Gadfly's Muse

The Pathway To Dr. Kermit Gosnell.....

[Image: Perilous Path, 2009, JA Van Devender]

Isaiah 5:20 (NKJV)

²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; ... 

If you haven't asked the question yet, you should have.  "How in the world did we ever get to this point?"

If one surveys the Scriptures in Genesis 4-6 what we find is a sobering indictment of the human race, the depths of depravity that it will exhibit and the perversity of its own self-justification.  Gen. 6:11-12 pretty much sums it up.

¹¹ The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.    Notice that the hallmark of depravity is arbitrary, cold-hearted violence.  The mental image is of callous individuals who cannot be awakened to empathy.  Think of concentration camp guards who can spend all day walking the halls where emaciated living corpses cringe in squalor and then go to his own barracks and eat a hearty supper without a second thought. Such a lack of essential humanity is the essence of depravity... when the beast of the jungle reigns where a warm heart ought to dwell.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell has presented no defense to the charges against him.  For a jury to find him "not guilty", they will have to just depend on their own prejudices and the slender thread of reasoning given by the defense attorney in his closing arguments.  The defense strategy is to establish a seed of doubt about whether the undisputed evidence surpasses the "beyond reasonable doubt" threshold and then to build on that doubt with suspicions of racist conspiracy and political manipulaton by those crazy fundamentalists who oppose abortion entirely.

How that jury rules will tell us more about them and us than about Gosnell.

Still we have to ask:  How could such monstrous practices go on for so long?  How could people be kept quiet?  How could medical malpractice procedures not ever be instituted?

Medical professionals in the state of Maryland are increasingly fleeing the state.  Why?  The threat of litigation, the cost of insurance to cover litigation, and intrusive regulation is at the opposite end of the spectrum.  The legitimate practice of healing is becoming increasingly difficult under the combined forces of courts which are prone to giving  large, punitive awards to patients who, quite often, are unreasonable in their charges.  That is "over there" while "over here" we have those who are in a truly pathetic circumstance (women, often with all kinds of social, mental and life style issues) are being subject to brutal, unregulated surgery without any kind of alternative counsel offered.  The end result is to make money off killing babies.  The procedure's success is measured in terms of a mutilated baby... not the health and well being of the mother.  That is how far down this path we have come.

What put us on this path?  It is easy to simply isolate it to the pro-choice movement, but it is far more than that.  What put us on this path was the essential moral state in which pro-choice arguments could take root.  Abortion practices and pro-choice arguments are the poison fruit that is born from the evil tree.  They are not the tree itself.  

What put us on this path is an essential rejection of the very idea of binding moral truth that is applicable to everyone.  It is the rebellion against the idea of the idea of "Law" as a transcendent rather than untilitarian concept.  If "law" is utilitarian then it is justified on the basis of a preponderence of good effects which will offset the presence of a few defects.  It is argued that Dr. Gosnell is an aberration... that his practices do not undermine the pro-choice, abortion on demand arguments... that the "good" that has come about far outweighs the impact of relatively rare perversions.

Horse feathers.

Christians must never accept such a premise.  Doing so is to give up the entire argument.  The only basis by which one can seek change, if the presupposition is accepted, is to embark upon a calculus which will show a preponderance of evil effects rather than otherwise.  The argument is already lost at that point.

Christians should, with absolute vehemance and zeal, loudly call for "justice" and do so with this argument:  "whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood should be shed."  It is a tragedy for any human being's life to be unjustly taken.  How much more hideous is the injustice when viable babies are inhumanly slaughtered by a person who has taken an oath to "do no intentional harm."

The primary reason why we find ourselves so far down this rocky, perilous path our society has walked, is because we no longer believe in true justice... and the reason why we don't believe in true justice is that the essential fear of the one, true God is no longer a factor in the wider population to any noticeable degree.

Noah was a preacher of righteousness to a people who had reached that same state.  "Every man did what was right in his own eyes."  No one deemed themselves accountable to anyone but themselves.  They did not respect the idea of law because they had no fear of God.

Kermit Gosnell, and his ilk, are in the ascendent... they are not aberrations in an essentially good culture... they are the future toward which we are headed.

Christians, if we don't start preaching righteousness (ala Noah) then no one else will... no one else can.  It is past time to be zealous and loud and bold.  Being lukewarm is nauseating to God... and if there is any fear of God remaining in His church then She will take on her prophetic role with a passion.

God will not help us if we don't, no matter how hard we pray!

 

 

 

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[Image: Complementary Couple, 2013 JA Van Devender}

Genesis 1:4

And God saw the light, that it was good;

Sometimes it works, but it took a lot to get there.

When Adam heard the words of God's curse on him, I imagine he must have been a complete mess of emotions.  The shame of his sin, the disappointment that registered in his own psyche with regard to himself, the recognition that he had failed his loving, Creator Father, the horror of God's pronouncements .... all of those things must have swirled around in him and caused bitter tears to flow.

