James 5:7,8 – “Pondering Patience”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. Look! The farmer awaits the precious fruit of the earth, being patient upon it, until he receives [the] early and latter [rains]. ⁸You, also, be patient and establish your hearts, because the coming of the Lord has drawn near.

Patience. Staying under it. Staying calm.

It’s one of the fruits of the Spirit – “love, joy, peace, patience …” It’s one of the qualities God calls us to cultivate – “Be patient therefore brothers …” – and yet it is a fruit of the Spirit – something we cannot manufacture. “Against such things there is no law.” A fruit of the Spirit is a work of the Spirit. Even as I type, I don’t know in this case, how the two work together – how I can somehow “work” at learning to be calm and patient while at the same time realizing it is a work of the Spirit and something I can’t produce. Hmmmmm. So I’ll keep praying and thinking and doing whatever seems right and see if He shows me something …

I like what Jay Adams says about this call to patience: “It is a command to become impervious to pressure; it is a call to abandon all spiritual weaknesses that cause us to fall apart when the waiting is long and the struggle is intense.”

“Impervious to pressure.” Yes. That is it. That is what I want to become. My heart is convinced all that matters is to love God and love people, that I can be totally confident in my good and wise God. Yet, when I face the calamities of life, that same heart goes to pieces, and this awful engine of fear and worry winds up to about 10,000 RPM inside of me and sucks the very life and energy out of me. “Impervious to pressure.” That’s exactly what we should be. And why not? The Lord is on His throne and He is coming.

Hmmmm. One thing I think worth noting is that, for a Christian, being “impervious to pressure” means keeping up our love, our sweet spirit, staying faithful at whatever are our responsibilities in life, keeping up that confidence in God, even in the face of seemingly intense pressures. It is worth pointing out, I think, that this is patently not what many would resort to – the hard-heartedness, indifference, or stoicism, the “I have no choice anyway. It is what it is. There’s no use fighting it. I don’t see it changing anyway …” James’ call is to “establish your hearts.” Your hearts. As usual, the heart of the matter is a matter of the heart. The change that must occur is in our hearts, not just our behavior. It is a change in how we view the situation, what we’re thinking. So “impervious to pressure” doesn’t just mean whatever we want to make it. It is a change in our hearts that, therefore, allows us to live above whatever may be going on around us.

James calls us to consider two things – the example of a farmer and the Coming of the Lord. I guess I’ve never noticed before how the work of a farmer is really a grand fractal of life itself: He has much work to do. He must clear the ground, then plow it and plant it. Then he must weed it and protect it from pests. When it is ready he must go out and harvest it. He does all this while he has no control at all over how seeds in the ground germinate, how plants grow, whether or not it rains or the sun shines. Sounds just like my dilemma above – how the Lord wants me to “work” and yet the work itself is a fruit of the Spirit. But I guess most of all, He’s wanting us to see how it is a “working and waiting” sort of endeavor. It is something we must “stay at” regardless of the many, many things that could (and might) go wrong, in spite of the many things that do go wrong. A farmer simply has to “stay at it.”

And we live knowing that the Lord is coming. Somehow, we have to keep in mind this is all for Him. “And whatever you do, do it with your whole heart, as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For you serve the Lord Christ.” The Master will return. Then all that will matter is how we served Him. “He who rides to be crowned will not mind a rainy day” – John Trapp.

It all makes perfect sense.

I just don’t seem to know how to make it “work” as I face those calamities, how to turn off the engine churning inside me. Oh, well. No matter. I am confident the Lord is teaching me all of this, running me through all these “calamities” because He has every intention of changing me from the inside out. Once again, I will go on praying, and studying, and trying to do what seems to be right, and “wait and see what He will show me.”

Patience.

James 5:7,8 – “The Coach”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. Look! The farmer awaits the precious fruit of the earth, being patient upon it, until he receives [the] early and latter [rains]. ⁸You, also, be patient and establish your hearts, because the coming of the Lord has drawn near.

The opening words of verse 7 further convince me that vv1-6 were spoken to the wicked rich, not believers. Here in v7, he immediately says, “Therefore, brothers …” In so doing, it seems to me he is addressing a different group.

