F. W. Boreham wrote . . . ‘But, what is on the other side of the hill?' That, I say, is the question. It is the oldest question in the world and the greatest question in the world. All the pathos and the tragedy of the ages are crammed into it. It was the first question that man asked; it will be the last that he will try to answer. Wherever on this planet you find a man, you find him with eyes turned wistfully towards the distant ranges, repeating to himself again and yet again the old, old question, 'The hill! The other side of the hill! What is on the other side of the hill?'
From Crow's perspective, that is a compelling question. A question that I too have asked a few times in my life. In the present context I certainly am faced once again with this. The Army says I must retire and yes, I have options; armed with some skills and a proverbial drive that has me charging brick walls at times. Beyond the hills there are different paths. As Bunyan writes and was faced on his travels to the Celestial City, but Pilgrim was confronted by many challenges, yes?
What are you to do? Are you comfortable with your business, your practice, your career? How about your life? I am not talking about tangible things, but your character, the balance, the spiritual? What about the eternal? Ponder, yes?
Sunday, April 4, 2010
On Thomas Edison and Intersecting Possbilities with Realities
Any of you possess enough motivation and tenacity in you to change humanity? Are you rather, working the nine-to-five, drawing a salary with no real authenticity? Frankly, I was inspired by this essay by F. W. Boreham on Thomas Edison. What a scientific entrepreneur! What a genuis of industry! Can you imagine turning ideas into tangibles benefits for mankind? You may say, wait Crow, I dont have that kind of talent, intellect or capacity. To this, I say, every person is endowed by God with skills, talents and abilities. Find what it is and zealously work to bring value to people and Glory to God that he deserves!
Boreham on Thomas Edison
Possibility Thinker
In the most modest and unpretentious circumstances, Thomas Alva Edison was born in Ohio on February 11, 1847. He was scarcely out of his cradle when he formed the conviction that nothing thinkable is impossible; and, at the age of eighty-four, he died translating into concrete actualities the wildest and weirdest conceptions of his restless brain. Multitudinous and bewildering as were his countless inventions, it is impossible to lay down the list of his countless and almost incredible triumphs without feeling that the mind that could wrestle with such problems, and produce such wonders, was itself, far and away, the most miraculous piece of mechanism of them all.
Like Faraday, on whom, to some extent, he modelled his career, he owed practically nothing to his education. He spent three months at school. His mother, and his own sharp eyes, taught him all that he came to know. Having once learned to read, he felt that the world was at his feet. As a small boy he devoured the entire contents of an Encyclopedia, Hume's History of England, Gibbon's Decline and Fall, Newton's Principia, and he one day entered the Public Library at Detroit with the avowed intention of absorbing the entire contents of the institution, book by book! Every experience that came his way became grist to his mill. He began life by selling newspapers and fruit on a railway train. He was soon printing a paper of his own on that selfsame train. A little later, to further some of his other experiments, he added a laboratory to his travelling equipment; had the misfortune to set the van on fire; was severely cuffed by the angry guard; and the blow burdened him with lifelong deafness.
Touching Life At A Thousand Points
The precise number of his inventions will never be known. More than a thousand of his amazing contrivances were patented in the United States alone. In his 24th year he had 45 distinct inventions simultaneously under way, and the Patent Commissioner described him as "the young man who keeps the path to the Patents Office hot with his footsteps. "He allowed no grass to grow under his feet. At four o'clock one afternoon he made an important discovery; he immediately rushed to his solicitor, who instantly cabled particulars to London; and, next day, he was informed that his idea was under serious consideration in England. In an essay on Edison, Mr. Lionel Elvin remarks that he himself is writing on a typewriter by the light of an incandescent electric lamp. The room contains a gramophone, a wireless set and a telephone. As soon as his manuscript is complete, he intends to ring up a cinema to reserve seats for the evening. He will find his way to the theatre by electric train and then go home by taxi. And for all these things—the typewriter, the lamp, the gramophone, the radio, the telephone, the moving pictures, the electric train and the automobile—he is indebted to Edison.
