The Word.

As I continue, in my personal devotions, through the Book of Psalms, I arrived this morning at the longest one - Ps.119. When I was in full-time ministry, I sometimes considered preaching on this psalm - but realised that just reading it would take almost as long as the message!!!

Of course, one tends not to deal with this psalm in one go, and I shall take some three weeks to reach the end. However, it is a very interesting psalm, and I want to share some general thoughts in this post.

It's a psalm that "majors on the Word of God", and the ministry of that Word in the lives of those who seek to worship and honour Him. Many people are aware that it is one of the "acrostic" psalms. That means that each of the twenty-two sections begins with the consecutive letters of the, in this case, Hebrew alphabet. However, each of the eight statements in each section also begins with the relevant letter! This was not a psalm that was composed in a hurry!

It is a psalm that contains a number of well-known words, e.g., "How can a young man keep his way might not sin against pure? By guarding it according to Thy Word." (v.9); "I have laid up Thy Word in my heart that I not sin against Thee." (v.11); "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things in Thy Law." (v.18); "Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." (v.105);The unfolding of Thy words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple." (v.130).

The name of the writer is not provided, but he is certainly one who had a passionate desire to understand God's Word in as deep a way as possible. The psalm is rooted in the Book of Deuteronomy ("second law" - the retelling of the covenant  between God and his people Israel, presented in three addresses by Moses.). However, in Deuteronomy, as opposed to the account of the giving of the Law in the book of Exodus, the emphasis is on love, and obedience from the heart, rather than mere "ritual" that can be cold and unloving! How many, who claim to be disciples of Jesus, need to seriously ponder that thought!

Some months ago, I was invited to share with a group of anglophones on the importance of the "Old Testament" for disciples of Jesus. The first point that I made was that the use of the word "Old" did not mean that it was "out-of-date", or "past its best". Indeed, I suggested that "First Testament" would be a more accurate name! However, one of my main points was that the First Testament (the Tanakh, in Hebrew) was the only Bible that was available to the early Church! Yet with just the Tanakh, they were those who were turning the world upside-down (Acts 17:6)! 

The Tanakh was used to great effect, in the power of God the Holy Spirit. Yet many, today, tend to ignore the 66% of the Bible that it constitutes! It is constantly referred to in the Second Testament writings. Of course it contains 'law', but it also contains grace. And the law was, and is, necessary. Read Romans 7 if you want to learn more about that! To those who truly have the Spirit of God in their lives, the law is a servant, helping them to see the character of Almighty God, and to increasingly appreciate the saving work of the Lord Jesus.

"... you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit. ... ... Yet, if it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin." (Rom.7:4-7).

The dear man of God who penned Ps.119 was not satisfied with having the Law in his home, his hand, or even in his head. He wanted it to be in his heart. We who have received so much more than he, should surely be satisfied with nothing less!

It is highly likely that I shall return to this great psalm over the coming weeks, as the Lord permits. I hope that you will join with me!

One doesn't require formal qualifications!

It is not a boast, but a verifiable fact, that I am fairly well educated. I have also a fair bit of experience of both teaching, and preaching, the Word of God. However, having shared, this morning, on the relevance of the 1st ('Old') Testament to disciples of Jesus, with a group of anglophones, one of the gentlemen spoke with me afterwards.

He reminded me of the record in Mark 4-5 where the Lord Jesus had been teaching a large crowd but, "... when evening had come, He said to [His disciples], "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd, they took Him with them in the boat, just as He was. And other boats were with Him.  And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.  But He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?" And He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey Him?" (Mark 4:35-41) 

The record continues: "They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Ger'asenes.  And when He had come out of the boat, there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who lived among the tombs; and no one could bind him any more, even with a chain; for he had often been bound with fetters and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the fetters he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out, and bruising himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him; and crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure You by God, do not torment me." For He had said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "My name is Legion; for we are many." And he begged Him eagerly not to send them out of the country." (5:1-10).

Many will be familiar with the Lord's agreement to send those demons into a herd of swine, that rushed, headlong, into the sea - much to the chagrin of the herdsmen! I am skipping over a section but pick up the story at v.21, as Mark has recorded it: "And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about Him; and He was beside the sea."

"What," asked my friend," do you take from that?" I looked at him! "I'd want to think about it. What did you take out of it?" "Well," he responded, "I thought of the ninety and nine (Matt.18:12), and that Jesus had crossed the Sea of Galilee for that one lost sheep - the demoniac."

Now this is a man whom I have known for a number of years. He has no formal theological education or training. Indeed, it is my understanding that he is still very "young in the faith"! However, what I was reminded was that God is no respecter of persons. God the holy Spirit had given this dear brother an insight that had not been given to this ordained, University and Bible College graduate, with more academic qualifications than he has hot breakfasts in a week (and I always have my bowl of porridge!), who has been preaching the Word for more than fifty years. 

It is good to be reminded of this. I am grateful for the education that I have been privileged to receive; for the godly men under whose teaching I sat; and for the opportunities, over the years, to serve in different capacities. But all of that is of neither importance nor help if I am not as open to the prompting of the Spirit as was my brother in the Lord when he was reading that passage.

