Home Sweet Home

"Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they called lands by their own names" —Psalm 49:11

A few years ago Carolyn and I bought two lots at Dry Creek Cemetery, a wind-swept hill overlooking the city of Boise. One for me and one for her. Mine is about 4’ wide and 8' long—32 square feet in all. I laid down on it—much to Carolyn's chagrin—to see if I fit. I did. Just barely.

Some people acquire vast estates and some have continents named after them, folks like Amerigo Vespucci, but the only piece of real estate any of us will ever truly own is our grave. Not much to show for a lifetime of effort.

That's the problem with a "this world" perspective. No matter what you acquire or accomplish in this life you can't take it with you. As Israel's poet put it, you die and "leave everything to others" (49:10). This calls for "understanding” (49:3,20), an insight, a perspective on reality: There is another dimension of reality, an unseen realm in which earthly notions of the good life are irrelevant. This present world is tangible but transient; the unseen world is forever and ever. It's toward that invisible, eternal realm that our predominant thoughts, time and energy ought to go. “Seek first the Kingdom of God,” Jesus said.

I'm reminded of a story I heard years ago about a stock broker who encountered a genie and given the requisite wish. "A copy of the Wall Street Journal one year hence," the man replied. Thereupon, paper in hand, he turned to the market report for that day anticipating a killing. But his eye fell first on his picture on the opposite page accompanied by his obituary.

The killing he anticipated was his own.

David Roper

'Til We Have Faces

"More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause... O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done." —Psalm 69:1,5

The psalmist laments the unjust way in which others have treated him, but as the complaints tumble out of his mouth he begins see his own "folly—the wrong he has done.

Thus, in our laments, we may be brought face to face with our own wrong-doing, our proud, defensive reactions, our words not entirely true, our missed opportunities to show forbearance and grace—a largely unremarked premise C.S. Lewis' develops in his fantasy, 'Till We Have Faces.

The main character, Orual, has been taking angry mental notes throughout her life, bitter at the injustice visited upon her. Finally, deciding to put her complaints in writing, she describes each instance in which she believes she has been wronged. But as she does so she sees her own "face" —her own wrong-doing. In a flash of insight, she asks, "How can the gods meet us face to face, 'til we have faces?"

As we stand before God lamenting the ways in which others have sinned against us, may He open our eyes to see our own "face," i. e., our own wrong-doing and the ways in which we have grieved God, our sisters and brothers.

Then, God helping us, may we respond with keener insight, greater humility and mercy toward who that have wronged us (Matthew 7:3-5).

David Roper

Blessings in Disguise

You, O God, have tested us;

You have tried us as silver is tried.

You brought us into the net;

You laid a crushing burden on our backs.

You let men ride over our heads.

We went through fire and through water;

But You brought us out to abundance.

—Psalm 66:10-12

“You…You…You…You…You…You." The psalmist sees God in every ordeal. Temptations, trials, strictures, crushing burdens, people riding roughshod over us, fire and rain—all these crises are mediated through God's hands.

Here lies an enigma: Though others afflict us, or we afflict ourselves, God takes responsibility for all that befalls us. Scripture affirms it. I cannot explain it. I can only state it.

One of the most startling statements in the Bible occurs on an occasion in which Satan, having done his worst to torment Job, appears a second time before God, who takes the blame for all that happened to Job: "You incited me to act against (Job)" (Job 2:3).

If all events are random the world becomes a very scary place, but if goodness and love order all that happens to us here, we can assume there's a reason for it all.

We may not know the reason, indeed we cannot, but, despite our troubles we can trust God's love. The result is tranquility and a satisfying quality of life the biblical writers call "blessedness"—a sense of spiritual well-being that transcends our best efforts to explain it, a point the psalm makes as well: "You bring us out (of suffering) to abundance"[1] (66:12). It's the word David uses in his Shepherd Psalm: "My cup overflows" (Psalm 23:5).

Good when He gives, supremely good;
Nor less when He denies:
Afflictions, from His sovereign hand,
Are blessings in disguise. —author unknown

David Roper3.1.17

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[1] The Hebrew word means "saturation"—complete satisfaction.

Don't Feed the Trolls

Psalm 64

They hold fast to their evil purpose;

they talk of laying snares secretly,

thinking, “Who can see them?” —Psalm 64:5

 usernames in order to defame and vilify. Surely you've encountered them on Twitter, Facebook, Anyone who uses the internet to communicate has encountered trolls—nasty, profane, cowards that hide behind anonymous accounts and fakeInstagram, Snapchat and other social media.

Trolls, according to Nordic mythology, were wicked, slow-witted dwarves that hid under bridges, harassing travelers, impeding their progress, and exacting a heavy toll from those that passed by. David, in this psalm, is thinking of something similar—assailants that hide in the shadows, “who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows, shooting from ambush at the blameless, shooting at him suddenly and without fear,” thinking, "who can see (us)." (63:3-6).

But God sees and in time they will be "brought to ruin,” dispatched by their own weapons, “their tongues turned against them” (64:7,8). “What we sow we reap," Paul said with quiet confidence (Galatians 6:5). Evil has within itself the seeds of its own destruction.

So let 'em be. Don't engage with them. To interact with them merely serves their purposes and emboldens them. Ignore them.[1] "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up,” Jesus said. “Let them alone." (Matthew 15:13,14 and Hosea 4:17).

David Roper

2,27.17

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[1] Parents, teachers, coaches, school administrators and others charged with caring for young people, however, should never ignore bullies.