Thomas Edison represents in his own person the new trend in scientific thought. More than three centuries ago, Lord Bacon hurled the thunderbolts of his vigorous denunciation into the academies of the scientists and the portals of the philosophers, charging these learned speculators with making no real contribution to the practical welfare of the race. "Words, and more words, and nothing but words," he complained, "has been the fruit of the toil of the most renowned sages of sixty generations." The old philosophy had been singularly shy of meddling in matters that might serve some utilitarian end, lest it should be supposed that academic pursuits were simply followed for the sake of the vulgar purposes that they promoted.
Science Looks At Life, Transfigures Everything
For many hundreds of years the most capable thinkers were content to deal in nebulous theories, abstract speculations, mystifying hypotheses and occult disquisitions. Science was in the world like a spider in the water, with its own native atmosphere gathered closely about it and fearful lest any general admixture should take place between the element that was the breath of its own nostrils and the turbid body of affairs beyond it. Even Seneca ridiculed the thinkers who applied their powers to increasing the comfort of their homes. "The invention of such appliances," he said, "is drudgery for the lowest slaves; philosophy lies deeper. It is not for her to teach men how to use their hands; her mission is to form the soul." It was against this pernicious doctrine that, in season and out of season Bacon protested. And with good effect. In a telling essay Macaulay has shown how Bacon's gospel transfigured civilisation. It has lengthened human life, he says; has mitigated pain; has extinguished diseases; has increased the fertility of the soil; it has given new security to shipping; has spanned huge rivers, has guided the thunderbolt innocuously from heaven to earth; has lighted up the night with the splendour of the day; has extended the range of human vision, has multiplied the power of the human muscles; has accelerated motion; has annihilated distance; has facilitated intercourse; has enabled man to descend into the depths of the sea; to soar into the sky, to penetrate the noxious recesses of the earth; and to traverse land, sea and air at incredible rates of speed. In this cavalcade of achievement, no one scientist has played a braver part than Thomas Alva Edison. One of the most impressive pages of the New Testament describes the way in which the scientists of an earlier day laid their tributes of gold and frankincense and myrrh at the divine feet. Lives like those of Faraday and Edison prove that, when that act of adoration has once been sincerely performed, science turns from the presence of Deity to the service of Humanity, transforming every phase of human experience in the process.
F W Boreham
Boreham on Thomas Edison
Possibility Thinker
In the most modest and unpretentious circumstances, Thomas Alva Edison was born in Ohio on February 11, 1847. He was scarcely out of his cradle when he formed the conviction that nothing thinkable is impossible; and, at the age of eighty-four, he died translating into concrete actualities the wildest and weirdest conceptions of his restless brain. Multitudinous and bewildering as were his countless inventions, it is impossible to lay down the list of his countless and almost incredible triumphs without feeling that the mind that could wrestle with such problems, and produce such wonders, was itself, far and away, the most miraculous piece of mechanism of them all.
Like Faraday, on whom, to some extent, he modelled his career, he owed practically nothing to his education. He spent three months at school. His mother, and his own sharp eyes, taught him all that he came to know. Having once learned to read, he felt that the world was at his feet. As a small boy he devoured the entire contents of an Encyclopedia, Hume's History of England, Gibbon's Decline and Fall, Newton's Principia, and he one day entered the Public Library at Detroit with the avowed intention of absorbing the entire contents of the institution, book by book! Every experience that came his way became grist to his mill. He began life by selling newspapers and fruit on a railway train. He was soon printing a paper of his own on that selfsame train. A little later, to further some of his other experiments, he added a laboratory to his travelling equipment; had the misfortune to set the van on fire; was severely cuffed by the angry guard; and the blow burdened him with lifelong deafness.
Touching Life At A Thousand Points
The precise number of his inventions will never be known. More than a thousand of his amazing contrivances were patented in the United States alone. In his 24th year he had 45 distinct inventions simultaneously under way, and the Patent Commissioner described him as "the young man who keeps the path to the Patents Office hot with his footsteps. "He allowed no grass to grow under his feet. At four o'clock one afternoon he made an important discovery; he immediately rushed to his solicitor, who instantly cabled particulars to London; and, next day, he was informed that his idea was under serious consideration in England. In an essay on Edison, Mr. Lionel Elvin remarks that he himself is writing on a typewriter by the light of an incandescent electric lamp. The room contains a gramophone, a wireless set and a telephone. As soon as his manuscript is complete, he intends to ring up a cinema to reserve seats for the evening. He will find his way to the theatre by electric train and then go home by taxi. And for all these things—the typewriter, the lamp, the gramophone, the radio, the telephone, the moving pictures, the electric train and the automobile—he is indebted to Edison.
