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Puritan Prayer

“…I rejoice to think that all things are at thy disposal, and it delights me to leave them there.

Then prayer turns wholly into praise, and all I can do is to adore and bless thee.

What shall I give thee for all thy benefits? I am in a strait betwixt two, knowing not what to do; I long to make some return, but have nothing to offer, and can only rejoice that thou doest all, that none in heaven or on earth shares thy honour; I can of myself do nothing to glorify thy blessed name, but I can through grace cheerfully surrender soul and body to thee, I know that thou art the author and finisher of faith, that the whole work of redemption is thine alone, that every good work or thought found in me is the effect of thy power and grace, that thy sole motive in working in me to will and to do is for thy good pleasure.

O God, it is amazing that men can talk so much about man’s creaturely power and goodness, when, if thou didst not hold us back every moment, we should be devils incarnate…” (taken from a Puritan prayer titled, “God the All” in The Valley of Vision)

This prayer is not my heart, but I would like to say it is. I recognize the truths of this prayer and believe them, but I do not celebrate them like the Puritan. I believe a lie; I believe in pride, but not an arrogant pride, a pitiful pride. I have been bated by the lie of pity, believing myself to be much more akin to a “devil incarnate” than a new creation. This pride (pitiful pride) is just as damning and insufferable as the arrogant brand, in that it keeps my worship at bay.

Lord, you love me in spite of me. May this be my portion and cause my heart to worship.

The Judge and the Bread

Why is God a righteous judge?

“Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.” Deut. 16:19 (NIV)

(1) Because He is holy and perfect

(2) (After #1 there doesn’t need to be a #2, but…) He cannot be bribed! He owns everything and therefore cannot be corrupted.

Why do we eat unleavened bread?

“Don’t eat yeast bread with it; for seven days eat it with unraised bread, hard-times bread, because you left Egypt in a hurry-that bread will keep the memory fresh of how you left Egypt for as long as you live.” Deut. 16:3 (The Message)

The Israelites did not have time to bake bread with yeast the night of their deliverance from Egypt. The flight from Egypt was fierce, and this “hard-times bread” is only one example. However, He chooses this example to have His people replicate, to remember His name and power and how He rescued them from their former lives of slavery.

That is why the bread is unleavened. It is now broken because Christ too was broken for our deliverance.

Evidence that God is not a bully

Never forget that the world is not on auto-pilot; the water cycle does not happen on auto-pilot; air is not replenished on auto-pilot; babies are not conceived and born on auto-pilot; seeds do not fall and plants and trees born on auto-pilot; the sun does not rise on auto-pilot*; the systems we think are dependable and inevitable are really neither; we must never forget this. We must also be careful.

There is one God, and many gods. God created all things. He did not then remove Himself from all things. He is not the clockmaker that wound up the world and let her go; and this makes all the difference.

The fact is He holds all things together; He sends the water from the land to the sky, the sky to the ocean, the ocean to the land, and back again; He covers the atmosphere with enough oxygen to keep almost 7 billion people breathing; He takes the sperm and plants it into fertile egg, develops the child, and commands the developed lungs to respond upon birth; He carries the seeds from their source to the appropriate soil, draws their roots into the earth, and cultivates new plants and trees; He keeps our planet in orbit and rotation, to show us the sun each day; this is not ordinary, this is supernatural.

When remembering such power, we must be careful. We may be quick to tremble, wondering if He might, at any moment, relinquish His power and thereby destroy all “systems”. But this fear is not of God. He does not lord His power over His creation in hopes of cornering us into begrudging submission. He does not do this, because He loves us. We must be careful because we must remember this. And when we don’t, we submit to ungodly fear.

God is just, meaning He is true and more honest than we can yet fathom. He has used his power to destroy the earth and will do it again; He will be just in both. We must respect this power but we must not be afraid for He is not a bully; He does not corner us. What we must remember is that He is just and merciful; He wants our devotion and will use just and merciful means to woo us to Him, but He will not scare us into devotion.

He is holding all things together not because He can but because He is mercifully giving us new opportunity to draw close to Him. This perspective is what reminds us that the ordinary is not so ordinary, and that His great mercy sustains us. May we not forget this; may we be ever thankful; may we draw near to Him.

*Great Chesterton quote:

"A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough... It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again," to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again," to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. "

God makes art

Been doing a lot of thinking lately about God being in control...of everything. I don't say that to sound silly-I say it because it's awe-inspiring.

Growing up in "the church" I always heard phrases like, "God is everywhere, in everything, at all times....", and I'd always think, "You mean, God's in the concrete floors? Really?? That sounds silly, just silly...."

Turns out, I'm the silly one.

The evidence of God being in control of everything brings both humility and hope; humility in His absolute and terrifying power, and hope for the same reason.*

Do I mean that He actually stirred the concrete, poured it, smoothed it out, or maybe even stained it for effect? Or that He is somehow mixed into the actual floor? Of course not. Let me explain:

As a whole, I don't really like Modern Art. I appreciate some, really like some, but I really can't stand most. However, after spending a day at the Pompidou last year, I realized (in a way that I didn't realize in other art museums) that it was all a reaction. The entire museum was a reaction. There was an entire room devoted to art created during the mid 20th century-an entire room devoted to the reaction of WWII! Art is the response to inspiration.

Considering that God has absolute control and does as He pleases, we recognize that we are not in control and are at His mercy. Our entire life is a reaction- a response to the Creator and His will.

Due to the events that precede our lives and mold who we are-evidences of God's craftsmanship-and due to revelation, we respond. Those who are in Christ, and those who are not, will respond. He will use both believers and unbelievers to bring glory to His name.

Implications: Whether it be the concrete floors of a museum or the art on display, it is all a response. And yes, God is in the art and He is in the concrete floors-the same way Shakespeare is in Hamlet.

Let us not just respond but respond well, that He may be pleased- the One that wrote us into existence.

*His absolute and terrifying power bringing hope and humility will be a future blog topic.

I'M ENGAGED!

I guess the title gives it all away, but I'M ENGAGED!!!

I'm engaged to the most fascinating, gorgeous, and God-filled woman I've ever met, Margaret Hulings. In our brief time together (mine and Margaret's), God has revealed so much about Himself and what a Godly relationship is supposed to look like. He's been faithful, as always, and we can't wait to see where He takes us.

Thanks to everyone for the voicemails, phone calls, facebook messages, texts, etc.

More to come at some margaretandtrey website, I'm sure....and I mean that in a much more endearing way than it reads.

Where are the new posts????

So, a lot of friends have been asking "Where are the new posts???".  "You've got this blog but you don't use it", I guess is the frustration. Well, to further your frustrations, I aint got nothin for you today BUT I wanted to remind everyone that there is a link in my first post to my OLD blog (Xanga) that tells many wonderful tales during my college days, when I was but a young lad. 

Until the next inspiration...oooo, that sounds cool....I encourage you to read those old posts, they're quite comical. Stay tuned!