Chaplain Daily Touchpoint #436: The Matter of an Unchanging Foundation

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Text: “[I]f the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3).

Analysis: That’s an excellent question, is it not? It rests upon a few presuppositions. First, that there is indeed a foundation. But what exactly is the foundation? Is it something immovable and fixed? Or is it something malleable and subject to change? If it changes, on what grounds does it change? Fluctuating, conflicting human preference? By what standard does one evaluate the foundation if and when it is removed from an unchanging absolute?

These should be basic questions because they go to the heart of ontology—to the heart of being itself. But what if cliches and juvenile talking points supplant deep, critical thinking? What then? Does it degenerate into a matter of human will? That is Nietzschean nihilism and ends in bloodshed.

Context, Context, Context: What David is driving at in Psalm 11 is that God is the unmovable, fixed, unchanging standard of righteousness. All other standards are by definition contingent. That’s the point of the rhetorical question, “if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

Encouragement: “For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds” (Psalm 11:7a). Righteousness is inseparable from God himself. To seek to define righteousness vs. unrighteousness, good vs. evil, light vs. dark without references to the one true and living God is having one’s feet firmly planted in midair. In other words, they’re not planted at all. They’re foundationless. And if you want to know what that looks like, just look around at the ideas being proffered. They’re unqualifiable assertions lacking a transcendent and objective foundation. That is why David calls the wise back to God, back to the unchanging, holy, righteous, fixed standard by which ethics is defined.

Chaplain Daily Touchpoint #435: The Beginning of Wisdom

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Text:

19 Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail;
    let the nations be judged before you!
20 Put them in fear, O Lord!
    Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah

Context, Context, Context: David, the shepherd/poet/king, wrote Psalm 9. Psalm 9 is sometimes categorized as a psalm or confidence or a psalm of thanksgiving. The reasons are straightforward: David recognizes and rejoices in the fact that God is the one most worthy of praise. He is the one from whom all blessings flow. He is to be the believer’s focus. Through most of the poem, David employs language of God as king, as ruler, as supreme. And when we get to lines 19-20, David is speaking of nations hostile to God and to God’s truth.

Teaching: David focuses on the theological posture of nations and people who oppose God. David prays that the nations would be judged before the holy judgment seat of God (v. 19), that they might learn to fear the Lord (v. 20a), and they would be humbled before God (v. 20b).

Encouragement: Throughout Scripture, God’s Word teaches that humility precedes honor, that pride is abominable before God. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (James 4:10). Satan is the one who opposed the King of kings; he demanded the spotlight; he wanted to be the Most High. But God will not share his glory with another. God is the Creator and we are his creatures. And David, because he understands the times and what God’s people are to do, calls the nations (i.e., people) to humility before God so that, at the proper time and in the proper way, God might raise them up.

Coffee with a Friend

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Coffee with a friend this morning. We met at a local coffee shop, ordered his cappuccino and my black coffee, then went and sat in the Adirondack chairs across the street, and again spoke of theology, apologetics, history, church history, current events, and the gospel.

As I sipped my coffee and he sipped his cappuccino, we listened to each other, asked questions of one another, spoke of our love for our families, and of our churches.

My friend is bubbling with ideas, with questions, with intellectual curiosity. He is reading and thinking deeply. He is tender to truth. He is hungry for it.

I see myself in him, especially as I was years ago, when I was finding my way theologically and recognizing how God put men and women in my life at the right times to shepherd me and encourage me.

I hope to be such a person to him. I am so encouraged each Saturday morning by our time together. It is encouraging to enjoy kind and tender dialogue and discussion and depth in a culture that so often is characterized by acerbic tones, crassness, and a shutting down of depth and civility.

It’s a small thing–simple things like coffee and conversation. But I am confident that times like this sow seeds of hope and truth and kindness in a culture so often diminished by the lack of such small things.

Till next time.

Who Reigns?

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Intro: Regardless of when I read Psalm 2, it’s as if it is ripped from that day’s headlines.

Verse 1 portrays the nations as raging and people plotting in vain.

Verse 2 describes how the earth’s leaders set themselves against God and his Anointed/messiah.

Verse 3 personifies the world’s powers as wanting to cast off all restraint and oppose God.

You don’t have to be paying too much attention to world events to possibly think to yourself, “Hmmm? Why does this sound so familiar?”