Thomas Edison represents in his own person the new trend in scientific thought. More than three centuries ago, Lord Bacon hurled the thunderbolts of his vigorous denunciation into the academies of the scientists and the portals of the philosophers, charging these learned speculators with making no real contribution to the practical welfare of the race. "Words, and more words, and nothing but words," he complained, "has been the fruit of the toil of the most renowned sages of sixty generations." The old philosophy had been singularly shy of meddling in matters that might serve some utilitarian end, lest it should be supposed that academic pursuits were simply followed for the sake of the vulgar purposes that they promoted.
Science Looks At Life, Transfigures Everything
For many hundreds of years the most capable thinkers were content to deal in nebulous theories, abstract speculations, mystifying hypotheses and occult disquisitions. Science was in the world like a spider in the water, with its own native atmosphere gathered closely about it and fearful lest any general admixture should take place between the element that was the breath of its own nostrils and the turbid body of affairs beyond it. Even Seneca ridiculed the thinkers who applied their powers to increasing the comfort of their homes. "The invention of such appliances," he said, "is drudgery for the lowest slaves; philosophy lies deeper. It is not for her to teach men how to use their hands; her mission is to form the soul." It was against this pernicious doctrine that, in season and out of season Bacon protested. And with good effect. In a telling essay Macaulay has shown how Bacon's gospel transfigured civilisation. It has lengthened human life, he says; has mitigated pain; has extinguished diseases; has increased the fertility of the soil; it has given new security to shipping; has spanned huge rivers, has guided the thunderbolt innocuously from heaven to earth; has lighted up the night with the splendour of the day; has extended the range of human vision, has multiplied the power of the human muscles; has accelerated motion; has annihilated distance; has facilitated intercourse; has enabled man to descend into the depths of the sea; to soar into the sky, to penetrate the noxious recesses of the earth; and to traverse land, sea and air at incredible rates of speed. In this cavalcade of achievement, no one scientist has played a braver part than Thomas Alva Edison. One of the most impressive pages of the New Testament describes the way in which the scientists of an earlier day laid their tributes of gold and frankincense and myrrh at the divine feet. Lives like those of Faraday and Edison prove that, when that act of adoration has once been sincerely performed, science turns from the presence of Deity to the service of Humanity, transforming every phase of human experience in the process.
F W Boreham
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
On the Divine Resources of the Captain of the Host!
I tell you, things sure have been very stressful at work lately. We have had many changes in systems and processes that has caused much confusion and anxiety; we have had changes in leadership, we have had more workload and shifting priorities, and frankly I have faced burnout and my physical health and attitude are suffering.
Awaking this morning, I was considering to myself, how do I draw on any deep resources to emotionally get through this? Frankly it has been ages since this perfect storm of events have caused such stresses in my work life.
Do you remember when Joshua first took over as the leader of Israel? The nation had just come out of the wilderness, crossing the Jordan on dry ground through that great miracle; they sat up a memorial at the command of the Lord where they would remember that great event. As he stared across the plains of Jericho (henceforth called Gilgal), Joshua was confronted by a man. Listen to Jos 5:13 and following:
"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, [Art] thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but [as] captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy. And Joshua did so."
God provided the Captain of the Host, an Old Testament Christophany (a preincarnate appearance of Christ)! He was going before the army of Israel as God had promised. We know the tremendous victories as they swept across the Caanaite-held lands!
