Turn and be Healed

Most Christians are familiar with the passage from 2 Chronicles 7:13-14. These verses occur during the telling of King Solomon's dedication and consecration of the Temple. It was a grand and solemn occasion and the entire host of Israel attended. There - amongst the sacrifices, feasts, and song - was Solomon's message about the promises of God to His people; and along with His promises came stipulation and judgement for failure to obey His word. The passage from II Chronicles reads thus:

"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Here we see judgement for the disobedience of God's people - not for the unbeliever - and God's instruction on what we should do when judgement falls. (And, by the way, locusts and pestilence aren't always in the form of pests and pandemics.) When Believers realize that it is they who have sinned and brought judgement on themselves and their land, we can read throughout Scripture about how we can humble ourselves and seek God's forgiveness and mercy. Today I came across a passage in 1 Samuel that revealed more on this subject.

"And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself ... I will instruct you in the good and the right way. Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king." ~ 1 Samuel 12:20-25

Again we see promise, stipulation, and judgement set out for us. We American Modern Believers have the opportunity to repent from our sin and see our country healed, but we must forsake our empty ways. We - the Church - have run after things that will not satisfy: wealth and prosperity, eternal youth, success, pleasure, fame; and I don't just mean individually, but as the CHURCH. We have chased after the wind and failed to seek after God. We have become idolators and we are reaping the whirlwind.

But, we can still repent, turn from our wicked ways and seek God's face - He promises He will not forsake us and will heal our land. If we refuse to turn and continue to chase after idols, the result is plain - we will be swept away, we and our king.

J E S U

JESU is in my heart, his sacred name

Is deeply carved there: but th' other week

A great affliction broke the little frame,

Ev'n all to pieces, which I went to seek:

And first I found the corner, where was J.

After, where E S, and next where U was graved.

When I had got these parcels, instantly

I sat me down to spell them, and perceived

That to my broken heart he was I ease you,

And to my whole is J E S U.

~ George Herbert

Notes on Poems of George Herbert

George Herbert is one of my favorite poets, and it has taken some time for me to begin to plumb a little bit of the depth of his poems. Only a little bit, I repeat! Here is a sampling of three poems with my humble notes following each. If you, while reading, see any other points and meanings I have missed, I would love to hear what these poems have to say to you. Enjoy!

THE ALTAR

A broken A L T E R , Lord, thy servant rears,

Made of a heart, and cemented with tears:

Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;

No workman's tool hath touch'd the same.

A H E A R T alone

Is such a stone

As nothing but

Thy pow'r doth cut

Wherefore each part

Of my hard heart

Meets in this frame,

To praise thy name.

That if I chance to hold my peace,

These stones to praise thee may not cease.

O let thy S A C R I F I C E be mine,

And sanctify this A L T A R to be thine.

We can find references in this poem to Psalm 139 where we read that our frame was hidden when we were being formed in secret, but not hidden to the Master Craftsman. Herbert also refers to the Old Testament stone altars that God commanded to be made of unhewn stone.

Our hearts are like those unhewn stones that only God can shape and form so that we may be made according to His purposes and glory. God takes us, these stones of His, and builds "a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer acceptable sacrifices" as 1 Peter 2:5 tells us. As stones "fitly framed together" it is our honor to offer "sacrifices of praise," and if we aren't willing to do so, God can raise up other stones to cry out praises to Him. Additionally, Herbert has constructed this poem, as a craftsman himself, to show the reader his theme of altar and sacrifice.

THE AGONY

Philosophers have measur'd mountains,

Fathom'd the depths of seas, of states, and kings,

Walk'd with a staff to heav'n, and traced fountains:

But there are two vast, spacious things,

The which to measure it doth more behove:

Yet few there are that sound them; Sin and Love.

Who would know Sin, let him repair

Unto mount Olivet; there shall he see

A man so wrung with pains, that all his hair,

His skin, his garments bloody be.

Sin is that press and vice, which forceth pain

To hunt his cruel food through ev'ry vein.

Who knows not Love, let him assay

And taste that juice, which on the cross a pike

Did set again abroach, then let him say

If ever he did taste the like;

Love is that liquor sweet and most divine,

WHich my God feels as blood; but I, as wine.

Though philosophers (and we) may study and acquire knowledge of the heavens, of men and states, and of the deep, there are two things even more immense, but nearby, in our hearts, that should be studied as well: Sin and Love. Unfortunately, we don't probe these depths. Perhaps because it is too painful.

It is sin that forces pain, death, and despair through every seen and unseen aspect of our beings. It was sin that wrung our Savior, so that His beauty and perfection were exchanged for our grotesqueness and failure. But, through that blood wrung from Him for our sakes, we have come to a cup of wine such as have never tasted - a cup given to us by Love.

THE STAR

Bright spark, shot from a brighter place,

Where beams surround my Saviour's face,

Canst thou be any where

So well as there?

Yet, if t hou wilt from thence depart,

Take a bad lodging in my heart;

For thou canst make a debtor,

And make it better.

