Light in the Darkness

"The richest grace, does it not lie in the heaviest sorrow? Was it not 'in the burning fiery furnace' the three Hebrew children saw 'the form of the fourth, like the Son of God,' walking in the midst of the fire? It was when 'Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was,' that he spake with Him face to face and heard His voice. And how often it is in 'the thick darkness' Jehovah reveals Himself as the Comforter of His people! The cloud which settles down upon a desolate home, He graciously fills with His own presence: we find it to be 'secret of His Tabernacle,' the 'pavilion' in which He 'will show His Covenant.'

"The Divine love breaks through the gloom, as once it burst through the terrors of Sinai and the darkness of Calvary. It is not what we would have chosen; but in this dark cloud we learn that it is best sometimes to be alone with Him. The earthly lights are put out, that no earthly love may come in between Him and us." - B. M. Palmer

The Last Enemy

As today is Memorial Day, I was thinking about all of those who died in battle for various causes, some more nobler than others. But for the soldier on the field, or sailor on the ocean, or aviator in the sky, he gave his life regardless. Certainly I have never given my life for anything. Death is a terrible thing. It is the thing that really shows us that something is terribly wrong in this world. The world is off kilter. It's not the way it's supposed to be. But in this awfulness, Christians have hope. Death is not the end.

Yesterday I started reading a book by a 19th century American pastor, B. M. Palmer. He was the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in New Orleans. The book, Lessons in Sorrow, is a memoir that recounts the death of Palmer's wife and several children. He knew of death intimately. In this passage, he tries to make sense of it, finding hope in his faith.

Many reasons can be assigned for this dread of death, styled by the Apostle "the last enemy." There is the natural instinct of life, which we share with the beasts of the field; a wholesome protection against the madness of despair which so often rushes its victim on to the guilt of suicide. There is, again, the awfulness of death as the penalty of the broken Law. How unnatural the separation of the soul and body, is shown when the spirit lingers in its tenement of clay and escapes reluctantly at last with the gurgling breath. Is it possible, again, to shake off the ties of life from which the soul has through years been drawing the sweetness of earthly bliss, and not feel the pain? Add to these our ignorance as to the details of a Future State, disabling even the imagination from transporting us to its scenes and pursuits. Finally, bring before the mind the pangs of dissolution, exaggerated often to the senses through the spasms of the body as it stretches to its death stature. Aggregate all these terrors in one single conception, and the wonder will be, not that death is an object of dread, but that Christian hope should be strong enough to overcome it as the last. The history [the passing of Palmer's daughter] just recited is only one of many, going to show that with the most sensitive and shrinking of mortals this fear is quelled at the moment of passing into the presence of our King. It is a grace reserved for this precise moment, guaranteed only then as the experience which is needed; and is possibly connected with the last acts of the Holy Ghost in completing the believer's sanctification. It has been said that the dying never weep; certainly the composure is beyond the power of nature, with which the dying saint yields up all the companionships of life, and sunders the dearest bonds of love. Ah, who can tell what new joys swell the bosom of the Christian the moment his feet touch the stones of the Covenant, as he follows the Ark "in the swelling of Jordan!"

The last sentence is a reference to Joshua 3 as the Israelites are finally allowed to enter the Promised Land after years of wandering in the wilderness. Upon death, all believers will enter the Promised Land, too, but one more glorious and lovely than the earthly one.

Jaws, The Sea Wolf, and Memorial Day

As Memorial Day approaches, we prepare for one of our family traditions: Watching the movie, Jaws. Jaws weekend includes watching the movie Jaws, of course, but also requires a couple of bags of Doritos (Doritos look like shark fins) and some Swedish fish. What a way to start the summer!

Of course, anyone watching Jaws will recognize that author Peter Benchley fashioned the captain after Captain Ahab from Herman Melville's Moby Dick. But, I think he also must have read one of my favorite books, The Sea Wolf, by Jack London.

