What Can We Learn from Corrie?

Corrie ten Boom was a woman of God.   The daughter of a watchmaker in Holland, she spent some awful times in the concentration camps during the terrible World War II era.   She knew what it was to exercise her faith.   She learned things in the fire of trials that many of us struggle our whole lifetime to learn.   Here are some quotes from her book, 'The Hiding Place':

Dear Jesus... how foolish of me to have called for human help when You are here.

My job was simply to follow His leading one step at a time, holding every decision up to Him in prayer.

In the Bible I learn that God values us not for our strength or our brains, but simply because He has made us.

If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love.

Our Bible was the center of an ever-widening circle of help and hope.

In darkness, God's truth shines most clear.

I learned that love is larger than the walls which shut it in.

This was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil that one could almost believe one's own secret sins didn't matter.

There are no "ifs" in God's kingdom.  His timing is perfect. His will is our hiding place.

When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.

Casual Worship

On a Thanksgiving weekend visit with family, I noticed a church sign advertising their 'casual worship' service.   I assumed that they meant more laid back kind of environment, no suits, no ties, etc...  While I kinda laughed out loud when I first saw the sign, the term 'casual worship' conjured up other things in my mind after I thought about it for a moment or two.

Isn't that what ails us?  We have a  'worship deficit disorder'.  We are too casual in our approach.  I am not referring to wearing jeans or singing contemporary music.   The heart of the issue is the issue of the heart.   I have been in many 'church services' where we have entered into worship in a casual manner, forgetting who we've supposedly come to worship.  We (me included) think at times that we are coming to hang out with 'our buddy Jesus'.  We come to sing a couple of catchy tunes, we feel good with our plastic smile and we are unaware of our great sin of thinking more of ourselves than we ought to think.   Instead of falling flat on our faces in reverential adoration to the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, we stumble into the pew unprepared to offer acceptable worship to the King of kings.   I was convicted by seeing this 'casual worship' sign.  How much of my future worship will be casual?  How much of it will be unacceptable?  How much heart preparation will there be?   How much prayer will I have invested beforehand and how much confession of sin will there be?   Will there be any thought of the glory, majesty, loftiness and beauty of the Lord as I enter the room for corporate worship?   Or should I just go ahead with my all-too-often 'casual worship'.....

Black Friday

Black Friday is a phenomenon that I am still trying to figure out.  Wake up before dawn, stand in line for hours for the store doors to open up, risk being stampeded by a bunch of self-absorbed people... all to get half price on a $20 toaster or to get an electronic gadget that will be obsolete in a year.  The Friday following Thanksgiving is quite appropriately named though.   Black Friday.   Maybe it's named that because it is an outward manifestation of the blackness of our worldly and materialistic hearts...  Maybe Empty Friday would be a good name.  Or Rude Friday.  Or Impatient Friday.   Or.... Black Friday. 

Answered Prayer

God is still answering prayer.  Sometimes abrupt and immediate.  Yesterday, when my wife and I were clearly going down one road of life, thinking we were following a perceived answer to prayer, we were suddenly re-directed.  The doors were shut, the road was blocked, the path was changed... we were taking a detour.  It was an obvious intervention by God, the controller of all events.  He is not a God who has stepped away from His creation to let it run by itself.  Not at all.  He is actively involved with His people, clear down to the smallest detail.

And what did we learn from this experience?  When we are in prayer - seeking out what God wants for us - and then we somehow discern His will wrongly and head down a road that we really had believed was His will, He will intervene and throw down the roadblock and turn you right around.  That is His protective nature.    The converse of that is also true, at least it has been for me experientially:  that if we are NOT in prayer and NOT seeking what He really wants, then we may end up on the path that we never really wanted to be on... and He may not step in until we've learned the lesson He wanted us to learn.    Well, I think I know which side I want to be on.   Answered prayer like this should and does increase my faith... and makes me all the more eager to continue in prayer.  What other kind of exciting answers await us?!

It is Good to Give Thanks...

It is good to give thanks to the LORD And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High - Psalm 92:1.