First with thy fire-work burn to dust

Folly, and worse than folly, lust:

Then with thy light refine,

And make it shine:

So disengag'd from sin and sickness,

Touch it with thy celestial quickness,

That it may hang and move

After thy love.

Then with our trinity of light,

Motion, and heat, let's take our flight

Unto the place where thou

Before didst bow.

Get me a standing there, and place

Among the beams which crown the face

Of him, who dy'd to part

Sin and my heart:

That so among the rest I may

Glitter, and curl, and wind as they:

That winding is their fashion

Of adoration.

Sure thou wilt joy, by gaining me

To fly home like a laden bee

Unto that hive of beams

And garland-streams.

The revelation of Christ, the Word, shines down upon the darkness of our hearts to transform the Debtor, the sinner, into something better, something that better reflects the bright and shining image of God. That light which illuminates from Christ burns away our dross and refines us, causing us to shine as the light, the star, shines; and as the weight of dross burns away, the light enables us to follow it better than ever before, even eventually to the point that the Trinity of Light causes us to upward fly as sparks back to the very source of Light and Glory - the very face of Jesus, who is the Light of the World which shines in the darkness. (John 1: 4-5)

As we take our place before the Light among other debtors transformed, we will with joy adore Him; and He with joy receives us into His Glory.

"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." (2 Cor.3:18) Like the fireworks that we read about and literally see in the shape of this poem, we show forth the theme of ascending from glory to glory even unto the Father, Son, and Spirit - the Trinity of Light.

All Dogs Go to Heaven

"Scripture says a great deal about animals, portraying them as Earth's second most important inhabitants. God entrusted animals to us, and our relationships with animals are a significant part of our lives." - Randy Alcorn, Heaven.

Last week, we laid to rest our four-legged family member and friend. Chloe was a 5-year old, 145 lb. American Mastiff, who in life was literally a huge presence, and now in death leaves a huge hole; both in our home and in our hearts.

John and I first met her as a 2-week-old, and I had the opportunity to bottle-feed her. She was small enough then to lay easily on my lap with her head and bottle in my one hand. Once she was grown, my hand could only compare to the size of her paw. She had a massive head and jaws, but would take a treat from me in the most ginger of ways. I always thought she had the head of a bear and the body of a lion - she was beautiful, and it was a joy to watch her long, easy stride as she walked. It was also terribly impressive to feel the house shake when she leapt into the air to catch a toy. One of her favorite games was to chase the flashlight beam, and every evening she would stand patiently in front of John asking him to get the flashlight. If he didn't get the flashlight when she wanted, she woofed at him - and her woofs were hard to ignore.

Chloe woofed a lot. Her woofs were very distinct, as anyone with a dog knows. She had an "I -am-sitting-down-now" woof, a "let me out" woof as well as a "let me in" woof. (Pet owners are, after all, simply doormen.) Her "someone is here" woof was extremely intimidating to whomever was outside the door, and she also had lots of complaining, whining noises, too. We thought she sounded a great deal like Star War's Chewbacca when she was complaining about something. We miss the sounds she made - her woofs, her whines, and her human-sounding walking in the house. We miss her.As we drove home from the vet the day she was put to sleep, I found myself wondering - as if I were 5-years old - where was Chloe now? Was she romping the hills of heaven? Or was she simply gone? Who can say for sure? We do know that God considers animals to be very important, not made in God's image as man is, but a part of His creation upon which he pronounced good. Eden wouldn't have been Eden without the animals, created as helpers and companions for men. They were given a special relationship to man, and he was to care for and nurture them. In fact, of all God's creation, He gave to man the right and responsibility to name the animals. Considering this unique kind of relationship man has with the animals - perfect in Eden - it seems likely that when God brings us finally to the New Heavens and the New Earth, He will restore the animals right along with the rest of the earth and creation. Does this mean I get to see my Chloe again? I don't know, but I'd like to think so. Is it wrong to grieve the death of our pets with whom we have such a unique relationship? No. God gave them to us to love and it is a true loss when they're gone. God gave Chloe as a blessing to us, and I'm thankful for all that that means."In her excellent book about Heaven, Joni Eareckson Tada says, 'If God brings our pets back to life, it wouldn't surprise me. It would be just like Him. It would be totally in keeping with His generous character ... Exorbitant. Excessive. Extravagant in grace after grace. Of all the dazzling discoveries and ecstatic pleasures heaven will hold for us, the potential of seeing Scrappy would be pure whimsy - utterly, joyfully surprisingly superfluous ... Heaven is going to be a place that will refract and reflect in as many ways as possible the goodness and joy of our great God, who delights in lavishing love on His children.'"

"In a poem about the world to come, theologian John Piper writes,

'And as I knelt beside the brook

To drink eternal life, I took

A glance across the golden grass,

And saw my dog, old Blackie, fast

As she could come. She leaped the stream-

Almost-and what a happy gleam

Was in her eye. I knelt to drink,

And knew that I was on the brink

Of endless joy. And everywhere

I turned I saw a wonder there." (Randy Alcorn, Heaven)

Maybe I'll see my Chloe in heaven after all.

