The Would–be Woodcutter

2 Kings 6:1–7

One year, when I was in college, I cut, stacked and delivered firewood. Other than a summer spent shoveling gravel, it was the hardest job I ever had. Thus I have a good deal of empathy for the hapless logger in this story.

Elisha’s school for prophets had prospered, and their meeting place had become too small. Someone suggested that they go into the woods, cut logs and enlarge their facilities. Elisha agreed and was invited to accompany the workers.

The party made its way up the Jordan Valley to the spot where they planned to fell trees and float them downriver to the building site. Things were going well until, as Matthew Henry put it, “one of them, accidentally fetching too fierce a stroke (as those who work seldom are apt to be too violent), threw off his ax–head into the water.” 

“Oh, my lord,” the man cried, “it was borrowed!” 

“Where did it go?” Elisha asked. 

When the man pointed to the place, Elisha cut a stick, reached with it into the water, and “made the iron float.” 

“Lift it out,” Elisha said. The man “reached out his hand and took it.”

Some have suggested that nothing miraculous happened, that Elisha simply probed in the water with his stick until he located the ax–head and dragged it into sight. That would hardly be worth mentioning, however. 

No, it was a miracle: Elisha caused the axe-head to “flow” as the text actually says. The axe-head was set in motion by God’s hand and drifted out of deep water into the shallows where the workman could retrieve it.

The simple miracle enshrines a profound truth: God cares about the small stuff of life—lost axe-heads, lost coins, lost keys, lost files, lost contact lenses, lost lunker trout, the little things that cause us to fret. He does not always restore what was lost—he has good reasons of his own—but he understands our loss and comforts us in our distress. 

Next to the assurance of our salvation, the assurance of God’s love is essential. Without it we would feel that we are alone in the world, exposed to innumerable perils, worries and fears. It’s good to know that He cares; that He is moved by our losses, small as they may be; that our concerns are His concerns as well. 

I think of those times when my children grieved over some small loss and my heart was touched by their grief. The broken or mislaid thing had no significance for me—it was some trifling thing—but it wasn’t trifling to them. It mattered to me because it mattered to them and my children mattered to me. 

And so it is with our Heavenly Father. Our small worries mean everything to Him because we mean everything to Him. We can cast our care upon Him because he cares about us (1 Peter 5:7). 

His grace is great enough to meet the great things,

The crashing waves that overwhelm the soul,

The roaring winds that leave us stunned and breathless,

The sudden storms beyond life’s control.

His grace is great enough to meet the small things,

The little pin–prick troubles that annoy,

The insect worries, buzzing and persistent,

The squeaking wheels that grate upon our joy. —Annie Johnson Flint

David Roper

Excerpted from my Flavord with Salt, Discovery House Publishers

The Slippery Slope

Do not let my heart incline to any evil 

to busy myself with wicked deeds

in company with men who work iniquity,

and let me not eat of their delicacies!—Psalm 141:3,4

Years ago, when I was learning to ski, I followed a more proficient skier down an easy slope. With my eyes on him I failed to see the black diamond sign and found myself on a steep incline, careening down the slope and completely out of control. 

This psalm addresses a similar process by which we find ourselves on a slippery slope to ruin. 

It begins with our inclinations (the “heart” is the mind in Hebrew thought) that move on to “wicked deeds." And then we get swallowed up by the crowd and it’s appetites.

Prayer is one of the ways we stay off that slope: "Do not incline my heart..." “Do not let me…” (142:4), a plea the Lord’s prayer echoes exactly: “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.” 

I find here in this psalm another agent of grace to keep us away from destruction: the wounds of a faithful friend:

Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;

let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;

let my head not refuse it (141:5).

Sin is subtle. We may not know that we've gone wrong. True friends can be objective. Their reproof, if we accept it, can be our salvation.

It's hard to accept correction, but if we see the wounding as a "kindness" it can become an anointing that puts us back on the path of obedience.

Again, this calls for prayer: "Let not my head refuse it”(141:5).

David Roper

6.24.18

Putting Us Right

“An’ noo, for a’ oor wrang-duins (wrong-doings) an’ ill-min’ins (misjudgments), for a’ oor sins and trespasses o’ mony sorts, dinna forget them, O God, till thou pits them a’ richt.”

—The Prayer of an Old Scot, George MacDonald’sDavid Elginbrod

Benjamin Franklin aspired to become a good man, and accordingly drew up a list of thirteen virtues he deemed “necessary and desirable,” including with each a short explanation. 

1.Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. 2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. 3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time. 4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve. 5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i. e., waste nothing. 6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. 7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty. 9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. 10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleaness in body, clothes, or habitation. 11. Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. 12. Chastity. Rarely use venery (sexual indulgence) but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation. 13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates. 