Wait, arent we suppose to pray without ceasing? Is there not a cause on the earth that is too big for the Lord? But wait, my problems are too big for the Lord....my work circumstances are caanaitish; the Nephalim (the giants) are there! The Baal gods are there! The asherah groves are there! Martin Luther once arose in the morning amidst of all of his earthly trials and complained to his wife about his adversaries. Her response was, "Martin, I am so sorry that God is dead"! " Why Katherine, God is not Dead!" You know her next words....."Stop acting as if He is"! Man, I have to turn this one over to God! I know that the Captain of the Host of the Lord will go before me! How about you? Sherrell
Awaking this morning, I was considering to myself, how do I draw on any deep resources to emotionally get through this? Frankly it has been ages since this perfect storm of events have caused such stresses in my work life.
Do you remember when Joshua first took over as the leader of Israel? The nation had just come out of the wilderness, crossing the Jordan on dry ground through that great miracle; they sat up a memorial at the command of the Lord where they would remember that great event. As he stared across the plains of Jericho (henceforth called Gilgal), Joshua was confronted by a man. Listen to Jos 5:13 and following:
"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, [Art] thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but [as] captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy. And Joshua did so."
God provided the Captain of the Host, an Old Testament Christophany (a preincarnate appearance of Christ)! He was going before the army of Israel as God had promised. We know the tremendous victories as they swept across the Caanaite-held lands!
Wait, arent we suppose to pray without ceasing? Is there not a cause on the earth that is too big for the Lord? But wait, my problems are too big for the Lord....my work circumstances are caanaitish; the Nephalim (the giants) are there! The Baal gods are there! The asherah groves are there! Martin Luther once arose in the morning amidst of all of his earthly trials and complained to his wife about his adversaries. Her response was, "Martin, I am so sorry that God is dead"! " Why Katherine, God is not Dead!" You know her next words....."Stop acting as if He is"! Man, I have to turn this one over to God! I know that the Captain of the Host of the Lord will go before me! How about you? Sherrell
Saturday, February 27, 2010
A Puritan's Church Growth Program
Essayist, Maurice Roberts writing for “Banner of Truth” magazine in an article entitled Richard Baxter and His Gospel says:
”What is perhaps most interesting to us in the times in which we live is that he (Baxter) was a powerful instrument in the hands of God to promote true revival Surely this must be so. James Packer says that as the Vicar of Kidderminster in 1647-61 he converted 'just about the whole town'. Dr D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones could say this: 'Surely we must agree that in England in the case of Rogers of Dedham and Baxter at Kidderminster we are entitled to speak of revival'. Certainly these testimonies of modern writers and preachers is correct. Baxter's own testimony is this. He said that the Parish Church of his day held about a thousand persons but that in his time it was overflowing and no less than five galleries had to be erected in the church. Then he tells us this: 'On the Lord's days there was no disorder to be seen in the streets, but you might hear a hundred families singing psalms and repeating sermons as you passed through the streets. In a word, when I came thither [he means to Kidderminster] first, there was about one family in a street that worshipped God and called on his name. When I came away there were some streets where there was not more than one family in the side of a street that did not so'.
What does this hold for us today? Here was a man of God in the late 1600s, who catechized his whole flock (800 families) at the rate of 19 families per week each year, ministering in the teachings of the Scriptures. He personally poured his life into God’s people. Now you notice here that this man’s efforts were blessed mightily by God. He did not need modern methodologies, edgy music, flashy graphics and a marketing plan. He used the Scriptures. Notice what the church did; constructing “no less than five galleries”….that’s five capital building programs! Did Baxter do something new, something profoundly different than the historical church? No, read on
What happened on the Day of Pentecost? Peter preached the Gospel and five-thousand were added. What happened with the church? It exploded, why? The Spirit continued to work. You notice the key to this growth was the personal work of the Holy Spirit and He led them into the Truth as Christ explained in John 15:26. Acts 2:42 says, And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. You hear this? The key to the church’s growth was that they “continued in the Apostle’s Doctrine”. Are you a member of this type of church? If not, find one who is founded and focused on the Truth and rids itself of earthly programs, modern man-centered psychology and man-centered methods. Humbly.
