He Remembers You

"You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book?" (Ps. 56:8).

I am wondering how many times these words have passed before my eyes without the recognition or understanding of the full weight of their message.  Even now, they are just beginning to settle in my mind.  Slowly, I am beginning to glimpse their beauty and majesty.

This psalm is a record of David's confidence in the Lord during a time of great upheaval.  David had fled from Saul to Achish the king of Gath.  The Philistines had seized him, because they recognized David a potential threat. So David had to improvise, and play the madman.  During this time, David was a man without a country.  He had no earthly refuge.

But he was not without hope.  David was confident that his captures would show him no mercy, so he rested in the One he knew would.  David's motto became: "In God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can man do to me?" (Ps. 56:11, ESV).  In the midst of his grief, that had arisen due to this conflict, David remained confident that the Lord would deliver him and strike down his enemies.

His expression in verse 8, "You have kept count of my tossings," may allude to several things.  It may mean that God has kept a record of the way he had been mistreated.  It may mean that God has counted the times the David has tossed and turned through the sleepless nights of the ordeal.  It may mean that God has kept track to the emotional ebb and flow of David's heart throughout his ordeal.  The NIV translates this phrase as, "Record my lament."  The KJV translates it as, "Thou tellest my wanderings."  Even as we sort through the different translations, the point is clear.  David is convinced that God has been watching with great interest and has taken note of his situation.

Next he states, "[You have] put my tears in your bottle."  David is telling us that God views the tears we shed as worthy of preservation.  In every circumstance of the believer's life, God is present.  He remembers our pain.  He captures our tears in his bottle, so that none of them are wasted or forgotten.  A day is coming when God will extract the price for every tear of the righteous from those who caused them.  But for us who believe, our tears will be wiped away.

He concludes this verse with the words, "Are they not in your book?"  That is to say, God has recorded all of this in his book of remembrance.  He cannot, nor would he, forget the sorrow of his children.  All the days of our life are recorded in his book.  He delights in remembering us.  He is bringing about the right and fitting conclusion to all things, even the tears.

I am not sure what kind of hardships you have endured in your lives, but I am confident that not one tear has escaped God's notice.  He has seen, and he remembers.  Have you made the Lord your refuge?  Are you confident he will deliver you?  Is your heart breaking? In faith, ask him to show you mercy.  Here is a song that will help you to do just that, "He Knows My Name":

FAQs Monday: What is the Sixth Commandment?

Last week, we answered the question, "What is the fifth commandment?".  You can read that post here.  This week, we continue our look at the Ten Commandments by looking at the sixth commandment.

Which is the sixth commandment?

The sixth commandment is, "You shall not murder" (Ex. 20:13).

What is required in the sixth commandment?

The sixth commandment requires all lawful efforts to preserve our own life and the life of others.  In the Psalms, we are called to "Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.  Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked" (Ps. 82:3-4, ESV).  Solomon warns,

Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.  If you say, "Behold, we did not know this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?  Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work? (Prov. 24:11-12, ESV).

We should be mindful that other Scriptures imply that suicide is wrong (see Acts 16:28; Eph. 5:29-30).

What is forbidden in the sixth commandment?

The sixth commandment forbids the taking of our own life, or the life of our neighbor unjustly, including whatever acts tend to this loss.  In his confrontation with Cain, the first murderer, God states, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand" (Gen. 4:10-11, ESV).  The Lord said to Noah, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image" (Gen. 9:6, ESV).  Jesus said,

You have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment." But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, "You fool!" will be liable to the hell of fire.  So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave you gift there before the altar and go.  First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.  Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put into prison.  Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny (Matt. 5:21-26, ESV).

Summary

The sixth commandment is against murder, the unlawful taking of life.  Human life is sacred, and should be treated with the utmost dignity.  Human life; therefore, should be prized, and every effort should be taken to preserve it.  Next week, we answer the question, "What is the seventh commandment?".

Sunday Recap 9-12-10

Morning:  The message, "An Experiment in the Pursuit of Happiness," was an exposition of Ecclesiastes 2:1-11.  In this passage, Solomon reports the results of an experiment he conducted in which he tested his heart with pleasure.  A life lived in the pursuit of happiness, without obedience to God, is meaningless.  Solomon had experience with all the avenues of pleasure, but nothing lasting came from it.  To pursue happiness, without pursuing Christ, is like chasing after the wind--you never catch it.

Evening: We looked at the creation of mankind in Genesis 1:26-27, and 2:7ff.  We looked at the reality of man's uniqueness.  He is unique in his relationship to God and unique in relation to the rest of the created order.  Man was created with the goal of bearing the image of Christ, both in creation and through redemption.

A Saturday Meditation

But he said to me, 

"My grace is sufficient for you, 

for my power is made perfect 

in weakness."

Therefore, I will boast 

all the more gladly 

of my weakness,

so that the power of Christ

may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

The Power of a Story

I don't get to read much fiction.  I enjoy it, but I view it like cake for the mind.  A little will brighten your spirits, but a diet of only fiction might leave the brain a bit flabby.  The mind is amazing in its nearly infinite ability to stretch.  That is not to say, that stretching the mind is an easy thing.  Fiction has the ability to stretch the mind by introducing it to new places and new people.  It exposes the mind to events and experiences that would otherwise be unavailable.

