Easter is past, but it is not over. It is never inappropriate to consider Easter, its events and its ramifications. And most of these thoughts came from others, also commenting "after Easter." The Cross and it's work in our lives should always be in mind.
Let's start with Mary and the Magnificat. She began her paean of praise to the Lord for choosing her as the vehicle the Messiah would use to enter the world. Luke 1:48
"For He has had regard for the humble state of His bond slave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed."
The final comment reminds us of Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5 as He spells out nine conditions for being "blessed." And it seems, as we scroll down through the list, that they would all, eventually, apply to Mary. Not everyone can be the birth mother of Messiah, but all can share in the blessings. We do this by living with and in the light of His ministry.
We have looked at them before, and they seem to build upon each other. "Poor in spirit.. mourn... gentle... hunger and thirst for righteousness... merciful... pure in heart... peacemakers... persecuted... insulted...." And I will leave the follow up to you. Read the list of "blessings" that are delineated for this list of spiritual responses to our sin.
Jesus' words and actions on the cross have been extensively discussed so we will not repeat that here. But some new considerations occurred recently. Matthew 27:46
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
We will not consider the theological discussions of this statement. Both Matthew and Mark (15:34) also give the Aramic wording.
"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"
Notice the word for "God." Incidentally, it is a reflection of Psalm 22:1. This is, according to the experts, the generic name for God, El. Other names add a second syllable for the multiple names that we can study in reference to His character and attributes. The key item is the "oi" (in Mark and just "i" in Matthew). It is the personal possessive, "my."
Jesus was both declaring and lamenting His separation from the Father, His God. It had never before, in all of eternity, happened. And it will never happen again. The significance of that is staggering. But, as Jesus took our sins, His communion with the Father and Spirit was severed. He had been left alone.
Then, a little while later, just as He was dying, Jesus declared, (Luke 23:46)
"Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." Having said this, He breathed His last.
Despite being "abandoned" Jesus had not forfeited His trust in His Father. That eerily resembles Job's declaration in Job 13:15.
"Though He (the Lord) slay me, yet will I trust in Him."
Job was suffering untold torture from loss of his family and fortune and now his health. Even if God were the One Who was bringing this on him (it wasn't), Job would not forsake his confidence in Him. Jesus did know that He would die, in just a few minutes. Yet, His trust was unwavering. "Into Your hands, I commend My spirit."
Thank you, Job, for putting that into human perspective for us. And now for the final part of the Luke quotation. "Having said this, He breathed His last." I always wondered at that. Now it makes sense. First, Luke, being a physician, was versed in life and death and would be attuned to this final gasp. I wondered how people there could know that Jesus was no longer breathing. They were not very close, not even those who were at the "foot of the cross." How could they hear and know?
And without life and death expertise or ever experience, how did they know that He had stopped and, "...dismissed His Spirit." (Into God's hands. Glory!)
Our understanding of crucifixion helps. Being "stretched out" on the cross was literally the description of a body undergoing this torture. As the body, hung by the spread arms, drags downward, it causes the diaphragm to expand the lungs and they inhale air. But to breathe out, the victim had to push up with his legs and feet which were nailed securely to the upright beam.
The torture this inflicted has been documented, so we will forego that. But to keep breathing, Jesus had to push up in order to exhale. The process of crucifixion was a combination of excruciating pain, physical damage to the body and organs, loss of blood (exsanguination), and the exhausting regimen of respiration.
When Jesus "breathed His last" He made one final push with His legs. That is why the soldiers broke the legs of the others who were hung with Him. Once the bones were broken, they had no leverage with which to elevate their bodies and quickly suffocated.
The point is that it was not "poetic license" that Luke used when he reported that Jesus "breathed His last." He based it on medical and physical evidence.
The final consideration comes after the "end." Matthew (27:51), Mark (15:38) and Luke (23:45) include the statement that the "veil of the temple was torn in two." Matthew and Mark specify that it was from the "top to bottom." One of the roles of the curtain in the temple was to separate the people from God and prevent them from approaching Him in an unworthy manner.
Do you recall the instances in the Old Testament when the Ark of the Covenant and access to God was violated? It cost people their lives and or health. The "separation" was not to protect God, but to protect sinners who would perish in the Presence of the Holy God. This separation for protection is reflective of the Lord setting an angel with the "flaming sword" to guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 3:24)
This was also to protect man. Had Adam and Eve been able to eat of the tree of life, they would have been cursed to live forever in the sin-wracked body they inherited by rebelling against God. The tabernacle and subsequent temple was also protection by separation. But that barrier was no longer needed. Jesus had paid the penalty for our sin and to illustrate that, the dividing curtain that partitioned man and God was destroyed. The way into the "garden" of God was no longer blocked. The Holy of Holies was accessible to all who trust in Jesus.