At the root of it all though was the absolute, undeniable fact - no matter how hard he wanted to run from it - that it was all his fault.  He had tried to shift the blame to his wife... but he knew and God knew that it was his own failure in leadership, in loving his wife, in honoring God's word, that was the worst sin of all.  And now, not only he, but all the world and all the generations that would come from him would have to deal with the consequences.

"By the sweat of your brow you shall eat your bread..."  Everything man was to undertake from that time forth would be attended by sweat, toil, frustrations, and opposition.  Each task, from henceforth, would require a margin of effort much greater than what it produced.  The created order which prior to sin had willingly submitted to man's supervision and improvement, now was in a state of resistance, some of it passive and some of it active.

For man to do anything "good" he was going to have to work harder and ultimately wear himself out.  His days were numbered and he would return to the dust from which he was formed.  "Life will be hard.... and then you will die."

The net effect of the curse can often lead to great discouragement.  Christians know why things are "hard."  They know why the bolts on the engine block rust over and you wind up having to replace them before you can swap out a transmission.  It's one more frustrating thing you have to deal with.  It's the curse.  Christian cooks know why the bread mix in the breadmaker sometimes doesn't rise properly and the guests at dinner will have to make do with a distinctly less tasty store bought replacement.  These things happen... regularly... no matter what we are doing and no matter how well we try to anticipate and prepare.  Yet, they continue to frustrate us and discouragement, cynicism and even despair can work its way into our soul.

But Christians, of all the world's peoples, should recognize that God doesn't leave us to cynical despair in our efforts.  All men bear the remnants of the image of God and Christians have been reborn into a sanctified image-bearing role.  As image bearers we are heirs of the original mandate in Genesis 1 given to mankind as a whole.  That means we are called to serve and to do, to embark upon great works and small ones.  That means that through faith we can expect to see the fruits of our labor.  

God is a "working" God.  His work of "creation" is done but His on going work of providence and rule are in full swing.  And there is a great deal of encouragement for us in that verse "And God saw the light, and it was good"  (and others like it).  God delighted in the works of His hands.  He saw the craftsmanship and perfection of His work and was pleased.  The things He did were, I'm sure, the subjects of glorious praise from the angels who metaphorically surrounded His throne.  He was delighted... in what He had done... and that was "good" also.

Christians bearing the image of God are not to believe the lie that Satan continuously whispers in our ears.  We are not to believe that nothing we do will ever amount to anything worth while.  We are not to accept the idea that frustrations, resistance, weariness, excessive labor, etc. etc. are insurmountable, joy-stripping, value negating factors that will always leave us dissatisfied and disappointed in anything we undertake to do.

Yes we remain finite and error prone.  Yes, it often takes so much to do so little.  But God is faithful.  For those who persevere in doing good (Romans 2:7) will discover, to their great joy, that God's indwelling Holy Spirt works in and through them such that eternal value, lasting good is brought forth.  Across the board, physical or spiritual, man was designed for "good works" and also, especially, to delight in them.

It is sometimes said that great artists can never enjoy their finished works.  Even though the world proclaims it a masterpiece, yet when the artist looks at it he sees the defects that only he knows are there.  He remembers the things he had to do to "cover up" patches that didn't turn out right and how the precise effect he had originally envisioned was not attained.  He looks at his works and sees the defects.  The Lord looks at his work and pronounces it beautiful, because He sees it as it will be eternally... when the Christian artist's work follows him into paradise and none of the defects will remain.

The heart that desires to "do good" in & for God's Kingdom will be rewarded.  With his own eyes he will see the way God has delighted in what he undertook to do and what he actually accomplished.  But it is not only a future joy.  For those who labor, though still encumbered by sin and the frustration that results from it, God does give us moments when we can say... "Look, .... this is good."  And our delight is merged into the Lord's delight as He allows us to participate in His pleasure.

Don't give up... it will be worth whatever it takes for God does not fail to reward those who serve Him.

Old Time Religion

[Image: Middle Ridge Church, JAVanDevender]

Deuteronomy 32:6–7 (NKJV)

⁶ Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you?  Has He not made you and established you?

⁷ “Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many  generations.  Ask your father, and he will show you; Your elders, and they will tell you:  

The old church building is meticulously maintained.  It is obviously served by present descendents of centuries old families.  This was not the original location.  The building was moved to this place well over a hundred years ago.  At the time horse and buggies would not have had the difficulty navigating off the "main drag" on to this side road as now.  There is a very sharp, undercarriage scraping, muffler destroying drop off right at the intersection.  Out of state tourists get no warning that the "trick" is to angle into the turn off, keeping one side of your wheels on the main road until the undercarriage is clear.  For a saddle horse it would have been no problem.

Notice that there are no office spaces, modern Sunday School classrooms, and I am not certain about toilets.  The community this old church served lived miles from the nearest town (as they still do, the area is very under-developed) and travel to and from would have been an all day exercise.  Going to the "meeting house' on Sunday would have taken a fair amount of time and so I imagine that mom packed a lunch before they left, either to eat with their brothers and sisters after the service or on the way home.