Before I dive into v7, another thought I want to include is that vv1-6 too often apply to people who call themselves Christians. The British Empire called itself Christian but they were to the people they ruled every single line of vv1-6. They ruled their colonies in complete godless cruelty while naming the naming of Jesus, in spite of the fact that James 5:1-6 was in the very Bible they so claimed to advance. I have also seen far too many “church” people in my life whose business dealings were anything but Christian. All of this is very sad, because those “business” dealings, to a large extent, are the single largest exposure we have to people who need the Lord. Our work lives ought to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” in all things, but too often just “give the enemies of the Lord cause to blaspheme.” God help us all to live our faith 24/7, especially in all our business dealings.

Unfortunately, there will always be the wicked rich and too many of them will call themselves Christian … therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. This brings us back to the vv7,8.

Life is full of hardships. One among those many is the oppressions of the rich and powerful over the rest of us peasants. But, without those hardships, we’d still have plenty to suffer. Life is simply hard. So James returns to the subject of patience with which he opened this book (1:3-12). There he specifically used the word for “endurance” or “perseverance” – staying under the fight, while here he uses the word more commonly translated “patience.” It has more the meaning of being “slow to burn.” For myself, the two words are so close to synonymous; I won’t make much of the distinction here.

It’s interesting to me that James, in a sense, begins and ends his book with calls to patience. For myself, when I started this study I was struggling with the workload at my job. James’ words in chapter 1 really helped me to keep my head up, keep loving people, and to stay positive. Now, over two years later, the workload is far more intense and I’m struggling more than ever. So here I find myself wading into the next section of James, and what do I find? A call to patience. I see that little smile on the Lord’s face and those knowing eyes. The old sneak. “Yes, Don. This is what I’m trying to teach you. I want you to learn how to carry a heavy workload and yet keep trusting and keep loving.” And I would tell Him, “Thank you. I want to be different. I want to be stronger.” And I am so glad I’ve got a coach that never gives up on me – one who “has begun a good work and will continue it …”

So what have I learned in the last two years? I think I have particularly come to realize the problem is entirely within myself. In other words, the problem really isn’t the workload or the deadlines or anything else. The problem is how I see them, how I respond to them, how I think about them. That realization is itself encouraging because I have every confidence that the Lord will eventually teach me something to totally alter how I think and allow me to live above it all. I spent one weekend completely freaked out about something and went into work Monday morning expecting my boss to be on the warpath. When I greeted him, he was his usual calm self, and when I mentioned whatever it was that I thought was a huge problem, he just shrugged his shoulders and said something like, “Oh, we’ll work through it.” Here we are, both facing the exact same problem. If anything, he has more responsibility in it than I do. I’m freaked out and he’s just calmly going about his life. That was one of the times the Lord really, really clearly showed me that the problem is me.

And so the Lord brings me back again to the subject of patience.

As I wade into vv7,8, I do so far more keenly aware that the problem is within me. I definitely haven’t conquered it. If anything it’s worse. But I wade into these verses hopeful that He will teach me and that I’ll either move some new step closer to putting this behind me, or perhaps He will drop one of His atom bombs on my brain and finally allow me some quantum leap of improvement.

The Coach is still at it. I’m so glad He doesn’t give up. It is great to be on His team.

James 5:1-6 – “Hearts and Steady Hands”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Come now, [you] the rich ones, weep howling upon your miseries, the ones coming. ²Your wealth has rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. ³Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be into a witness to you and will eat your flesh as fire. You laid up treasure in [the] last days. ⁴Look! The wages of the workers who reaped your fields which were withheld by you are crying out, and the cries of the harvesters have entered into the ears of [the] Lord of Sabaoth. ⁵You have lived luxuriously on the earth and you have lived in excess. You nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. ⁶You have condemned [and] murdered the righteous one. He is not opposing you.

Wow. What a passage. Wow. I’ve read this for years and never knew quite what to do with it. Wow. Words that ought to register about a 10.5 on the Richter Scale of our hearts. Wow.

It has been the perennial affliction of the human race that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer until finally the whole wretched affair collapses in some horrible bloodbath of revolt or conquest. In a sense, in America, we have been sheltered from this evil by the economic predominance of a prosperous middle class. I have, of course, through my lifetime sadly observed the slow decay of that middle class, knowing my history well enough to know exactly where this is headed – to the same broken pattern it has followed throughout human history. It will only get worse, not better, until finally we join our ancestors in the certain outcome – another bloodbath.

