We’ve been travelling a lot lately (to Gaithersburg, MD, for work), which has left me precious little time for reflection. But two attention-catching thoughts did manage to sneak through that I’d like to share with whomever is still reading this blog…
(1) We attended Christ Reformed Church last weekend, which is a newer work of the United Reformed Church. It was a bit different for us – a much more formal liturgy than we’re used to – but still quite good. The building was almost as old as it was beautiful – distractingly beautiful, we thought. And the people were young, warm and inviting. The pastor preached on Romans 9 [show] I am speaking the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit-- [2]that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. [3]For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. [4]They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. [5]To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
[6]But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, [7]and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named." [8]This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. [9]For this is what the promise said: "About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son." [10]And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, [11]though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad--in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls-- [12]she was told, "The older will serve the younger." [13]As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
[14]What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! [15]For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." [16]So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. [17]For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." [18]So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
[19]You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" [20]But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" [21]Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? [22]What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, [23]in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory-- [24]even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? [25]As indeed he says in Hosea,
"Those who were not my people I will call 'my people,'
and her who was not beloved I will call 'beloved.'"
[26]"And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,'
there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"
[27]And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, [28]for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay." [29]And as Isaiah predicted,
"If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah."
[30]What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; [31]but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. [32]Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, [33]as it is written,
"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."
, but what jumped out at me that day was something from the “Old Testament lesson”. It came from Exodus 33 [show] The LORD said to Moses, "Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your offspring I will give it.' [2]I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. [3]Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people."
[4]When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. [5]For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.'" [6]Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.
[7]Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. [8]Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. [9]When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. [10]And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. [11]Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
[12]Moses said to the LORD, "See, you say to me, 'Bring up this people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.' [13]Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people." [14]And he said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." [15]And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. [16]For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?"
[17]And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." [18]Moses said, "Please show me your glory." [19]And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. [20]But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." [21]And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, [22]and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. [23]Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen." (ESV)
, when Moses asks to see God’s glory. What struck me was that God responded by “declaring his name” – instead of displaying something for Moses’s senses, he communicated something to his mind. Now, I’m sure what he ‘saw’ and ‘heard’ was astounding — but God answered the glory-request by communicating knowledge in the form of words that Moses could understand. He declared his name, and his character (instead of a light show and liver-shivers).How many times would we lean a little more toward a miraculous “signs and wonders” episode instead of the “pure milk of the word”? I am thankful that we have a communicating God, who desires that we know him truly, and that to that end he has communicated to us about himself, ourselves, reality and history, in a language we can understand.
(2) On the way back this afternoon, the topic of forgiveness came up – particularly, when we ought to forgive. It seems to me that sometimes we’re more quick to forgive when it’s not clear who is really in the wrong – maybe there’s some gray area, perhaps there was some misunderstanding or misinterpreting…we’re willing to give the other the benefit of the doubt, ‘maybe they didn’t really mean what I thought they meant’, etc. But when it’s absolutely clear that it was the other person who was in the wrong? Doesn’t Justice cry out from the roof tops! If you’re like me, your knee-jerk response is a little more eager for justice than for anything else. Then I thought of Jesus’ teaching that we are to ‘turn the other cheek’ – that’s not for when we’re not really sure who’s in the wrong, but when it’s crystal clear that we’ve been struck with malice aforethought and ill intent in the face by another. ‘Justice!’ is the cry of our self-unaware, depravity-hazed eyes. But eyes that see by the gospel’s light see that it’s right then that Christ has directed us to forgive – “from our heart.” (If only I was better at living that out!)
Thanks for dropping by…
Our son Ethan doesn’t always enjoy his car seat. By trial and error, we’ve discovered a few hymns that seem to calm him down almost immediately. The problem is that we don’t always remember the right lyrics (we often improvise, which certainly gets us laughing, but then he starts crying again!). So, I’ve decided to start assembling a smartphone-friendly list of hymns and their lyrics, which we can then bookmark on our phones and get to quickly in time of need. It’s available here, and you’re welcome to it. Point your phone’s browser to the index, capture a bookmark, and you’re good to go for hymns on the road!
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