A Boomer in the Pew

Dr. Wayne Grudem: Economics from God's Point of View (50 Factors Within Nations)

I am beginning to hear great grumbling, and fear from all fronts regarding our economy, out nation's debt, and the general direction of our electorate.

What do you suppose God has to say about these financial matters?  Do you think God even cares about the financial health of our country, or perhaps even his people?

I believe he does!

Might I make the strongest of recommendations? 

Before our congress is back in session, in the fall, please set aside 4 hours to study God's view of economics with Dr. Barry Asmus (economist), and Dr. Wayne Grudem (theologian).

The two of them have paired up to bring us information directly from God's word, as to how we should behave from a financial point of view, and have presented it in an easily digestible format.

Scottsdale Bible Church is blessed to have these two scholars in our midst, and I feel compelled to share this information with you.

Again, please set aside 4 hours, over the coming weeks, make sure to include your older children, and learn from these learned men:

50 Factors Within Nations that Determine their Wealth or Poverty

Here is a link to the notes  from our Sunday School Class.

After you invest these four hours, then share this information with your friends, family, and encourage them to listen.  I promise, these invested 4 hours will better help you communicate with our legislators, and further better understand a proper view of economics from God's view.

Please, hit the "share this" button below, and pass this information on!

David and Goliath: God's glory shining through a young shepherd boy

"David and Goliath", c 1542-44, by Vecellio Tiziano (Titian).

ESV Study Bible Devotions

1 Samuel 17:32-37 - And David said to Saul, “Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Of all of the artwork I have seen of this famous narrative, I think Titian gets the gold star for a proper view.  Everyone else, that I have seen, portrays David standing victorious over Goliath, but they miss the real victor in the battle: YHWH (Yahweh, God)

While everyone else was wetting their pants over this 9 foot, mountain of a man, David rightly proclaims, "the Lord... will deliver me from the hands of this Philistine".

If we are to admire David, we should be admiring him for his faith, not his victory over Goliath.  The victory belongs to the Lord.  We should stand in awe of God's glory.  Titan gets it!

Habakkuk: Two Complaints, Two Answers, One Theophany, and finally a Contrite Heart

"The Flight of Moloch", 1809 watercolor, by William Blake.

ESV Study Bible Devotions

Although I am greatly enjoying my year-long journey through my ESV Study Bible, I also find myself frustrated that we are moving so quickly through the text.

We just blasted through Lamentations in three days!  It seems almost criminal.  I must constantly remind myself that this particular journey is to read through the whole of the Scriptures in a year.

Come January, we can decide where to tread from there.

The Book of Habakkuk is a short book as well, and will be past us in three days.  Therefore, I chose to park myself for a few hours this morning, in the book of Habakkuk, to better understand.

As I was reading the study notes, in my ESV Study Bible, I further noticed that Dr. Paul Wegner, from Phoenix Seminary, and Scottsdale Bible Church, provided the study notes for Habakkuk.  

Once again I proclaim, how fortunate to have seminary professors as Sunday School Teachers!

The prophet Habakkuk lived during very evil times, in the history of the Hebrew nation.  In this particular time, the temple was ignored as the people involved themselves in the worship of false gods.  In particular, this was the era of the demon Moloch, who required the live sacrifice of children by fire.

Habakkuk is mortified at the sin of Judah, and complains to God.  God responds with "For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told", as God reveals that Babylon will come and destroy all Israel.

Secondly, Habakkuk complains, inquiring why God would use a wicked nation (Babylon) to punish a less wicked one (Judah).  God then assures Habakkuk that he will punish all the wicked at the right time.

Thirdly, to help Habakkuk in his understanding, God provided a visionary theophany (a visible manifestation of God).  That must have been mind blowing!

And finally, we find Habakkuk, relenting, and rejoicing to the mystery of God with:

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.

The other remarkable thing for us to keep in mind, is that history has left us a remarkable trail, with empirical evidence, to the civilizations, and occurrences testified of in the Scriptures.  Although perhaps not enough to silence the world, but certainly, as Josh McDowell says, enough evidence to demand a verdict.

How about you?  Do you see Habakkuk as divinely inspired prophet, or simply nice folklore?

Psalm 27 - Your face, LORD, do I seek

ESV Study Bible Devotions

Psalm 27 contains some of my favorite reflections.

Take a half hour, and contemplate these:

• Verse 1 - The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  Lots of fear in the world today.  Are we afraid?  Whom shall we fear?
• Verse 4 - One thing have I asked of the Lord,
  that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
  to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.   This is my blog's key verse.  Dwell with God, gaze upon his beauty, and learn from him.
• Verse 6a - And now my head shall be lifted up...  If you understand this one, it is a heart melter. 
• Verse 8 - You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”  Abba, test my heart, and see if this isn't true.
• Verse 11a - Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path...  I am so prone to wander.  LORD, keep me ever near.
• Verse 13-14 - I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!  Belief.  This separates the wheat from the chaff.  With great expectation LORD, I wait on you.

When we meditate on these verses, and we dive deeply into their meaning, then we must come upon our heart's true intent.  Do we believe these things, or are they merely nice sayings from antiquity?

Oh my soul, deeply breath in these words, and let their fragrance be a permanent bouquet in my heart.

God regrets Saul, Samuel hacks Agag into pieces, and Samuel and Saul permanently part ways

"Samuel hacks Agag into pieces", illustration from Figures de la Bible (1728).