What I have never realized is just how much God is aware of the problem and just how much He hates it, how that ultimate collapse is actually His very predictable judgment on the monstrously wicked, cruel, and oppressive system we invariably create. I’ve known for years that God hates oppression and social injustice, but in my mind I’ve never connected it with the whole rich/poor cultural divide. I think about passages like Isaiah 58:6,7:

⁶Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?

The Lord in this passage is speaking to people who “have” and calling them to share out of their “have” with those who “have not.” What He is clearly calling us to in this and a thousand other passages like it is to care about people less fortunate than ourselves and to share out of our abundance to relieve their want. This is the heart of a true believer and, think about it, to do this is to distance ourselves from the very problem God is addressing in our passage from James. What is the Lord really doing in our passage except reproving people who have utterly disregarded the heart of Isaiah 58:6,7?

The Lord would have us all to know that it us utterly unchristian for anyone to run a business, make profits, and then hoard it all for themselves while the people around them, and particularly the people who work for them, suffer want. The rich fool in Luke 12:16-21, when he brought in a great crop, said to himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops … This is what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods …” Of course God said to him, “You fool. Tonight shall your soul be required of you.” People around him were starving, and all he could think of to do with “more” crops is to build bigger barns to store them in. The same was true of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man “was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day,” while right at his gate was laid “a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table” (Luke 16:19,20). The man had hoarded his wealth and lived in luxury while another man at his very gate would have been happy if he could just eat the rich man’s garbage.

I guess I’ve never thought just how much God hates this.

Hmmmm. As I type I am very thankful that I grew up in a generous family. My parents and pretty much my entire family have never been rich people, but they’ve always been willing to share what little they had with others. That makes it a lot easier for me to see what God is wanting here. It’s the world I grew up in.

I suppose I should inject here that I do not think James is speaking to believers, although his words should go to each of our hearts. James is not writing to a church. He is writing to the “Twelve Tribes,” the Jewish people, and when speaking to the Jewish people, Jesus Himself could mentally break away from His disciples and directly address “the rich,” as in Luke 6:24ff, “Woe to you who are rich …”

I also want to note the four particular problems James addresses, which are:

1.      Hoarding --  ³Your gold and silver have rusted ...You laid up treasure in [the] last days.

2.      Cheating people -- ⁴Look! The wages of the workers who reaped your fields which were withheld by you are crying out…

3.      Self-indulgence -- ⁵You have lived luxuriously on the earth and you have lived in excess.

4.      Cruelty -- ⁶You have condemned [and] murdered the righteous one. He is not opposing you.

One last thing, always worth noting, is that it isn’t a sin to be rich. The Bible is full of people who were wealthy particularly because of the Lord’s blessings – Abraham, Job, Boaz, David, Solomon, and on. When addressing the Christian rich, Paul instructs Timothy, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life” (I Tim 6:17-19).

The problem, of course, is that “it takes a steady hand to carry a full cup,” and few of us seem to have a very steady hand. Unfortunately, “wealth” in any form tends to be our ruin. But this very issue leads us all back to our hearts. “My son, give me thine heart, for out of it are the issues of life.” The Lord wants our hearts whether we have wealth or not. If we give Him our hearts, if we would have His heart for the people around us (and under us), then with or without wealth, we’ll live the love that life is really all about and certainly not fall into the horrible judgment portrayed in our passage in James.

Psalm 113:7-9 – “Glory”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Raising [the] poor from the dust, He raises [the] needy from the dung pile,

⁸to make [him] dwell with nobles, with the nobles of his people,

⁹making [the] barren [woman] to dwell [in] the house, the mother of the sons,

    joyful.

Praise the LORD.

There are a few more observations I’d like to record before I leave Psalm 113 and go back to my study of James.

First of all, as I read these three last verses over and over, about how the Lord stoops down to redeem people, it occurs to me that is exactly who we should be. A Redeemer is the very essence of who God is. It is His glory that He looks down from Heaven, even stoops down, sees the horrific mess we are and, rather than just destroying us all, seeks to redeem us. And His children should be like Him!

