The Issue of the Potsherds of the Earth

"Pride of heart thinks nothing too high for the man, and so arraigns before its tribunal the divine proceedings, pretends to see through them, censures freely and condemns. But humiliation of spirit disposes a man to think awfully and honorably of those mysteries of Providence he is not able to see through. . .What else can possibly be the issue of the potsherds of the earth dashing against the Rock of ages, but that they are broken to pieces? All men must certainly bow or break under the mighty hand of God (Rom 11:33; Job 41:8)." - Thomas Boston, from The Crook in the Lot, Christian Heritage edition pages 136 & 139

The Pain of Love as a Means of Grace

Thomas Boston (1676–1732)

"So do men oftentimes find their greatest cross, where they expected their greatest comfort. Sin hath unhinged the whole creation, and made every relation susceptible of the crook."

From Crook in the Lot, by Thomas Boston, page 37 in the Christian Heritage edition

Some Of God's Children Are Not Well, Because of God

"God deals strangely with the saints, contrary to all human wisdom and understanding, to the end that those who fear God are good Christians, may learn to depend on invisible things, and through mortification may be made alive again; for God's Word is a light that shines in a dark place, as all examples of faith show. Esau was accursed, yet it went well with him; he was lord in the land, and priest in the church; but Jacob had to fly, and dwell in poverty in another country. God deals with godly Christians much as with the ungodly, yea, and sometimes far worse. He deals with them even as a house-father with a son and a servant; he whips and beats the son much more and oftener than the servant, yet nevertheless, he gathers for the son a treasure to inherit, while a stubborn and a disobedient servant he beats not with the rod, but thrusts out of doors, and gives him nothing of the inheritance."  -  From Luther's Tabletalk, #77.

Forgotten Happiness and Perished Hope

I am the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
He has driven me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
Surely against me He has turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day.
He has caused my flesh 

and my skin to waste away,
He has broken my bones.
He has besieged and encompassed me with

bitterness and hardship.
In dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead.
He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my chain heavy.
Even when I cry out and call for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
He has turned aside my ways 

and torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
He bent His bow
And set me as a target for the arrow.
He made the arrows of His quiver
To enter into my inward parts.
I have become a laughingstock 

to all my people,
Their mocking song all the day.
He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drunk with wormwood.
He has broken my teeth with gravel;
He has made me cower in the dust.
My soul has been rejected from peace;
I have forgotten happiness.
So I say, “My strength has perished,
And so has my hope from the Lord.”

Jeremiah the Prophet, La 3:1-18

God Pounds His Chest

“I am the Lord, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God.
I will gird you, though you have not known Me;
That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other,
The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the Lord who does all these."

Is 45:5-7

God Deals Strangely with the Saints

"God deals strangely with the saints, contrary to all human wisdom and understanding, to the end that those who fear God are good Christians, may learn to depend on invisible things, and through mortification may be made alive again; for God's Word is a light that shines in a dark place, as all examples of faith show. Esau was accursed, yet it went well with him; he was lord in the land, and priest in the church; but Jacob had to fly, and dwell in poverty in another country. God deals with godly Christians much as with the ungodly, yea, and sometimes far worse. He deals with them even as a house-father with a son and a servant; he whips and beats the son much more and oftener than the servant, yet nevertheless, he gathers for the son a treasure to inherit, while a stubborn and a disobedient servant he beats not with the rod, but thrusts out of doors, and gives him nothing of the inheritance."  -  From Luther's Tabletalk, #77.

"I Know What I Am"

 

I like old country music, and Texas/Outlaw Country in particular. I find a connection with these folks that I have not found in the Church - pain. We in the Church tend to fearfully cover that, or pretentiously advertise it. Life in a fallen world hurts. The Bible says so, repeatedly. I know it to be true. So I connect with the stories told by the old country song writers. Seems real to me. And I need real.

Yesterday evening I heard this, and commend it to you. It's not the typical story put to song by an old-time country music singer. It's better. And while Kristofferson theology is a bit sketchy, the testimony given is worth a listen, I think. Enjoy.

Because Origin Matters

Recently I was participating in a church gathering where I was introduced to Sovereign Over Us, a song written by Bryan Brown, Jack Mooring, and Aaron Keyes. I am quite out of touch with most things in modern culture, Christian or otherwise. So I don't know how long the song has been out and I haven't bothered to look into it. Anyway, I appreciate the song which may be heard here.

Apparently the origins of the song come from the writers' understanding of God as revealed in Jeremiah 29, particularly verse 11. The chorus contains these lines: "Your plans are still to prosper, You have not forgotten us. You are with us in the fire and the flood." Wonderful. But I do wonder if the authors of this piece, along with the many who sing it, realize that the God of Jeremiah 29 is with us in the fires and floods that He sends. The losses and pains of our existence are not accidents, or merely the results of a fallen world, or some other less than sovereign reality. Read the chapter. God is the source of the very pain in which He promises His presence. But that truth wasn't included in the song. Too bad, because it saturates Jeremiah's thinking.

Martin Luther, on Reformation Day, for those that Suffer the "Whippings and Beatings" of their Heavenly Father

October 31 is Reformation Day. It is also, in a sense, Luther's Day. Below is something Luther once said over dinner.

    "God deals strangely with the saints, contrary to all human wisdom and understanding, to the end that those who fear God are good Christians, may learn to depend on invisible things, and through mortification may be made alive again; for God's Word is a light that shines in a dark place, as all examples of faith show. Esau was accursed, yet it went well with him; he was lord in the land, and priest in the church; but Jacob had to fly, and dwell in poverty in another country.
    God deals with godly Christians much as with the ungodly, yea, and sometimes far worse. He deals with them even as a house-father with a son and a servant; he whips and beats the son much more and oftener than the servant, yet nevertheless, he gathers for the son a treasure to inherit, while a stubborn and a disobedient servant he beats not with the rod, but thrusts out of doors, and gives him nothing of the inheritance."  -  From Luther's Tabletalk, #77.

Words That Carry The Difficult Day

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because he has anointed me. . .to provide for those who grieve in Zion--to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.

Isaiah 61:1a & 3.

For whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among many brethren -- The Apostle Paul, Romans 8:29

We do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia; that we were burdened beyond measure, above our strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. . . The Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth -- Jesus, Matthew 28:18

This day's been crazy but everything's happened on schedule -- Caedmon's Call, Table for Two

The sum of which is that God has foreknown (foreloved) all of His own before He created them. This is the foundation for Paul's famous words at the end of Romans 8 that speak of the indestructible love of Christ from which the Christian cannot be separated. The proof of God's ongoing saving love for His people is that He has always been loving them as they are. In other words, when God was loving us before creation, He was not doing so ignorant of who we are and what we are like -- sinful. He knew us perfectly then and loved us perfectly nevertheless. This redeeming love, by grace, is forever the possession of the foreknown.

So when Paul says that he was troubled, burdened, despairing and dying as one of the foreloved, he means for us to take heart because God brings such trials upon us to teach us to trust Him and to strip us of our trust in ourselves.

And because all authority belongs to our Lord whose saving love for us is a constant, we may rest in His limiting of the pressure, since by it He means not to destroy us but purge us. In other words, our pain is planned. It is not random or haphazard. It is designed and sent as a tool in our sanctification. So Caedmon's is right - From our perspective this day may seem crazy. But everything is occurring on schedule - His schedule. Bless His holy name.