Franklin’s intention was to make a habit of these virtues and thus he determined to fix on one character trait at a time, and, when he had mastered it, proceed to the next until he had mastered them all. 

 “I made a little book,” he wrote, “in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues. I rul’d each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for the day. I cross’d these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting that virtue upon that day.” 

In the end, Franklin gave up: “I was surpris’d to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined,” he wrote in his diary. So it is: “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good,” C.S. Lewis said.

“In vain you make yourself beautiful…” Israel’s prophet concluded. (Jeremiah 4:30). We cannot adorn ourselves. All we can do is come to God with our lofty ideals (along with our “wrang-duins an’ ill-min’ins”) and ask him to make us braver, stronger, purer, less selfish, and more loving. God himself is our cure. All progress toward a better version of ourselves is based on that premise. 

Paul, who loved a good synthesis, put it this way: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure”(Philippians 2:12,13).  “For,” (because), not “although” or “and.” God does the work in us and we enjoy the freedom to will and to do those things that please him.

When British author F. B. Meyer was a very young man he attended a meeting in the house of emancipationist, William Wilberforce. Those gathered were discussing their struggles against impatience and other forms of selfishness. An elderly gentleman listened for awhile and then related this incident: “I was speaking to a number of children last Sunday afternoon; and finding that the flowers and birds outside were attracting them, and they wanted to get away, and that I was fast losing my patience, I turned to Christ and said: 'Lord, my patience is giving out; grant me yours, and, for that moment he gave me patience. I could stand the noise and confusion.’”

Meeting Dr. Meyer the next morning, Mr. Wilberforce said: "What did you think of that?” Dr. Meyer replied: "It has changed my life. From now on, instead of refusing, resisting, struggling against temptation, I shall ask, in the moment of impatience, for Christ’s tranquility, in the moment of impurity, for his purity, in the moment of anxiety, for his direction and wisdom.” 

Setting ourselves right is not self-accusation and resolution, but simply becoming aware of our flawed and failed condition and putting ourselves in God’s hands for his cure—in that moment or in due time. Put another way, “Askwhat you will, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). 

David Roper

Secrets

"In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made, and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom"  (1 Kings 14:25–28).

King Shishak besieged Jerusalem in a campaign to gain control of the trade routes through Palestine and the Negeb. King Rehoboam readily submitted to Shishak to spare his people the ravages of a prolonged siege.

Shishak sacked the city and took away the treasures of the temple and the palace, including the fabulous golden shields the king’s body-guard carried on state occasions. Rehoboam substituted shields of bronze to maintain the fiction that things were as they should be. It was a clever cover-up and he thought no one would know. But bronze tend to tarnish after a time.

Secrets (harbored hypocrisies) seriously mess with your mind: You become evasive, devious, deceitful, paranoid—fearful that you'll be exposed. In time others begin to distrust you because you don't ring true.

“Half the misery in the world comes from trying to look, instead of trying to be, what one is not. I would that not God only but all good men and women might see me through and through. They would not be pleased with everything they saw, but then neither am I... No one who loves and chooses a secret can be of the pure in heart that see God” (George MacDonald, The Flight of the Shadow).

David Roper

6.15.18

Roper's World

This is all He asks of thee;

Be faithful where thou art. 

Jesse Watters, the ever-cheerful political commentator, stands on a street corner in New York City, sweeps his hand in a half-circle to encompass the city and delivers his slogan, "I'm Watters and this is my world."  

I look around at the four walls of our family room, 250 square feet in all, and say to myself: "I’m Roper, and this is my world." Jesus said we're to go into all the worldand announce the good–spiel. This room, at least for today, is my world.

Who knows what plans God has for us today and who will turn up in our "world." A prominent, influential person? Or no one at all.

No matter. God has but one word for us today: "Be faithful where thou art" (cf.Luke 16:10).

Fret not because your place is small,

Your service need not be,

For you canst make it all there is

Of joy and ministry.

In you His mighty hand can show

The wonders of His grace,

And He can make the humblest room

A high and holy place.

His strength upon your weakness waits,

His power for your task.

What more, O child of all His care,

Could any great one ask?

David Roper

6.14.18

Divine-Human Endeavor

"And the LORD said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have sanctified this house which you built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually" (1 Kings 9:3 NKJV).

Here is the mystery of divine-human endeavor: Solomon "built" the house: hired skilled artisans and architects from Tyre, gathered exotic building materials from afar, erected the structure, crafted the furniture, embellished the walls and pillars with sheets of hammered gold, but the house was just another house until God made it holy. 

We labor over a text to understand it, utilizing the exegetical tools at our disposal, crafting our thoughts to maintain the integrity of the text, thinking through the needs of our people and linking truth to life. But our words amount to nothing if God does not invest them with holiness.