That was in part the message of Psalm 111 and 112 – 111 being about who God is and 112 about who His people are, which is like Him. In 111:4, He is “gracious and compassionate.” In 112:4, His people are “gracious and compassionate and righteous.” In 111:5, He “provides food for those who fear Him.” In 112:9, the godly man “has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor.” What Paul would say in II Cor 3:18 is true, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory …” Once again, that is precisely why “Mary has chosen the better part,” – because it is in beholding the face of the Lord that we are changed into His glory. As we see Him in His amazing grace, the very seeing transforms our hearts and makes us new.

Such is the case before us in Psalm 113. How could we read what a redeeming God He is, how could we contemplate how Jesus stepped down out of Heaven to redeem us from the mess of who we are, how much God cares about people in their distress, and not be moved to say, “Lord, I want to be like You. Help me today to be a redeemer. Help me to see people, not for the mess they are, but for the glory that could be theirs if somehow they could but know You too. Jesus help me to genuinely love people – like You do. When I face the ‘difficult’ situations of my day, where perhaps people are just plain being bad, or treating me badly, or ‘failing’ in a thousand different ways, give me a heart that longs to redeem them, to somehow love the person, to lift them from who they are to who they really should be. Help me remember who You are … and make me like You.”

Another thing that jumps off the page at me is to notice that, in 111 we see how great God is, how “Great are the works of the Lord,” then in 112 we see that psalm start with a statement how blessed are those who follow Him. And what is the first blessing mentioned? See 112:2 – “his children.” And where does 113 end? In v9, with “a happy mother of children.” Isn’t it interesting that this exalted discussion of the High God and His blessings begins and ends with children? Isn’t it interesting that it begins with a father and his children and ends with a mother and her children? God knows the family is the very cradle of civilization itself. God knows “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”

I could go on and on with this point but I fear that, in our ungodliness as a nation, one of the things we have lost sight of is the unfathomable blessing of children. The blessing of children, the importance of family, is what every church should heavily emphasize, what every government statement and program should encourage. The very best thing we can all do for each other is foster a culture that encourages young parents to have lots of children and make their love and training of paramount importance. “Blessing” in this world begins and ends with children – and may an old man add, grandchildren! I love how even the prophet Malachi would have us know that when real revival happens, when a people’s hearts are turned to the Lord, what will we see happen? We’ll see the Lord “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and children to their fathers.” May He grant in His mercy that America might turn again to Him and bless our children!

I think I could keep looking back over these three amazing psalms and find more and more praises, more and more of His wonders, but, alas, as always, I need to say good-bye to my good friends, and head back to my study of James.

This study of Psalm 111, 112, and 113 has been like a visit to Heaven itself. I feel I have seen the face of God in many ways like never before. I fear it will all have too little effect on me. But I must entrust myself to Grace and be confident He who began a good work will continue. I pray the glimpses I have seen of Him will in fact change me forever. Soli Deo Gloria!

Psalm 113:7-9 – “The Redeemer Fractal”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Raising [the] poor from the dust, He raises [the] needy from the dung pile,

⁸to make [him] dwell with nobles, with the nobles of his people,

⁹making [the] barren [woman] to dwell [in] the house, the mother of the sons,

    joyful.

Praise the LORD.

Before I leave these verses, particularly 7-9, I want to record what I think to be a salient observation. I have often noted what I think to be a prevailing deficiency in our Western culture. That deficiency is imagining the entire world is ruled by what I call linear logic. Linear logic is the kind of thinking which lends itself easily to Roman Numeral outlines, and time lines, the “this, then this, then this” kind of thinking.  

I would suggest that, in trying to see our world that way, we are missing what I rather think is the predominant logic of life itself, and that is “fractal” logic. A fractal is a pattern that repeats itself an infinite number of times and on an infinite number of scales. In other words, it is the pattern itself which is the logic. Once you see and recognize the pattern, you then begin seeing that same pattern in many other situations. My argument is that that is logical, that that is a form of logic, just the same as any linear “this, then this, then this.”