Think on these things. Glory!
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Psalm 32:7 Hiding Place
Did you ever look at a verse, then come back to it a day or so later and it says something different? That happened with Psalm 32:7;
You are my hiding place; You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. Selah.
When we examined it last time, the concept of "Safety" was paramount. Look again at the verse. "You" (God) "are my hiding place." That can mean a place of concealment and covering. But that is not the most in-depth understanding, it seems.
Cory ten Boom was aware of the hiding place, both as a place of concealment for her Jewish friends, and later for herself, as a place of refuge in the storm of Nazi concentration camp life. "Hiding place" can denote protection, and rightly so.
However, those who come to understand it as a place of commitment and concentration on ideas understand it more fully. I seem to recall a comic back when I was a kid that featured a place of retreat for one of the characters, maybe Charlie Brown or someone like that. He called it his "sanctum sanctorum.' He would crawl back into the cave or whatever it was to get away from the burdens of his life. Maybe it was Calvin and Hobbs.
Another use of the word is in the Latin translation of the Bible. The "sanctum sanctorum" is how the Holy of Holies was translated. That is obviously not a place that we can enter today, because the Temple has been destroyed. We will peruse that idea in a later post.
The focus is that a "hiding place" is not negative nor demeaning at all, but a very positive attitude toward life and service. Think back to Moses in Exodus 33:22. The "hiding place" was the cleft in the rock where Moses stood while God's glory passed by. God covered him with His hand. "He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock..." came from that incident.
Moses was in intimate communion with the Lord at that time. That is the "hiding" that we need to covet. For Moses, even seeing "the back parts" of the Lord was a life changing experience. Moses returned to the people in the next chapter and his face shown so much that the people asked him to wear a veil. There is a lot of theology involved there, but the first thing to note is that Moses' countenance was a reflection of his interaction with the Lord in the "hiding place."
We can vary the lyrics of another hymn to say,"Hide me, oh Thou Great Jehovah," That is the plea of our hearts. And it is certainly as valid as praying for Him to "Guide" us. (Sorry to mess up the song. It seems appropriate.) Think about that. "Selah.
You are my hiding place; You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. Selah.
When we examined it last time, the concept of "Safety" was paramount. Look again at the verse. "You" (God) "are my hiding place." That can mean a place of concealment and covering. But that is not the most in-depth understanding, it seems.
Cory ten Boom was aware of the hiding place, both as a place of concealment for her Jewish friends, and later for herself, as a place of refuge in the storm of Nazi concentration camp life. "Hiding place" can denote protection, and rightly so.
However, those who come to understand it as a place of commitment and concentration on ideas understand it more fully. I seem to recall a comic back when I was a kid that featured a place of retreat for one of the characters, maybe Charlie Brown or someone like that. He called it his "sanctum sanctorum.' He would crawl back into the cave or whatever it was to get away from the burdens of his life. Maybe it was Calvin and Hobbs.
Another use of the word is in the Latin translation of the Bible. The "sanctum sanctorum" is how the Holy of Holies was translated. That is obviously not a place that we can enter today, because the Temple has been destroyed. We will peruse that idea in a later post.
The focus is that a "hiding place" is not negative nor demeaning at all, but a very positive attitude toward life and service. Think back to Moses in Exodus 33:22. The "hiding place" was the cleft in the rock where Moses stood while God's glory passed by. God covered him with His hand. "He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock..." came from that incident.
Moses was in intimate communion with the Lord at that time. That is the "hiding" that we need to covet. For Moses, even seeing "the back parts" of the Lord was a life changing experience. Moses returned to the people in the next chapter and his face shown so much that the people asked him to wear a veil. There is a lot of theology involved there, but the first thing to note is that Moses' countenance was a reflection of his interaction with the Lord in the "hiding place."
