Alexander MacLaren on Compassionate Prayer

From Alexander MacLaren's commentary on Genesis:

"The first great truth enshrined in this part of the story is that the friend of God is compassionate even of the sinful and degraded. Abraham did not intercede for Lot, but for the sinners in Sodom. He had perilled his life in warfare for them; he now pleads with God for them. Where had he learned this brave pity? Where but from the God with whom he lived by faith?"

Resigning Or Embracing?

There is resigning oneself and then, there is embracing. For a while now, I have been resigned to my lot. I think it comes from a pure desire to acknowledge, to praise the Sovereignty of God but, while His sovereignty is indeed praiseworthy I, by my attitude of resignation, have esteemed it as a lesser thing, a thing that is merely endured.

From the Valley of Vision:

Jehovah God,
Thou Creator, Upholder, Proprietor of all things,
I cannot escape from thy presence or control, nor do I desire to do so.
My privilege is to be under the agency of omnipotence, righteousness, wisdom, patience, mercy, grace.

The Puritan praying above sees it as a privilege to be under God's control and wisdom. He has not 'resigned' himself to it. To see it as privilege is to 'embrace' it.

"There has been a wonderful alteration in my mind, in respect to the doctrine of God's sovereignty . . . The doctrine has very often appeared exceeding pleasant, bright, and sweet. Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God."  (Jonathan Edwards)

May it be so.

The Valley of Vision

Here is a remarkable prayer from the book "The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions."

O Heavenly Father,

Teach me to see

that if Christ has pacified thee and

has satisfied divine justice

he can also deliver me from my sins;

that Christ does not desire me, now justified,

to live in self-confidence in my own strength,

but gives me the law of the Spirit of life

to enable me to obey thee;

that the Spirit and his power are mine

by resting on Christ's death;

that the Spirit of life within answers to

the law without;

that if I sin not I should thank thee for it;

that if I sin I should be humbled daily under it;

that I should mourn for sin more than other

men do,

for when I see I shall die because of sin,

that makes me mourn;

when I see how sin strikes at thee,

that makes me mourn;

when I see that sin caused Christ's death

that makes me mourn;

that sanctification is the evidence of reconciliation,

proving that faith has truly apprehended Christ;

Thou has taught me

that faith is nothing else than receiving thy

kindness;

that it is an adherence to Christ, a resting on him,

love clinging to him as a branch to the tree

to seek life and vigour from him.

I thank thee for showing me the vast difference

between knowing things by reason,

and knowing them by the spirit of faith.

By reason I see a thing is so;

by faith I know it as it is.

I have seen thee by reason and have not

been amazed,

I have seen thee as thou art in thy Son and have

been ravished to behold thee.

I bless thee that I am thine in my Saviour,

Jesus.

Regeneration

I have a little book called "The Valley of Vision". It's a collection of prayers written by Puritans and it is one of the most helpful tools for me in my ongoing effort to stoke the furnace of personal devotion.

I've copied here a prayer from it, called Regeneration, that I read yesterday and it fed me on many levels. It seems to me to be a prayer worth camping out on for a while. It strikes many chords that resonate with me in this particular time of my life.

O God of the highest heaven,

Occupy the throne of my heart, take full possession and reign supreme, lay low every rebel lust, let no vile passion resist thy holy war; manifest thy mighty power, and make me thine forever.

Thou art worthy to be praised with my every breath, loved with my every faculty of soul, served with my every act of life.

Thou hast loved me, espoused me, received me, purchased, washed, favoured, clothed, adorned me, when I was worthless, vile, soiled, polluted.

I was dead in iniquities, having no eyes to see thee, no ears to hear thee, no taste to relish thy joys, no intelligence to know thee;

But thy Spirit has quickened me, has brought me into a new world as a new creature, has given me spiritual perception, has opened to me thy Word as light, guide, solace, joy.

Thy presence is to me a treasure of unending peace;

No provocation can part me from thy sympathy, for thou hast drawn me with cords of love, and dost forgive me daily, hourly.

O help me then to walk worthy of thy love, of my hopes, and my vocation.

Keep me, for I cannot keep myself;

Protect me that no evil befall me;

Let me lay aside every sin admired of many;

Help me to walk by thy side, lean on thy arm, hold converse with thee,

That henceforth I may be salt of the earth and a blessing to all.

You could order one at Amazon if you want.

The Sacred Ordinary

My wife read something today that spoke to her heart and she showed it to me. After having read it, and being encouraged myself (can I admit that I was fed by a blog for women? Apparently), I thought I'd give you a taste.

"What is a 'significant life?' I think it is one which can be measured as having great worth and value - forged by carefully chosen crossroads leading to the sum of a life well spent. It is a life whose moments are not wasted on the banal and ordinary, but hallows the ordinary as sacred because God is there."

