Someone to Lean On

 

O LORD, be gracious to us;

We have waited for You.

Be their arm every morning,

Our salvation also in the time of trouble (Isaiah 33;2)

 

Judah was in trouble. Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, had agreed to accept ransom-money from Judah's King Hezekiah and break off his siege of the city of Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:13–18). But Sennacherib double-crossed Hezekiah, took the money and pressed on with the siege. 

 

Not to worry, Isaiah assured Hezekiah. Sennacherib would get his comeuppance in due time (Isaiah 3:1). In the meantime, all Hezekiah and the nation could was shelter in place and “wait” on the Lord, a word that combines the tension of waiting with an attitude of hope and  expectancy. 

 

The interesting thing about this text is the unexpected possessive pronoun in the third line: “be their arm.” You would expect “be our arm.” In fact some translators, spotting this anomaly, arbitrarily change the text to "our." 

 

But there's no need to alter the text. At this point Isaiah is slipping in a cameo prayer for his friends and neighbors: “Be their arm every morning.”

 

It seems to me that Isaiah’s prayer is a prayer I must pray for my friends and neighbors while we’re in this current “siege.” We all need someone to lean on. 

 

David Roper

7.31.20

Walk On

 

Daniel asked, the man clothed in linen:  “O my lord, when will earth’s troubles come to an end?” The answer was a set of cryptic numbers: “The end will come in 1290 days… but blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days.” (Daniel 12:12)

 

Uh… Say what?

 

Commentators have tried to make sense of these numbers for 2500 years or more, in general taking them to refer to the last days of the Greek king, Antiochus IV who, in a fit of pique desecrated the temple in Jerusalem by sacrificing a pig on the altar and burning the sacred scrolls. They try to fit the “days” into the period between this desecration (the so-called, “Abominable Desolation”) and the rededication of the temple under the Maccabees, which some interpret as the “end.” 

 

Other interpreters envision a time yet future and place these days in a period designated as the Great Tribulation.

 

Perhaps someday we’ll uncover other data that will enable us to work within these numerical parameters, though the man later informed Daniel that “the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end” (12:9). Perhaps we are not to know what these “days” mean until they’re upon us.  

 

In the meantime, while the experts work out the problems of this text, can we not see here an admonition to endure hardship joyfully, confidently, hopefully for days and days and then for a few days more. 

 

In that spirit, then, there’s a word for old Daniel...and for you and me: “Walk on and on and on till the end. And 

 

“Those who are wise will understand” (Daniel 12:8).

 

Up-Hill

 

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? 

Yes, to the very end. 

Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? 

From morn to night, my friend. 

 

But is there for the night a resting-place? 

A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. 

May not the darkness hide it from my face? 

You cannot miss that inn. 

 

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? 

Those who have gone before. 

Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? 

They will not keep you standing at that door. 

 

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? 

Of labor you shall find the sum. 

Will there be beds for me and all who seek? 

Yea, and rest for all who come.  —Christine Rossetti

 

David Roper

17.27.20

 

 

 

 

How Long?

 

“An oracle concerning Dumah.

 

Someone is calling from the mountains of Edom 

‘Night watchman! How long will the darkness last?

How long will the darkness last?’

 

The night watchman calls back,

‘Morning is coming,

But for awhile it will be night.

Keep asking.’”  —Isaiah 21:11,12

 

“Dumah”—the empty spaces of the desert, emblematic of the empty places in our hearts.

 

The ancient question: “How long will the darkness last?”  

 

The prophet answers, “Morning is coming, but for awhile it will be night. Keep asking….” (vs. 12).

 

God’s program is carried forward, not by quantum leaps and bounds, but by the slow, steady movement of time. We must wait through the darkness till the end of time.

 

Waiting is the hardest of all disciplines—living in “faith and patience,” through long periods when God is strangely silent (Hebrews 6:12). 

 

But, though the night grows long, morning is sure to come. (“Is coming” is written in a Hebrew form that expresses certainty.) The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2), and the darkness will flee away. 

 

“Even so come Lord Jesus!” The only answer to earth’s troubles. 

 

David Roper

5.20.20

Just for You: Winsome Words—

From Carolyn

I confess. I do love words. They convey, clarify, add color and are just plain intriguing to me. This morning as I prayed through a prayer in The Valley of Vision some words enthralled me as they pointed not only to the Lord but to a way for me to go about my day. Some of these words were: dawn, rejoicing, allure, delight, joy, sparkle, sunbeam, happy, praise, grace, guest and humility. 

I invite you to pray this prayer and especially notice the words I have mentioned. I found it both bracing and challenging to make this prayer my own. Perhaps you would like make this a prayer for yourself today.

FATHER OF JESUS,

Dawn returns, but without thy light within no outward light can profit. 

