Ebenezer, striving to rest, hand grenade spirituality, and bin Laden

I'm changing to this blogger site from the wordpress site I've been using. I'm not sure I'll be able to transfer all the posts I've done there over to this, but here's what I've written there: http://aheartfullofhighways.wordpress.com/

I originally wrote this late Sunday night/early Monday morning a week ago . . .

There's so much I want to write about today, but will have to keep this brief.

Today was Ebenezer's 226th anniversary service, and Mark Tankersley of Gaston Community Church began his sermon with a brilliant quote from John Flavel (1628-1691):

“If Christians in reading the scriptures would judiciously collect and record the providences they meet with there, and (if destitute of other helps) but add those that have fallen out in their own time and experience; O what a precious treasure would these make! What an antidote would it be to their souls against the spreading atheism of these days, and satisfy them beyond what many other arguments can do, that 'The Lord he is the God; the Lord he is the God' (1 Kings 18:39)." -The Mystery of Providence, ch 13

I've been experiencing some remarkable providences the past few months, many of them in the form of insight into providences in Scripture. How much more should I be careful to do this! I was overcome with odd amounts of laziness and distraction today that hindered me from writing like I planned. Or maybe it was just the eight pounds of food I ate at the picnic on the lawn after worship coupled with an exhausting week of work and cycling. In any case, I plan to write more of these personal providences in coming weeks.

The text of the sermon was 1 Samuel 7:1-17. An amazing picture of the work of Christ on our behalf:

5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” 6 So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah. 7 Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. 10 As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were routed before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car.12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.”

Samuel (whose name sounds like the Hebrew for "heard of God") represents Israel to God with a prayer and a sacrifice, the enemy attacks, God hears, answers, and saves, and routs the enemy. Samuel made a stone monument to commemorate God's victory, and called it Ebenezer, which is the name of the church I'm part of, which also gave its name to the road it's on, just down the street from the bike shop. In a greater way,

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence . . . And . . . he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him." -Hebrews 5:7-9

As Michael Card sings, "So let us fix our eyes upon the priest whom God can hear..."

As I was thinking on the hymn "O Day of Rest and Gladness" and my ongoing struggle with perfectionism and rest, I realized something important about the symbolic importance of observing the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath. My favorite verse of the hymn is

On Thee, at the creation,
The light first had its birth;
On Thee, for our salvation,
Christ rose from depths of earth;
On Thee, our Lord, victorious,
The Spirit sent from heav’n,
And thus on Thee, most glorious,
A triple light was giv’n.

The Sabbath in the old covenant commemorated the rest of God in completing His work of creation in six days, but the Sabbath in the new covenant commemorates the completion of God's work of redemption on the first day. In the old covenant, the faithful worked their way toward rest ("six days shall you labor"), while in the new covenant, we rest first, then work, showing that we trust the most important work has already been done.

Seeing as it's 4:19 A.M. as I type, I'm confronted with my own hypocrisy, and hesitate to post this, but I guess hypocrisy confessed is better than the double hypocrisy of hiding it. If you're reading this and are a praying person, I would greatly appreciate your prayers. I'm struggling to be free from this unrest in deep ways.

Update: it's now 1 am Monday, May 9. I intended to sleep tonight at 10 pm, so I could ride in the morning at 7, but what should take 10 minutes to upload to google earth takes 2 hours on this worthless computer I use, and once again I find myself up too late and restless.

"For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence." Psalm 90:7-8

How good to know that what was once a terror is now a comfort:

1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

That's not as comforting as I thought it would be: it's one thing to blog in the light; it's another thing to walk there. It's easy to do hand grenade spirituality from behind a computer screen instead of going into the battle face-to-face with a hostile world. I'm struggling.

Speaking of face-to-face battles, thank God for those who've risked their lives to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice. I can't join in the gloating over the death of a human enemy the way I see going on in D.C. and probably in other places in days to come, but I can rejoice in the justice of God in bringing vengeance on an evil man who has plotted death and destruction for thousands of innocent people, if not more. That may seem contradictory, but I don't think so: one is "We defeated you because we're better than you and we're awesome" and the other is

"I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;

the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea." -Exodus 15:1

One is proud, the other is humble; one is self-righteous, the other submits to the righteousness of God. Perhaps my view is a little myopic because I've been in the 80s-100s of the Psalms so much lately, where the right of God to judge the world and punish His wicked enemies is everywhere assumed, but I think that's just highlighting what is present throughout Scripture and essential to God's Godhood. Psalm 92 perhaps speaks most clearly:

5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!
6 The stupid man cannot know;
the fool cannot understand this:
7 that though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever;
8 but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
9 For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
for behold, your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered.

10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
you have poured over me fresh oil.
11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.