Regardless of our worldview or our political leanings, surely we can all admit that we’re living through a civilizational shift:

  • Artificial Intelligence seems to pop up in almost every article or story.
  • The Middle East is a powder keg.
  • Religious iconography is being profaned and/or completely perverted.
  • Some politicians continue to be revealed as being bought and paid for by wealthy lobbies.

The list goes on and on.

Questions: What does the Lord, according to Scripture, think of all this? Is he taken aback? Is he befuddled? Just let Scripture speak for itself:

4He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”

7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
    today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
    and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
    and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” (Ps 2:4-9)

It’s almost as if God knows his creatures’ proclivities and natures through and through–almost as if he is sovereign, almost as if he’s letting people learn lessons. Meanwhile, the drama continues. It all plays out.

Concluding Thoughts on the Book of Job

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Introduction: Again and again I return to the Wisdom Literature in Scripture—especially Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Why? Well, those books especially deal the most with enduring existential questions: 1) Why is there so much suffering?; 2) What is man’s root problem?; 3) Is there a solution?; 4) If so, what is it?; 5) Why is evil so often permitted and goodness so often punished? There are more questions addressed in the Wisdom Literature, of course, but the aforementioned are some of the main ones.

Context, Context, Context: The Book of Job explores these questions in excruciating detail. This morning as I completed my reading through it yet again, I was again moved to my core. Why? Well, because God answers Job. Beginning in chapter 38 of the Book of Job, God answers. And Job is changed. As are Job’s friends. Job’s fortunes are restored; they are, in fact, doubled (Job 42:10). Job is commended personally by God (Job 42:7).

Teaching: Job repented of his presumptuousness and pride: “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further” (Job 40:4-5). Job was, in short, humbled. He came to more fully understand God’s sovereignty and his (Job’s) finitude. Job was made to know his limitations. In other words, humility precedes honor: that was one of the verities Job was taught. Pride is our root problem; we assume a posture of importance before God and God has to remind us that we are creatures of dust that he formed. He is the Creator; we are the creatures. When we get that theology into our viscera, it changes us. It humbles us in order that we will look to God.

Chapters 38-42 of Job are some of the most moving closing chapters of any piece of literature one will find. Why? Because they illustrate the utter magnificence of God, God’s wisdom, and God’s sovereignty. God levelled scathing rebukes at the short-sighted theology of Job’s friends. Simultaneously, God gave Job an inestimable gift—namely, himself. God was there . . . through it all. And God was good . . . through it all. And great blessing followed great suffering.

Encouragement: All of us know some measure of suffering. It’s unprofitable to compare our levels of suffering. All of us know sickness, sorrow, death, loss, grief, betrayal, and more. Those are all experiences of the human condition, of fallenness, of a broken world. We all understand that in our bones. But what is also true is that God is still there; he still is sovereign in, through, and over our suffering. In the incarnation, God the Son became one of us in order to take on flesh and suffer in our stead. This is what Job’s story is to drive us to understand. The Suffering Servant, Jesus, came in order to bear the punishment that we prideful creatures deserve. And the response of the wise person is to do as Job did—repent and flee to God. Don’t minimize the beauty and pathos of Job 42:12: “And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.” Let us attend to that wisdom, meditate upon it, and be transformed by it. God blesses his people—but there is always a cross before a crown.

Chaplain Daily Touchpoint #433: On Quality

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Text: “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men” (Pr 22:29).

Questions: Have you ever reflected upon the quality of work you produce? Are you proud of it? Are you willing to have others vet it for quality? Regardless of our lane of work, do we produce work that is commendable?

Context, Context, Context: Proverbs 22:29 is a call to quality. It’s a poetic aphorism that teaches a fundamental, wise precept: Regardless of our calling, we should produce work to the best of our abilities. We should not be half-hearted people. We should give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. We should not be lazy.

Think, for example, of when the Queen of Sheba came to visit King Solomon. Do you remember her words to the king? “Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom” (1 Kings 10:8). Even the Queen of Sheba, a denizen of a foreign land, recognized the quality of Solomon’s early kingship. Of course, Solomon would in short order blow much of his testimony through his own selfishness, but for a while, he ruled well and ruled wisely.