A fractal defies Roman Numeral outlines, yet it is still quite logical. Probably one of the best examples is a family tree. First of all, note we can call it a “tree.” Why? Because a tree is a form of logic – it is a pattern, a fractal. Looking at any family tree, what do we see? We see a man and a woman who married, then had children. And what did the children do? They grew up and married and those couples had children. You could use a Roman Numeral outline perhaps to identify each generation and call it “the descending generations of Bob and Sue,” but how do you show from one line to the next the interrelationship between the individual families? The best way to depict a family’s lineage is not a Roman Numeral outline, but rather by drawing up a family tree. It is a pattern that repeats itself. It is the pattern itself that is logical. Then, not only is there the repeating pattern of fathers, mothers, and children, next add in the thought that the children look like their parents. What is that? Is it not another repeating pattern? Then add in that people beget people, raccoons beget raccoons, tigers beget tigers. What is that? Is it not another example of repeating patterns?

In fact, fractals are all around us everywhere we might look. I would suggest that, particularly when it comes to living things and living systems, the predominating logic is actually not linear but rather fractal. I have suggested before and continue to maintain that the predominant logic of life itself is fractal.

What does all of this have to do with  Psalm 113:7-9? I guess I’m just wanting to suggest that I think it important to recognize that these three verses are an example of fractal logic. They are presenting before our minds a pattern which, if we would but look around, we’ll see in a million different ways and on a million different scales.

The verses say,

⁷Raising [the] poor from the dust, He raises [the] needy from the dung pile,

⁸to make [him] dwell with nobles, with the nobles of his people,

⁹making [the] barren [woman] to dwell [in] the house, the mother of the sons,

    joyful.

Praise the LORD.

People who see the world only through linear logic would say we need to decide whether, in this passage, the Lord is simply making a statement as to His activities or whether He’s referring to the much bigger business of redemption? Those people would insist you must choose. “It cannot be both,” they would say. Fractal logic would say, “No. You don’t understand. What He is presenting to us is a pattern of His workings and the statement is true because it fits His pattern.” What this means is, it is okay to see that both are true. What these verses are presenting to us is one example of the fact that our God is a redeeming God. It is a pattern of who He is that, everywhere He goes, everything He does, He is redeeming. It is true every day of my life. It is true every minute of my life. It is true of my entire life. It is true of my eternity. It is true of everyone’s eternity. It is true because that is who He is. It is part of the logic of life itself that our God is a redeeming God. To fail to see that is to miss a prevailing truth of our very existence.

That being said, we can take these verses quite literally and observe that, at times, the Lord actually does take someone who was poor or in some way needy and raise them from that condition – and in fact, doesn’t just “raise” them but actually gives them some measure of honor. He does at times allow women, though barren, to conceive and bear children. Literally – just like it says here in Psalm 113:7-9. Our God is a literal Redeemer. But beyond those obvious, literal examples, it is also imminently true that He finds all of us in a million different ways “poor and needy and barren” and “raises” us. I almost daily find myself in situations where I honestly do not know what to do. I pray and ask for His help and time and time again, He sends just the right thought or just the right person at just the right time and grants me success. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind this is exactly what Psalm 113:9-7 is talking about. Me poor? Yep. Me needy? Yep. Me barren. Yep. He raises me? Yep. Gives me honor I don’t really deserve? Yep. It is the Redeemer fractal that I’m seeing all day every day.

But then we can keep going. Salvation itself is this same Redeemer fractal. Can we see in Psalm 113:7-9 the redemption of the human race? I say yes. Did God find us poor and in the dust? Did He find us needy on a dunghill? Did He find us barren? As many, many authors have observed, the answer is a resounding Yes! The fall of Adam plunged all mankind into the poverty of sin. In order “raise” us, God has to stoop down and lift us from the putrid filth and stench and disease of the dunghill we have created for ourselves. Jesus came down to actually live among us, to be surrounded by evil and brokenness, and to raise us to be kings and priests unto our God.

And I could go on from there. What about the redemption of the entire Creation? “The Creation itself waits in eager anticipation for the sons of God to be revealed … the Creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21). It’s the same pattern – the Redeemer pattern. It is a fractal of our very existence, true in a million different ways and on a million different scales.

I suppose my bottom line is simply to assert that we don’t need to engage in some sort of exegetical debate to determine which of the above applications are intended in this passage. They’re all true – because they are an expression of a fractal, a pattern of truth which exists because that is who our God is – our Redeemer God and “in Him we live and move and have our being.”

