The Father of the Winds

Oh, Father of the Four Winds, fill my sails,

Across the sea of years... —Led Zeppelen

The author of Hebrews encourages us to leave the baby steps of the Christian life and, as some translations render the phrase, “go on to maturity” (Hebrews 6:1). 

Actually, the mood of the verb translated “go on” is passive and would be better translated, “(Let us) be borne on to maturity,” a small grammatical difference that puts the emphasis on the activity of God. 

I’ve often written that we make progress toward god-likeness solely by asking for it. Goodness is not the product of human effort and ingenuity. It’s the result of prayer. 

So... I can huff and puff to fill my sails, but I will make no progress at all. Or, I can ask the Father of the Winds to fill them.

David Roper

6.1.20

The Winds of God

Oh, Father of the Four Winds, fill my sails,

Across the sea of years. —Led Zeppelen

The author of Hebrews encourages us to leave the baby steps of the Christian life and, as some translations render the phrase, “go on to maturity” (Hebrews 6:1). 

Actually, the mood of the verb translated “go on” is passive and would be better translated, “(Let us) be borne on to maturity,” a small grammatical difference that puts the emphasis on the activity of God. 

I’ve often written that we make progress toward god-likeness solely by asking for it. Goodness is not the product of human effort and ingenuity. It’s the result of prayer. 

I can huff and puff to fill my sails, but I will make no progress at all. Or, I can ask the Father of Winds to fill them.

David Roper

6.1.20

Sheep!

I have gone astray like a lost sheep;

Seek Your servant (Psalm 119:176).

SHEEP, you may be surprised to know, are not as innocent as they look. They’re actually wily outlaws, prone to wander and happy to do it. 

I know. I used to raise sheep. 

Some would attribute their behavior to stupidity, but I doubt it. I’ve seen them look over their shoulders to see where I am before they vamoose. I think they’re cold, calculating, ruthless rebels. 

But then so am I. “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.”

So…come after me, Lord, when I high-tail it. “Seek your servant.”

David Roper

5.29.20

Sheltering in Place III

Come, my people, enter your chambers,

And shut your doors behind you;

Hide yourself, as it were, for a little while,

Until the plague is past (Isaiah 26:20).

This was Isaiah’s call to God’s people to shelter in place while God rained judgment on the City of Man. “Hide yourself…until the plague is past,” a call that’s remarkably apropos for our day.

I think of another call: Jesus’ invitation to withdraw from the mad, mad, mad, mad world around us and within us, on any day and for any reason, and enter into that quiet chamber in our hearts that Jesus called our “closet”—to shut the door behind us and bide a wee with him (Matthew 6:6).

David Roper

5.26.20

The Purpose That Is Purposed

“This is the purpose that is purposed with regard to the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?”—Isaiah 14:26-27

This remarkable text follows on the heels of God’s promise to put an end to Assyria’s plan for world domination and is a model for all that God has determined to do on the earth. His strategies and tactics alone are purposed and perfected: “The LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?” (Vs. 27).

This is a solid fact to hold fast in the face of the current gaggle of conspiracy theories. We’re told, for example, that Facebook, Amazon and Google are an unholy trinity contriving to unite us under a one-world government. Efforts to quarantine church-goers during the Corvid-19 pandemic are attempts to isolate them from the fellowship of believers and a first step toward shuttering all places of worship. Plots and counterplots abound.

Some of these schemes could exist, I suppose, though eighty-seven years of living have taught me that no collection of flesh-governed individuals can hold their stuff together very long. Evil is inherently unstable and disruptive. The best laid plans of mortal men soon fall apart at the seams. 

So Isaiah warns us, “Do not call conspiracy everything this people regard as conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear” (Isaiah 8:12). We’re encouraged to look past our fear to God, who has the first and last word on everything that happens here on earth. History is His-story from beginning to end. 

So, we can be at peace when rumors of sedition swirl around us, for we believe and know that our Father in Heaven controls every “purpose that is purposed.” Thus his children need not fear. 

David Roper

5.15.20

“They Were There”

“It made no difference whether the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for two days or a month or a year, as long as the Cloud was there, they were there”(Numbers. 9:22 The Message)

I see that the beaches in Florida and other places have re-opened, largely due to the demands of the young and restless. I suspect, however that these folks will be no less restless on the beaches. Contentment has nothing to do with one’s circumstances. It’s a matter of the heart.

The secret to contentment is seeing God in every place, knowing that he is with us in all that we endure. We can embrace every hardship with joy because he is present. The author of Hebrews has written, “Be  content with things as they are, for God Himself has said, “I will never leave you; I will never forsake you‑forever” 

David Roper

5.2.20

Some Thoughts On Kerfuffles While Sheltering

More in number than the hairs of my head

are those who hate me without cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me,

those who attack me with lies…

O God, you know my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you (Psalm 69:4,5).

Funny how prayer works. I begin to recite and bewail the wrongs done to me and discover the wrong-doing in me.

That’s the value of putting my plight before God: I see myself—my lack of wisdom and the beam in my own eye (Matthew 7:5). 

So… the first step in regaining perspective in an angry dispute is repentance. “It is a consoling thought that no matter what others do, I am always in the wrong” (Søren Kierkegaard).

David Roper

5.17.20