Thanksgiving Day is just a couple days away.  A simple search on any Bible software or a glance in a Bible concordance for the word 'thanks' instantly reveals how many passages deal with giving thanks.   And yet we live in a culture of ungrateful people.  Even amid the recession, our country is still blessed beyond what we ever deserved.  But the woe-is-me crybaby mentality abounds.   The giving of thanks is a tough thing for us poor Americans.  Complaining is the path of least resistance - and so that is the path we often take.  It is quite revealing about ourselves.  This year at Thanksgiving, I want to get over my sin of ingratitude and begin to be conscious about being thankful.  It is, after all, God's will for our lives... "in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" - 1 Thessalonians 5:18.


Happy Thanksgiving!
Mark 

The Worst Trade... EVER!

In 1987, my favorite baseball team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, traded popular catcher Tony Pena to the St. Louis Cardinals for Andy Van Slyke.  Van Slyke turned out to be a pretty good player for the Buccos, but at the time I thought it was the worst trade in history.  I am sure there have been other ‘worst trades’ in professional sports. 

The real worst trade in history is found in Romans 1:25 - “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie...”   According to commentators R.C.H. Lenski and William Hendriksen, the literal rendering of that phrase could be, “They traded THE true God for THE lie”.   What could be a worse trade than that? THE lie in view here is the idols, or image-likenesses that people often make to replace THE true God.  Oh, they recognize who God is.  The Apostle Paul says they know that much, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God, or give thanks” (Romans 1:21).  Not only do they know God but they are familiar with his law.   Verse 32 of the same chapter says, “...although they knew the ordinance of God”.    But even so, these people refuse truth.   They exchange it for THE lie.   The imagery of the lie comes from Isaiah 44.  Hendriksen says this “describes a sculptor, who has made for himself a god.  He reaches out to take ahold of it, but fails to ask himself, ‘Is there not a LIE in my right hand?’  The idol is a LIE because (in the imagination of the worshiper) it promises much; however it provides nothing!”

And so here we have the worst trade, the worst exchange in human history:  one who would exchange the true God for the lie.   Why?  Because men love darkness rather than light.   Does this not show how stupid, depraved, sin-sick, twisted and needful mankind really is?   Thank God he reveals his truth to those who have ears to hear and are willing to listen. 

Amazing Grace

A Prayer from the Valley of Vision - Puritan Prayers and Devotions

My heart is drawn out in thankfulness to Thee,
For Thy amazing grace and condescension to me
In influences and assistances of Thy Spirit
For special help in prayer.

No poor creature stands in need of divine grace more than I do,
And yet none abuses it more than I have done, and still do.
How heartless and dull I am!
Humble me in the dust for not loving Thee more.
Every time I exercise any grace renewedly,
I am renewedly indebted to Thee, the God of all grace.

I cannot boast when I think how dependent I am upon Thee
For the being and every act of grace.

What If...

What if I don't want government health care?
What if I go to jail someday for professing my faith openly?
What if we lose the will to win the war in Afghanistan?
What if abortion is really murder, what will happen to us?
What if God really controls the climate?
What if congress actually did something of value?
What if people wouldn't drink and drive?
What if parents spent time with their children?
What if the United States is attacked by terrorists again?
What if we end up plunging into another Great Depression?
What if people really understood what the Bible says?
What if the Bible is right?
What if life is really a vapor?
What if hell is an eternal conscious punishment for rejecting Jesus Christ?

Why Parables?

I am just 'thinking out loud' today.  This morning I read the parable of the sower - you know, the hard soil by the road, the rocky ground, the thorny soil and of course the good soil.  I started wondering the same thing I always wonder when I read a parable:  why did Jesus choose to use parables?   Maybe that's an easy answer to someone else, but I've always had trouble with it.   Why didn't Jesus just directly say the lesson he wanted to convey to the hearers?   While he is direct in many portions of scripture, sometimes the parables are hard sayings.    Then it struck me... the answer isn't as hard as I was making it.   Every time I read a parable, I have to 'think'.  I have to really ponder what it is that he is saying.  I have to actually engage my mind!   Was this his reason for speaking in parables?  To get the hearers to 'think'?  For those who heard the parables and thought through them, Jesus had some profound lesson for them to learn... and for those who didn't have 'ears to hear', the message was concealed from them.

The Christian faith is a 'thoughtful' faith.  We have our Bibles and our minds, and so the Lord expects us to 'hear' and to think.   The Christian faith is a 'reasoning' faith.  "Come let us reason together", the Lord says in Isaiah.  Reasoning, thinking, pondering engaging.   We don't have a baseless faith; there is no blind faith in Christianity.  No, it is reasonable.  It is thoughtful.  And so as we read the scriptures, we sink deep into them and think through the words and phrases.   If we immerse ourselves in the Word, rely on the Holy Spirit as our teacher and helper, then the passages will become more clear to us than if we simply gloss over them in an effort to get our 15-minute or 3-chapter-a-day quota.