We can vary the lyrics of another hymn to say,"Hide me, oh Thou Great Jehovah," That is the plea of our hearts. And it is certainly as valid as praying for Him to "Guide" us. (Sorry to mess up the song. It seems appropriate.) Think about that. "Selah.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Stellar Geography (Part 2) See Part 1 Below
Second Question of Stellar Geography
Second question, as nuanced before (Part 1): The "edge" of the universe appears to be about 47 billion light years away in all directions. (Back ground. Light that is being emitted from a moving object is affected by the direction the object is moving. According to Einstein, the speed never changes, but the "lines" of the colors move. Objects going away from the viewer show a "red shift" as the light is shifted toward the red end of the spectrum. The amount of "shift" can be correlated with the distance that the object is from the observer. The farther away they are, the more shift is measured. As mentioned before, astronomers can estimate the distance to stars by their red shift. This is called Hubble's Law.)
That brings up our second question. Why is the red shift equal in all directions as we observe it from earth? Since the red shift can be correlated to the distance a body is away from us, wouldn't we, here on earth, expect to see a majority of "large" red shifts in the direction that is farther from the earth? If it is evenly distributed, then does that mean that the earth or at least our galaxy is at or near the center of the universe? I thought we were in an outer rim.
The uniformity of the red shift in all directions seems to indicate that the edge of the universe is equidistant from us, regardless of how we turn. If we use a merry-go-round to illustrate, sitting on one of the rearing horses will find you closer to some other "animals" than others. The only place that you are equally far all of them is when you are in the center of the ride. (We will stick to two dimensional space for now. But that does bring up another consideration. Is the universe equally dispersed in three dimensional space? If not, why not? Remember the "big bang?" It was an explosion. I will ignore that for now.)
So how can we explain the seeming centrality of the earth in the universe? Seems to be a logical conundrum.
Finally how can the planets be so heterogenous. The inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are rocky. The next ones out, Jupiter and Saturn are gaseous. Finally the outer planets, Neptune, Uranus, and (maybe a planet?) Pluto are icy. (You can decide whether you want Pluto as a planet or not. And now some guys are predicting another planet out past Pluto that is ten times as large as the earth.) No evidence, of course, just a guess.
Notice the segregation of "building materials." They could not have been "thrown out" of the sun, so must have been somehow included in the "solar system package" that was somehow assembled during or just after the "hyper inflation." (See Part 1) Ironically, the sun is also gaseous, so the "layers" in the solar system are gas, rock, gas, ice. It is possible that the ice of the outer planets is frozen gas, but scientists are claiming to find water there too.
Is it just happenstance that the different layers of planets are grouped as they are? Some (naive?) commentaries explain that the heat of the sun did not melt the rocky materials so they were able to remain close to the sun while the gases were driven farther out. ...and on and on. But there is still no explanation as to how the rocky material conglomerated "close" to the sun in the first place. The asteroid belt, also seems to be rocky. Then come the gaseous planets, followed by the icy (frozen gas) planets. Pluto is included in the Kuiper belt of icy stuff, surrounded by the unseen and undetected Oort cloud.
The rocky material is largely grouped in the inner portion of the solar system, but there are some rocky moons out in the gas giants and Saturn's rings are largely dust, chunks, and some "ice." The explanation of "moon" formation is typically a collision by some outside body that split off the moon. But the gas planets could not have produced rocky moons. And Pluto and it's moon were recently reported to be quite different.
This solar system isn't nice to the "spontaneous formation" branch of solar system explanations. The more we learn, the more questions are produced. And we are not even considering the moons that orbit backwards around a couple of planets.(The term is retrograde. I love that kind of talk.)
It almost seems that a "special creation" was employed to frustrate our speculation. Just a thought.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017 Stellar Geography (Part 1) http://reflectionsfromjim.blogspot.com/2017/04/stellar-geography-part-1.html
Second question, as nuanced before (Part 1): The "edge" of the universe appears to be about 47 billion light years away in all directions. (Back ground. Light that is being emitted from a moving object is affected by the direction the object is moving. According to Einstein, the speed never changes, but the "lines" of the colors move. Objects going away from the viewer show a "red shift" as the light is shifted toward the red end of the spectrum. The amount of "shift" can be correlated with the distance that the object is from the observer. The farther away they are, the more shift is measured. As mentioned before, astronomers can estimate the distance to stars by their red shift. This is called Hubble's Law.)
That brings up our second question. Why is the red shift equal in all directions as we observe it from earth? Since the red shift can be correlated to the distance a body is away from us, wouldn't we, here on earth, expect to see a majority of "large" red shifts in the direction that is farther from the earth? If it is evenly distributed, then does that mean that the earth or at least our galaxy is at or near the center of the universe? I thought we were in an outer rim.
