travel, if possible. Perhaps another position would provide greater harmony in your home. [Proverbs 11:29; 15:22, 32; 18:15, 22; 19:20; 21:16]
10. If your wife is regularly wondering how the bills are going to be paid, and you’re not taking initiative to lead, confess your failure in leadership and take control of your family finances. [Proverbs 16:26; 19:14; 21:5; 26:15]
11. Treat your work (house cleaning, school work, or whatever it is) as though you will reap a harvest from your labors. [Proverbs 20:4; 27:18, 23-27]
12. Don’t work only in order to receive. Rather, find satisfaction in simply doing good work for God and men. [Proverbs 3:27-28; 12:26; 21:25-26; 24:21-22; 25:21-22]
13. Lazy people often assume that others owe them a handout (whether they’ve worked hard or not). Don’t fall into an entitlement mentality. [Proverbs 13:4]
14. When you are asked to serve in some way, don’t attempt to take the path of least resistance (because of laziness). [Proverbs 10:26; 19:15]
15. Consider how much more would be accomplished for the kingdom of Christ if you worked as hard in ministry as you do for a paycheck. [Proverbs 18:9]
16. Consider how your employer would evaluate you if his assessment was based on your work ethic in ministry. (Would you be fired?) [Proverbs 21:2]
17. If you are a lazy person, or if you tend toward laziness in certain areas of your life, confess your sin to God. Whether at home, at work, or in ministry, admit to God that you haven’t been working as hard as you should (He knows already), and ask Him to cleanse you from sin. [Proverbs 28:13]
18. Abandoning laziness and growing in diligence means you must be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Here are some practical steps you can take: [Proverbs 12:24, 27; 31:27]
a. Ask the Spirit to make you a hard worker for God.
b. Read, re-read, and even memorize the proverbs that pertain to both laziness and work.
c. Trust God to overcome any bad habits you’ve developed regarding work and diligence.
d. When you are tempted to be lazy, seek the Spirit’s help in prayer and remind yourself what the Word of God teaches.
19. Show how the Proverbs on diligence and laziness are important by reading them to your family and then applying the biblical principles. Discuss with your family how you can hold one another accountable to be diligent workers for God and men. [Proverbs 1:8; 2:1-2; 3:1-2; 4:1-2, 10-11, 20; 5:1-2; 6:20; 7:1-3; 8:32-36; 22:17-21; 23:15-25]
20. Ask God to give you opportunities to become a hard worker, and then look for Him to answer in every realm of your life (home, work, school, ministry, etc.). [Proverbs 6:6-11; 24:30-34]