Psalm 113:7-9 – “Kindness”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Raising [the] poor from the dust, He raises [the] needy from the dung pile,

⁸to make [him] dwell with nobles, with the nobles of his people,

⁹making [the] barren [woman] to dwell [in] the house, the mother of the sons,

    joyful.

Praise the LORD.

One of the reasons I have particularly enjoyed studying the Bible over the years is because it helps me to know God for who He really is. This world is so full of totally misguided views of God. It is sad that so few people ever really “know” Him, that is, know Him for who He really is and not for who everyone seems to think He is. If we study the Bible, we get to see firsthand, for ourselves, exactly who He really is – and who He isn’t. What particularly always amazes me is to see how unbelievably kind He is. Perhaps it is because we are all so full of sin, but for whatever reason, we seem to naturally expect Him to be angry and fed up with us. We expect Him to be occupied with “important” matters, not the petty details of our unimportant existence. Perhaps on the “religious” side of things, we expect Him to be occupied with “church” business and evangelistic campaigns and missionaries to Africa and such, and that it certainly can’t be important to Him that I’m going to the grocery store.

Can I say that, after having studied the Bible personally for nearly 40 years, those are all misguided views of God? He is none of the above. He is a God who cares intimately that I’m going to the grocery store. If that is what I need to do for the next hour, He is supremely interested. He loves me. He wants to go with me. He wants to help me, to be my strength and shield. He wants to help me love people even as I go – love my family in the going itself, love the people I interact with, acquaintances I happen to run into, and just in general to help me live my faith as I go. Actually, He is so involved, it isn’t even really my going. It is His and He’s allowing me to be a part of whatever it is He happens to be up to. My life is His life, even in things as simple as “going to the grocery store.”

The passage before us is just another place where I see all of this in the Bible. Look at it. This series of Psalms 111, 112, and then 113, is a passage of exalted praises to the God of Heaven, the High One of glory, and yet what do we find Him doing? Look back through these three psalms and what do you see? You’ll see verse after verse of how great God is, mingled with verse after verse of kindness to His people. And even more than that, as we see in 113:7-9, that kindness even seeks out the very lowest of people to shower His kindnesses on them.

What is particularly striking me today is this final verse, 113:9: ^“making [the] barren [woman] to dwell [in] the house, the mother of the sons, joyful. Praise the LORD.” Notice again, this verse is the conclusion of 111, 112, and 113. These three psalms have pondered the exalted greatness of God, the One “exalted over all the nations, His glory above the heavens.” And yet where does it all end? What does the final verse say? It is a verse that includes the words “house,” “mother,” “sons,” and “joyful.”  

Does anyone else see what I see? Isn’t this beyond amazing? Where does the exalted greatness of God leave us? In the affairs of a palace somewhere? In a temple? In some amazing church service? Certainly He is in all those places, but here we find ourselves in a home, with a mother and her children, joyful. And there we conclude it all with the words, “Praise the Lord.” That’s the kind of God He is. Straight from the Bible. No one’s opinion. There right in front of us. He is the High and exalted One who considers it one of His great works to place mothers in homes with their children, joyful.

Kindness. Just as the Bible says, “God is love.” He knows the deepest needs of our hearts. He knows the greatest joys. He knows the deepest desires of our hearts – oftentimes even though we ourselves do not. My wife and I would be quick to acknowledge we are the last people in the world the Lord should have ever entrusted and blessed with children. And yet He did. And now He’s even given us grandchildren. The grace and kindness in all of that makes we wish I could just praise Him for all eternity. Hmmm. Guess that is what I’ll do! The trick is to keep these thoughts in my mind and praise Him today – to live in love for Him today in my little world – the one where I think I have big problems.

Lord, help me remember today Your great kindness, and help me trust You and love You no matter what “challenges” I think I have to face.

Thank You for letting me know You – the real You – the You You told us You are in Your Word. You are everything my silly heart could have ever dreamed You’d be – and so much more.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 113:7-9 – “Nothingness”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Raising [the] poor from the dust, He raises [the] needy from the dung pile,

⁸to make [him] dwell with nobles, with the nobles of his people,

⁹making [the] barren [woman] to dwell [in] the house, the mother of the sons,

    joyful.