I had to stop and pray and ask God to help me to remember that He is here. Always. And He's there, too, wherever there happens to be. Many times I run on autopilot, steering my life this way and that, doing it all like I've done it umpteen times because, well, I've done it umpteen times. And then some.

It was refreshing to my soul to be reminded that the ordinary is sacred because God is there. The ordinary is not sacred because of time or geography or day or music or atmosphere or mood or me or you or any other human being. The ordinary is sacred because God is present.

In the early 80's I worked at a Pizza Hut here in town. I worked mainly as an 'opener' which meant I set up the salad bar, turned on the ovens and rolled out pizza dough. I also ate Club Crackers and drank Pepsi, but that has nothing to do with anything.

The point is, often as I rolled out the dough, I would pray. And honestly those were some of the sweetest times of prayer I can recall. I needed the dough, so I kneaded the dough and fed on the Bread of Heaven.

The ordinary had become sacred - and can again.

J.C. Ryle On Prayer

From the book A Call To Prayer:

"Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin, or sin will choke prayer. I cannot forget this. I look at men's lives. I believe that few pray."

Where Can I Go From His Spirit?

As I went to run this morning, my lovely bride suggested that I think of something to pray about while running. Often, as I'm sure some of you do, things come to mind as you are going about your business and those thoughts turn into a prayer. I said OK and dove into the humidity.

Sure enough, I had things to pray about, especially my attitude concerning people driving cars on my running path.

When I returned Kathy asked me if I thought of things to pray and we talked about that a bit. Then she showed me a passage from a book she's reading and I enjoyed it so much, I thought I'd share. The book is Long Wandering Prayer by David Hansen. Here's how Chapter 2 begins:

Prayer comes to us from a people who spent the first thousand years of their existence living in tents. From Abraham to David, the Hebrews were a shepherding, moving folk. They lived out-of-doors easily, though not painlessly. Following the scent of green pastures, they passed through death valleys, ascended passes and crossed rivers. Wandering lay at the core of their psyche from the beginning, and it shaped their life with God.

The night sky fills their prayers. They praised God for heavy dew. They pleaded for deliverance from flash floods. Drought meant death. This caused their more settled cousin peoples, the Canaanites, to worship gods of storm and cloud. But during drought the Hebrews could move, and so they did. They never traveled to a place where Yahweh did not demonstrate His lordship.

Where can I go from your spirit?

Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to the heaven, you are there;

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning

and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me fast. (Psalm 139:7-10)

This comforted and assured me in a great measure today and I trust it will do so for some of you. Happy Lord's Day

Answer: 35 In August

Question: How old is Edgar Renteria?

That was my question the other day when I saw Renteria, now a San Francisco Giant, lace a hit into left to score a couple of runs. It seems he has been playing forever and yet, here he is, old as dirt, gettin' it done in the majors. Good for him. He became a St. Louis favorite when he played for the Cards from '99 to '04. He may best be remembered for knocking in Craig Counsell in the bottom of the 11th of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series to give the Florida Marlins a world championship over the Cleveland Indians.

I'm expecting the Cardinals to have a good year in 2010. Even though I think Chicago might be better than last year, I think a full season with Matt Holliday in the lineup and with Albert Pujols being healthy, along with possibly the best rotation in the league will be enough for St. Louis to win the division. That being said, I wasn't ready for them to lose a game yet, which happened the third game of the year. As good as they are I was hoping to win the first 10 or 11 before we lost. Bummer.

I saw some of the Masters golf tournament this weekend. I'm not big on watching golf, but I like to know who wins the major events. The overriding story was Tiger Woods, of course. I heard his statement a few weeks ago and was struck by how shaken he seemed to be. I honestly think he's been humbled by the prospect of losing his family. So, I'm praying for Tiger Woods. I would think his heart is most tender at this time. I pray that God would convert him.

Had a meeting last Monday night so I missed viewing '24' in its regular time slot. I watched it Friday night on the computer. I went to the website for the show and the Fox Network and clicked the button. I guess they are using something called 'Flo' to show the programs. Let's just say my experience with Flo was not a pleasant one. The feed stopped several times for two or three minutes. After about 30 minutes of airtime, I switched over to Hulu and had a much better experience. To be fair, the Hulu feed stopped to buffer a couple of times, too. But it was much more manageable. And '24' is excellent this year.

While I was watching my computer Friday, I could hear a lawn mower running somewhere in the neighborhood. It was dark outside. Mowing in the dark - you should try it. I did on Tuesday. My yard had gotten ridiculous and the week was jammed with things to do, so I had to get out there. But I had to go get gas first. And we ate first. And it was overcast. And the light faded quickly and before I was halfway through the yard, I began to jog. Yes, running in the dark with a mower. I could have put my eye out.