The uniformity of the red shift in all directions seems to indicate that the edge of the universe is equidistant from us, regardless of how we turn. If we use a merry-go-round to illustrate, sitting on one of the rearing horses will find you closer to some other "animals" than others. The only place that you are equally far all of them is when you are in the center of the ride. (We will stick to two dimensional space for now. But that does bring up another consideration. Is the universe equally dispersed in three dimensional space? If not, why not? Remember the "big bang?" It was an explosion. I will ignore that for now.)
So how can we explain the seeming centrality of the earth in the universe? Seems to be a logical conundrum.
Finally how can the planets be so heterogenous. The inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are rocky. The next ones out, Jupiter and Saturn are gaseous. Finally the outer planets, Neptune, Uranus, and (maybe a planet?) Pluto are icy. (You can decide whether you want Pluto as a planet or not. And now some guys are predicting another planet out past Pluto that is ten times as large as the earth.) No evidence, of course, just a guess.
Notice the segregation of "building materials." They could not have been "thrown out" of the sun, so must have been somehow included in the "solar system package" that was somehow assembled during or just after the "hyper inflation." (See Part 1) Ironically, the sun is also gaseous, so the "layers" in the solar system are gas, rock, gas, ice. It is possible that the ice of the outer planets is frozen gas, but scientists are claiming to find water there too.
Is it just happenstance that the different layers of planets are grouped as they are? Some (naive?) commentaries explain that the heat of the sun did not melt the rocky materials so they were able to remain close to the sun while the gases were driven farther out. ...and on and on. But there is still no explanation as to how the rocky material conglomerated "close" to the sun in the first place. The asteroid belt, also seems to be rocky. Then come the gaseous planets, followed by the icy (frozen gas) planets. Pluto is included in the Kuiper belt of icy stuff, surrounded by the unseen and undetected Oort cloud.
The rocky material is largely grouped in the inner portion of the solar system, but there are some rocky moons out in the gas giants and Saturn's rings are largely dust, chunks, and some "ice." The explanation of "moon" formation is typically a collision by some outside body that split off the moon. But the gas planets could not have produced rocky moons. And Pluto and it's moon were recently reported to be quite different.
This solar system isn't nice to the "spontaneous formation" branch of solar system explanations. The more we learn, the more questions are produced. And we are not even considering the moons that orbit backwards around a couple of planets.(The term is retrograde. I love that kind of talk.)
It almost seems that a "special creation" was employed to frustrate our speculation. Just a thought.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017 Stellar Geography (Part 1) http://reflectionsfromjim.blogspot.com/2017/04/stellar-geography-part-1.html
Stellar Geography (Part 1)
If you don't like science, you will hate this. If you like easy answers, read no farther. There are none.
The universe has a radius of 46 to 47 billion light years. Think what that means. If the Big Bang happened 13 to 14 billion years ago and everything started at ground zero, how can we explain the size of the universe?
Here is the problem. Speck of something, super compressed goes Bang! Everything started at one point, ground zero (GZ) and began to expand or "inflate" in the first few microseconds of existence. I am not an expert, so bear with me on this, but the inflation stage seems to have three phases. First was hyperinflation, where "stuff" raced away from GZ and went way away. Then it slowed down and possibly even stopped. (Not sure here. Different "theories"–theory in a theory?--or explanations.)
I assume that at some point, possibly here, the matter began to accumulate into distinct, identifiable blobs (scientific term) or nebula that would become galaxies and then subdivide into individual stars and solar systems. These masses then began to differentiate into individual entities as discrete stars and accompanying solar systems. It is hard to imagine that happening in the hyperinflation period. (Honestly, it is hard to believe any time, but even more so here.)
Then the matter began to separate again, and according to some, it accelerated and is still accelerating. Notice that it is not just moving apart, it is accelerating. Some unknown force is pulling the universe farther and farther apart, faster and faster. Now, somewhere in that period, the stars all compacted into giant gas balls and literally fused as the fusion reaction began and they started shining. Did the accompanying planets also form simultaneously or were they a subsequent development?
Again, no idea, but let's just continue to speculate. Now we come to the problem. Recall the initial observation that the U is 46 or 47 billion light years in radius? (I assume that is measuring from earth, as if it is the center of all things. (Discussed in another article. I was going to do them together, but it is getting too long. See Stellar Geography 2.) So the farthest solar systems began to send light back to the earth after they formed. Recall that they are 47 billion light years away.