Just Enough

How much money do we want?  How much do we need?  Finances seem to be the endless topic of discussion in these days of economic uncertainty.  As I study through Proverbs, there are many passages that deal with money.  Most of them are common sense instructions, like being generous (11:24-24), avoiding dishonest gain (13:11), not being greedy (15:27)... and others like them.

The Christian life is often characterized by balance.  Too much of something in one direction can have a bad effect.  Too little of something also can have a bad effect.  Extremes in either direction can be devastating!  And so it is with money or possessions.  Check out what the writer of Proverbs says in chapter 30:8-9:  "Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny Thee and say 'Who is the Lord?'  Or lest I be in want and steal and profane the name of my God".   That's balance!

How much money do we want?  How much do we need?  Just enough.

A Great Sound

This morning in church we were studying various passages in the book of Nehemiah.   One did not have to listen very long before hearing a great sound.  "Turn to Nehemiah 2:1... now turn to chapter 4... look in chapter 6... now back to chapter 2... go to verse such and such... now keep your hand there and turn to the New Testament and look in 1 Timothy chapter 6".    We were turning pages at breakneck speed, keeping pace with the pastor as we got our exercise in our morning Bible drills.   The great sound?   A couple hundred people turning their Bible pages simultaneously.  All those crisp, thin Bible pages turning at the same time sounded like an orchestra to me.  It meant that people were engaging in a hearty study of God's Word, and not just being lazy spectators.  We were all participating in the same kind of activity that the noble Berean's had been noted for in the book of Acts - not taking someone's word for something, but rather checking out God's Word to see if these things were really so.   What a great sound!

Fervent Prayer

Fervency in prayer - what does that mean?  In my Puritan Paperback series, I am still reading 'The Secret Key to Heaven' (subtitled 'The Vital importance of Private Prayer') by Thomas Brooks.  In this morning's reading, Brooks effectively used scripture to convict me of my lack of fervency in my conversations with God.   While scripture is capable of standing alone, I find it helpful in understanding the Word when a man of God gives commentary on certain passages, bringing out the fuller and more robust meaning that the original writers intended.  Ponder the following passages and the accompanying words from Brooks:

James 5:16 - “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” .  The ‘working’ prayer; that is, such working prayer as sets the whole man to work, as sets all the faculties of the soul, and all the graces in the soul, to work. The word [fervent] signifies such a working as shows the liveliest activity that can be. 

Acts 12:5 - “...but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God”.   While Peter was in prison, prayer was being made by the church.  The Greek word [for fervent] signifies instant prayer, earnest prayer, stretched out prayer.  These gracious souls did in prayer strain and stretch themselves; they prayed with all the strength of their souls, and with all the fervency of their spirits. 

Romans 12:11-12  - “Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer”.  The Greek word here for ‘fervent’ signifies seething hot; boiling hot; God loves to see his people zealous and warm in his service.  Without fervency of spirit, no service finds acceptance in heaven.   In verse 12, the word ‘devoted’ means continuing with all your might.  It is a metaphor from hunting dogs, that will never give over the game until they have got it. 

Romans 15:30 - “...strive together with me in your prayers to God for me”.  Strive mightily, strive as champions strive, even to an agony.  It is a military word, and notes such fervent wresting or striving, as is for life and death. 

Colossians 4:12 - “...always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers”.  Laboring signifies to strive or wrestle, as those do that strive for mastery.  As the wrestlers do bend, and writhe, and stretch, and strain every joint of their bodies, that they may be victorious, so Epaphras did bend, and writhe, and stretch, and strain every joint of his soul that he might be victorious with God on the Colossians’ account. 

Friday the Thirteenth

I remember watching Hee-Haw when I was a kid and one line of one of the songs they sang every week went something like: "if it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all... gloom, despair and agony on me".  Today's another Friday the 13th, the third one of the year... and all the superstitious people are out in force.     You'd think that Friday the 13th was the blame for all that ails us.  I even read that Franklin Roosevelt wouldn't travel on that day.   As if the number on a calendar has anything to do with whether the events of the day have a positive or negative result in our lives.  Does luck have anything to do with anything?   Buildings with no floors numbered 13.  Athletes that won't wear number 13 on their jerseys.  There's even an official word for this fear of 13:  Triskaidekaphobia.   Can you believe it?!