Day of Giving Thanks, Especially

I don't usually reprint others words in their entirety but I make an exception today. Here, lifted from the Washington Times, is George Washington's Thanksgiving proclamation from 1789.

Would that God grant the United States leaders with this kind of leadership more often.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor - and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be - That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks - for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation - for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war - for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed - for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions - to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually - to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed - to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord - To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us - and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Great Is The Lord and Greatly To Be Praised

I teach college Sunday School at my church and I have begun pulling lessons from John Piper's What Jesus Demands from the World. Demand #4 (i.e. Chapter 4) is "Believe In Me." I was going over that in preparation for leading the class tomorrow and read some words that really set me back:

"The desperate situation we are in, Jesus says, is that we are under the wrath of God. This is owing to our sin. God is just, and his anger is rightly kindled against human attitudes and behaviors that belittle his worth and treat him as insignificant. All of us have done this. In fact, we do it every day."

My prayer after reading that was to ask that I would never 'belittle His worth' nor 'treat Him as insignificant'. I trust you are of similar heart and mind.

Have a blessed Lord's Day and be happy in Him.

Bible Reading and Prayer

If you are like me, you know that reading your Bible and praying are foundational practices for every born-again believer. And, if you are like me, the actual practice of these things has been spotty.

We are conditioned to view the turning of the calendar to a new year as an ideal time to renew ourselves and commit to new habits, or recommit ourselves to old ones. Like reading your Bible and praying.

I like getting help in these areas and I've found a couple of things that might be helpful to you, as well. The Desiring God blog lists "9 Ways to Pray for Your Soul" and "What to Pray for Our Children" in which there is a link to the meat of the answer, "Texts to Pray for Our Children". I am sure that praying them for grandchildren would be alright, too.

Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds has linked to many Bible reading plans from which you may choose, if you need one. And we need one. You might already have one (Good!), but we need to have a plan for getting through our Bibles.

Additionally, I've added another project to my daily routine for this year. Over at Reformation 21 they are encouraging folks to read through Calvin's Institutes in 2009. So I ordered a reading plan from them and a copy of the book from the good folks at CBD. I'm not sure what I'm getting my self into, but I'm looking forward to it.

135. Rejoice With Me!

I am very happily trying to remember how to walk normally.

In the early nineties, when we lived in Ft. Worth, TX, I injured my knee. I was going to run and I was stretching my right quad with my right foot tucked under my rear as I was seated on the floor. I leaned back to stretch the quad and I heard a loud POP from my knee. I felt it too. Not pain surprisingly, but I certainly felt it.

You may not believe me when I tell you that I went ahead and ran, but I did. There was not the pain which you would have expected if I had really torn something up. Later, however, there was swelling and stiffness and the joint did not feel stable. In fact, it hasn't felt stable since then and any over-exertion would make it stiff and achy.

We didn't have insurance at the time, I was just a poor seminary student. I have often thought I would have to have surgery eventually to fix it. I like to run and I like to hike and a balky, unstable knee which is prone to stiffness and pain puts a real damper on those activities. Someday, I thought, I'll get it scoped or whatever.

Recently, a friend and I were talking and I discovered he had hiked a week's worth of the Appalachian Trail. The AT, if you do not know, is the Holy Grail of hiking here in the states. The trail extends unbroken from northern Georgia to central Maine. It's been something I wanted to do since I heard of it, though my responsibilities would prevent me from taking the six months out of my life to do it all at once. I thought it would remain only a dream.

My friend, also with a desire to hike the AT, had hit on the idea of doing it a week at a time and eventually covering the whole thing. And he asked if I wanted to go the next time. Of course I did. We talked about training and the demands the trail puts on a person. Like, periodically walking uphill for half a day.

Enthused, I began exercising the next day. I got up early and went to run. And as I ran, my unstable knee began to complain. Loudly. And I began to think. If I couldn't trust my knee, I wouldn't be able to commit to a week of 12-15 hours a day on a very demanding trail. Well, I thought, maybe now's the time for surgery. But then I thought, what about the recovery time? Could I be ready?

I prayed. I don't remember what I said exactly, but I asked God to help me with my knee in light of the opportunity of the hike and the possibility of failure. I finished the run and my knee was hurting. I went to work that day, came home that evening and was going about my routine. I was seated at the table and turned to speak to my wife. My knee went POP.