One of the many memorable scenes in the movie is when Captain Quint challenges the manhood of the Richard Dreyfus character, Matt Hooper. He grabs Hooper's hands and says, "You've got city hands Mr. Hooper...been counting money all your life."

In The Sea Wolf, the captain is Wolf Larsen. After rescuing the narrator, Humphrey Van Weyden, from the sea after he fell overboard from another ship, Larsen effectively kidnaps him and puts him to work on the seal hunting schooner, "The Ghost." Compared to Larsen, Quint is Miss Pattycake. Larsen is a cruel, ruthless tyrant. Humphrey (the captain calls him "Hump" for short)is a man who has been living on an inheritance and is also a writer. Not exactly a man's man. [Note: If you remember, Hooper's family is wealthy. When Martin asks, "Are you rich?" Hooper replies, "Yeah."] In this passage, we see where Benchley may have borrowed the "city hands" scene from Jack London.

"[Larsen] Who earned it [your income]? Eh? I thought so. Your father. You stand on dead men's legs. You've never had any of your own. You couldn't walk alone between two sunrises and hustle the meat for your belly for three meals. Let me see your hand."

His tremendous, dormant strength must have stirred, swiftly and accurately, or I must have slept a moment, for before I knew it he had stepped two paces forward, gripped my right hand in his, and held it up for inspection. I tried to withdraw it, but his fingers tightened, without visible effort, till I thought mine would be crushed....

Wolf Larsen dropped my hand with a flirt of disdain. "Dead men's hands have kept it soft. Good for little else than dishwashing and scullion work."

So, what do you think?

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Adapting to the Environment

State and local governments have tried a lot of things to keep their citizens at a social distance. Just for fun, I wanted to share an amusing story. This is from the May 23 edition of World Magazine.

Government officials trying to crack down on socializing amid social distancing orders came up with a plan to shut down activity in a local skate park: fill it with sand. Officials in San Clemente, Calif., directed workers to pile 37 tons of sand onto Ralph's Skate Court in April. The move worked at first, driving away skateboarders. But then, dirt bike enthusiasts showed up to enjoy the sand and exposed ramps. Dirt biker Connor Ericsson said he and his friends enjoyed using the ramps to jump their bikes on April 19, but then stayed to manually sweep the park clean for skateboarders.

Let the good times roll!!

Pride

This post includes more words of wisdom from R. L. Dabney on pride:

Pride is often spoken of as "aspiring," "lofty," and humility as "lowly." Every proud man, I suppose, fancies that his elation is elevating him. He speaks of "looking down" on others. Let us consider. We have seen that pride and humility are comparative emotions. Pride is incited by the comparison between ourselves and our inferiors; humility, by the comparison between ourselves and those felt to be our superiors. This is unquestionable. It follows, then, that the proud spirit must be habitually conversant with things meaner than itself, and the humble with things nobler than itself. But we always tend to be assimilated to what our vision dwells on. Thus we learn that pride is the groveling, the degrading temper, and humility the exalting one. Pride is the vulture which may exult in sailing a little above the treetops, because its eye is fixed on the earth and the foul garbage with which it desires to glut itself, while it becomes foul itself and loathsome as its food. Humility is the eagle soaring into the upper sky, yet never judging itself to have risen high, because its eye is fixed upon the distant sun.

If we want to temper our pride we must focus our hearts and minds what is greater and nobler than ourselves. While this may lead to idolatry, it can never do so if the greater and nobler one is Jesus Christ.

God is Not a Good Luck Charm

The following is from a devotional I'm reading with my wife. I've referenced it before in this blog: The Story: The Bible's Grand Narrative of Redemption by Jon Nielson. This is an excellent reading on how our faith has to be sincere; being "religious" carries no weight with God. The devotional is based on 1 Samuel 4.

Following the call of Samuel, we immediately plunge into a battle scene in chapter 4. We see the Israelites against their archrivals, the Philistines. The first skirmish doesn't go very well for the Israelites. The people wonder why God has allowed the wicked Philistines to defeat them in battle. They do no know that this is all happening in accordance with God's Word - spoken through Samuel - about his judgment on the wicked sons of Eli.