I'm thinkin' there's a little more to life than good luck outweighing the bad luck.  Triskaidekaphobia should be non-existent in the life of a Christian.  In fact, any condition with a long name that ends in phobia should not characterize a Christian.  Amen?  When Paul wrote to Timothy, he stated emphatically that 'God has not given us a spirit of fear... but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).   If we're exhibiting a spirit of fear, we didn't get that from God.  If we're afraid of 13, even when it coincides with Friday, that is not something that came from God.  How in the world did we ever let the enemy hijack a simple number to paralyze us?!  How did that prime number between 12 and 14 end up in the hands of the deceiver to terrorize us?!  Let's take back our number 13!

Forgive Hasan? Not so fast...

In a letter to the editor of our local paper, one man today thought that we should all 'forgive' the shooter in the Fort Hood rampage.  He said that this "would do more good to advance God's kingdom than a predator drone flying over Afghanistan."

While forgiveness is certainly an admirable quality and a mark of a true Christian, do we just forgive indiscriminately?  Is that what God did for us?  Did He forgive us just because he's a nice guy and we're really not all that bad?  Absurd.  Forgiveness came from God when we realized our hopelessness; when we realized our spiritual bankruptcy; when we turned away from our sin; when we turned to His one and only Son Jesus as the only remedy for our sorry condition.

When Hasan comes crawling in the dirt on his penitent hands and knees; when he comes crying and begging for the collective forgiveness of America; when he shows us how genuinely sorry he is for his terroristic acts against our brave men and women; when he takes full responsibility for crimes he perpetrated on our soil... then I'll do what the Bible says and 'forgive'.  But not until then.  Why would I do what God wouldn't do?   God will never forgive him unless he repents of his great sin.    And regardless of how many times he may ask for forgiveness, and how many people are willing to grant it to him, God has granted the state the right to wield the sword... and the state had better live up to its responsibility and make him pay with his life.

Veteran's Day 2009

Thank you....

Jury Duty

Today I had jury duty.  It was the first time in my 45 years that I had ever been involved in the experience.  There were ninety people in the room.  First there were six trials for which to find jurors.  Then by the time we signed in and sat down, four cases had been resolved.  Then by the time the judge came into the room, another case had been resolved, leaving only one case for which to find jurors.  The clock ticked away.  My stomach growled as we approached lunchtime.  I was running out of bottled water.  But I was thoroughly enjoying my 'alone' time amid the eighty-nine other patient and obviously excited, happy people.  The reason for my enjoyment?  I had some time to just sit and read.  Time is at a premium for all of us, but for me to be able to sit and read for over four straight hours was like getting a Christmas gift. 


Of course, there I am - sitting in the courthouse awaiting the selection process for either a civil or criminal trial... and my mind starts to wander in between chapters of my book.  All around me are all things 'legal', and so I start thinking about all the legal terminology in the Bible.   Guilt.  Innocence.  Freedom. Justification.  


Justification... Justification?!    Now there's a word we don't use very often, but we should!  This is a legal term – a legal declaration by God – a VERDICT - an instantaneous legal act of God in which He (1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in His sight - we are completely forgiven and no longer liable to punishment.

Colossians 2:13-14 says, "When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."

What was the certificate of debt (or handwriting of ordinances) against us? This certificate of indebtedness referred to a handwritten note by the debtor acknowledging his debt. The decrees mentioned in this passage refers to the Mosaic Law – all people have violated God’s law and therefore we owe God a debt. This is enough to condemn us to judgement and hell because "cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the law, to perform them" – Galatians 3:10. The 'canceled out' phrase is one I like. The Greek term for this phrase means "to wipe off, like erasing a blackboard". This certificate of debt has been nailed to the cross! Not a trace of it remains to be held against us. Forgiveness is complete.   John Piper comments on this passage from Colossians: "there is no salvation by BALANCING THE RECORDS, it must be wiped out, cancelled, blotted out".