Assuming the universe is 14 billion years old, then the farthest systems would have been sending light for 14 billion years for it to be reaching us now. Here is the tricky part. Light travels one light year of distance in one year. So they would have to have been, at the most, 14 billion light years away for us to see it now. But using the "red shift" concept scientists have "measured" the distance to the farthest stars at 47 billion light years away from us.. See the problem?
If they were more than 14 billion light years away when the started "shining" we would not yet see the light after 14 billion years. So how did they get 33 billion light years farther away than we can "see?" I have read some theories that the inflation also speeded up light, so that it could go "faster." (This is quite helpful in explaining away the relativity "speed limit" Einstein established in his theory. You can figure how the "constant" of light speed affects things when it is no longer constant. I won't wait up.) But then the formation of stellar bodies and accompanying solar systems would have had to happen before or during the expansion. Ain't this gettin' complicated?
Oh, and do not forget, all of this is pure speculation. There is not one speck (excuse the pun) of evidence for any of this. It seems like games that we played as kids. We made up new rules "as needed" whenever we ran into a conflict. I liked being the rule maker. I usually won.
But back to the problem. Getting the stars "out there" and then explaining how the light from them got back here, puts us in a bind.
You know, I'm beginning to think this creation thing isn't so "far out" as it might be portrayed. (Pun intended) Forty-seven billion light years, huh? That is a long ways.
The universe has a radius of 46 to 47 billion light years. Think what that means. If the Big Bang happened 13 to 14 billion years ago and everything started at ground zero, how can we explain the size of the universe?
Here is the problem. Speck of something, super compressed goes Bang! Everything started at one point, ground zero (GZ) and began to expand or "inflate" in the first few microseconds of existence. I am not an expert, so bear with me on this, but the inflation stage seems to have three phases. First was hyperinflation, where "stuff" raced away from GZ and went way away. Then it slowed down and possibly even stopped. (Not sure here. Different "theories"–theory in a theory?--or explanations.)
I assume that at some point, possibly here, the matter began to accumulate into distinct, identifiable blobs (scientific term) or nebula that would become galaxies and then subdivide into individual stars and solar systems. These masses then began to differentiate into individual entities as discrete stars and accompanying solar systems. It is hard to imagine that happening in the hyperinflation period. (Honestly, it is hard to believe any time, but even more so here.)
Then the matter began to separate again, and according to some, it accelerated and is still accelerating. Notice that it is not just moving apart, it is accelerating. Some unknown force is pulling the universe farther and farther apart, faster and faster. Now, somewhere in that period, the stars all compacted into giant gas balls and literally fused as the fusion reaction began and they started shining. Did the accompanying planets also form simultaneously or were they a subsequent development?
Again, no idea, but let's just continue to speculate. Now we come to the problem. Recall the initial observation that the U is 46 or 47 billion light years in radius? (I assume that is measuring from earth, as if it is the center of all things. (Discussed in another article. I was going to do them together, but it is getting too long. See Stellar Geography 2.) So the farthest solar systems began to send light back to the earth after they formed. Recall that they are 47 billion light years away.
Assuming the universe is 14 billion years old, then the farthest systems would have been sending light for 14 billion years for it to be reaching us now. Here is the tricky part. Light travels one light year of distance in one year. So they would have to have been, at the most, 14 billion light years away for us to see it now. But using the "red shift" concept scientists have "measured" the distance to the farthest stars at 47 billion light years away from us.. See the problem?
If they were more than 14 billion light years away when the started "shining" we would not yet see the light after 14 billion years. So how did they get 33 billion light years farther away than we can "see?" I have read some theories that the inflation also speeded up light, so that it could go "faster." (This is quite helpful in explaining away the relativity "speed limit" Einstein established in his theory. You can figure how the "constant" of light speed affects things when it is no longer constant. I won't wait up.) But then the formation of stellar bodies and accompanying solar systems would have had to happen before or during the expansion. Ain't this gettin' complicated?
Oh, and do not forget, all of this is pure speculation. There is not one speck (excuse the pun) of evidence for any of this. It seems like games that we played as kids. We made up new rules "as needed" whenever we ran into a conflict. I liked being the rule maker. I usually won.
But back to the problem. Getting the stars "out there" and then explaining how the light from them got back here, puts us in a bind.
You know, I'm beginning to think this creation thing isn't so "far out" as it might be portrayed. (Pun intended) Forty-seven billion light years, huh? That is a long ways.
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Psalm 32:7 Safety
Psalm 32:7 Safety
This thought completes the one on verse 6. More research on this verse revealed an allusion to Noah and the Ark. Recall the previous verse.
Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to You at a time that You may be found When great floodwaters come, they will not reach him.
Noah preached to his generation, but for a limited time. A time came, when, the Lord could not be found. This has applied to people throughout time. Pharaoh in Egypt continued to harden his heart until the Lord stopped talking to him. Even as far back as Genesis, we find God declaring that, "His Spirit would not always strive with man." (Genesis 6:3) That is a chilling thought.
This scenario will also apply to some in relation to the Rapture. Some teachers believe that 2 Thessalonians 2:11 may indicate that people who have heard of Jesus, but rejected Him, will not believe after the Rapture.
11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
The "time that You may be found" may be past at this point. Disclaimer: Not everyone interprets it that way, but it may be a wise thing to consider this and act before it is too late. It would not be good to be "left behind."
So Noah's second "state," on the Ark, was mirrored by David when he averred that even great floodwaters would not reach him. (Would this be another claim that the flood was worldwide? It certainly seems to indicate that there would be no other refuge that would provide safety.)
Today's continuation of that thought makes perfect sense. (Not surprised that I missed that in the previous thought. I need some help a lot of times.) (Verse 7)
You are my hiding place; You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. Selah
The theme continues in three phases. First a hiding place. Whether "floods" of water or opposition or persecution arise, the ARK of the Lord provides a shelter and hiding place that keeps us secret. He hid David and Noah from any foe or threat. But that is not all. We need not cower in the dark, hoping to avoid detection.
The second level is protection both in and from trouble. Noah and David (Noavid?) both were surrounded by difficult circumstances. In 2010, Nashville received about 13-14 inches of rain in less than two days. The resulting flood waters topped every existing recorded level. Imagine that for 40 days. Noah was literally inundated with problems. (Pardon the pun.) The Lord protected him in the provision that He had instructed Noah to build. Sometimes we aid in providing our shelter and protection.
David was surrounded by enemies several times and his protection seemed to be supernatural. That same protection both physically and ideologically is afforded to "faithful" followers. And, as a result, all were surrounded by "joyful shouts of deliverance." There is the theme of joy and deliverance again.
Noah's shouts were limited to eight, including himself. David had more than that. And as members of Christ's body, the Church will be surrounded by shouts of victory and welcome when we are ushered into heaven, either by death or by the Rapture. Hallelujah!
And finally, David advises us to "Selah," think on these things. It is a serious, yet a joyful perspective. And the "deliverance" can certainly apply to being removed from the danger. Noah floated over it. David persevered through it, and some will be removed before it falls.
Hallelujah!
This thought completes the one on verse 6. More research on this verse revealed an allusion to Noah and the Ark. Recall the previous verse.
Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to You at a time that You may be found When great floodwaters come, they will not reach him.
Noah preached to his generation, but for a limited time. A time came, when, the Lord could not be found. This has applied to people throughout time. Pharaoh in Egypt continued to harden his heart until the Lord stopped talking to him. Even as far back as Genesis, we find God declaring that, "His Spirit would not always strive with man." (Genesis 6:3) That is a chilling thought.
This scenario will also apply to some in relation to the Rapture. Some teachers believe that 2 Thessalonians 2:11 may indicate that people who have heard of Jesus, but rejected Him, will not believe after the Rapture.
11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
The "time that You may be found" may be past at this point. Disclaimer: Not everyone interprets it that way, but it may be a wise thing to consider this and act before it is too late. It would not be good to be "left behind."
So Noah's second "state," on the Ark, was mirrored by David when he averred that even great floodwaters would not reach him. (Would this be another claim that the flood was worldwide? It certainly seems to indicate that there would be no other refuge that would provide safety.)
Today's continuation of that thought makes perfect sense. (Not surprised that I missed that in the previous thought. I need some help a lot of times.) (Verse 7)
You are my hiding place; You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. Selah
The theme continues in three phases. First a hiding place. Whether "floods" of water or opposition or persecution arise, the ARK of the Lord provides a shelter and hiding place that keeps us secret. He hid David and Noah from any foe or threat. But that is not all. We need not cower in the dark, hoping to avoid detection.
The second level is protection both in and from trouble. Noah and David (Noavid?) both were surrounded by difficult circumstances. In 2010, Nashville received about 13-14 inches of rain in less than two days. The resulting flood waters topped every existing recorded level. Imagine that for 40 days. Noah was literally inundated with problems. (Pardon the pun.) The Lord protected him in the provision that He had instructed Noah to build. Sometimes we aid in providing our shelter and protection.
