A prayer from Valley of Vision – a convicting and much-needed perspective to begin the day.

O Lord of grace,
I have been hasty and short in private prayer,
O quicken my conscience to feel this folly,
to bewail this ingratitude;
My first sin of the day leads into others,
and it is just that thou shouldst withdraw
thy presence
from one who waited carelessly on thee.
Keep me at all times from robbing thee,
and from depriving my soul of thy due worship;
Let me never forget
that I have an eternal duty to love, honour
and obey thee,
that thou art infinitely worthy of such;
that if I fail to glorify thee
I am guilty of infinite evil that merits infinite punishment,
for sin is the violation of an infinite obligation.
O forgive me if I have dishonoured thee,
Melt my heart, heal my backslidings,
and open an intercourse of love.
When the fire of thy compassion warms my
inward man,
and the outpourings of thy Spirit fill my soul,
then I feelingly wonder at my own depravity,
and deeply abhor myself;
then thy grace is a powerful incentive
to repentance,
and an irresistible motive to inward holiness.
May I never forget that thou hast my heart
in thy hands.
Apply to it the merits of Christ’s atoning blood
whenever I sin.
Let thy mercies draw me to thyself.
Wean me from all evil, mortify me to the world,
and make me ready for my departure hence
animated by the humiliations of penitential love.
My soul is often a chariot without wheels,
clogged and hindered in sin’s miry clay;
Mount it on eagle’s wings
and cause it to soar upward to thyself.

HT: Challies

Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek, by Constantine Campbell.  This new book from Zondervan will be available in November.  Zondervan is giving away twenty copies to bloggers who will read and review it.  I’m looking forward to receiving my copy in a couple of weeks – this is an area of recent development in our understanding of biblical Greek, a study that will be an excellent guide in accurate exegesis.  As soon as I have that read, I’ll be posting a review here.

There’s a biblical name that people don’t often give their children: Mephibosheth.  He was King Saul’s grandson (Jonathan’s son) who had been crippled as an infant (II Sam. 4.4).  In II Sam. 9, we read that King David showed amazing kindness to Mephibosheth.

Being in Saul’s family, Mephibosheth would have been considered an enemy and threat by any other eastern king.  Being crippled, Mephibosheth was helpless and, by human standards, unworthy of a king’s attention.  Yet David initiated an act of love and kindness, bringing Mephibosheth into his own family.

Doesn’t this remind you of the way that God treats us?  “While we were enemies,” while we were “helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” God “first loved us” and “predestined us for adoption as sons” (Rom. 5.10; Mt. 9.36; I Jn. 4.19; Eph. 1.5)!

What a heart-stirring picture of God’s love for us we read in David’s gracious kindness to Mephibosheth!

Paul told the Corinthians to treat Timothy (a young minister) kindly and respectfully: “When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am.  So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers” (I Cor. 16.10-11).  Apparently Paul was concerned that something besides kindness and respect might happen.  Timothy could have looked at that and said, “Look at these people – they don’t respect me.  Paul even commanded them too!  This respect thing – it’s all their fault!”

But turn over to I Tim. 4.12: “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”  Here, Paul does not commiserate with Timothy; he does not pat him on the back, give him a pep talk or encourage him to blame the respect issue on the people around him!  Paul gives Timothy a straightforward exhortation to do everything possible so that no one woud have reason to esteem him poorly.  Yes, the problem may have been someone else’s fault (it looks that way in Corinth), but the responsibility lies with both parties.

Our problems with other people (particularly in ministry) may be the fault of the “other people,” but the responsibility to minimize the problem and its causes lies with us as well!

As more than just an expensive picture frame, that is.  And that’s all most people do with their desktop image – find a pretty picture (landscape, loved one or just some fancy design) and use it to fill the background.  I decided to do something more functional than that, however…

My useful desktop image

Now with the push of a single button (F11 on my MacBook), I can see my homework schedule for the semester – no other files or applications to open, just peek at the desktop for quick reference!  Any of my readers have useful desktop background tips?

David’s circumstances are pretty bleak near the end of I Samuel.  Yet in spite of the pressure, we see his example as a “man after God’s own heart” shining brightly.  In chapter 19, King Saul’s hostility toward David took the form of actual attacks and death threats.  David has been fleeing since then and, despite two merciful acts of sparing Saul’s life, David finds no respite.  In fact, the pressure of Saul’s hunt causes David to flee to Philistia (Israel’s enemies) with his rag-tag band of soldiers.  There David repeatedly proves his reliability and fighting ability by defending Philistia’s cities and defeating her enemies for almost a year and a half!

In I Sam. 28, the Philistine armies prepare to wage war against King Saul and Israel’s army.  David and his men prepare as well, but the Philistine lords do not trust them in battle (“Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here?”  I Sam 29.4).  In the face of being mistrusted, David and his men return home to Ziklag and find that it has been raided, looted and burned.  Their wives and children are all captives to the marauding Amalekites.  David had (in worldly estimation) plenty of cause for discouragement and bitterness.  In fact, the men around him (who had just lost their wives and children as well) were “bitter in soul” and on the brink of stoning David (I Sam. 30.6).

It is no wonder that “David was greatly distressed” at this point!  But it is precisely now when God’s grace shines brightly through David!  In the midst of rejection, great personal loss and death threats, “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (I Sam. 30.6).

Now, we’re not surrounded by Philistines, Amalekites or rag-tag soldier bands today.  But when we hear phrases like “high pressure,” “under a lot of stress” and “up against the wall,” we can quickly identify things in our lives that make us feel that way!  Perhaps like David, we can even point our fingers at specific instances of mistreatment and injustice that have put us between the rock and the hard place.  It may even be that we are surrounded by bitter people and the draw to be bitter right back at them is very strong.  This is where we need to turn to God for the same grace that David evidenced in I Sam. 30.6.  Not bitter, not angry, not suicidal, not short or snappish, “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”

What does this “strengthening” look like?  David gets up, seeks God’s will through a spiritual leader and leads his men in faith to regain their families.  Confronted with problem after problem, David turns to God for strength: he finds God’s direction and goes to do it in faith!  By God’s grace, may we do the same!

Classes start today for my first semester of PhD work.  I’ll be taking Hebrew, German and NT Interpretation, as well as finishing up an OT Theology correspondence course.

I’m still working a phone tech support job as a GA for the University for the rest of this month.  At the end of September, I’ll be moving over to an IT position, managing a music sales website for a related ministry.

Apologies for the infrequent posting over the last week for the 4-5 of you who regularly read this :) but once I get settled into the new routine, I’ll look for some time to write more.