Psalm 78 -- Led with skillful hands

Greg Gilbaugh preaching at North Liberty Church April 22nd, 2007 referenced this passage:

70 He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens;

71 from tending the sheep he brought him
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel his inheritance.

72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
with skillful hands he led them.

A NetBible (www.bible.org) footnotes 98 for Psalms 78 reads that the literal translation is:

98 tn Heb “and with the understanding of his hands he led them.”

From "How the Irish Save Civilization"

Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare current

"They change their sky but not their soul those who cross the ocean." Horace

p. 196. Thomas Cahill

How the Irish Saved Civilization

Funeral

I attended two funerals lately. Both "deceased" were strong Christians. One funeral, the preacher stressed what an interesting and diverse life this 105-year-old woman lived. The second funeral stressed that although she died young (40 years) she will be missed by many.

The first funeral, the pastor didn't want to explain the gospel. The second funeral stressed the impact this woman had other people. Neither funeral preached the Gospel directly. I understand their reticence. It was a time of mourning.

However, at my funeral, I encourage any speaker at my funeral, please stress this is a man who loves God and here is how you can enter into a relationship with God. Please explain the gospel carefully. So at least in death, I can still reach my loved ones and may accomplish what I did so poorly in life: share the gospel. If people get angry with you, feel free to share this note with them.

God Work

In Psalm 24:5 David writes:

Because they do not regard the works of the Lord or the work of his hands, he will tear them down and build them up no more.

God wants people to regard his works and not regard their own. God is the boss of man, not man.

Trembles at my words

Isaiah 66:2 reads:

All these things my hand has made
and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

I have no comments. God looks for this in a person, if you don't have this. Do a soul search. Piper just lists this verse to prove his point in The Pleasures of God

Why was Jesus a carpenter?

I was thinking about God as a worker. He created universe. He created because creating brought Him glory and it was His good pleasure. God enjoyed creating. God enjoys His works of creation. God enjoys work.

God chose to become incarnate in the family of a poor carpenter. Jesus was most likely trained to be a carpenter. God is omnipotent; He could have chose any profession and He chose carpentry. Why? Why did the profession of carpentry bring Him the most pleasure as a young man? Things to ponder.

Piper on Faith and Reason

John Piper spoke on the relationship of faith and reason at the Ligioner National Conference 2007. He spoke on 2 Corinthians 4:4-6.

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Our job is to present the gospel and the hope that is within us. To communicate the beauty of Christ to the unbeliever. It is God's responsibility to rip the veil over the unbelievers' hearts, to shine the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ in their hearts so that they may believe.

Conversion has its result the love of Christ emanating from the believer.

David having a bad day

David was having a bad day. He couldn't go home to Israel because King Saul was trying to kill him. Philistines had rejected his services three days previous. He just journeyed three days to return to his base camp at Ziklag. He found out the Amalekites had raided his camp; they found the city of Ziklag burned to the ground; and they found out his wives and children were kidnapped. His protection job of protecting Ziklag had just burned up with his possessions. The people who had supported him were now talking about stoning him. He had no where to go. He had no family around, no friends, and no place to live. I Samuel 30 reads that he was greatly distessed. How should David respond? Did David run away from his problems?

The answer is a resounding no. The verse, I Samuel 30:6c reads, "But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God."

David then picked up the pieces of his army and chased after the band of Amalekites who took his family. David did not have a self pity party. He strengthened himself in the Lord his God and acted. Amazing.

G. K. Chesterton on Drinking

I heard this on "G. K. Chesterton" on EWTN. I thought this very good.

Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable. Never drink when you are wretched without it, or you will be like the grey-faced gin-drinker in the slum; but drink when you would be happy without it, and you will be like the laughing peasant of Italy. Never drink because you need it, for this is rational drinking, and the way to death and hell. But drink because you do not need it, for this is irrational drinking, and the ancient health of the world.

—G.K. Chesterton, Heretics (1905), in The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, Volume I (1986), p. 92

Buster and Maxine

My dog Buster, a Maltese, was put to sleep recently. I have also just read "Marley and Me" so I decided I have to write down at least one funny story.

My mother-in-law, Maxine, staid at our house occasionally. She slept downstairs. Buster used to sleep with us on our bed upstairs. When I awakened on a Saturday morning, Buster would follow me to the kitchen. However, when Maxine was staying downstairs, he would invariably stop at the top of the stairs. He would alternately look at me and then look downstairs. After a few moments, I would say, "Buster, go wake up Grandma!" Buster would rush downstairs at full tilt. I would then hear him running and sliding down the hall. I could easily imagine what happened: Buster jumping on top of Maxine and giving her Maltese kisses. The next thing I would hear, was Maxine making noises like she was bothered and started talking to Buster. I would be laughing while I made coffee.

Unless you think I was cruel to my mother-in-law, my wife said Maxine really enjoyed our Buster alarm clock.

May all our guests feel as welcome as Buster made my mother-in-law in our home.

Samurai saying

I was watching a special on Samurais on the history channel. One adage caught my ear, "After victory, tighten your helmet cords."

King David came to mind when I heard this. He staid home when it was time for kings to go to war. He felt he deserved a break. He was successful. He defeated his enemies. He trained his commanders. He went to his roof top to gaze over Jerusalem and admire his accomplishments, and noticed a bathing Bathseba. He fell, he lusted, he committed adultery, he lied, and he murdered. Although he received forgiveness from God, his family was forever affected by this transgression. After victory, tighten your helmet cords.

Lewis on Liberal Theology

Lewis comments on liberal theology.