Encouragement: As a chaplain and minister, I conduct scores if not hundreds of funerals each year. Funerals provide opportunities to step back and take inventory of our lives—to see what we who remain might learn about stewarding our time and vocations wisely. Do you long to stand before kings? Then work well. Work to the best of your ability. Produce quality products. Take your lane seriously and serve with distinction. Why? Because the holy evaluator of us all sees and is never fooled. And that truth should drive us to long to please him by the manner in which we perform our duties, so that we are not ashamed.

Recent Reads

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We don’t choose our obsessions; they choose us. I think that’s one of Irving’s zingers. Regardless, I concur.

Three of my obsessions are the Patristics and that era, and the associated heralds of the first 400 years of Christian history, Christian apologetics, and the writing of Cormac McCarthy. With those three in mind, here are three of my recent reads and some comments about each:

  1. John “golden-mouthed” Chrysostom is an abiding favorite. This volume, On Living Simply, though but excerpts from some of his homilies, was a fine introduction to possibly the greatest preacher in church history (some would argue for Spurgeon or Whitefield or others to carry that mantle), but in terms of application of the gospel to the quotidian, Chrysostom is unparalleled. I prefer to read Jonathan Edwards’ and Lloyd-Jones’ sermons (both are easily available to those who care), but Chrysostom had a knack for connecting with his audiences, regardless of their education level. Edwards scratches my intellectual itches and Spurgeon preached sermons as well as Dickens wrote novels. There’s a reason both are recognized as classics.
  2. Johnston’s Body of Proof is yet another book on the historical trustworthiness of the Gospels and a thoroughly-footnoted historical account of reasons for the Christian worldview. I didn’t find much new here but it is solid food for those who are open to actual history and are intellectually honest.
  3. Third is another read I completed regarding the writer Cormac McCarthy. He will endure alongside Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, Dante, Dickens, Faulkner, and others as part of the top tiers in the Western canon. Cooper’s analysis was beautiful, amply-annotated, vetted, scholarly, and still very readable. Highly recommended.

Tollo lege.

Thoughts on the Tongue

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Introduction: Ever known a gossip? Ever known someone who has to share his/her opinion about seemingly everything and everyone? Ever known someone who seemed incapable of just being quiet? Ever known someone who assumes his/her view is so important that we’d all do well to just pull up a seat and imbibe his/her take on things?

I would wager we all know that guy and that gal. Some folks just don’t seem to have a mute button. They’re babblers. They just talk and talk and talk. They seem incapable of just doing something quietly. Sometimes when such people are around I’ll afterwards tell my wife, “She needs to get a hobby–something besides gossip.”

Scripture: “Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler” (Pr 20:19). The Bible has a great deal to say about the tongue. God warns his people what not to be like.

  • “Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered” (Pr 11:13).
  • “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (Pr 18:21).
  • James 3:5-8 is crystal-clear: So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (Jas 3:5-8)

Scripture instructs God’s people to not be babblers and idle talkers. We’re not to be gossips or busybodies. When Paul wrote to Timothy, for example, he told him that women in the church were not to be “gossips and busybodies” (1 Tim 5:13).

Why was that so important that God inspired it in the canon? Because restless talk, gossip, nosiness, and busybodies destroy unity. They undermine the team. They sabotage the mission.

Encouragement: Does this mean we’re to always be reticent and uncommunicative? No, of course not. But we’re to use our speech wisely. The Bible instructs us in what not to be like but also what to inculcate as a habit of godliness. In the imperative section of the Book of Ephesians, Paul wrote, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Yes and amen.

Studies in Job (Part 2)

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In the beginning, Job’s three friends got it right. That is, when they saw their friend being subjected to immense loss and suffering, they shut up. They simply but tenderly just came alongside their friend.

Text: 11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. (Job 2:11-13)

Sometimes the wise thing to do is say nothing. Just come alongside the hurting person and weep with those who weep. Just be there. It’s not the time to sermonize. It’s not the time for a lecture. It’s a time just to be a friend to the person that’s hurting. And sometimes being a wise friend means shutting up and just letting him/her know you’re there if and when the proper time comes to talk.

Encouragement: When we study the life of Job, when we read the entire book again and again, we see a man that God used to teach him (and us by extension) that God uses our suffering to remind us that he is there in it. He was there before it. He will be there after it. And sometimes the wisest and most loving thing we can do is be silent.