By 1:30 in the afternoon, the news came that the last case had been settled and we were all free to go home.  I wondered if those involved in the lawsuit, whatever it was about, had ever experienced this kind of 'verdict', the kind made by the supreme Judge, God?   Would God use their experience with the legal system to reveal to those involved in the case of their ultimate crime, namely their own involvement in putting to death the Son of God?  THAT is the most heinous crime of all, and sadly most people never recognize the indictment (or the certificate of debt) against them.   The judge is ready and waiting to announce the punishment... and severe it will be... because the crime is not against a small Sovereign. 

On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand

1. We sang this song this morning in church.  It is a great reminder of the solid stability found in the name of Jesus Christ... and also a reminder of the shifting, sinking sand of anything else we may mistakenly put our hope and trust in. 
2. 
   
3. My hope is built on nothing less
   Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
   I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
   But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
   
   • Refrain:
     On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
     All other ground is sinking sand,
     All other ground is sinking sand.
   
   
4. When darkness veils His lovely face,
   I rest on His unchanging grace;
   In every high and stormy gale,
   My anchor holds within the veil.
5. His oath, His covenant, His blood
   Support me in the whelming flood;
   When all around my soul gives way,
   He then is all my hope and stay.
6. When He shall come with trumpet sound,
   Oh, may I then in Him be found;
   Dressed in His righteousness alone,
   Faultless to stand before the throne.

A Friend of the World?

I think we all know what adultery is and the consequences it brings.  Conflict, alienation, shame, consternation, division... just to name a couple.  James uses the term 'adulteresses' as a word picture in James chapter 4.  He says, 'You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?  Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

He equates adultery with being a friend of the world.  So one must ask the question, 'what is it to be a friend of the world'?   It's a good question to ask, because I don't think we want to be guilty of spiritual adultery.    We could start with defining what 'world' is.  It can't be the physical earth... the dirt, ground, mountains, rocks, etc... that wouldn't make any sense.   It can't be the people in the world, because we know in that famous verse in John 3:16, that 'God so loved the world', meaning he loved the people in the world.  So the only thing world can mean here in this context is the 'evil system' that we call the world.   And so I ask myself, 'what then would be considered being a friend of the 'evil system'?

Is it enjoying the trivial, empty humor we find on television?
Is it listening to music that does not glorify God?
Is it reading books and magazines that are full of warped thinking?
Is it participation in sports and other busy activities instead of spending time in prayer?
Is it pushing ourselves so far in our careers to get ahead?
Is it spending money on lavish living instead of supporting missionaries and local ministries?
Is it exercising so much in order to have the perfect body?
Is it relying on our government to fix every problem and provide our every need?
Is it going out every weekend with our friends?

What does it really mean to be a friend of the world?  Am I committing adultery against my real friend, Jesus?

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Last weekend we turned the clocks back an hour.  Some people get excited because of the extra hour of sleep.  I never quite figured out the excitement.  If I want an extra hour of sleep, I just go to bed an hour earlier.   But that excitement over the hour of sleep soon turns into depression and anxiety for some.  

In Western Pennsylvania at this time of year, we wake up when it's dark, we drive to work in the dark, then we come home in the late afternoon - and its dark!   I often jokingly call November through February the 'dark ages'.   But for some people this is no joke.  I read online about the depression and anxiety that people suffer at this time of year.  There is a term used for this called 'seasonal affective disorder'.   The claim in a nutshell is that people are lacking basic sunlight.   People's biological clocks may be disrupted by the shortened days and even some hormone levels are out of whack due to the seasonal changes.   There are companies out there that manufacture special lights that simulate the rays that come from the sun and they effectively market these expensive gadgets to people who hope their disorder will be cured.

I am no doctor and I am not doubting that there may be some valid science behind this 'condition'.  And my heart goes out to those suffering from depression.  Who of us hasn't suffered from some level of the blues?  But, I'd be willing to bet that in many cases, it's not so much the lack of SUN light that is the cause of depression as it is the lack of SON light.  If you'll pardon the play on words for a moment and go to the scriptures:   John 8:12 - "I am the light of the world; he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life".  Could depression be classified as walking in darkness?  Following Christ is walking in the light.

And again, in 1 John 1:7 - "If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin".   How is that for our much needed Son light?  These are quite encouraging verses from God's Word, and there are many more like these if we search through the scriptures.

When we're looking for a cure for 'cabin fever' or being 'down in the dumps', instead of shopping for an expensive contraption to begin our light therapy or getting a prescription for an anti-depressant, may we first go to the Son?  May we go to His Word first?   I have tried counting my blessings when I get the blues... it should make sense to the Christian that if we are busy counting our blessings, we won't have time to be depressed.    As a good friend of mine often says, "we're too blessed to be depressed".