I doubt seriously that either the worship service or the sermon were tied to a strict "one hour and we're out of here" mentality.  If it took a family an hour or two to get there and another hour or two to get home, they expected their "money's worth" when they arrived.  They expected their preacher to "lay down the law" to remind them of God's holiness and that the promise of the Gospel gave them hope in the face of their manifest faults.

"Flowery preaching" would have been viewed somewhat skeptically as so much "put-on", but that doesn't mean that eloquence was not admired.  These were a people who needed "down-home" preaching.  They needed to know how to trust in God when only a few children survived to adult-hood and adults were blessed if they made it to their sixties.  Childbirth was dangerous to mom and the baby.  The flu could wipe out an entire community.  Injuries were not medivac-ed to modern hospitals and the danger of infection was always present on old farms where the pigs have to be slopped no matter how bad you're hurt.  Life was hard... but it was not hopeless.  And those who gathered in the pews at the foot of the pulpit expected, indeed demanded, that the preacher take the words of that blessed old King James Bible and touch them where they lived.

They didn't want warm milk, they wanted strong meat, and if they didn't get it, well the preacher wouldn't be all that respected and would remain an "outsider" until the local bishop or what ever wised up and sent another one.

But oh how they must have sung.  That small sanctuary must have concentrated their voices wonderfully.  The hymns were probably known by heart, etched in memories through constant repetition over the decades of attendance.  Little children grew into old grand-parents sitting in the same pew singing the same words.  There may very well have been more sermons in song remembered during the week than whatever it was the preacher said.

It's easy to over-romanticize these things.  From my own experience, growing up in a small Methodist (only much later UMC) church in a somewhat similar area far removed from this location, everything I have described applied even then though we were a bit past the horse and buggy stage (though a few horse drawn wagons were still on the road) and medical care, though nothing like now, was far more available.

What is not the least over-romanticized I think is the seriousness with which those folks approached their religion.  They lived in an unforgiving world and they had to trust in a forgiving God to make sense of it.  God had to be good or else life would be unbearable for there would be no hope at all.  "Doing right", even tempered by generations of inbred bigotry on occasion, was not just a nice idea.  A man's word had to be trustworthy or he was of no use whatsoever.  Men or women "fooling around" where they ought not to lead not only to social disgrace, but often to some serious violence.  The community knew that their social integrity was just as important as their individual integrity.  God had shown Himself to be very severe when His people did not stand up for what was right and enforce His laws.

Those generations had their faults as does every era.  But a person could find a home there.  The rules might be severe in some areas but you always knew where you stood.  If you needed help raising a barn you didn't have to ask... people just showed up.  If the rains washed out your crops there were neighbors who would drop off a "few things" that were "more than we needed" (which was not really true) and the kids would have something for supper.  And when you gathered for Sunday worship it was important business you were about.  It was God's Word but it was also the most important single binding element in the social structure.  The community was the church and the church was the community.

"Remember the days of old..." Moses said.  Looking back is important once in a while, just to regain perspective.  It might be good for our day to question jut how "foolish" we are in some of the vain things we are chasing.  Life is easy now, in many ways, compared to what they faced.  But the thin veneer of so-called "civilization" that shields us from hardships they endured every day can be stripped away in a moment.  The same God who gave them hope is He who may at last lose His patience with a people who no longer value integrity & character more than comfort, who no longer see their Christian religion in terms of community, and whose question is "what can God do for me today?"  

I doubt the "old days" will ever come again and that's, ultimately, a good thing.  The progress that has been made must not be denied.  But the lessons they can teach us about life, what's truly important, and how Christ truly is our hope, are just as valuable today as they were essential then.

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[Image: TowedAd,2009, JAVan Devender]

No, I am not receiving any compensation for publishing the ad.  It's a towed banner flying over the USNA Sports Stadium and I thought it curious at the time and it kind of fits for today.

But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” (James 5:12)

I have been concerned about the obvious decline in communication skills for years.  I am convinced that there is a direct correlation betweeen our language proficiency and our ability to think.  In other words, there is a mutual relation between language and thinking such that they feed off each other when improvement is happening.  As we become better communicators through language our mind improves concurrently and vice versa.

So.... when there is a conscious effort underway to intentionally blur language, diminish its precision, advocate "dumbing down" levels of teaching/conversation/ exhortation, then what can we expect but to see a corresponding degradation in the ability of people (students for example) to process and understand concepts.  

Speaking of "students".... that's what is prompting this particular Grump.

I have it on good authority... in fact a person with excellent credentials on this subject... that in the Anne Arundel County School system, the teachers are given guidelines for communication which prohibit the use of "die" or "dice" when talking about chance or probability or any other subject.  They are required instead to substitute... wait for it... are you ready? ..... "numbered cubes!"  How does one play the game of monopoly?  Well, each player takes a "numbered cube" and rolls it on the board and......!

[see similar blog Here]

Now what is the reported rationale for this incredibly stupid rule?  Why, it is that the students might, by word association you see, think in terms of gambling.  If we use the word "dice" they might bring up images of rolling craps in the alley.  