David was surrounded by enemies several times and his protection seemed to be supernatural. That same protection both physically and ideologically is afforded to "faithful" followers. And, as a result, all were surrounded by "joyful shouts of deliverance." There is the theme of joy and deliverance again.
Noah's shouts were limited to eight, including himself. David had more than that. And as members of Christ's body, the Church will be surrounded by shouts of victory and welcome when we are ushered into heaven, either by death or by the Rapture. Hallelujah!
And finally, David advises us to "Selah," think on these things. It is a serious, yet a joyful perspective. And the "deliverance" can certainly apply to being removed from the danger. Noah floated over it. David persevered through it, and some will be removed before it falls.
Hallelujah!
Monday, April 17, 2017
Acts 19 Barney Fife in the Bible?
It is possible to find reruns of the Barney Fife show, also known as the Andy Griffith Show on TV. Every now and then a crowd would assemble somewhere in Mayberry and it was Barney's job to disperse them.
"Y'all go home now! Ya hear? Go on, git!"Didn't you just love to see the "take charge guy" tear into those pesky assemblers? Listen to the account in Acts 19 as the city clerk talks to the crowd which had gathered to deal with "this Paul." (Verse 26) They were at a severe disadvantage because the preceding verses had recounted the miracles that Paul had performed. He was preaching and persuading many to turn to the True and Living God.
So they, logically, rioted to draw attention away from the failures of their god. Several hours later, the town clerk (verse 35) began to reason with the crowd and calmed them down. Verses 40 and 41give us the finale of the brouhaha. He is speaking...
40 "For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today's events, since there is no real cause for it, and in this connection we will be unable to account for this disorderly gathering." 41 After saying this he dismissed the assembly.
"There is no real cause for it...." The riot that is. Sounds like he is somewhat sympathetic toward Paul and his message. Anyway, "...we will be unable to" (logically) "account for this disorderly gathering."
Verse 41 gives Barney his big day. "After saying this he dismissed the assembly." Sometimes we just need an authority figure to step in and deal with an unruly crowd.
Maybe we need this clerk or Barney to show up at some of our "disorderly" political gatherings.
"Y'all go home now! Ya hear? Go on, git!"Didn't you just love to see the "take charge guy" tear into those pesky assemblers? Listen to the account in Acts 19 as the city clerk talks to the crowd which had gathered to deal with "this Paul." (Verse 26) They were at a severe disadvantage because the preceding verses had recounted the miracles that Paul had performed. He was preaching and persuading many to turn to the True and Living God.
So they, logically, rioted to draw attention away from the failures of their god. Several hours later, the town clerk (verse 35) began to reason with the crowd and calmed them down. Verses 40 and 41give us the finale of the brouhaha. He is speaking...
40 "For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today's events, since there is no real cause for it, and in this connection we will be unable to account for this disorderly gathering." 41 After saying this he dismissed the assembly.
"There is no real cause for it...." The riot that is. Sounds like he is somewhat sympathetic toward Paul and his message. Anyway, "...we will be unable to" (logically) "account for this disorderly gathering."
Verse 41 gives Barney his big day. "After saying this he dismissed the assembly." Sometimes we just need an authority figure to step in and deal with an unruly crowd.
Maybe we need this clerk or Barney to show up at some of our "disorderly" political gatherings.
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Floods
Psalm 32:6
Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to You at a time that You may be found. When great floodwaters come they will not reach him.
"Therefore" points us back to the previous verses and thoughts. Our previous meditations focused on the fact that David is now free from guilt related to his great sin. Need a review? (Psalm 32:1-5)
David presses on in the rest of the chapter as he both revels in his new freedom and the ramifications of his new condition. In our verse for today he is focused on prayer. As a a result of our previous "struggles," let me (David) encourage everyone who is propelled by faith to keep a prayer routine. Pray when the Lord is available.
This might seem a little odd to say, since the Lord is available all the time to hear us. But it seems that David may have a different idea in mind. When we are "away" from the Lord, either through deliberate rebellion or inadvertent neglect, we are not so inclined to pray. So His "inaccessibility" is driven by our state of fellowship of lack thereof. For instance, Peter says our prayers are hindered when we are not living in right relation to our wives. (1 Peter 3:7)
The interpretation of that will be left to the individual to sort out. Regardless of how it happens, the result is a failure to "find" God in our prayers. On the contrary, when we are in touch with Him, even great "floodwaters" will not reach us.