We envision a mission, impart the vision, train the workers, send them into the field and support them as they carry on the work. But it's wasted effort if God does not invest that work with holiness. 

And how do we bring God's holiness into our work? Through prayer (9:3). Prayer is the highest expression of our utter dependence on God. It is the means by which we work in concert with him and he puts his name on all that we do. Without him labor in vain. 

David Roper

6.12.18

One More Thing

My cell-phone rang and I cringed—visibly. Carolyn asked me, "What's wrong?" "I can't deal with one more thing," I muttered under my breath. 

I find myself responding with something less than alacrity to the demands placed upon me these days. Aging has forced a reluctance to engage.

I rise each morning, brush my teeth, shower, pull on my socks, trousers, shirt and shoes, throw down the pills and potions that keep me alive each day (“Better things for better living through chemistry," as the DuPont people used to say), carry out a few other ready-for-the day chores...and feel like going back to bed. I'm exhausted. 

As I thought about my reluctance to seize the day I've come to realize that it's not one single thing that brings me to my knees. It's the accumulation: "one more thing."

Perhaps you feel the same way

If so, Solomon, the wisest man in the world, has a blessing for you: "May God give you the right stuff for every thing, all through day" (1Kings 8:59, my translation).

Literally Solomon asked God to "make righteousness" (give us righteousness, the right stuff), for "the thing of the day in its day." (For the next "thing" we have to do today when we have to do it.)

You never know what the next "thing" will be, which is why we must arm ourselves each day with our Lord's prayer, "Give us this day our dailybread"—grace this day for the next thing I have to do. 

All of which reminds me of an old hymn my father used to sing as he wandered around the house:

Day by day, and with each passing moment,

Strength I find, to meet my trials here;

Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,

I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.

He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure

Gives unto each day what He deems best—

Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day, the Lord Himself is near me

With a special mercy for each hour;

All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,

He Whose Name is Counselor and Pow’r.

The protection of His child and treasure

Is a charge that on Himself He laid;

“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”

This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then in every tribulation

So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,

That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation

Offered me within Thy holy Word.

Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,

E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,

One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,

Till I reach the promised land. —Karolyna W. Sandell-berg 1865)

David Roper

6.11.18

To Be Done With Sin

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,

which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so the LORD surrounds his people,

from this time forth and forevermore.

For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest

on the land allotted to the righteous,

lest the righteous stretch out

their hands to do wrong.—Psalm 125:1-3

We were living in Idaho in 1980 when Mount Saint Helens blew her top. We got some of the fallout—ash and other debris—though we are over four-hundred miles away. A year after the eruption I flew over the mountain with a friend and we were astonished at the devastation visited on that majestic peak. In a moment of time titanic, inexorable, underlying forces blew it to smithereens.

Sin is like that, you know. It can destroy our lives in a moment. Is anyone safe?

Indeed. Mount Zion, a symbol of those who put their trust in God, like Mount Zion, cannot be moved; the "scepter of wickedness” cannot rulethere. We are secure, surrounded by God's love "lest we stretch out (our) hands to do unrighteousness," and once for all ruin our lives. 

Surely, we will sin. Temptations to sin are sure to come," Jesus said. We're besieged on every side by inducements to follow the evil impulses that cross our minds. Yet Paul assures us: “Sin will not have dominionover you" (Romans 6:14). We can become like Zion—immutable, fixed, firm, indomitable, un-menaced and undisturbed by evil.

Oh, not all at once and not right away. But, as Peter assures us, “after you have suffered a little while, God Himself... will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you" (1 Peter 5:10). We will never be perfect in this life, but we can make progress as God’s Spirit makes us over into the image of his Son.

The finale awaits Heaven "When we see him. Then and only then, we shall be like him. Then we be done with sin forever! 

David Roper

O Jerusalem!

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
May they be tranquil who love you!
Peace be within your walls
and tranquility within your towers!”
For my brothers and companions’ sake
I will say, ‘Peace be within you!’” (Psalm 122:6-8).

Jerusalem, in David’s day, was a drab little village, newly wrested from the Canaanites. The "house of the Lord" was a patched and threadbare tent. 

But it was the place God chose to gather His people in unity and tranquility. It was a city “bound firmly together” by God’s love (122:3).

Our "Jerusalem" is the Church: We "have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God." Our “house" (122:1) is not a building, but a body of "brothers and companions" in which we find solidarity and rest (122:3-5).

But sadly, congregations can be restless, unhappy aggregations of querulous people, wrangling over trivia, what Thackeray called, "the pigmy spites of the village spire."

What can I do for my brothers and companions?

I can “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” Prayer is always the starting place for any human endeavor.

And I can “seek her good” (122:9, which means, among other things, that I, in humility, gentleness, patience and love will set aside my own good “to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” for the greater good of my brothers and companions (Ephesians 4:1-3).

David Roper