Praise the LORD.

Isn’t it interesting to note who it is that God “raises?” He raises the poor, the needy, and the barren!

The Lord, of course, cares about everyone, but it is the unchanging character of His grace that He favors the poor. “For God resists the proud, but gives His grace to the humble.” It is possible (though extremely rare) to be rich in this world and yet be “poor in spirit.” Jesus accosted the wealthy Laodiceans in Rev 3:17, “You say, ‘I am rich …,’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” Their problem was that they let their outward prosperity blind them to their spiritual reality. “Nothing in my hand I bring, only to Thy Cross I cling.”

In some cases, this Divine favor of “the poor” is quite literal – “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith?” As I’ve noted many times before, it is and always has simply been true that faith belongs mostly to the poor of this world. Like the Laodiceans, most people, as they become more wealthy, find less and less need of a God of grace. It is sad but true that human misery helps us to see our need of God.

But the real “poor” and “needy” and “barren” which the Lord sees is in our hearts, not our bank accounts. It’s when we know that we’re “poor” and in “the dust” that the Lord can raise us up. “For this is what the high and exalted One says-- He who lives forever, whose Name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the hearts of the contrite ones” (Isa 57:15).

What a wonderful God we serve! “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither My ways your ways.” In our world, the people who get “noticed” and favored are the ones who are “mighty” in some sense – the rich, the powerful, the talented, the athletic, the beautiful. We then easily imagine that somehow the Lord just can’t possibly be too interested in me. Of course He can’t use me for much. There’s simply not much to use. I’m “none of the above.” Yet, here in Psalm 113:7, we find the High One stooping down, not to find the mighty and make them more mighty, but to raise the poor and needy! To raise who? Those of us with “not much to offer!”

And then think about this: What does He raise them to? In verse 8, He “seats them with nobles, the nobles of their people.” Once again, in our world, how common is it that people will “raise themselves” and maybe they really do “rise” to something, yet they achieve it in dishonor. There are, of course, many rich people, who may in fact get rich, but everyone hates them. There are people who rose to some high accomplishment but did so neglecting their family, only to have children who bring them disgrace. Such is all too often the world we create for ourselves. But what about our Lord? When He raises us up, even in the raising, He gives us honor. “The blessing of the Lord makes us rich, and He adds no sorrow with it” (Prov 10:22). “A good name is more to be desired than riches” (Prov 22:1). David time and time again would not “raise” himself (as in not killing Saul or Nabal) and when God did make him king, he could hold that position with a clear conscience. “Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it” (Prov 15:16).

All of this just makes my head spin. What a wonderful God He is. He is the very God we all so badly need. I so don’t deserve the least of His kindness. I certainly don’t deserve that He should actually notice me or help me or use me for anything. And I’m so deeply aware there’s not much here to use. Everywhere I look there are people way more capable than me. What He really should do is just step His foot down from Heaven and squash me like a bug on the sidewalk. That is seriously what He should do. But, as I sit here in all my miserableness, my heart says, “But I don’t want Him to. I do want to live. I do want to be loved. I do want to believe I can actually be part of something important.” And what do I find as I read His Word? “He raises the poor from the dust and the needy from the dunghill to seat them with nobles!”

The truth is that I am the only “me” He can use. I have no one else to offer. I’m the only “me” that can go to work today, the only “me” who can even try to love people and make any difference at all. This psalm gives us all the wonderful news that the High One of Heaven is okay with that. The “me” you are is all He’s asking for. Poor? Needy? Barren? You’re in fact the very people He’s looking for.

God help me today to fall into the arms of Your grace, to let You accept me “just as I am” and to let You do whatever You see fit with the so little I have to offer. Help me to be confident in You and not be overwhelmed with my own nothingness. Jesus, be my Savior. Spirit, be my strength. And somehow may the wonder of who You are shine out of my heart.

Psalm 113:7-9 – “Good Management”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Raising [the] poor from the dust, He raises [the] needy from the dung pile,

⁸to make [him] dwell with nobles, with the nobles of his people,

⁹making [the] barren [woman] to dwell [in] the house, the mother of the sons,

    joyful.

Praise the LORD.

These are amazing verses. Who knows? I might have to write several blogs to cover all I think I’m learning.

