Making America Great Again

 

I will not give sleep to my eyes

Or slumber to my eyelids,

Until I find a place for the Lord,

A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob." 

—Psalm 132:3-5

 

The first days of a ruler’s incumbency reveal his priorities. David's first act as Israel’s king was to search for the Ark of the Covenant. "David said to all the assembly of Israel... 'Let us bring again the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul.' So all the assembly agreed to do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people" (1 Chronicles 13:2–4).  

 

King Saul, David’s predecessor, was a thoroughly secular man. He cared nothing for the ark, but left it to rot in a tangled thicket for forty years while the nation descended into spiritual and moral ruin. David, on the other hand, could not rest until he retrieved the ark, and placed it in the little tent that was its “dwelling place” (2 Samuel 6:1-15).

 

The ark was just a little box about the size of an army footlocker that contained the tablets of the Law (2 Chronicles 5:10). There was no magic in the ark, Raiders of the Lost Ark notwithstanding. It was representative—symbolic of God's presence and the importance of his word. King David longed to bring God back to his nation—“to find a place for him.” 

 

This was the "David Doctrine”—God first and foremost in the hearts of his countrymen, a top-down platform that began in the heart of the king: David wrote in another place, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I might gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (Psalms 27:4). 

 

Oh, that God would give us such a “king.”

 

David Roper

10.7.20

Our Indomitable Soul

“Remind them to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people” (Titus 3:2). 

 

The Greek philosopher Zeno wrote: “If you lay violent hands on me, you will have my body, but Stilpo (Zeno’s mentor) will have my soul.”

 

He is saying, in his Stoic way, that his body can be violated, but no one can violate his soul. Jesus’ apostle, Peter, says the same thing in another way: “No one can harm you (your soul) if you are zealous for what is good” (1 Peter 3:13). 

 

Our souls are like fortresses whose walls cannot be breached and whose gates cannot be forced, but can only be opened from within. We can turn away the hate-filled rhetoric that characterizes political and social discourse these days, or we can embrace it as our own. 

 

But once it finds its way into our souls, it becomes our rhetoric, our colloquy, and our shame. 

 

George MacDonald remembers: 

 

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

 

David Roper

10.3.20

Betwixt Sheep and Goats

“He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats" (Matthew 25:32).

 

As the election looms, confusion reigns: If character matters, what candidate has the requisite character? If policy matters, what party rests on a platform that most nearly approximates God‘s concerns? 

 

These are the questions that trouble us,  made more difficult by the fact that no human candidate or platform can fully satisfy the demands of justice. All fall short of the glory of God.

 

But we, on our part, can acquaint ourselves with both candidates and the platforms their parties embrace and prayerfully lay both candidates and platforms alongside the Word of God, our ultimate source of the knowledge of good and evil. And as we search the scriptures we can ask for wisdom from above for God alone knows the facts and latent forces that lie beyond our ken. And then we can cast our vote, praying that God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

 

There will always be a measure of uncertainty in our decisions, for we “know in part,” and thus we cannot know all that we need to know. But we can know that we have sought God’s will and not our own. And that’s the best that anyone can do. 

 

In my own heart, O master, in my thought,

Betwixt the woolly sheep and hairy goat

Not clearly I distinguish; but I think

Thou knowest that I fight upon thy side. —George MacDonald

 

David Roper

9.30.20

In God We Trust

He who rules over men must be just,

Ruling in the fear of God.

And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises,

A morning without clouds,

Like the tender grass springing out of the earth,

By clear shining after rain.

For does not my house stand so with God?

For he has made with me an everlasting covenant,

ordered in all things and secure.

For will he not cause to prosper

all my help and my desire? (2 Samuel 23:3-5)

 

These are David’s last words, spoken as an unimpeachable oracle (23:1): Rulers who rule justly, upholding all that God himself upholds, are like the dawn of a cloudless day after a soaking rain that that brings fresh life to the land—an analogy that connotes far more than it denotes. We all know mornings like that though we cannot adequately explain what we feel. 

 

David longed to be such a ruler, but it was not to be: adultery, murder, cruelty, violence, cowardice and duplicity characterized much of his tenure and that of his successors (e.g., 1 Samuel 17—1 Kings 2). It was only through the faithfulness of God that David’s dynasty prospered and endured (23:5) 

 

And so it comes to this: Men will always disappoint us, which is why our national motto rightly reads, “In God we trust,” and not, “Long live the king.”

 

David Roper

9.29.20

Never Hate a Hater

“What if someone despises me? Let them see to it. But I will see to it that I won’t be found doing or saying anything contemptible. What if someone hates me? Let them see to that" (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 11.13).

When a Stoic like Marcus encountered hatred he asked himself, "Can I change this person’s opinion of me?" If not, I will politely ignore him and put all thoughts of him away—an attitude akin to the modern meme that we should not allow unpleasant people to rent space in our heads.  This was the Stoic way.

 

Jesus took Stoic counsel one giant step further. “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:43,44).

 

The Stoics said, "Never hate a hater." Jesus said, "Overcome haters with good."

 

David Roper

9.18.20  

Why Things Are As They Are

“Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no truth or stedfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land. therefore, there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed” (Hosea 4:1-2).

“Swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; people break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.” It reads like the front page of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, Fox or Apple News.

The core problem is spiritual, of course: "There is no truth or love, and no knowledge of God in the land." 

This is the glorious simplicity of the gospel. It cuts through layers of obfuscation, cliché, psychological and political blather to core issues. When we turn away from God we “break all bounds and bloodshed follows bloodshed.” That's why things are as they are. 

Thus, there is no ultimate solution for America that does not spring first from repentance and faith. Period!

David Roper

9.24.20

  

Aslan’s Tears

 

“Jesus sobbed.” —John 11:35

 

Digory, standing before the great lion, Aslan, remembered his terminally ill Mother. A lump came to his throat and tears to his eyes, and he blurted out, “But please, please—won’t you—can’t you give me something that will cure Mother?” 

 

Up till then he had been looking at the Lion’s great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion’s eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory’s own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself. 'My son, my son,' said Asian. 'I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another.'"[1]

 

I think of Jesus' tears at Lazarus' grave. John tells us that he “sobbed.” He sobbed for his own grief, for Mary and Martha’s grief and he sobs for you and me. Grief is great. Jesus knows. He will be good to you.

 

And, lest we forget, everyone we meet today has some measure of grief to bear. Grief is great. Let us be good to one another.

 

David Roper

9.17.20

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[1] C. S. Lewis’ The Magician's Nephew