”What is perhaps most interesting to us in the times in which we live is that he (Baxter) was a powerful instrument in the hands of God to promote true revival Surely this must be so. James Packer says that as the Vicar of Kidderminster in 1647-61 he converted 'just about the whole town'. Dr D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones could say this: 'Surely we must agree that in England in the case of Rogers of Dedham and Baxter at Kidderminster we are entitled to speak of revival'. Certainly these testimonies of modern writers and preachers is correct. Baxter's own testimony is this. He said that the Parish Church of his day held about a thousand persons but that in his time it was overflowing and no less than five galleries had to be erected in the church. Then he tells us this: 'On the Lord's days there was no disorder to be seen in the streets, but you might hear a hundred families singing psalms and repeating sermons as you passed through the streets. In a word, when I came thither [he means to Kidderminster] first, there was about one family in a street that worshipped God and called on his name. When I came away there were some streets where there was not more than one family in the side of a street that did not so'.
What does this hold for us today? Here was a man of God in the late 1600s, who catechized his whole flock (800 families) at the rate of 19 families per week each year, ministering in the teachings of the Scriptures. He personally poured his life into God’s people. Now you notice here that this man’s efforts were blessed mightily by God. He did not need modern methodologies, edgy music, flashy graphics and a marketing plan. He used the Scriptures. Notice what the church did; constructing “no less than five galleries”….that’s five capital building programs! Did Baxter do something new, something profoundly different than the historical church? No, read on
What happened on the Day of Pentecost? Peter preached the Gospel and five-thousand were added. What happened with the church? It exploded, why? The Spirit continued to work. You notice the key to this growth was the personal work of the Holy Spirit and He led them into the Truth as Christ explained in John 15:26. Acts 2:42 says, And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. You hear this? The key to the church’s growth was that they “continued in the Apostle’s Doctrine”. Are you a member of this type of church? If not, find one who is founded and focused on the Truth and rids itself of earthly programs, modern man-centered psychology and man-centered methods. Humbly.
Monday, January 18, 2010
The Doctor's Admonition to the Doctors
A brilliant preacher, Martin Lloyd-Jones was a profound thinker and pulpiteer in the early to mid-twentieth century in London's Westminster Chapel. This winsome fellow was not only a fruitful minister, he was a physician.
Listen to a passage in his book entitled, The Doctor Himself. Too many practitioners know more about some detail in the anatomy or pathology of a person than they do about the person himself. While we may talk more of, and pay lip service to, the concept of ‘the whole man’ and ‘the complete patient’, we must be very careful that in fact and in practice we do not forget him. It is something which we need continually to bear in mind. The patient, the total patient and all that happens to him, is rarely being fully remembered in contemporary practice. Let me quote McFarlane Burnett again. He says, ‘An important part of the technological and social crisis of our time is this. The social problems of drug addiction and the more subtle influences of the need of alcohol, tobacco, sedatives, tranquillizers, and the rest, to make intolerable situations acceptable, are tolerated instead of making an effort to change them.’ I think that is a very profound remark. Our tendency is to tolerate, just to make these things - these intolerable situations - acceptable without any real thought of radical attempts to change them. Wow! I want to draw parallel to the matter of spiritual ministry because I know that is where our protagonist was going.
I had ocassion recently while travelling, to visit a friend's church. I did not notice the casual worship atmosphere; I paid no attention to the demographics, but I was drawn to the pastor himself. I found in him a genuine ethos that defies trite colloquial descriptions of hospitality. I noticed somebody who was in tune to each person; who was engaging at a spiritual level. I noticed somebody who had a genuine interest in spiritual change in people. He had not lost sight of ministering to the whole-man for the sake of churchiness and technology. He owned the role of shepherd. Now I would not brag on my friend openly here; I would not want to rob him of the spiritual blessing that I am sure is awaiting him. I do want to commend him to you as an example. I am reminded of the Apostle Paul's offering in 1 Cor 4:15a when he says "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet [have ye] not many fathers...".
Ah, here is the tension. I do not believe that God is looking for the qualified instructors, He is looking for the fathers! He is looking for the disciple-making sisters and mothers and brothers. Yes He is looking for the Pastors too. Everyone who is a genuine Christian has spiritual gifts and we are called to identify the struggling, intersect them with Jesus and show them a resounding model of the sanctified man! Hello! Are you out there? Sherrell here.