A couple of things to consider.  Given the current status of many of our county school student populations, it would be a dramatic improvement for them to think of rolling craps rather than what they are thinking about.  Especially when, in this particular instance, the teacher was engaged in teaching a class with a significant number of students who regularly publicly displayed large rolls of cash, who drove the latest cars and whose single parent was on Social Services payments.  You can imagine where the money came from.

But that's not the most ludicrous aspect of this entire silliness.  "Wait... there's more."

Maryland only recently enacted a law which legalized gambling and even more recently authorized the casinos to have "board games."  You know, like "Black Jack" and Roulette and, of course, "craps."  Now, on what basis did the politicians sell the public on the absolute necessity of legalizing gambling?  Why it was that it would be good for public education.  Our schools need the money, you see, and the taxes from gambling will be used to educate our children.  Perhaps they will insist on using "numbered cubes" at the tables... after all, if gambling is bad for our children to think about then we certainly don't want the adults to think about it as they are whispering to their fist prior to rolling the "N-C's" on the felt.

If this was a sit-com it would deserve an award.  It sounds like a Marx brothers movie plot.  

It's not what the context was mainly directed toward but James' statement above and Jesus' own statement of the same thing can be applied here.  We should let our "yes" be "yes" and our "no" be "no."  Similarly we should not be using words which add unneccessary complexity to our communication when simple, more precise words are warranted.

To speak plainly does not mean that someone has to "dumb down" their communication.  The Gospel of John, for example, is written in the most simple Greek prose in the entire Bible.  It's elegance and profundity is not in the least hindered by that simplicity. What lies at the heart of this circumstance?  It is that John speaks clearly about things of extraordinary complexity.  His mind and his heart bubble up into just the right words to convey just the right idea.  To speak plainly and to speak well plainly, requires mastery of the tools of thinking and speaking.  

If we want to teach our kids to think we must teach them how to speak and that means calling a "die" a "die."  A game of chance is not identical with "gambling."  Kids need to know that kind of thing.  There are "dice" which have more than four sides - not all are numbered "cubes."  Come on people.  Teachers, en masse, ought to be telling whoever is coming up with this stuff that they can take their guidelines to the "pot" and flush them.  (Now by using the word "pot" I hope that I have not caused anyone to make a mental correlation with a particular green leafy vegetable.)

Good grief... 

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Revelation 14:13 (NKJV)

¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”  

Many of the tombstones still have the marker stuck in the ground next to them:  a brass star, now tarnished and worn, supported by a brass stake, emblazoned with the inscription "GAR, 1861-1865".

The "Grand Army of the Republic" in its day was probably the most modern, well equipped army in the world.  (I am using the GAR as an overall designation for the Union forces.  I recognize that the actual organization was a post-war fraternity.) The Prussians were militarily more professional.  The English were perhaps more governed by their traditions.  The opposing Confederate army was more dashing.  But from the original organizing genius of George McClelland until the surrender at Appomatox, the GAR fought with honor and perseverance.

 In the opening years of the war things did not go well for them.  The South had the better generals in the field and had the advantage of interior lines of communication which they, especially under Stonewall Jackson in his "Valley Campaign", used with great success.  But even under a succession of Commanding Generals, sacked one after the other by Abraham Lincoln, the GAR hung together. Their losses were horrific but they inflicted their share also.  

Standing there in the gathering dusk an looking at those simple grave markers, if I had been wearing a hat, I would have taken it off.  This was a place of honor for men who fought and survived in the most horrible war ever fought on the North American Continent (only World War I was more vicious I think).  All of these graves were for survivors.  The fatal field casualties were not generally brought home in those days.  When the battle ground is littered with 15000 bodies and the scorching heat is doing its work, all that could usually be done is record the names of the fallen and then bury them en masse.  So these men came home with their scars, mental and physical, and lived what remained of their lives doing the best that they could.

In the course of normal things, some of them were probably scoundrels, some of them were exceptional saints, most just got by.  But whatever remained in their lives, they were bound together by a tie that nothing could break.  They had "been there, ... together."  None would have ever wished that their sons would have to go through what they had experienced.  None, I think, would escape a certain sense that something inside of them, any form of romantic idealism, was crushed in the horror they had seen.  But I doubt any of them ever lost that sense of common pride that comes from the shared experience of playing a role in important events.

Now their war is over... the victory was won... and what they deserve, even from a Southerner, is respect.  What they and the other Northern armies accomplished was the ultimate establishment of the United States of America on the road to world greatness.  The divided continent would not have allowed it.  In God's providence that is what He ordained.  In this sense, "their works followed them" and stands in testimony to their trials to this very day.

There will come a day when we too (if God so wills) will have our bodies occupy a similar little piece of land.  There may or may not be a grave marker, but for those of us who know Christ, the grave will not be lost.  It will be identified by the sign of a cross and that emblem will identify us as foot soldiers in the army of the Lord.  Like the Grand Army of the Republic, this army has not always won every battle.  Sometimes the sinners who were put in positions of authority to lead it did not do a very good job and had to be replaced.  But this army has persevered and will persevere to the end.  The Lord who leads it is infallible in the execution of His strategy and planning.  There are those who will suffer and die and others who will desert, but He will bring His army to its final victory.  And of those of us who serve in His cause, even though we have been laid to our earthly rest for centuries, yet with our own eyes we will see that final celebration.  The cross which marks our grave is never lost and our identity and service are never forgotten.  