In verses 4 and 5 we praised the Lord because He is the High God, the One who sits enthroned above everything. In verses 1-3, we acknowledged this great God is worthy of praise from everyone, everywhere, all the time. He simply is El Elyon, the Most High God.

Then in v6 we marveled at the fact that this Most High God stoops down to observe what is happening here. As I said earlier, that is so unlike humans who, as they rise “higher,” get more and more inaccessible. It is and always has been endearing to any people where their rulers “come down” to actually be with their people and care about them.

That reminds me of a very large factory where several friends of mine worked, the Braun Corporation in Winamac, Indiana. Ralph Braun started the business in his garage and, over the years, turned it into a massive international business. One day my friend was relating, with obvious affection, how for years Ralph had made it a point from time to time to simply travel around the plant and visit with his workers, listen to them, encourage them, and be aware of their needs. Those memories brought a big smile to my friend’s face, then suddenly his face fell, and he said sadly, “He doesn’t do that anymore.”

Such is our habit as human beings and sadly so.

Wonder of wonders is that the Most High God isn’t like that. He “stoops down” to see us.

“But,” someone might ask, “What does He stoop down to see? What does He stoop down for? Why does He ‘visit’ us?”

What does He stoop down for? I think this is precisely a point of profound consequence. What is your answer or mine? What, in your heart of hearts, do you believe He “stoops down” for? I fear that too many people, if they were honest, would say they fear He stoops down to look at their life and judge them. He stoops down to see their faults and failures, to punish them for their sins. In their heart of hearts, they would prefer He just stay up in Heaven and not be stooping down. Would I be wrong to suggest that is how most people see God – that that is the very reason why they keep Him at arms’ length, why they shut him out of their thoughts – because they fear He will only criticize them? Who hasn’t heard preachers warning them, “God is watching you! You’d better do what’s right!” And granted there is an element of truth to that statement. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But it is only the beginning. The end of wisdom is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength and your neighbor as yourself.

And what Psalm 113:7-9 would teach us, I believe, is precisely this, to love the Lord our God.

How so?

Look at the passage. When our God stoops down, what does He do?

He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
He seats them with princes,
    with the princes of his people.
He settles the childless woman in her home
    as a happy mother of children.

Grace. Grace. Grace. Our God stoops down to do us good! Isn’t that precisely what He said? “For God sent not His Son to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:17). When God Himself stepped down and walked in our world, what did He do? He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, made the lame to walk again, and died on a Cross to save us from our sins! Our God is to us a Rock, a Refuge, a Shelter in the time of storm. He would whisper in our ear, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to do you good and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.”

Someone might ask, “But what about like Sodom and Gomorrah? God stooped down to see them and rained fire and sulfur to destroy them. Yes, that is true. But “even in judgment, He remembers mercy.” Read Psalm 113 again and realize that judgment is not what He lives for. He is love. He would have far rather seen them repent and, like Jonah and Nineveh, He would have spared them and blessed them instead.

I am marveling in these thoughts this week. I thought a lot about the High God earlier. I don’t know that I’ve ever been impressed before with just how high He is, that His infinity stretches out to the furthest star and down to the tiniest atom. But then to think that same God stoops down to care about me? That He stoops down not to judge me – which I deeply deserve – but rather to love me and do me good???? Mi-cha-el?? Who is like our God?? Amazing grace. How sweet the sound!

But while I’m marveling in who God is, my heart turns to who we are. Having studied this, I think I now really, really understand why it so saddened my friend’s heart, “He doesn’t do that anymore.” Do you see what I see? It is godly to stoop down and care about the people “below” us. What Ralph was doing was right. We should “get around” and see “our” people. We should not let our “position” make us inaccessible, but instead use it to do good to our people. That is good management. It is good rule. And it is good because it is godly!

I guess what is impacting me most is simply seeing this quality in God. No wonder the people loved Diana. As always, here I sit at His feet, seeing Him in His glory, and I understand in a new and deeper way who I want to be – and why. Oh, to see His face, how different would we be as managers and teachers and parents – to have hearts filled with grace that long not to condemn our world, but to save it through Him? – to make it a point of our everyday lives to use “position” (whatever that might mean) to do people good???

No wonder His name is Redeemer. “O, to be like Thee.”