Listen to a passage in his book entitled, The Doctor Himself. Too many practitioners know more about some detail in the anatomy or pathology of a person than they do about the person himself. While we may talk more of, and pay lip service to, the concept of ‘the whole man’ and ‘the complete patient’, we must be very careful that in fact and in practice we do not forget him. It is something which we need continually to bear in mind. The patient, the total patient and all that happens to him, is rarely being fully remembered in contemporary practice. Let me quote McFarlane Burnett again. He says, ‘An important part of the technological and social crisis of our time is this. The social problems of drug addiction and the more subtle influences of the need of alcohol, tobacco, sedatives, tranquillizers, and the rest, to make intolerable situations acceptable, are tolerated instead of making an effort to change them.’ I think that is a very profound remark. Our tendency is to tolerate, just to make these things - these intolerable situations - acceptable without any real thought of radical attempts to change them. Wow! I want to draw parallel to the matter of spiritual ministry because I know that is where our protagonist was going.
I had ocassion recently while travelling, to visit a friend's church. I did not notice the casual worship atmosphere; I paid no attention to the demographics, but I was drawn to the pastor himself. I found in him a genuine ethos that defies trite colloquial descriptions of hospitality. I noticed somebody who was in tune to each person; who was engaging at a spiritual level. I noticed somebody who had a genuine interest in spiritual change in people. He had not lost sight of ministering to the whole-man for the sake of churchiness and technology. He owned the role of shepherd. Now I would not brag on my friend openly here; I would not want to rob him of the spiritual blessing that I am sure is awaiting him. I do want to commend him to you as an example. I am reminded of the Apostle Paul's offering in 1 Cor 4:15a when he says "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet [have ye] not many fathers...".
Ah, here is the tension. I do not believe that God is looking for the qualified instructors, He is looking for the fathers! He is looking for the disciple-making sisters and mothers and brothers. Yes He is looking for the Pastors too. Everyone who is a genuine Christian has spiritual gifts and we are called to identify the struggling, intersect them with Jesus and show them a resounding model of the sanctified man! Hello! Are you out there? Sherrell here.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The Unspeakable
Did you ever possess the compelling desire to pray, caught up in the affairs of life, overwhelmed by burdens, but yet you could scarce define the words, mouth any expression?
Psalm 5: 1 starts... Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.
Spurgeon's Classic, "A Treasury of David" comments on this expression, listen:
On Verse 1. There are two sorts of prayers—those expressed in words, and the unuttered longings which abide as silent meditations. Words are not the essence but the garments of prayer. Moses at the Red Sea cried to God, though he said nothing. Yet the use of language may prevent distraction of mind, may assist the powers of the soul, and may excite devotion. David, we observe, uses both modes of prayer, and craves for the one a hearing, and for the other a consideration. What an expressive word! "Consider my meditation." If I have asked that which is right, give it to me; if I have omitted to ask that which I most needed, fill up the vacancy in my prayer. "Consider my meditation." Let thy holy soul consider it as presented through my all-glorious Mediator: then regard thou it in thy wisdom, weigh it in the scales, judge thou of my sincerity, and of the true state of my necessities, and answer me in due time for thy mercy's sake! There may be prevailing intercession where there are no words; and alas! there may be words where there is no true supplication. Let us cultivate the spirit of prayer which is even better than the habit of prayer. There may be seeming prayer where there is little devotion. We should begin to pray before we kneel down, and we should not cease when we rise up.
Take solace my friend; we serve the Omniscient Maker of the universe! He knows our need, even if we don't. Romans 8:26 advises, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."
I like that! How about you? Blessings!
Psalm 5: 1 starts... Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.