Our works shall follow us.  Each battle will be remembered and celebrated.  We will join together in that special camaraderie which is the fellowship of shared battles and our mutual joy will reflect the glory of our King.  These honored dead remind us of our own future.  I hope that among them there are some with whom I will rejoice one day.

 

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Matthew 27:49–50 (NKJV)

⁴⁹ The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.” ⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.  

There was more to the remark the bystanders made than they realized.

If we translate it "Leave Him alone..." rather than "Let Him alone..." then what is recognized is how "alone" Jesus was on that cross.  He had just cried out the quote from the Psalms - "My God, My God, Why have You forsaken me?"  Forsaken by God and by man, Jesus was indeed, truly alone.

When we think of Jesus we are immediately met with mystery.  There is a gulf between us and God that finite minds cannot now nor shall ever truly bridge.  We can think of Jesus' human nature and we can comprehend it substantially.  He was like unto us in every way and yet without sin.  We can identify with the human nature that prompted the prayer in the garden, "If it be Thy will, let this cup pass from me."  We can understand his weariness in body and spirit as he faced rocky roads and stoney hearts.  He was indeed fully man and we, like the apostle John, can in  a figurative sense, "lay our head on his breast." 

But it is exactly at the point of substantial comprehension of his human nature that the mystery confronts us.  How can this man, in all his humanity, also be of the same essence and perfections as God the Father?  How can the infinite be finite.... how can eternity inhabit a beating heart?  The idea of Jesus' growing in knowledge and spirit and having the "grace of God" on Him seems so incompatible with the fact of His Divinity which would be complete in knowledge... Spirit .... and the source of grace rather than  recipient.  These things confront us in our contemplation and they lead us to wonder.... how can it be?

And God leaves us at that very point.  We are confronted with Jesus... the Christ of God.  Certainly foolishness to the Gentiles and a stumbling block to Jews because of this very mystery.  He is all alone there before us.  There was never a man like Him before nor afterwards.  He, being both God and man, is somewhat distinct from the other members of the Trinity in this regard (though, never, ever alone in the lonely sense).  Jesus is here contemplated as "alone" in the sense of His uniqueness.

And in His uniqueness He stands before us and asks "Do you believe?"  "Do you accept Me for that which I manifestly am?"  

We are, in this day and age, most often prone to an over-emphasis on Jesus' humanity as opposed to some eras in church history that emphasized His transcendence over His humanity.  We now are much more prone to see Him as being so much like ourselves that we forget that this man angrily rebuked the winds and the waves and they obeyed Him instantly.  That's not just the manipulation of some "power" that Jesus possessed such as we might associate with  a Marvel Comic Book super-hero.  No, Jesus spoke with an authority that came from Himself.  He spoke as the Creator to that which He had created.  Jesus spoke from the vantage of eternity past to immediate present.  All of His Person, human and divine, came into sharp focus at that point and the resulting effect was to move the disciples to terror.

Without that spine-tingling sense of holiness we tend to take Him far too familiarly.  We tend to presume on His grace rather than trust in it.  We emphasize those Biblical scenes where He was so intimate with His disciples and we minimize those scenes where they were wondering whether they ought to take to their heels and run.

This is our Lord!  This is our God!  This is our King!  He is not Joe the plumber fixing our problems... or kindly old uncle Bob benevolently letting "boys be boys."  This is Immanuel, God with us and in Him and in Him alone, are the benefits of the Kingdom to be found.  

If this truly sinks in would we be so complacent in our daily walk with Him, assuming that we even think about walking with Him daily?  Would His name come to our lips only in moments of crisis when something is pressing upon us and we desperately need some assurance?  Would our self-understanding continue to focus on His "being there for us" rather than our "being where-ever He puts us" for Him?  

Where is the .... holiness.... of Jesus transforming our thoughts about Him?  "Holiness" is not just moral purity.  "Holiness" at its root, registers the difference between us and the God who alone is truly, rather than, positionally, Holy.

The Church has prospered when its worship and service maintained some degree of balance in practical outworking of this mystery.  The Holiness of God in Christ has lead to earth-shaking preaching and singing and triumphal service.  The Immanence (humanity) of God in Christ has comforted her and inspired her affections for others.  These things "sweetly" cohere in Christ... but they are mysterious.  The Church has not prospered when one side or the other is neglected.  God expects us to not only live with but rejoice in the mystery.

In Christ... in Christ "alone"... my hope is found, with all that entails.

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 Job 37:14 (NKJV)

¹⁴ “Listen to this, O Job; Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.  

It's a theme that bears repeating I suppose because it seems just so easy to forget it.

Life is not intended to be spent in a hectic, head-long gallop, racing from one ultimately inconsequential task or activity or appointment or whatever to another.

Neither is life intended to be frivolously wasted in mindless distractions that consume big chunks of time.