Land and Sea

School has begun and students are filling classrooms and kitchen tables all over the country. Some are excited about returning and some not so much. This particular year, for me, has afforded additional cause for excitement because New College Franklin has been officially launched and credited, and I get to be her first auditor! The wonderful thing about auditing is that you get all the benefits of the reading and discussion, but don't have to write the papers or take the exams! I heartily recommend it.

The class I am auditing is the Biblical Symbology class. Before I go any further, it is not about how to interpret Revelations or the Prophets. That's a whole other discussion. This class is basically designed to help the student - or anyone - begin to be able to see the Scriptures and Creation through the lens of a Biblical worldview, thus enabling one to more wisely understand and interpret culture and environment, and affect Biblical transformation in the earth. We Modern/Post-modern Christians have been seeped in Platonic Christianity and therefore our thinking is more Greek than Hebrew, more secular than Biblical. Since that is the case, we read the Bible and interpret creation and culture in a non-biblical, scientific way; and that's not how the Bible was written or how it was intended to be read. Therefore, we must - as the Scriptures tell us - study that we may have transformed minds.

Currently in class, we are reading James B. Jordan's "Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World" and it has been a fascinating study. As Jordan says in his introduction, "The Biblical worldview is not given to us in the discursive and analytical language of philosophy and science, but in the rich and compact language of symbolism and art. It is pictured in ritual and architecture, in numerical structures and geographical directions, in symbols and types, in trees and stars. In short, it is given to us in a pre-modern package that seems at places very strange." As I read further and further in the book, things in the Bible have begun to make sense in a whole new way (though not departing from sound doctrine), and this has been very exciting! One example of this is found in the symbols of land and waters.

One principle to remember is that all of creation was created to reflect heaven, and we can see this pattern in various ways. One example is what Jordan calls a "Three Decker Universe". This is reflected in different ways in scripture with one of them being "Heaven-Firmament, Earth, Sea" and another being "Garden, Eden, World." Another way of seeing this would be "Triune God, His People, Gentiles." With this in mind, the pattern indicates that "Land" can be a representation of God's people and "Seas" can represent "Gentiles or Heathens." This is not all that land and sea indicates, but it is a pattern type found in scripture. (There is rarely ever a cut and dried "This = That.") That being said, bear with me as I share with you a connection I made, seeing some old familiar stories in a new light.

Since the seas can represent the Gentiles, and the land can represent God's people, it stands to reason that the parting of the Red Sea was not just a means of escape from the Egyptians, but a picture of God separating his people (dry land) from the heathen (sea) as He led them out of Egypt and bondage. But, when the Egyptians attempted the same crossing, the dry land on which the Hebrews had just crossed became boggy and thus the Egyptians were mired and drowned when the sea crashed in on them, for they were not God's chosen people - they were not "the land", but "the sea". (Ex.14) This symbolic image of separating helps me to better understand what St. Paul meant when he wrote about the Red Sea being a baptism - itself a picture of being separated from the world and being joined in covenant to God. (I Cor.10:2)

Likewise, the crossing of the Jordan River by the Hebrews into the Promised Land - when the waters stopped and stood up in a heap so they could cross on dry land - was not simply a safe, convenient means of crossing a flooding river, or a supernatural show of force, or even simply an honoring of the Ark of the Covenant; but it was again a sign and symbol that God was about to separate the heathen (waters) from His chosen people (land). Even further, He was about to separate the heathen from the land they had been occupying, for it was "the land" that God had given to His people to occupy and bring God's grace and glory to. (Josh.3:14-17).

To sum up, "Through New Eyes" is indeed helping me to see the Scriptures and creation in a whole new light, or should I say, increased light. Nevertheless, it is a delight to the soul and mind to be able to feed on the richness of God's word and world in a deeper fashion than I had previously. As Reepicheep says in C. S. Lewis's "The Last Battle", "Further up and further in!"

Fishy Business

I have 27 cousins, and it's great - I love it. A great many of these cousins, instead of being Kissin' Cousins, are Fishin' Cousins. We love to fish!

One of the cousins, John, had a couple of great photos that I wanted to share. Below you'll see the results of one fishing trip: Both fisherman caught the same fish! (Now there's a moralism for you.) I wish I'd been there to see the realization dawn on them as they were both reeling in.

The fisherman on the left is my cousin, Aaron, and the one on the right is a friend. You may remember my postings of Aaron's photos of pre- and post Hurricane Ike when he was embedded with Texas Law enforcement and wildlife teams.

Another beautiful photo taken by John was on a recent fishing trip to Port Isabel. This is a Ray of some type, and it almost looks translucently other-worldly as it lies on the deck.

Thanks, John, for letting me share a couple of your photos!

Psalm 126

When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion,

we were like those who dream.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

and our tongues with joyful shouting,

then they said among the nations,

"The Lord has done great things for them."

The Lord has done great things for us;

we are glad.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negeb!

Those who show in tears shall real with shouts of joy!

He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

bringing his sheaves with him.