The priests and people decide to bring out the ark of the covenant and march it in front of them into battle so that they will achieve victory. Now you may remember that the ark of the covenant was the symbol of God's presence with his people; it was located in the holy place of worship. But the ark was just that - a symbol. God's people, as we can see from this action, have decided to use the ark of the covenant as a good luck charm for battle. They are, essentially, seeking to use God, rather than live in submission and worship to him.

Marching out this symbol of God's presence did not change the fact that the real God behind the ark was intent on judging his people for the grievous sin of the priests, Hophni and Phineas. The chapter ends with great sadness as Eli dies, essentially from shock, when he hears the news of the death of his sons and the Philistine's capture of the ark.

The Israelites need to be reminded that God did not live in the ark! God cannot be contained by any religious charm or symbol, and he will not be wheeled out by his people for their own personal use. God is holy, mighty, and just, and he demands obedience, repentance, and holiness from his people. No religious ritual could deter God's righteous anger against the sin of these wicked men who had abused their position, damaged God's people, and rebelled against his Word.

Are there religious rituals or "good luck charms" - prayers, church attendance, devotions - that you privately think will help you get in good with God? Friend, God will not be used. He doesn't want us to use him for our purposes; he wants us to repent of our sins, turn to him, and follow him and his good purposes. Pray today that you would not use God, but that you would humbly make yourself totally available to him and obedient to his good purposes for you in Christ.

Knowledge Should Lead to Humility

"The man of extensive learning knows how much remains in the vast realms of science to be yet learned; and, comparing himself with these wider reaches of knowledge, he is humble." - R. L. Dabney

The Wonder of It All

As I mentioned, I'm reading through a book by R.L. Dabney, The Practical Philosophy. He offers a perspective on the ordinary, the things we take for granted in life and rarely think about. In this section, he discusses the nature of wonder and curiosity, and how that functions in this life and what it may look like when Christ's kingdom comes in its fullness.

Wonder is the great awakener of the attention, and attention is the condition of clear knowledge. Curiosity is evidently placed in our spirits as the stimulus to inquiry, the spur to wholesome and useful mental activities. The benevolence of the Creator is also seen in His making the stimulus not an importunate [annoyance], but a pleasant one. Wonder is the source of a great fund of innocent enjoyment, which is as healthful for the mind as the pure air is for the lungs. Doubtless one of the great pleasures of Heaven will be wonder. The happy occupation of immortality will be the exercise of curiosity in exploring the marvels there presented to our knowledge. It may be at first glance supposed that, as novelty in objects is the condition of our wonder, one result of the acquisition of knowledge will be to diminish our capabilities for wonder; that, as we learn more and more, there will remain fewer and fewer objects capable of administering to our curiosity. This may afford us a very good probable argument to show that this finite life and world of ours do not constitute the whole of man's destiny. The wonders of terrestrial nature have novelty enough to employ our curiosity at least during our threescore years and ten. When we pass into a wider sphere, we shall have for studies the whole universe, which is practically illimitable, and the perfection and ways of the Infinite Maker and Ruler. The appetite is immortal, but the banquet spread before it is inexhaustible.

Does not this analysis of this feeling tell us by Nature's loudest voice that we are all designed to see this knowledge? Here is the proper scope of our being. Ignorance is our greatest opprobrium next to vice, and next to the pursuit of virtue the pursuit of true knowledge is the chief honor and blessing of our nature.

Dabney's observations remind me of C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy with its sense of exploration and wonder.

Some people have asked, "Won't we get bored in heaven just singing and praising God all day?" Well, no. I don't think we would get bored doing that, but I also thing that when his kingdom comes in its fullness, we will be doing more. Learning all the time. We will still be exploring, perhaps flying to other planets and solar systems ("Let's go to Mars today!"). From Earth, we can only see a tiny fraction of the world that God created. Some day, we'll be able to explore it all and everyday, it will fill us with wonder.