And... life is certainly not to be stripped of its joy by compulsive preoccupation with negative thoughts, issues, problems or passions that brings on a "tunnel vision" focus blinding us to all else about us.

It's interesting how Elihu sets the stage for God Himself to speak to Job, a man who was certainly preoccupied with stuff.  Elihu's speech rehearses many of the same themes that God Himself will state with absolute precision and mind-boggling penetration.  Elihu points to the world about Job... he tells him that God is so transcendently great that "we cannot know Him!" (36:26).  God is beyond our comprehension in His being... the only way we can know anything about Him is through His actions to reveal Himself to us.  And what is the most immediate, continuous, over-whelming, encompassing revelation that He gives?  Why, it is the world about us itself!  

Certainly... stuff happens... and we don't know what all of it means.  But we know this.  God is in charge of it (37:13) and nothing is happening... or will happen... of has happened... apart from His guiding hand.  He does not always reveal His purposes to us... (v. 13 again) whether it is for "correction" or simply provision of needs ("for His land") or for "mercy."  We are not always informed of the "why."  He's God... He never stops being God... and He never, ever gives up His prerogatives as God.  He expects us to understand this fundamental fact.  His great mercy is that He has brought us into covenant relationship with Himself.  Our great hope is that He absolutely will keep His promises to us.  What He requires of us is that we trust Him.   Not just with the events of that great day in the future when the dead in Christ shall arise .... not just with a future hope... but with a "now" hope.  A "now" trust that whatever is going on... whatever is to fill our day... is within His plans and our obedience is to be in the full span of that hope.

In other words... if we think that it is all up to us and we cannot stop even for a moment to catch our breath or else God's entire Kingdom plan is going to collapse about our ears and that He will be so ticked off at us that He will probably fry us right there on the spot...  well, you get my drift.  That's not really trusting Him very much at all... is it?

God has filled this earth with evidences of His presence for the very purpose of reminding us... we who are the beneficiaries of His covenant... that He is here, ... that it is not all up to us... and that, in fact, it never has been all up to us.  We are His work.  We are under His guiding hand just like the stars and the moon and the thunderstorms and the flowers along the road.  

If, right next to a busy highway, filled with rushing cars and drivers who are so intense and so intent of getting somewhere to do something that 50 years from now won't make a hill of beans worth of difference, God can cause a beautiful flower to grow... then it is there for a reason.

"Hey guys", He says through the flower, "look at me.  Pause for a moment... take a deep breath... relax the stress ridden muscles in your neck.  See how beautiful I am and look where I am growing.  God is in His heaven and He is also in His earth.  He is here... all you have to do is look and see."

"Stand still and consider the wondrouus works of God!"  Close your eyes (not if the car is moving) ... take a minute... think of God's magnificent reality.  Now open your eyes and look about you.  Where is the beauty that He has place within your span of vision right now?  It's there... somewhere... if you can get past the works of man that clutter up the place.  Space your day with intervals such as this.  Rest between the bursts of energy that you are to expend on whatever is there for you to do today.  Obedience, in whatever you are doing, is conditioned by first remembering that you are not alone in your doing of it.   God is with you.  You will find that you will be provided with what you need to do His will.

Look about you... He's there... He will show you He's there... You just have to look and see.

 

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[Image: How High The Bar, 2008, JA Van Devender]

Image taken, Scottish Games, Annapolis, MD.

Mark 15:3–5 (NKJV)

³ And the chief priests accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing. ⁴ Then Pilate asked Him again, saying, “Do You answer nothing? See how many things they testify against You!” ⁵ But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled.  

There is a character in Ivan Turgenev's classic work "Fathers and Sons" named Kirsanov Sitnikov.  In Turgenev's spare and penetrating prose, he is presented as a man of no consequence, with little of his own to recommend him in physical or mental prowess, and who yet desperately wants to be accepted as "somebody."  In his own mind having nothing on his own to gain respect, he tries to have himself associated with Yevgeny Vassilyev Bazarov, another young man of overwhelming vanity, cynical disregard for authority ( a nihilist) and self-possession.  Sitnikov tries to "put-on" the airs of Bazarov, imitating his style and contemptous manner.  Sitnikov views Bazarov as a man of "significance" and his desperate and pitiful imitation fools no one.  Sitnikov embodies the restless yearning of ordinary people who see themselves trapped in mediocrity and who long for significance.

This is not, I believe, an uncommon circumstance.  I remember a famous actor who once commented something to the effect, "The only time I feel like I am 'somebody' is when I am on the stage or screen playing someone else."  Worldly fame, significant professional reputation, glamorous lifestyle, and an abundance of money did not satisfy.  Everyday, when this man looked at the mirror, in effect, he saw Kirsanov Sitnikov looking back at him.  He was nothing... insignificant... of no real consequence... a piece of driftwood drifting down the river of life.

What is "significance"?  Well speaking only for myself, you may disagree, I think "significance" is almost entirely a matter of self-perception.  Have you noticed that most people whom we might agree are "significant" persons, aren't usually very dubious about that themselves?  That person, almost invariably, as did Bazarov in Turgenev's story, just assumes their own "significance"... it is the fountain from which all their actions and conversations flow.  