Spurgeon's Classic, "A Treasury of David" comments on this expression, listen:
On Verse 1. There are two sorts of prayers—those expressed in words, and the unuttered longings which abide as silent meditations. Words are not the essence but the garments of prayer. Moses at the Red Sea cried to God, though he said nothing. Yet the use of language may prevent distraction of mind, may assist the powers of the soul, and may excite devotion. David, we observe, uses both modes of prayer, and craves for the one a hearing, and for the other a consideration. What an expressive word! "Consider my meditation." If I have asked that which is right, give it to me; if I have omitted to ask that which I most needed, fill up the vacancy in my prayer. "Consider my meditation." Let thy holy soul consider it as presented through my all-glorious Mediator: then regard thou it in thy wisdom, weigh it in the scales, judge thou of my sincerity, and of the true state of my necessities, and answer me in due time for thy mercy's sake! There may be prevailing intercession where there are no words; and alas! there may be words where there is no true supplication. Let us cultivate the spirit of prayer which is even better than the habit of prayer. There may be seeming prayer where there is little devotion. We should begin to pray before we kneel down, and we should not cease when we rise up.
Take solace my friend; we serve the Omniscient Maker of the universe! He knows our need, even if we don't. Romans 8:26 advises, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."
I like that! How about you? Blessings!
Friday, January 1, 2010
On Beginning Strong!
Most of us pilgrims reading this today have experienced an extraordinary privilege, living to see not only a few decades (almost 5 in my case), but the turn of a century; even the turn of another millennia. Of the eleven or so that have elapsed since the dawn of time there have been no doubt countless new beginnings. When one stops to imagine the people that have experienced such a phenomenal event as a new “thousand”, and put that through the grid of our current technological era our generation perhaps is treading in places only experienced by a very few to have lived top-side of the earth.
As I begin a new decade I cannot help but hearken back to the edge of the Jordan River as the Jewish peoples surveyed across, looking into the Promised Land. Most of those of the age of reason had passed on some previous 40 years, having ignored the pleas of Joshua and Caleb to throw off the testimony of the ten for the Promises of God; to taste of the fruit of Eschol; to take God at his Word that they would no longer have to feast on Manna. Now, a new multitude stood at the threshold of the river and peered across at the place of giants.
Now I tell you, the land of giants in the future may cause some trepidation, but it does not have to. The decade beginning here is the year 2010 may hold some seeming obstacles, but our Lord said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid“, John 14:27. I don’t know about you, but I like having the Lord on my side; I cherish the Peace of Christ. Now frankly, lets admit it, being in the right fellowship with God means ridding myself of those things that will introduce enmity with Him; right? That is what James 4:4 teaches. Let us put the fellowship with the world behind us; let us understand that we must put away the leeks of Egypt, the fine Babylonian garments, the foreign snares that entangle us and make us unfit and cause friction of fellowship with Christ.
Join me to resolve right now through genuine repentance of un-confessed sins, through the power of the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of His sufferings to press into 2010! Let’s start strong! Press towards the mark of the high calling! Look, Joshua is standing! The priests are standing in the Jordan! Let’s move out!! I am Sherrell……blessings for a new year!
As I begin a new decade I cannot help but hearken back to the edge of the Jordan River as the Jewish peoples surveyed across, looking into the Promised Land. Most of those of the age of reason had passed on some previous 40 years, having ignored the pleas of Joshua and Caleb to throw off the testimony of the ten for the Promises of God; to taste of the fruit of Eschol; to take God at his Word that they would no longer have to feast on Manna. Now, a new multitude stood at the threshold of the river and peered across at the place of giants.
Now I tell you, the land of giants in the future may cause some trepidation, but it does not have to. The decade beginning here is the year 2010 may hold some seeming obstacles, but our Lord said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid“, John 14:27. I don’t know about you, but I like having the Lord on my side; I cherish the Peace of Christ. Now frankly, lets admit it, being in the right fellowship with God means ridding myself of those things that will introduce enmity with Him; right? That is what James 4:4 teaches. Let us put the fellowship with the world behind us; let us understand that we must put away the leeks of Egypt, the fine Babylonian garments, the foreign snares that entangle us and make us unfit and cause friction of fellowship with Christ.
Join me to resolve right now through genuine repentance of un-confessed sins, through the power of the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of His sufferings to press into 2010! Let’s start strong! Press towards the mark of the high calling! Look, Joshua is standing! The priests are standing in the Jordan! Let’s move out!! I am Sherrell……blessings for a new year!
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About Me
- The Master's Teacher
- Burke, Virginia, United States
- A humble plebe of God's Word dedicated to the Lord God of Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ; to bring Him honor and glory that He deserves!