ESV Study Bible Devotions

This was a difficult chapter to read on many levels:

• just hearing God say to Saul, "I regret that I have made Saul king", stabbed my soul.  I can't imaging those words being uttered.
• furthermore, just what does God mean when he regrets his decision?  Did God make a bad decision?  Does God change his mind?
• with difficulty, I imagine Samuel's pain as he sees God's word disobeyed, and God requires that he confront Saul.  Samuel cries all night before the confrontation.  Sorrow for God, sorrow for Israel, sorrow for himself, sorrow for Saul, all of the above?
• the natural mind is going to have great difficulty with God's "ethnic cleansing" displayed here.
• further, what horror as we view Samuel chopping Agag into pieces.
• and finally, Samuel and Saul were never to see each other alive again. 

I suppose this narrative should compel us to be thankful that we live in the era of the church, and that the regenerate have the righteousness of Christ covering them.

For clearly here is a most vivid display of God's hatred of evil.  When evil stands in front of God, evil is swiftly, and severely dealt with.

The post-modern mind greatly struggles with a God who is both completely loving, and completely just.   Further, the post-modern mind, rather than running to God for understanding, seeking with all of their cells to gain some semblance of apprehension, rejects this God as barbaric, and dream dreams of a God of their own making.

How does the finite expect to understand the Infinite?  How does the clay remonstrate against the Potter?

Frankly, I don't have answers to the myriad of questions that come to my view.  I believe in God, and I will continue my journey to understand, knowing full well that some things, like it or not, I am not going to understand.

Frustrating?  You bet!  But wasn't it David who proclaimed, "who can know the depths of your mind, O LORD?"

Note:  I found the notes in my ESV Study Bible a big help in at least better understanding the questions. 

My First Video Mix

Boomer in the Pew - here is a video mix that I just finished for my blogging with Scottsdale Bible Church. 

As blogging fare is generally lite, on Fridays, I thought you might enjoy this.  This is my first production using my new Canon Vixia HF S10, with the aid of Apple's iMovie.

Now What?

ESV Study Bible Devotions

Psalm 25:4-5,16-18 - Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. 5 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long. 

I am most pleased to find the Psalms back, for a second time, in my year-long ESV Study Bible reading plan.

If you have been reading this blog, since I started it 18 months ago, you would be familiar with a guy brought to God's threshing floor, and witnessed a subsequent complete remolding of a worldview.  This has not been an easy process. 

Now, it seems, that perhaps I am able to stand.  I am still cautiously looking around to see if I might find myself once again flat on my back, with more learning to accomplish.  But tentatively I stand, knees a little bent, both arms out, hands with palms touching the air as though stumbling in the dark, wondering if this particular time, in God's school of life, might be over.

As I continue to stand, I wander across the room in my mind, to a very large picture window.  Before me is seemingly an infinite span.  Taking a long, slow, deep breath, I look out.  Now...long period of silence...now what?  What direction do I head?

Have you ever stood at this window?

Phoenix Rescue Mission

Phoenix Rescue Mission - please share with those who so desperately need our help.

Hope Coach from Phoenix Rescue Mission on Vimeo.

Samuel calls down thunder against wandering Israel

"Samuel prays for rain", Illustration from Figures de la Bible (1728)

ESV Study Bible Devotions

1st Samuel 12:12-18 - And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the Lord your God was your king. 13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. 15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king. 16 Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. 17 Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.” 18 So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

One of the things that becomes horribly apparent, as I read through the Hebrew Canon, is our tendency, as fallen creatures, to walk away from God when we are prospering.

Or, in this case, to covet the things that others have.  For some strange reason, the Israelites figured that they needed a king, rather than God, to protect them in the land.  Somehow, they figured that God wasn't enough.

So, God in his sovereign plan gives them a king.  Then, through Samuel, God states his desires, the people wet their pants in fear (thunder storm), pray their loyalty,  and I am confident that we will very soon see them straying from God, and going their separate way.

The thinking Christian, rather than scoffing at Israel, will realize that this same nature is present in each of us.  We must continually stay near the Fountain of Life, and pray for God to keep us near.  Personally, knowing my nature, and my inherited tendency to stray, I continually ask God to keep me chained near.

Samuel's last words, in his address to Israel, are infinitely valuable to us today:

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. 21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 22 For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.” (1st Samuel 12: 20-25)

Oh my soul, fear the Lord and serve him faithfully!

How are we to understand Saul's new heart?

"Saul among the Prophets", 1728, Illustration from Figures de la Bible.

ESV Study Bible Devotions

1 Samuel 10:9-11 - When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. 10 When they came to Gibeah,  behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. 11 And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

As I journey through my ESV Study Bible, I now come upon Israel's first king.  Young Saul has been sent out, by his father, to find some lost donkeys.

After much searching in the land, about to give up, he crosses paths with the prophet Samuel.

God tells Samuel that Saul is to be Israel's king, and Samuel whisks Saul off to a special dinner, fit for a king, and in the course of the next days tells Saul that mighty changes were about to come into his life, and anoints him as king.

Samuel tells Saul of various signs that God will give him to demonstrate this fact, and the next thing we know "the spirit of God rushes upon" Saul, he is given a new heart, and becomes a new man.

From my ESV Study Bible:

1 Sam. 10:9–10 In fulfillment of Samuel's prior predictions (vv. 2–7), Saul is given another heart and he prophesies, an action linked with the fact that the Spirit of God rushed upon him (cf. v. 6; 11:6). This might not be a permanent spiritual renewal or conversion, but Saul is confirmed as the one to deliver Israel (see 10:7, “do what your hand finds to do”; cf. 9:16) and is reminded of God's presence by means of this visible sign (cf. Judg. 14:6, 19; 15:14). Later the Spirit of the Lord “departed from Saul” (1 Sam. 16:14; 18:12).

It is perplexing to see this rushing of God, and then, at the end of Saul's life, the Spirit of the Lord departs from Saul.

I am not questioning this "transaction" as compared to the New Covenant's new birth.  I am simply curious about whether we will be breaking bread with Saul some day. 

What do you think?