"Significance" in the eyes of others is recognition of that privately held prior assumption.  And it is recognizable.  

Pilate, a man of some worldly confidence and reputation, a man who was known to Caesar, a man who held no doubts about his own significance, was, never the less, immediately aware that this soiled and bloodied Galilean peasant who stood before him was a man of significance also.  He marveled at the man's composure and calm resolve.  Pilate failed to recognize the far greater "significance" of this man than himself and thus his name became a by-word for failed courage, but we should not miss the underlying dynamic.  "Significance" is perceived by others when it  is first grasped by ourselves, regardless of our external accomplishments or obvious lack thereof.  It is a matter of self-perception.

Here is where we Christians may perhaps need to change some of the ways we think about ourselves.  Sitnikov was a pitiable man.  Pilate would not have respected him for an instant and there would have been no struggle in his conscience about what to do with him.  He would not have wasted his time.  Our Christian witness in this world will not be promoted if our views of our own "insignificance" are such that we are pitiable also.  Furthermore, those views are lies.  It is a false humility which denies our own significance in the Kingdom of God.  It is an error to think that our own lack of merit, in and of ourselves, which requires that our salvation be of grace and grace alone, thereby means that we are without "value" or "significance" to God.

Christians of all people should understand that any person for whom the greatest possible price has been paid for their redemption must be significant... significant to Christ, significant to God the Father and significant to God the Holy Ghost.  Why else would such a price be paid except in their own inscrutable counsels, the eternal Triune God, saw us as signficant... significant to them.

Human beings, above all other of God's creatures, are significant, just by virtue of bearing the image of God.  Christians, at another level, are significant because out of the mass of human beings, they have been elevated to the status of sons and daughters of the great God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What a humbling thought... yes... and so it must be.  But it would be arrogant to despise what Christ has done.  It is a poor witness to act as if, just because we did not first "deserve" such an honor, that the honor itself has not been bestowed.  Our significance is in our person... we are objects of delight for our Father in heaven.  We do not have to "act like" some other sinner ... we are to strive to conform the image of Christ but never to conform to the image of another mortal.  

Fie on that paralyzing doubt that Satan uses to undermine our witness.  Embrace the teachings of Ephesians 1 about who we are... each of us... in Christ.  Our significance has been established and boldness in thought, action and speech are to burst forth from that privilege we have been given, the grace in which we stand.  We stand, with our brothers and sisters, as the focal point of history... the end result of the grand design of God to create a people unto Himself.  It is not arrogance to embrace that truth. 

 

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[image:Standing Watch, 2008, JA Van Devender]

"But there was enough in America already to alienate young men like Adam Lanza, Dylan Klebold and all the other mass murderers in recent history. There are enough weapons to kill anyone you want, and a madman can always find an excuse for murder if he looks for one."

[Oliver Bullough, Op Ed, New York Times, 20 April 2013, "Beslan Meets Columbine"]

On the whole the Op Ed piece is not entirely without merit.  His review of the Chechen refugee issues and despair is well worth reading.  If he had left it there I would have had nothing but praise for the piece.  But he simply couldn't bring himself to do so.  Somehow the actions taken by these young men had to be justified.  Therefore he had to take a swipe at the US before he ended it.

It is not politically correct these days to talk very much about the whole Chechneyan situation... it is an awkward data point that progressive liberalism has trouble explaining.  After all, we have been "nice" there and the Russians should have seen the light years ago and given these people their liberty.  It's much easier to talk about Israel and Palestine because, you see, Israel is being unfair in their demands for autonomy, full recognition as a state and defensible borders.  Since Israel has maintained its existence pretty much depending on its special relation with the US then it  makes it easy for progressives to see that we are really the ones who bear responsibility for it and the Palestinian disgust with America is justified.

But Chechneya?  It's tough for a liberal to understand how the prima facie case there can be warped in such a way as to justify terrorist attacks on the USA.   There must be something wrong with us.... something that we have done to cause this.  

But there isn't, at least not apparently.  The "radical Islam" idea is just as politically incorrect also for that would indicate a compelling motivation to jihad which would bring every Muslim under suspicion.  We just can't have that. 

So, all that was left, was to dump these young men into the pot with the other "crazies" who have committed mass murder recently, brand them all as "madmen" searching for an "excuse for murder", throw out a glancing blow at the "easy access to weapons" [here I assume the writer is now linking the ready availability of pressure cookers to the current worry about assault rifles], shake the dust off your feet and move on.  Such is the selective vision that governs much of what passes for analysis these days.