All the theology of the liberal type involves at some point -- and often involves throughout--the claim that the real behaviour and purpose and teaching of Christ came very rapidly to be misunderstood and misrepresented by his followers, and he has been recovered or exhumed only by modern scholars. Now long before I became interested in theology I had met this kind of theory elsewhere. The tradition of Jowett still dominated the study of ancient philosophy when I was reading Greats. One was brought up to believe that the real meaning of Plato had been misunderstood by Aristotle and wildly travestied by the neo-Platonists, only to be recovered by the moderns. When recovered, it turned out (most fortunately) that Plato had really all along been an English Hegelian, rather like T. H. Green.

Fernseed and Elephants

And thus, the problem with the current trend of books that corrects our interpretation of Jesus sayings today. These authors distrust the gospel writers who lived with Christ or at least knew people who knew Christ personally. How can we trust them who do their reconstructions using modern interpretive methods, which may go out of date next year?

Samuel and Empty things

Samuel was addressing the nation Israel when he was annointing Saul as king:

And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty."

I Samuel 12:20-21 (ESB).

Anything that is not done for the Lord is an empty thing.

Moses and Work II

The power to gain wealth is from the Lord.

Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

(Deut. 9:17-18)(ESV)

I just received a pay raise. I worked hard last year, but I only worked 40-45 hours a week and I had no on-call. The previous year, I was very disappointed in my pay raise. I worked much harder, I was oncall, I was much more frustrated, and I averaged over 50 hours a week. I am not saying I deserved a pay raise because I switched jobs to one I was more suited to, but what I am trying to say is God is in control of promotions and pay raises. We must serve and honor him first by working hard, and let him take care of us.

The Puritans and Scripture

J. I. Packer in his book, A Quest for Godliness, on pages 97-98, relates the following story described to John Howe by Dr. Thomas Goodwin about a preacher, Mr. Rogers of Dedham.

having heard much of Mr. Rogers of Dedham [an early Puritan Boanerges]took a journey...to hear him preach on his lecture day....Mr. Rogers was...on the subject of...the Scriptures. And in that sermon he falls into an expostulation with the people about their neglect of the Bible;...he personates God to the people, telling them,'Well, I have trusted you so long with my Bible; you have slighted it, it lies in such and such houses all covered with dust and cobwebs; you care not to listen to it. Do you use my Bible so? Well, you shall have my Bible no longer.' And he takes up the Bible from his cushion, and seemed as if he were going away with it and carrying it from them; but immediately turns again and personates the people to God, falls down on his knees, cries and pleads most earnestly, 'Lord, whatever thou dost to us, take not thy Bible from us; kill our children, burn our houses, destroy our goods; only spare us thy Bible, only take not away thy Bible.' And then he personates God again to the people: 'Say you so? Well I will try you a while longer; and here is my Bible for you. I will see how you will use it, whether you will love it more...observe it more...practice it more, and live more according to it.' By these actions(as the doctor told me) he put all the congregation into so strange a posture that...the place was a mere Bochim, the people generally...deluged with their own tears; and he told me that he himself, when he got out...was fain to hang a quarter of an hour upon the neck of his horse weeping before he had power to mount; so strange an impression was there upon him, and generally upon the people,upon having been expostulated with for neglect of the Bible.

Things to do in and around Iowa city

This a personal list so I can remember where I can take people when they visit me in Iowa City.

1. Natural History Museum in campus.
2. Old Capitol Museum.
3. University of Iowa Art Museum.
4. Plum Grove Historical Site (1st Governor's House.)
5. Wallace Winery (Herbert Hoover Highway just east of West Branch).
6. Herbert Hoover museum in West Branch.
7. Eat at Amanas. Bill Zubers is good and so is Ox Yoke Inn.
8. Swing of the Quad Cities Baseball in Davenport.
9. Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Moses and Work

In Exodus the work started on the tabenacle. Moses called the people to work based on whom the Spirit has filled with skill.

Then Moses said to the people of Israel, "See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he ahs filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs to work in gold and silver and bronze," Exodus 35:30-33

And again in Exodus 36:2

And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. (ESV)

God is a god of quality. God expects good work from his people and good work honors God. Furthermore, the skills of craftsmen and construction are not usually considered skills for worship, but obviously these men in working on the temple, worshipped God. I usually don't advocate vocation, but the way God called and equipped these men for the work, may make me reconsider my views.

James Van Allen and Work

The Des Moines Register honoring Dr. Van Allen after his death in 2006, quoted a colleague:

"His idea of a big time is to go into his labs and just work through the weekend," said one of his associates in the 1980s.

At the memorial service, his colleagues and family indicated that he loved research. He would keep a tight schedule. Monday through Saturday, Dr. Van Allen would leave the house for work at 7:45 a.m. and come home for dinner at 6:30 p.m. He would eat dinner with his family and then go to his office to work the rest of the evening. On Sunday mornings he would cook waffles for his family and then leave to work 1/2 day or more.

I have never met such a discipline man before.

Hawthorne, Work and Angels

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote about a person who worked and did not experience toil. Phoebe worked as if she was an angel who was not touch by the curse of Adam.

There was a spiritual quality in Phoebe's activity. The life of the long and busy day--spent in occupations that might so easily have taken a squalid and ugly aspect--had been made pleasant, and even lovely, by the spontaneous grace with which these homely duties seemed to bloom out of her character; so that labor, while she dealt with it, had the easy and flexible charm of play. Angels do not toil, but let their good works grow out of them; and so did Phoebe.

The House of the Seven Gables. Chapter 5.

The Prophets and Work

Sometimes, God uses the decrease production relative to amount of toil to get a person's or a people's attention. See Haggai 3:15-17

Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and mildew and with hail, yet you did not run to me, declares the Lord.

ESV