Looking back again at David's context, these floodwaters are very likely those of guilt. There is a condition known as "survivors' guilt" where an innocent person feels guilty at having escaped some terrible event in which others were injured or died. If "innocent" people are overwhelmed by guilt, surely the guilty also face such overwhelming emotional tides. (Of course, I would not know personally, since I am so close to perfect. ED note: Nope.)
Satan likes nothing better than to paralyze God's people with fake and false guilt. "How can you work for or even speak about God after what you did? Just keep your lip buttoned."
David stole another man's wife. He committed adultery. He conspired to cover it up, going so far as to attempt to entice the wronged man to believe that the newly conceived child was his own. Then David conspired to murder the husband. And he carried out the homicide. Then he further covered it up.
Do not believe for a second that Satan was willing to let him forget it. Before he repented, the Holy Spirit was after him day and night. That pretty much translates to 24/7. Once David was forgiven, Satan began to torment him with the horror of what he had done. Just as there is a remedy for real guilt, remorse and repentance, there is a remedy for false guilt. David unveils it. "Pray." Paul said to "Pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Holman says, "Pray constantly."
I am told that in Greek, this is the shortest verse in the Bible. It doesn't need much explanation. (So I won't.) David's only addition was to do it before the flood comes. We might use the little Dutch boy approach to floods, but if we have to build the dike before we can stick our finger into the hole, "we in trouble."
"Therefore," since we have had the real guilt removed by the Lord, all we need to do is keep in touch–in the good times. And when the "bad" times come, "great floodwaters," the dike will hold.
The floods will not reach us. Guilt is defeated by the barrier of forgiveness and faith.
"...let everyone who is faithful pray....
Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to You at a time that You may be found. When great floodwaters come they will not reach him.
"Therefore" points us back to the previous verses and thoughts. Our previous meditations focused on the fact that David is now free from guilt related to his great sin. Need a review? (Psalm 32:1-5)
David presses on in the rest of the chapter as he both revels in his new freedom and the ramifications of his new condition. In our verse for today he is focused on prayer. As a a result of our previous "struggles," let me (David) encourage everyone who is propelled by faith to keep a prayer routine. Pray when the Lord is available.
This might seem a little odd to say, since the Lord is available all the time to hear us. But it seems that David may have a different idea in mind. When we are "away" from the Lord, either through deliberate rebellion or inadvertent neglect, we are not so inclined to pray. So His "inaccessibility" is driven by our state of fellowship of lack thereof. For instance, Peter says our prayers are hindered when we are not living in right relation to our wives. (1 Peter 3:7)
The interpretation of that will be left to the individual to sort out. Regardless of how it happens, the result is a failure to "find" God in our prayers. On the contrary, when we are in touch with Him, even great "floodwaters" will not reach us.
Looking back again at David's context, these floodwaters are very likely those of guilt. There is a condition known as "survivors' guilt" where an innocent person feels guilty at having escaped some terrible event in which others were injured or died. If "innocent" people are overwhelmed by guilt, surely the guilty also face such overwhelming emotional tides. (Of course, I would not know personally, since I am so close to perfect. ED note: Nope.)
Satan likes nothing better than to paralyze God's people with fake and false guilt. "How can you work for or even speak about God after what you did? Just keep your lip buttoned."
David stole another man's wife. He committed adultery. He conspired to cover it up, going so far as to attempt to entice the wronged man to believe that the newly conceived child was his own. Then David conspired to murder the husband. And he carried out the homicide. Then he further covered it up.
Do not believe for a second that Satan was willing to let him forget it. Before he repented, the Holy Spirit was after him day and night. That pretty much translates to 24/7. Once David was forgiven, Satan began to torment him with the horror of what he had done. Just as there is a remedy for real guilt, remorse and repentance, there is a remedy for false guilt. David unveils it. "Pray." Paul said to "Pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Holman says, "Pray constantly."
I am told that in Greek, this is the shortest verse in the Bible. It doesn't need much explanation. (So I won't.) David's only addition was to do it before the flood comes. We might use the little Dutch boy approach to floods, but if we have to build the dike before we can stick our finger into the hole, "we in trouble."
"Therefore," since we have had the real guilt removed by the Lord, all we need to do is keep in touch–in the good times. And when the "bad" times come, "great floodwaters," the dike will hold.
The floods will not reach us. Guilt is defeated by the barrier of forgiveness and faith.
"...let everyone who is faithful pray....
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