Celebrating Our Incompetence

“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” —1 Corinthians 1:26-31

God surrounds himself with a bunch of incompetents. The people he uses have rarely been great people, nor have great people been the people God uses. It’s not that he has to make–do with fools. He chooses them. 

Oh, to be sure, some of God’s children are rich and famous, but there aren’t many. (Lady Hamilton, a member of the British noble family, once quipped that she was saved by the letter “m,” for, as she put it, “Paul said ‘not many are called.’ He did not say ‘not any.’”) Most of us are ordinary people, unimportant, and unnecessary in the eyes of the world. Few of us have much clout; we’re neither super–stars nor super–saints. Like St. Francis’ “Jesters” we’re the joke God is playing on the world. 

But therein lies our strength. Paul, who was inclined toward paradoxes, put it this way: “When I am weak, I am strong” “If I must boast,” Paul continues, “I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised for ever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands” (2 Corinthians 11:30-33). 

Paul came to Damascus thinking he create a revival but precipitated a riot. The folks there put him in a fish basket, lowered him over the wall and sent him packing, pleading with him not to return lest he undo all that God had been doing in the city.

What a bitter embarrassment! It was the worst of days and the best of days. It was the day that Paul learned that he was, as he later put it, “nobody” (2 Corinthians 12:11). 

But not to worry! Paul became “somebody.” He rounds out the picture this way: “We have this treasure (God) in jars of clay (our bodies) to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7). Deity in humanity—God’s presence in ordinary vessels of clay. 

And so it comes to this: nothing that comes from us is a source of hope; nothing is worth defending; nothing is special and worth admiring. Every virtue, every endearing quality, every proclivity toward goodness comes from God. Without him we can do nothing. When we accept that fact we can rest in him who alone is our wisdom, righteousness and power.

God has promised to use us for his intended purposes, but first we must admit our uselessness and cast ourselves on him. In the words of an old hymn, “All that he requireth is to feel our need of him.”

David Roper

2.24.18

The Ten Words

"So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first" (Exodus 34:4).

Why two tablets? The commands are few and Hebrew script can be written small. One tablet would have sufficed, all the more since the stones were inscribed on both sides.

God wrote two copies for the same reason contracts are written in duplicate today: both parties keep a copy on file because contracts imply mutual responsibility.

But here’s the difference: God kept both copies of this contract on file—locked in the Ark of the Covenant under the mercy seat, where the blood of the lamb was sprinkled. He did so because he knew Israel would not, indeed could not hold up their end of the deal. God Himself must see to it that the contract remained in force. 

Peter says we are set apart "for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" (1Peter 1:1,2 ). God has asked us to be like Jesus—an impossible high demand. He has given us strength for compliance but immediate forgiveness when we fail to comply. He is, "a God of demand, a God of demand ready to be a God of grace" (Walter Brueggemann).

David Roper
2.15.18

Take My Life!

"Take my life, Lord; I'm of no use to anyone..." (1 Kings 19:4).

Elijah thought he was used up; good for nothing. Little did he know that he was about to begin his most enduring work: shaping a young man whom God would use for the next fifty years to bring salvation to his nation.

And so it can be for you and me...

It's important to remember that simple fact, for we tend to lose heart as we grow older. Few motives are operative then. Our ambitions are sated, our strength has abated; we may feel useless and of no value to anyone, much less to God. Everything in us may say, "back off, take it easy, leave well enough alone," but that's old folk's talk. Those who think that way wither away. "No wonder awaits them," Byron said.

God has a better idea: invest your life, your heart, your time, your wisdom in a young believer. Knowledge, wisdom, and character are cumulative, all things considered. It follows, then, that those who have loved God and walked with him through time will reach maturity rich in wisdom and understanding of his ways. Everything that has gone before—all the questioning, suffering, and hard learning—has been mere preparation. Now you can begin. You can pass on the sacred truths and solemn secrets; you can declare "God's power to the next generation, his might to all who are to come" (Psalm 71:18).

Mathew Henry wrote in his final years, "If only I may be instrumental to make others wise and good, wiser and better, more watchful against sin and more careful of their duty both to God and man...more in love with the Word of God, I have all I desire, all I aim at."

Who can ask for anything more!

David Roper

3.20.18

Young at Heart

  

“Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day...” (2 Corinthians 4:16). 

The last vehicle I owned was a 1995 GMC truck. It was dented, battered and scratched and had more miles on it than its odometer has numbers. Some parts of it didn’t work well; some parts didn’t work at all, but I was fond of it. I owned it for 17 years or more. It was mine. 

It was only mine, however. It wasn’t me. I never confused myself with my truck.  

So it is with my body. It’s dented, battered and scratched. Some parts of it don’t work well and some parts don’t work at all. I’m rather fond of it, however. I’ve owned it for 85 years or more. It’s mine. (Saint Francis had it exactly right when he referred to his body as “brother ass"—stubborn, sturdy and useful.)

But my body isn’t me. I have a body and, thank God, I shall

have one better, but I am not now my body, nor shall I ever be; I am my soul—the immaterial, inextinguishable, thinking, reasoning, remembering, adventure–seeking, fun–loving “me,” that I call “myself” and “I.” I have been joined to God’s family forever, begotten through Jesus Christ my Lord. I am an immortal child of God; I will never grow old and I will never die.  

That’s why, when I look in the mirror and gape at this bundle of dry, withered sticks, I can rightly say, "That’s not me!” My true self is hale and hearty and will never grow old.  

If anyone insists otherwise—for I do look old and decrepit—I shall answer, “Stuff and nonsense!” for, as George MacDonald argues, “Of all children, how can the children of God be old?" 

David Roper 

3.16.18

Betrayed

God is my help; the Lord will lift me up" (Psalm 54:4).

According to the superscription, this poem was written "when the Ziphites went and told Saul, 'Is not David hiding among us?'"

Here’s the backstory: David and his mighty men were in the wilderness of Ziph, on the run, trying to evade Saul and his henchmen, when he received word that the Philistines were pillaging the farms and fields of Keilah. Keilah was a small village that belonged to Judah, David's tribe. These were his kinsmen, family and friends.

So, "David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines...and struck them with a great blow. In this way, David saved the inhabitants of Keilah" (1 Samuel 23:1ff.) So far so good.

But the Ziphites (the inhabitants of Keilah, in the Wilderness of Ziph) went and told Saul, "Is not David hiding among us," whereupon Saul mustered his army and marched to the city of Keilah, thinking that he would trap David within its walls.

The Ziphites, his own kinsmen, the folks he delivered from the Philistines, ratted him out, proving once again the truth of the old  adage: No good deed goes unpunished.

God warned David of Saul's advance and David and his men were able to escape into the Wilderness of Ziph, where, though, "Saul sought him every day, God did not give him into his hand" (1Samuel 23:14)—a happy ending that takes us back to the theme of this poem, "God is my help: the LORD will lift me up."

It's hard when we're betrayed by friends and neighbors, harder still when our families let us down. But “even if father and mother forsake (you), the Lord will lift (you) up!" (Psalm 27:10). Men will always disappoint you. Trust Jesus.

David Roper

2.11.18