I think the reason many of us enjoy fiction is because we get caught up in the story.  Often I find myself drawn into the story I am reading.  It pulls me along, with the characters, toward the climax.  It is often a bittersweet moment when I close the cover on a good story.  The characters have grown on me, some I love others I love to hate.  A fitting conclusion sweetens the connection.

I think this is why so much of the Bible is written in narrative form.  Our love of story is a God-given gift.  It is ingrained into the human experience.  Sure, some of people don't enjoy fiction, but you would be hard pressed to find an individual who doesn't enjoy a good story.  Well, maybe Sgt. Joe Friday, but just about everyone else wants a good story.

Life is enriched by the stories that surround us.  We want to hear stories about our kinfolk.  We want remember "that time" we did something-or-other.  Sometimes we pursue others' stories, because we feel our own story is dull or worthless.  When we get too caught up in the stories of others, we forget that God has written us into his story, and that means our story matters.

As we read the story of God, as it is revealed in the Bible, we realize that he is writing our story as well.  We learn that these people, who lived and died so long ago, are our people.  The central message of the Bible is that God our creator became our redeemer through the person and work of Jesus.  Jesus is the promised "anointed" one, who was to come and deliver God's people, and so he did.  The whole of the Bible points us to Jesus.  The power of the story of Jesus rests in the fact that it is true.  The gospel isn't just another story--it's history, and his story. 

So, do you have a part in his story?  Look at all the stories you hear in the day from the newspaper, magazines, t.v. shows, the news, conversations with friends or family, etc.  What role do stories have in your life?  What's your story? I love to hear it.

I Believe

I taught about Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism in my Contemporary World Religions class this evening.  It is an interesting and diverse study.  But its good to remind myself about the core of my own faith.  And this about sums it up:



I hope you enjoyed it.

Sending the Wrong Message

I am sure by now you have heard of  Pastor Terry Jones.  He and his church plan on burning the Quran on September 11, 2010 to mark the 9th anniversary of 9/11.  He hopes that by burning the Quran that the radical fringe of Islam will know to stop being radical, and that it will show the world just how radical those radical Muslims can be.  As we would expect, Muslims all around the world are outraged.  Yet they are not alone, many spiritually open-minded people are outraged, too.  But how should we respond to this event.

This event raises important questions for us to consider.  Will burning the Quran communicate the desired message to the desired audience, and therefore have the desired result?  Should Christians burn the religious books of non-Christians?  How should we respond to our non-Christian neighbors?

The stated goal of burning the Quran is for Muslim extremists to realize that "we" don't want their kind of Islam in America.  However, will burning the Quran make such a statement? No, it won't.  It will send a message that says, "Those infidels are worse than we thought."  Almost every Muslim will understand the act of burning the Quran to be an act of blasphemy.  It is an act that stops ears, not opens them.

Not only will it cut off fruitful dialogue, but it will endanger many lives.  Gen. Petraeus has already warned that such action would increase the danger to troops in combat situations.  Others have suggested that burning the Quran would endanger missionaries, humanitarian aid workers, and other Americans in Muslim countries, too. Burning the Quran not only endangers lives, but an idea, as well.

It endangers the idea of freedom.  Since the foundation of our country, men and woman have battled for this cherished principle of freedom.  They battled their enemies at home and abroad to protect freedom.  They have battled their consciences and their prejudices until freedom spread to men and women of every race and creed.  We are a people proud to defend freedom--even the freedom to be wrong.  Burning the Quran not only endangers freedom, it endangers the Bible, too.

There is no doubt that many Bibles will be burned in response to the burning of the Quran.  However, that response is not what endangers the Bible.  Fear of the Quran endangers the Bible.  Why burn a religious book unless you fear it's power?  Burning the Quran doesn't send the message that we believe the Bible is superior to the Quran.  It sends the message that we fear what will happen if people read the Quran.  It suggests that we think that the Quran can lead Christians (and others) into Islam.  Wasn't fear of the Bible's power to convert individuals the reason why so many have tried to suppress and destroy it?

Do we need to fear the Quran? As followers of Christ, we are committed to the authority, inspiration, and sufficiency of the Bible.  We are people of "the Book," that is, the Bible.  We do not recognize the authority of other religious texts.  We believe that the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul (Ps. 19:7, KJV).  We believe that the Bible is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12).  We believe that every word was breathed out by God (2 Tim. 4:16).  And we believe that the Bible alone contains God's revelation to mankind.

So, while we may disagree with a Muslim about the nature of the Quran, we do not fear the Quran (or any other book).  God's will is able to triumph without the unnecessary showmanship of burning a Quran.  Pastor Jones is not Elijah on Mount Carmel battling the prophets of Baal.  This matter isn't really a contest between the Bible and the Quran.  It isn't even a contest between America and radical Islamic fundamentalists.  It's most likely the cry of a frustrated and beleaguered people who have mistaken their culture with Christianity.  They fear the changes in the culture signal the undermining of their faith.  But Christianity is greater than our culture.

So go ahead and burn that Quran, but know it won't send the message you hope to send.  As an American, you're free to burn a Quran, a Bible, or an American Flag, but the freedom to do so doesn't make it right.  Respect and civility are not a compromise, they're biblical principles, and they used to be American principles, too.