Give me the saving lamp of thy Spirit that I may see thee, the God of my salvation, the delight of my soul, rejoicing over me in love.
I commend my heart to thy watchful care, for I know its treachery and power;
Guard its every portal from the wily enemy,
Give me quick discernment of his deadly arts,
Help me to recognize his bold disguise as an angel of light, and bid him begone.

May my words and works allure others to the highest walks of faith and love!
May loiterers be quickened to greater diligence by my example.
May worldlings be won to delight in acquaintance with thee!
May the timid and irresolute be warned of coming doom by my zeal for Jesus!

Cause me to be a mirror of thy grace, to show others the joy of thy service.
May my lips be well-tuned cymbals sounding thy praise,
Let a halo of heavenly-mindedness sparkle around me and a light of kindness sunbeam my path.

Teach me the happy art of attending to things temporal with a mind intent on things eternal.
Send me forth to have compassion on the ignorant and miserable.
Help me to walk as Jesus walked, my only Saviour and perfect model, his mind my inward guest, his meekness my covering garb.

Let my happy place be amongst the poor in spirit, my delight the gentle ranks of the meek.
Let me always esteem others better than myself, and find true humility in heirdom to two worlds.

***
Lord, may we each sparkle in joyful service to you today so that we can allure (not harangue) others to you and your steadfast love. Thank you for Jesus and his love for each one.

As always, I welcome hearing your response to some part of this prayer.

A Song for God’s Children

17^th century theologian Isaac Watts, who wrote more than 750 hymns for the Church, also composed a delightful little song book for children entitled Divine Songs for Children. It's a collection of hymns for children of all ages—even grown-up children like you and me. Here’s one I came across this morning that seems especially appropriate today.

Let dogs delight to bark and bite,    

For God hath made them so;     

Let bears and lions growl and fight,     

For ‘tis their nature too.     

But, children, you should never let     

Such angry passions rise;     

Your little hands were never made     

To tear each other’s eyes.     

Let love thro all your actions run,     

And all your words be mild;     

Live like the blessed Virgin’s son,     

That sweet and lovely child.     

His soul was gentle as a lamb;     

And as his stature grew,     

He grew in favor both with man,     

And God his father too.     

Now, Lord of all, he reigns above,     

And from his heav’nly throne     

He sees when children dwell in love,     

And marks them as his own.

David Roper

7.20.20 

Content

“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” —Blaise Pascal, Pensées

George Herbert, in a poem entitled “Content” wrote this:

Peace mutt’ring thoughts, and do not grudge to keep

                   Within the walls of your own breast:

Who cannot on his own bed sweetly sleep,

                   Can on anothers’ hardly rest.

Gad not abroad at ev’ry quest and call

                   Of an untrained hope or passion.

To court each place or fortune that doth fall,

                   Is wantonnesse in contemplation. 

I love the open road, “the dusty highway, the heath, the common, the hedgerows, the rolling downs! Camps, villages, towns, cities! Here to-day, up and off to somewhere else to-morrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you, and a horizon that's always changing!” (The Wind in the Willows).

But, given my advanced age and decrepitude I must not “gad” about in this pandemic-stricken world, driven by the “quest and call of untaimed hope or passion.” That would be “wantoness,” an unwillingness to rest in God’s wisdom and love. I must learn to be content

Paul writes, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things bu the one who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13)

Paul borrowed the Greek word translated "content" 
in the text above from the Stoics. It suggests a quiet tranquility that endures despite the vicissitudes  of life. It’s a good word, one that can mark us as centers of peace in the midst of pandemics and other pandemonia. It comes from “the one who strengthens (us).”

Contentment, like every other virtue, comes from God. You have to ask for it all day long.

David Roper

7.16.20

The Gift

“Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.  And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;  who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, ‘Look at us.’ So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, ‘Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk’” (Acts 3:1-6).

Peter and John, upon entering the temple, saw a man panhandling at the gate. Peter stopped and “stared” at him. The man, trodden down, unable to meet Peter’s gaze, looked away. “Look at us,” Peter said. “So the [man] gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them."

The man expected money, of course, but Peter, who didn’t have two drachma to rub together, gave him something far better: Speaking in Jesus’ name he gave him a new lease on life. 

The streets are full of poverty-stricken people—begging. Some are poor in dollars and cents; others in faith, hope and love. But I don’t always see them.

More’s the pity, for I have a gift to give that keeps on giving: New life in Jesus’ name.

David Roper

7.17.20

Other thoughts on manner and message…

Lord, how can man [speak] thy eternal word? 

He is brittle, crazy (distorted) glass:

Yet in thy temple thou dost him afford 

This glorious and transcendent place,  

To be a window, through thy grace. 

but when thou dost anneal (burn) in glass thy story, 

Making thy life to shine within 

The holy [speaker’s]; then the light and glory 

More rev’rend grows, and more doth win: 

which else shows watrish, bleak, and thin.

Doctrine and life, colours and light, in one 

when they combine and mingle, bring 

A strong regard and awe: but speech alone 

Doth vanish like a flaring thing, 

And in the ear, not conscience ring.

—George Herbert, “The Window”

The combination of message and manner (“doctrine and life”) is like light shining through a lovely stained-glass window: the glass makes the light more awe-inspiring. 

When the word is “speech alone”— a message delivered apart from our Lord’s gracious manner “shining through”—it is "waterish, weak and thin.” Our neighbors may hear it “in the ear,” but it does not ring true.

So Peter writes, “Honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). In that way, the message "more rev’rend grows, and more doth win."

Thus, it seams, the good news only sounds good when it’s announced with good manners.

David Roper

7.11.20

Perturbation!

Why is it that so often I return

From social converse with a spirit worn,

A lack, a disappointment—even a sting

Of shame, as for some low, unworthy thing? 

—George MacDonald

Paul writes, “Flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will (2 Timothy 2;22-26).

“Youthful lusts” are not sexual lusts, but the passions of the young to engage in “foolish and ignorant disputes”—to wrangle and worry themselves and others with their disputations.

Rather, we should seek righteousness, faith, love and peace as the outcome of every conversation. We should ask ourselves, as we step away from every encounter: “To what extent have my words nudged my brother or sister toward  righteousness, faith, love and peace, or have they added to the sum total of unrest and rancor in the world.”

In a word, we must not “strive”—a Greek term that refers to fist-fights or word-fights depending on the context. We must be knowledgeable (able to teach), but we must also be kind and gentle (the Greek word, epios, means both), patient and humble in our demeanor. If others are delivered from error, it will only be because we have been kind, gentle, patient and humble. The medium as well as the message is the message. 

And, in all our conversations we must bear in mind that those who oppose the truth (as we see it) are not our enemies, but, if deceived, are victims of Satan, our true enemy, who has “taken them captive to do his will.” 

Or it may be—perish the thought—that we’ve been duped as well. 

David Roper 

July 8, 2020

On Kindness

“It's not just who to vote for in November. Wokeness now contains several divisive issues, and they won't be going away anytime soon, regardless if it's Pres. Biden or Trump. The disturbing thing is how critical even Christians can be toward fellow believers with other views, how unwilling to dialogue, and unwilling to carry on in mutual love and respect. How sad if people of goodwill can't agree to disagree. How awful if the Cancel Culture enters the Church. Church splits won't be far away.” —Dan Brown

That quote comes from my good friend, Dan Brown, not the Dan Brown of Da Vinci Code fame, but the Dan Brown of Monica Brown fame who dwells East and West of Boise. 

We’ve been corresponding about breakdown of civility within the Church. How can it be said that we love one another when we, like the Gingham Dog and Calico Cat, are trying to “bite and devour one another?” (Galatian 5:15).

Paul writes, “Be kind, tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). Have we forgotten that admonition? 

The sainted Samuel Johnson said, “Out duty (as Christians) is to promote kindness.” Why then all the caterwauling about political points of view that in the end will mean nothing at all—when the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and all that useless stuff will have passed away. 

David Roper

7.6.20  

“Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho…”

“Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the LORD said to Joshua: 'See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor'” (Joshua 6:1,2). 

Archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon, excavating in and around Jericho in the mid-twentieth century, found massive walls surrounding the city, fronted by a smooth, plastered slope. The city was impregnable—“securely shut up” according to the biblical record. 

“Not to worry,” God said, “I’ve got this one.”

Jericho stood across the entrance to the Promised Land, frustrating every effort to break through. Israel’s army was no match for Jericho’s defense system and “ mighty men of valor." It had no mighty men, machines, or other means to carry out a siege. As such Jericho represents those people and circumstances that inhibit and frustrate us and stand in the way of our dreams. 

God, who wrote the book on the art of war, laid out his strategy for Joshua and his army:  “March around Jericho once a day for six days and six times on the seventh day.” And the walls came a-tumbling down. 

And so it is that we, “through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12). When frustrated and out of sorts we must fill our hearts with prayer—the highest expression of our faith—and wait for God to come through. 

Israel waited a week. We may have to wait a bit longer, subordinating our feverish activity to the slow, steady cadence of faith, for it is, “by faith that the walls of Jericho fell down” (Hebrews 11:39)

David Roper

7.3.20

Respite

“All have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:27-29).

To “take up the yoke” was to apprentice oneself (yoke oneself) to an eminent rabbi—in this case, the gentle, humble Jesus.

Other rabbis said, "Come to me and I'll give you a set of rules.” Jesus says, "Come to me and I'll show you what your Heavenly Father is like.”

Thus we find rest for our souls…

David Roper

7.1.20