{Confession

Forgive us, Lord, for treating you like a fortune-teller and a gumball machine.

Psalm 80 {Explication, Prayer

The thrice-repeated prayer—“let your face shine, that we may be saved!”—reveals the deepest wisdom in Asaph. It is not merely a playful, poetic allusion to Aaron’s blessing (cf. Nu. 6:23-26). Do not think for a moment this prayer is more of an appeal to tradition than an outpouring of an understanding heart. The psalmist has known the glory of the Lord, believing him to be the consuming fire. It is a confession of his power and authority. God is not a sleepy shepherd, not a senile geezer, not a dimwitted king whose mind is absent from this kingdom’s business. This prayer acknowledges a serious problem for the people: God has hidden his face.
God himself fed his people with the bread of tears and broke down the wall of their safety. Not unknowingly did he lead his sheep among wolves. And even as Israel’s downfall was in God’s power, so also will be their restoration. He will turn his face toward them in the same way he turned away, with the same power and all in the same witting design.
No accidents have upset his plans. The nations have not taken God by surprise. So by the same power he brings both affliction and salvation. His strength opened the gate to the pasture, and his strength can shut it again; but if a power greater than he had assailed the flock, then woe to the world without hope of salvation. But to the contrary, there are none greater, and so the world does have hope. Let his hand be on the Son of Man whom he has made strong for himself! Asaph has known the glory of the Lord and prays what only understanding hearts may say:
Only your presence, O God, can alleviate our pain. Only your hand can deliver us. You do not sleep or grow weary; while we sleep you dream of the day when we will cry out with one voice, “Come.” You will drive away the wild boar, and the same hand that planted us in the midst of a violent world will lift our drooping heads and wipe away every tear. And we would see your face, shining in the city.

{Prayer

I’m not sure, Lord, how to sort through these thoughts and theories. Notion upon notion makes such commotion that I cannot tell if I’ve turned to the right or the left. I’m so tangled in this world that it’s getting more difficult to see that ancient path. But I know, I have been taught, that the Way is alive, and that he will seek me and call me from amidst the rubble of a used and abused life. You are the Way. I ask you, and in asking I receive, to set me free from the confusion and take away the pain of my own negligence. Forgive me for my sins, my self-will, my ill-crafted illusion. Keep me away from the temptations that I have entertained. Keep my soul out of the enemy’s reach. Good Shepherd, hear my cry for help and do what must be done to save me.

Proverbs 17:10 {Explication

A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding
than a hundred blows into a fool. ESV

This is a “definitive” proverb. It reveals a criterion for identifying a man of understanding and a fool—the former by how well he reacts to a verbal reprimand, and the latter by how unchangeable his behavior is despite corporal punishment. Note that the man of understanding is not always correct in his opinions and actions, but he is able to be instructed, quick to obey, and peaceful when opposed. It is not in genius or excellence that we find whether a person has understanding, but in his response to having his genius or excellence opposed.

Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you,
Reprove a wise man and he will love you. 9:8

The wise of heart will receive commands,
But a babbling fool will be ruined. 10:8

A Proverb {Meditation

The kingdom spreads within a person when he spreads the kingdom around him, and obedience increases faith.

Whose Designer and Builder Is God {Meditation

Adam was put in a garden, where he walked with God among the other creatures. Christ’s brothers and sisters will at the end enter the eternal city, where we will walk again with God. In the meantime Adam’s kind has been striving, without an articulate aim, to find that future city, which is hidden until the revelation of all things. We desire the city inherently, because God designed us as social creatures (cf. Ge. 2:18). Since they were expelled from the garden, humans have come together to build cities, great societies where the human name could be magnified and exalted, where peoples trade the fruits of their knowledge, where those inside it take from those outside to eat and drink and be satisfied. It began with Cain, who wandered east of Eden (cf. Ge. 4:16f.). He was expelled from the fellowship of his family and of God, and to fill the void he, with all his art, built up a city in his son’s name. God also wants to build up a city bearing his Son’s name.

In a city, humans become powerful. Their efforts are concentrated and their strength is magnified. This is by God’s design, too:

Behold how good and pleasant it is

when brothers live together in unity! Ps. 133:1 ESV

But in a city, humankind is yet subject to desires for illicit things, like that first one that brought corruption into the world. This desire is also magnified. In Eden, there was one tree forbidden, and there was one sin committed. In a city, the artificial grove of illicit fruit is manifold, and society is riddled with pitfalls like the one in the garden. Knowing this, against those who are violent like Cain, the prophet shouts,

Prepare slaughter for his sons

because of the guilt of their fathers,

lest they rise and possess the earth,

and fill the face of the world with cities. Isa. 14:21

The Lord did not send the father of his people out to build a city, but Abraham lived in a tent and looked forward to “the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). Likewise he does not send out his chosen servants to exalt their own name and power, but to seek out the name of the Lord and take it upon us. We are designed to desire a city, but God has not set to us the task of building it ourselves. Instead he means to build it with his great art. He has always planned to build it for us, but Adam and Eve were not ready for it, and their descendants cannot enter in until their individual sin-wounds are healed. We must be sundered from the glorious human city, over which the peoples will cry,

Alas, alas, for the great city

that was clothed in fine linen,

in purple and scarlet,

adorned with gold,

with jewels, and with pearls!

For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.

…

So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence,

and will be found no more;

and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters,

will be heard in you no more,

and a craftsman of any craft

will be found in you no more,

and the sound of the mill

will be heard in you no more,

and the light of a lamp

will shine in you no more,

and the voice of bridegroom and bride

will be heard in you no more,

for your merchants were the great ones of the earth,

and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.

And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,

and of all who have been slain on earth. Re. 18:16f.,21-24

God will overthrow the greatest works and make empires desolations. Nothing of Adam’s kingdom will remain. We will be left like nomads and wanderers, having nothing to claim as our own, until the New Jerusalem descends from heaven and opens its gates to the kings of the earth. Then the sons and daughters of the living God will have the great society they desired, where the name of their Lord is exalted and they rejoice in his glory, where peoples trade the fruits of God’s revelation, where those inside the city take from bounty of the Creator among them to eat and drink and be satisfied.

Until then, let us follow after the Lord like nomads, like people in the desert, like sojourners and strangers in a foreign land, waiting for our Maker to give us all we ever need.

Remembering a Commandment {Confession, Exhortation

I’d forgotten something that my Lord commanded me. I read over it many times and failed to take it as a command. It wasn’t a deliberate denial. It wasn’t an ignorant innocence. It was laziness. A branding iron will leave its mark on flesh, but not on tough stone; likewise the commandment, which had lost none of its potency, did not impress my ensnared mind.
Before sending out his twelve, Jesus “saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest’” (Mat. 9:36-38 ESV).
When this commandment was brought to my attention recently, suddenly I remembered what I was so excited for in July of 2006, when I prayed as he told me before going to college. To obey the command is to bless countless multitudes, and should the Lord send you, to take up the best adventure.
Pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers.