Guilt Of Conscience And Relief

  • April 27, 2015
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  • Park Forum

MelodiesOfHeavenOne

Psalm 38.1, 22
O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation! 

The psalms anticipate Christ with brilliant clarity and longing. Because of this Isaac Watts, the 18th century theologian, hymnodist, poet, and preacher, drew from them at length in his works. One of Watts’ most famous songs, Joy to the World, recasts Psalm 98 in common measure.

In his book Sacred Song in America, Stephen Marini notes that one of the reasons Watts’ works are so enduring is that they balance emotional subjectivity and doctrinal objectivity. “Watts’ voice broke down the distance between poet and singer and invested the text with personal spirituality.”

Watts’ work from the Psalms brings insight while making overt what the psalmists allude — Christ at the center of every longing, joy, and cry.

This week we’ll look at five works from Isaac Watts’ book, The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. Today, Psalm 38:

Amidst thy wrath remember love,
  Restore thy servant, Lord;
Nor let a Father’s chast’ning prove
  Like an avenger’s sword.

Thine arrows stick within my heart,
  My flesh is sorely pressed;
Between the sorrow and the smart,
  My spirit finds no rest.

My sins a heavy load appear,
  And o’er my head are gone;
Too heavy they for me to bear,
  Too hard for me t’ atone.

My thoughts are like a troubled sea,
My head still bending down;
And I go mourning all the day,
Beneath my Father’s frown.

Lord, I am weak and broken sore,
  None of my powers are whole:
The inward anguish makes me roar,
  The anguish of my soul.

All my desire to thee is known,
  Thine eye counts every tear;
And every sigh, and every groan,
  Is noticed by thine ear.

Thou art my God, my only hope;
  My God will hear my cry;
My God will bear my spirit up,
  When Satan bids me die.

My foot is ever apt to slide,
  My foes rejoice to see ’t;
They raise their pleasure and their pride
  When they supplant my feet.

But I’ll confess my guilt to thee,
  And grieve for all my sin;
I’ll mourn how weak my graces be,
  And beg support divine.

My God, forgive my follies past,
  And be for ever nigh;
O Lord of my salvation, haste,
  Before thy servant die.

Today’s Readings
Numbers 4 (Listen – 6:11)
Psalm 38 (Listen – 2:14)

Melodies of Heaven
Part 1 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

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Crying at the United Nations

  • April 24, 2015
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  • Park Forum

Psalm 35.1
Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! 

  • March 2013 — Sarin gas attack on the city of Aleppo. 19 dead.
  • August 2013 — Sarin gas attacks on two suburbs outside Damascus. Over 200 dead.
  • April/May 2014 — Chlorine attacks on three villages in Idlib. 13 dead.
  • March 2015 — Chlorine attacks on four villages in Idlib. 6 dead.

These are the documented chemical weapons attacks on the Syrian people by their president, Bashar al-Assad.
After delegates from the U.N. viewed video from the most recent chlorine bombing Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., told reporters “if there was a dry eye in the room I didn’t see it.”

The President of the Syrian American Medical Society, Zaher Sahloul, added, “Clearly they were affected by what they have seen in the videos and what they have heard, many of them spoke outside the diplomatic language and many of them have said that this is outrageous and the perpetrators should be brought to justice.”

If modernism were capable of bringing peace to the earth we would have seen it by now.

If secularism were capable of bringing peace we would look to Europe, who would be well on the way.

If man’s religious longings were capable of bringing peace we wouldn’t be in this predicament in modern culture anyway.

In a world reeling from — and trapped in — the pain and brokenness of sin, God must fight for us. David, the psalmist, sees this and cries out in Psalm 31. Injustice has gained the upper hand and only the transcendent justice of the world’s creator is sufficient to restore peace.

Because of our place in history we can see what David could not. “A great spectacle is it, to see God armed for thee,“ Augustine remarks in his book, Expositions on the Book of Psalms. God has heard our groaning under the weight of sin, and he has not left us alone. He sent his son to step in harm’s way on our behalf — to die, that we might live.

Prayer
Father, our hearts cry out like David’s — not only at the grotesque injustices that plague our world, but at the daily injustices which cost each of us so greatly. Only you can bring an end to our pain. Only you can dry the tears of our eyes with the hope that what is lost will be restored. Draw us to Jesus, the first fruit of the resurrection.

Today’s Readings
Numbers 1 (Listen – 6:21)
Psalm 35(Listen – 3:21)

Resting in Faith
Part 5 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

This Weekend’s Readings
Saturday: Numbers 2 (Listen – 3:47); Psalm 36 (Listen – 1:29)
Sunday: Numbers 3 (Listen – 6:01); Psalm 37 (Listen – 4:21)

TBT: The Good Which an Attack of Temptation Brings About

  • April 23, 2015
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  • Park Forum

RestingInFaithFour

Psalm 34.8
Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

TBT: The Good Which an Attack of Temptation Brings About | by John Cassian (360-435)

And so by the struggle with temptation the kindly grace of the Savior bestows on us larger rewards of praise than if it had taken away from us all need of conflict. 

For it is a mark of a loftier and grander virtue to remain ever unmoved when hemmed in by persecutions and trials, and to stand faithfully and courageously at the ramparts of God, and in the attacks of men, girt as it were with the arms of unconquered virtue, to triumph gloriously over impatience and somehow to gain strength out of weakness, for “strength is made perfect in weakness.” 

For to them at once “the crooked shall become straight and the rough ways plain;” and they shall “taste and see that the Lord is gracious,” and when they hear Christ proclaiming in the gospel: “Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you,” they will lay aside the burden of their sins, and realize what follows: “For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” The way of the Lord then has refreshment if it is kept to according to His law. 

But it is we who by troublesome distractions bring sorrows and troubles upon ourselves, while we try even With the utmost exertion and difficulty to follow the crooked and perverse ways of this world. 

In this way we have made the Lord’s yoke heavy and hard to us, and we complain in a blasphemous spirit of the hardness and roughness of the yoke itself or of Christ who lays it upon us, in accordance with this passage: “The folly of man corrupts his ways, but he blames God in his heart.”

Indeed if you will compare the sweet scented flower of virginity, and tender purity of chastity to the foul and fetid sloughs of lust, the calm and security of monks to the dangers and losses in which the men of this world are involved, the peace of our poverty to the gnawing vexations and anxious cares of riches, in which they are night and day consumed not without the utmost peril to life, then you will prove that the yoke of Christ is most easy and His burden most light.

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 27 (Listen – 4:45)
Psalm 34 (Listen – 2:14)

Resting in Faith
Part 4 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

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Fruit of Repentance

  • April 21, 2015
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  • Park Forum

RestingInFaithTwo

Psalm 32.5
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

The reason you can’t find peace, and the reason you can’t stop sinning, is because you love sin more than Christ. This is the near-crushing reality Thomas Chalmers explores in his sermon The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.

C.S. Lewis confronts his readers as well; “We are half-hearted creatures. Fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Both men expose the pride and brokenness of our hearts in order to drive us to a season of repentance.

The third third century theologian Origen describes repentance as “the vomit of sin.” Puritan pastor Zachary Crofton expounds; “For it is the loathsome rejection of sin; an easing of the soul by evacuation of what burdened it; casting up with grief and pain what we cast off with detestation.”

True repentance extends beyond the confession of actions to the revelation of the darkness of the heart — the motivation behind the sin. Crofton continues, “Sin is an aversion from God; and repentance a conversion to God.”

What great cost Christ endured to relieve our sins. It is nonsensical to hide the pain of our pride and brokenness from the one who has already paid the price of our debt — and whose life is the light and peace of humankind.

This abounding grace cannot be earned by repentance; it is given freely. Watch how, in Jesus’ famous parable of the Prodigal Son, the Father runs to embrace his beloved son before the wayward man can say anything.

When we do fall fully in love with Christ, Chalmers says, our love for him will immediately expel our love for sin and we will live at peace.

Prayer
Father, thank you for the great sacrifice you made on our behalf. Thank you for the richness of your love for us, for the greatness of your grace, and for the glory of your love. We are yours Lord; forgive us of our sins and fill us with your love.

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 25 (Listen – 3:08)
Psalm 32 (Listen – 3:13)

What Makes A Person Resilient?

  • April 20, 2015
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  • Park Forum

RestingInFaithOne

Psalm 31.5
Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

Cases of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in U.S. soldiers spiked sharply during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the early 2000’s researchers and clinicians started a battery of tests and interviews to understand what made certain soldiers resilient in the same circumstances which seemed so harmful to others. 

Among the most remarkable findings were those from Dr. Dennis Charney, the Dean of Research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Charney’s research team worked with a group of 750 pilots from the Vietnam War, each of whom had spent 6-8 years as a prisoner of war. During their imprisonment most of the men had been tortured and subjected to solitary confinement.

From their work with these men, Dr. Charney and his team revealed “Ten critical psychological elements and characteristics of resilience.” Surprisingly, training — the task the military focuses most heavily upon — was the least important of the ten:

  1. Optimism
  2. Altruism
  3. Having a moral compass
  4. Faith and spirituality
  5. Humor
  6. Having a role model
  7. Social support
  8. Having faced fears
  9. Having a mission
  10. Training

While the list would make a respectable outline for a mentoring program or book, it also reveals the limitations of relying on such work to develop a person. No study has revealed how to successfully and consistently mature a person’s optimism, altruism, morality (or really anything else on the list). This kind of foundational change — heart-level change — requires someone or something which is capable of cultivating a flourishing human heart.

David’s cries in Psalm 31 are recorded in the tempest of crisis. He should be overwhelmed — everything he prays for is far from resolved. Instead of relying on his strength or character, David renews his trust in God. “You have redeemed me.”

“What David here declares concerning his temporal life, Paul transfers to eternal salvation,” observes John Calvin in his Commentary on the book of Psalms. “Surely, if David derived so much confidence from temporal deliverance, it is more than wicked and ungrateful on our part, if the redemption purchased by the blood of Christ does not furnish us with invincible courage against all the devices of Satan.”

Prayer
Father, we want to develop our character and strength, but our flesh will fail us. Teach us, Lord, to rely on you as the source of our hope, salvation, and peace. Renew us by your Spirit. Sustain us by your word.

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 24 (Listen – 2:58)
Psalm 31 (Listen – 3:11)

Resting in Faith
Part 1 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

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