Love's Fire

This may sound odd, but I like reading books by authors that have already died.  The main reason for that is that they can't do or say anything now that disappoints me.   Sure, there are contemporary writers that are solidly Christian who speak the truth, but once in a while even the best of them says or does something that makes me shake my head.   But that's because we're all sinners.

One of my favorite dead authors is William Gurnall.   He went to heaven more than 300 years ago.  Even so, his words are just as relevant today as they were in his day.   In his classic work, 'The Christian in Complete Armour', Gurnall makes this statement on the fire of love:

"Love is the great conqueror of the world.  Thus if you are inflamed with love for Christ, you will toss all your worldly attractions to the four winds rather than tarnish His honor.  Love is like a fire in that it consumes everything near it.  It turns all into fire or ashes.  Nothing foreign to the nature of fire can dwell very long with fire's own simple and pure nature.  Thus love for Christ will not allow the existence of anything in the heart which is unlike Him."

"Love for Christ will not let you agree with anything which is against Him but, on the contrary, will take His part against every one of His enemies."

As long as dead authors keep making statements like that, I'll keep listening!

Multiplication

May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure...  grace and peace be multiplied to you.  Those two phrases are found in verse two of chapter one in both books of Peter.   They struck me as interesting this morning as I asked myself 'how do you multiply grace and peace'?  

Remember the kid with the the loaves and fish?   Jesus took a couple loaves of bread and a couple fish and thousands of people ate a meal.  And there were even leftovers.  Now that is 'multiplication'!   If he can do that with bread and fish, could he not also do that with grace and peace?  In fact, we can have grace and peace up to the brim... and maybe even so much that some might spill over.   Wouldn't that be nice if I had so much grace and peace that I shared the surplus with those around me.

Hearing Test

We are dull of hearing.  At least that's the indictment on us from the writer of the book of Hebrews.  In chapter 5 verse 11, he says "Concerning Him (Jesus, of course) we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, because you have become dull of hearing".    We actually looked at this passage yesterday in Sunday school, but what exactly does that mean?

Ironically, today my son was being tested for his hearing.  He was having trouble hearing at times, and so the pediatrician had us take him to a specialist.   We were relieved to find out there was nothing structurally wrong.  There really was nothing internally wrong to cause any type of hearing loss, other than some very minor high frequency issues.   The recommendation from the doctor was simple.   Remove any background noises that could be a distraction to him.  Also, if he looks at and focuses upon the person speaking, there would likely be no issues with him hearing what he needs to hear.

As I sat there watching the hearing test and listening to the diagnosis and plan of action, I couldn't help but think of all the spiritual parallels.   We are dull of hearing.  We don't understand.  We don't get what God is telling us at times...  but the plan of action to remedy our dullness is the same as it is for my son's physical hearing difficulties:  remove the distractions that pull us away from 'hearing' what God is telling us in His Word and fixing our eyes on the Author and Finisher of our faith (focusing on Him).

It's an amazing and yet curious thing to me that God would teach us these kinds of clear object lessons... IF we can 'hear' what He's saying.

The Importance of Private Prayer

Secret prayer.  This is a spiritual discipline that I need much work in, and I venture to say that most Christians would say the same.  Who of us is ready to claim in pride that we have arrived at a satisfactory level of prayer and communion with God ?   When speaking of the faithful servant and praying Christian, Thomas Brooks makes some profound statements regarding this in his book ‘The Secret Key to Heaven, the Vital Importance of Private Prayer’.   Listen to these words that fall from the pen of this Puritan writer:

“God may very well expect better and greater things from [gracious servants] than from all other servants in the world.  God may very well expect that they should do singular things for his glory, who has done such singular things for their good.  Certainly, God expects that gracious servants should be blessing him, when other servants are blaspheming him;  that they should be magnifying him when other servants are debasing him;  that they should be redeeming precious time when other servants are trifling, fooling, playing or sinning away precious time;  that they should be weeping in a corner when other servants are playing sports and making themselves merry among their jovial companions; that they should be mourning in secret when other servants are sinning in secret; and that they should be at their private devotion when other servants are sleeping and snoring.”    Can't I just hit the snooze button on the alarm just one more time?

But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.  - Matthew 6:6