You, too, may not have a degree in theology, or in anything else! However, if you are a disciple of Jesus, born again of the Spirit, then you have that same Spirit indwelling you - and He will speak to you if you listen to Him.

May that be your experience - for your own good, and that You may be used to bring glory to our Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

Deeper than that!

Fridtjof Nansen was a Norwegian explorer who tried to measure the depth of part of the Arctic Ocean. On the first day he used his longest measuring line - but was unable to reach the bottom. Having recorded the length of his line in his log-book, he wrote: "The ocean is deeper than that."

On the following day, he added more line, but was still unable to measure the depth so, once again, the log-book entry read: "Deeper than that!" After several days of adding more and more lengths of rope and cord to his line, he had to leave that part of the ocean without having learned its actual depth. All that he knew was that it was beyond his ability to measure.

Here, in S.W.France, I have the privilege of, among other things, ministering the Word of God to a group of anglophones. We are currently nearing the end of our study of the First Letter of John - a letter that covers a number of important areas, none less so than the love of God and the fact that "God is Love" (I John 4:8,16).

Nansen's experience reminds me that we cannot plumb the depths of the love of the God Whose very essence is Love, because our human measuring line is too short. The Russian folk-song, come hymn, reminds us:

"Vaster far than any ocean,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Is the love of Christ my Saviour,
Reaching through eternity."

John, in his record of the Gospel, provides what is probably the best-known verse from the New Testament scriptures: "God loved the world so much that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever places their trust, unreservedly, in Him may not perish, but have eternal life." (my paraphrase!). 

Paul. writing to the early disciples of Jesus in Ephesus, reminded them that: "...  God, Who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and made us sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ..." (2:4-6; emphasis added).

In the light of such incredible love, ought not our gratitude cause us to serve, and praise, Him more zealously during the years that we are granted on this earth? Grace Reese Adkins wrote the lovely old hymn: "By and by, when I look on His face", with these words in the chorus:

"More, so much more;
more of my life than I'd e'er given before.
By and by, when I look on His face,
I'll wish I had given Him more."

As we try to comprehend God's love, we may well exclaim: "It's deeper, much deeper than that.", and determine, by His grace, that we shall give Him more.

"Pleasure" in pain.

As I am speaking, on Sunday afternoon, to a group of Anglophones, on the subject of the Persecuted Church, I have been doing a lot more research into that subject, than I normally do. I am also speaking on the subject of "The Power of Prayer" on Sunday morning and, in a prior e-mail conversation on the specific topic of so-called "unanswered prayer" with which I shall, DV, be dealing, a particular instance of prayer for healing that has continued for some twenty years, was raised.

It has been claimed that the amount of physical suffering that a person feels is not necessarily determined by the extent of the injury or physical trauma. In fact, I am assured, it can be modified by a person's past experience, and their expectation of what lies ahead.

Most people are aware of the Russian Nobel Prize winner, Ivan Pavlov, and his experiments with conditioning the responses of some dogs. However, not everyone is familiar with the full details of the experiment. Did you know that he was illustrating the above claim by associating feelings of pleasure with sensations of pain? When he brought an electrical current into contact with their paws, the animals (understandably!) growled and barked furiously. However, when the physiologist offered them some tasty food immediately after each painful stimulus, their reactions began to turn from fury to delight! Eventually, they even wagged their tails as they received the mild electric shock, and rushed to the table for something to eat. Indeed, this behaviour continued even when the current was increased.

Although the response of the true disciple of Jesus, to Father God, is never an automatic conditioning like that of Pavlov's dogs, the experiment does portray - at least in part - an important spiritual truth. The heavenly Father desires that His adopted children become so "conditioned" by life's adversities that each new trial will result in anticipation of a corresponding amount of God's grace to sustain and reward them. Those who willingly yield to the Master can find, in every distress, an opportunity to know the joy of receiving divine provision. The Rev.Dr.Arthur Fawcett was a wonderful man of God, He was also my Church History lecturer at the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow. As I read, and hear, of some of the atrocities committed against disciples of Jesus in more than fifty countries in the world today, I recall his words: "Martyr's grace for martyr's death". It is a simple fact that some of the most joy-filled believers are those who can say, with Paul, "... I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." (Gal.6:17).

Paul, who was no stranger to difficulties, also wrote: "... we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us." (Rom.5:3-5). In other words, if we wish to grow in Christian maturity, we should glory in tribulation, knowing that such endurance will result in a deeper confidence in God's love and wisdom. As is often pointed out, Jesus nowhere promises that our lives as His disciples will be all sweetness and light. Usually, the very opposite is true! However, He did promise: "I will never fail you nor forsake you." (Heb.13:5).

The hymn writer put it like this:

"Trials dark on every hand, 

and we cannot understand 

all the ways that God would lead us 

to that blessed promised land; 

but He guides us with his eye, 

and we'll follow till we die, 

for we'll understand it better by and by. 

Refrain: 

By and by, when the morning comes, 

when the saints of God are gathered home, 

we'll tell the story how we've overcome, 

for we'll understand it better by and by." (Charles Albert Tindley; "We'll understand it better by and by", v.3) 

May the pain of difficulty cause us to anticipate the Father's loving response to our every need, and situation - even if we don't understand it now. It's all part of the essence of faith!