I didn't think too much of it at the time because it has popped every now and then since Ft. Worth. But the next day my knee did not hurt. Not only did it not hurt, it felt NORMAL. I stretched my leg very tight like when you have "growing pains", which would typically be slightly painful. No pain. It felt stable. I began to try to move without favoring it, which I have unconsciously done for over 10 or 12 years. No pain. Stable.

It has been a week now and my knee still feels fine, and not a day has passed without my giving thanks to God. I believe He heard me and answered me about my knee. I did not ever know the severity of my injury and so I don't know what was involved to fix it. All I know is, I used to have a bad knee and I asked God to help me and it's fine now. At least as good as a 50 year old knee is supposed to be, anyway.

Rejoice with me, for this knee I had lost has been found!

120. Piper Twice

About a month ago a new I-35 bridge opened in Minneapolis replacing the one which collapsed last year, as I'm sure you recall. John Piper, a pastor there and a great benefit to me and the church at large throught his writing and preaching, posted on the Desiring God blog about the event.

Among other things, Piper wrote, "If the bridge had collapsed at midnight and 13 people had died, the media would have been (rightly) filled with amazement that only 13 people had died, and officials would have been expressing relieved gratitude that the bridge did not collapse at rush hour. For if it had, surely hundreds would have died. But the fact is, there was heavy traffic on the bridge at 6:05 PM when the bridge went down and still only 13 people died. This is simply astonishing. It could not be said out loud last year because even the pain of 13 lost (and 145 injured) is not to be minimized. But now it must be said. Whatever reasons God had for not holding up the bridge at rush hour, he was merciful to spare hundreds of lives. For that we should thank him."

There is more to the article and all of it is God-centered, which Piper is always so eager for us to see and feel. Read it all here.

And while we are at it, here's an article from Piper on "Tethered Preaching" that I found to be a refreshment. You can read all of it at this link, but for now, here's a taste, "The Bible tethers us to reality. We are not free to think and speak whatever might enter our minds or what might be pleasing to any given audience—except God. By personal calling and Scripture, I am bound to the word of God and to the preaching of what the Bible says. There are few things that burden me more or refresh me more than saying what I see in the Bible. I love to see what God says in the Bible. I love to savor it. And I love to say it."

Finally, one more thing before I quit.

You have probably noticed an absence of political talk here. I admit I am weary of it and, frankly, disheartened. All outward appearances indicate that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. This makes me very sad. I mourn for our country that it would so readily throw over freedom for this charismatic man.

I saw the Soviet Union. I can see Cuba. I can see Venezuela. I can see the People's Republic of China. I want nothing to do with socialism. And that's why I want nothing to do with Obama. I prefer the freedoms of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

I have been meaning to write about Providence for many days now. I think it would be timely in view of the upcoming election. But I think what I have to say will be long enough to merit mutltiple posts, so it's not ready yet.

In the meantime, we must do all we can and part of that is prayer. Please pray with me that God would allow us to remain free a while longer.

How About Some Links, Eh?

Let's go around the Links, shall we?

For the non-golfers, that's a golf links course pictured to the right. So, it's like a pun - golf links and web links.
OK.
Just for the record, I'm a non-golfer 99% of the time.
OK.



From John Piper and desiringgod.org -

"For thoughtful people, how they pray for the soul is governed by how they believe God acts. So, for example, if they believe God changes people's souls so that they make new and right choices, then they will ask God to make those soul-changes through evangelism and nurture. But not everybody is thoughtful about the way they pray. They don't think about what view of God is behind their praying."

Read "How to Pray for the Soul - Yours or Another's"

Be inspired in a different way by Marine First Sergeant Brad Kasal's story -

"Despite multiple recommendations for amputation of his leg, his fighting spirit
won out over all. He "grew" his leg back with multiple surgeries and a long and
terribly painful process that uses a technique called the "Ilizarov frame."
Amazingly, he has since passed the Marine Corps physical fitness test which
includes a three-mile run."

Read the whole thing.

Bernie Miklasz of the Post-Dispatch adopts a middle of the road stance on Barry Bonds. Not too much to disagree with until the last paragraph -

"Many years from now, maybe all of these numbers and records will make
better sense. Maybe we'll know a lot more than we do now. But I can't hate
Bonds. Because if you hate Bonds, then you must also hate Major League Baseball.
He is the No. 1 symbol of his era."

I don't go in for the hate position, either, but I wouldn't equate hating Bonds with hating Major League Baseball. If they were equal you could turn the sentence around, hating (or loving) MLB means hating (or loving) Bonds. I can't do it. They aren't equal and I think you can feel one way about the man and another about his employer.

Perhaps what Miklasz is driving at is that the men who were given stewardship over MLB have fostered an environment that yields a home run champ whose accomplishments are suspect. And I have no disagreement with that.