In a previous posting ("A State of War Exists...") I urged us to come to grips with the harsh reality that is the modern hypertense world situation.  The United States is no longer a country isolated by two oceans although geographically they remain in place.  We no longer are separated from the events of the Middle East or Chechnya.  When people, anywhere, are faced with bleak despair, oppression, systematic brutality, they are motivated in two fundamental ways.  They want to run and they want to lash out.  The United States, by its very prosperity and essential "peace", takes on symbolic status.  It becomes viewed, with some justification, as a people who sit by and concentrate only on themselves while the rest of the world suffers. It's like those "rubber-neckers" who drive by an auto accident and slow down to look (itself an infuriating tendency) and having satisfied their morbid curiosity, click their tongues and accelerate away.  If someone is lying along the road and no one stops, that person would be pretty angry at those who drive away.  It is not too far a stretch to see how a Chechnyan could view us that way.

I do not agree that this is absolutely true.  What I am saying is that this world is in more of an organic, interlocking state than has ever existed during the history of mankind.  What happened in Boston is just an outworking of that circumstance.  

Lumping people who commits acts of terror in with other certified lunatics (Newtown) is demonstrating an essential unwillingness on the part of some to admit that the more we achieve stability and domestic prosperity in this country, the more we will become symbolically an object of rage for those who suffer apart from those things.  There is now (Radical Islam), and there has always been (Communism, Facism, Nazism), and there will most likely always be, ideologies which will furnish a framework justifying horrible crimes which express the underlying passion for revenge. 

Progressive's, because of their axiomatic dependence on the idea of the essential goodness of man and his potential perfectability, will always be surprised when evil things happen to peaceful people.  As Christians we need to remember that a war of ideas is a bloody thing.  We have to fight it at home and abroad.  At home we have to fight against the kind of wilful blindness that is evidenced in this op-ed piece, and it is prevalent everywhere.  In the world we need to see geographically distant lands as neighboring communities.  What happens there concerns us and concerns our Lord.  Christians need to "run to" the places where tragedy happens just as those first responders "ran to" the people lying on the streets of Boston after those explosions.  If we don't care... it will be noticed.  If we do care... God just might use it to prevent some other child from dying back home.

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A Sure, Certain Hope....

[Image: A Sure Hope, 2008, JA Van Devender]

 Proverbs 23:17–18 (NKJV)

¹⁷ Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day; ¹⁸ For surely there is a hereafter, And your hope will not be cut off.  

Life for a caterpillar is a very restricted thing.  Presuming that the local birds don't bring a sudden termination to its journeys, it basically moves very slowly over a narrow range.  I suppose it cannot see very far since its very protection are the leaves which shield it from sharp eyed birds.  If it had any degree of intelligence it might wonder what else there is to life except the stalk that it is on, the limited range of nourishment available to it there and the real dangers that confronts its every movement.  The idea that one day it might flutter through the air, see sights that are beautiful beyond compare and draw sweet nourishment from an amazing variety of flowers, might seem a wild fantasy... a mind game... a silly dream that is only used to distract it from the rather dull and mundane life that it has.  One might think that it would say, "Life is hard and then you die."  

But such is not the actual fact... the true circumstance... for the caterpillar.  Granted God's preserving hand upon it shielding it from its enemies, the creature is destined, pre-destined if you will, to glory.  Yes it will have to "die" in its present form.  Yes it will find itself in a tomb of sorts but that is not the end.  There is a sure, certain hope that is available to the caterpillar if it could just grasp it.  One day this stalk it is on will be left behind.  One day wings will be unfurled and new energy will flow through its body and it will "slip the surly bonds of earth and dance the skies on laughter-silvered wings"... it will reach out and "touch the face of God." [poem: " High Flight", a favorite of pilots everywhere]

Note that this "hope" is not the same as "wishing."  It's not something that "might happen or might not."  Presuming the preserving hand of God it is a definite future, an inevitable consequence of the caterpillar condition.  That would make all the difference in the world, I would think, to the lowly caterpillar.  It certainly should make all the difference to us.

Two things are sure and certain:  (1) To those whom God has revealed His Son and awakened their conscience to His finished work on their behalf, God will through His Holy Spirit, preserve them from their enemies throughout their life.  They will not be lost.  & (2) They will be transformed after God's timing for them is complete and their glorified body will be as amazingly beautiful and as incredibly gifted as the Lord's body after His resurrection.  As He shone in flashing lights on the mount of transfiguration, so will they.  The vistas they see and the delights to which they will be introduced is as far removed from their understanding now as the caterpillar's is of the butterfly.

And this is not wishful thinking.  It's a fact, Jack.

As with the writer of the Proverb above, we must rest in this sure, certain hope.  What do we have to do, as we "inch along" our alloted stalk?  Is it not just to guard our hearts against envy... to be content with what our Lord provides... and to demonstrate that reverent awe that lies at the heart of a sanctified "fear of God"?  Will He not do as He promised?  Is there really any cause to doubt that there is a "here-after" and that our "hope" in that day will most certainly not be "cut off?"

That is our Lord's promise.  "All that the Father gives to Me, WILL come to Me, and the one who comes to ME, I WILL BY NO MEANS CAST OUT.  But.... (I shall) RAISE (HIM) UP ON THE LAST DAY!"  (John 6:37ff, applied).  That's hope... that's a sure, certain hope.  And it is ours by right of position... by right of inheritance... by right of calling... because it is our very DNA now that we have been born again.

Praise God for His wonderful grace to the sons of men.

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