Author: Josh King

Isaiah 40:6-31 & Wait

A span is the distance from your thumb to you little finger with you fingers spread out. My span is less than the official figure of 9-10 inches coming in at 8.5, my shoe size. I am curious if there is a correlation between your personal span size and your shoe size.

I measure picture frames, where to put a nail in the wall, and shelf space in spans. God marked off the heavens in a span!

It seems in recent decades that God is enjoying keeping the astronomers on the edge of their seats with new glimpses of his power. In the fall of 1989, newspapers reported the discovery by two Harvard astronomers of a “Great Wall” of galaxies stretching hundreds of millions of light years across the known universe. The wall is supposedly some five hundred million light years long, two hundred million light years wide and fifteen million light years thick. In case your high school astronomy has grown fuzzy, a light year is a little less than six trillion (6,000,000,000,000) miles. This Great Wall consists of more than fifteen thousand galaxies, each with millions of stars, and was described as the “largest single coherent structure seen so far in nature.”

I say “was described” because three months later in February 1990, God opened another little window for tiny man to marvel again, and the newspapers reported that astronomers have discovered more than a dozen evenly distributed clumps of galaxies stretching across vast expanses of the heavens, suggesting a structure to the universe that is so regular and immense that it defies current theories of cosmic origins. The newly found pattern of galactic matter dwarfs the extremely long sheet of galaxies, dubbed the “great wall” (now written without caps!), that was reported in November 1989 to be the largest structure in the universe. They now say the great wall is, in fact, merely one of the closest of these clumps, or regions, that contain very high concentrations of galaxies.  – John Piper in The Pleasures of God

The “great walls” are all contained within a span and are all packed full of stars which God knows by name. If he so easily created them, knows them, names them, sustains them, be comforted, wait, He is able.

If His promises and comforts sound too good to be true, Behold your God, He is mighty to save.

[youtube.com/watch?v=FpGmm244N8M]

(I had to search for a video that seemed to have genuine Hubble images, non-X-Files/Contact music, and with the absence of an alien life form agenda.  Alas a testimony to our depravity that we look to the stars and think of aliens rather than the majesty of God.)

Easter Comfort

John Piper’s son Abraham lost their baby girl Felicity in September 07. 

Here is the story.

Here is a poem.

Here is Grandpa John’s funeral comments.

And here is Abraham’s Easter poem of hope.

Bethany and I have found comfort here.  More than anywhere else I have found comfort in the crucified and risen Christ, and here are the two linked together beautifully.

Isaiah 40:1-5 & Sanju Bhagat

Sanju was 36 years old when he finally decided it was time to take his abnormal belly to the doctors. It wasn’t until he started having trouble breathing that he decided something may be wrong.  Gallons of fluid were drained from the belly, the doc reaches in and finds a hand – it is Sanju’s twin! He had carried his twin inside of him for 36 years.

You must realize you are sick before you get better.

Conviction comes first then comfort.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a doctor turned preacher who was a master spiritual diagnostician. Of persons who seek the joy without the proper prerequisites he said:

Indeed the real trouble with the miserable Christian is that he has never been truly made miserable because of conviction of sin. He has by-passed the essential preliminary to joy, he has been assuming something that he has no right to assume.

Too often we want the comfort. We put off the surgery, deluding ourselves that the pain and scars are not there, or at least not that serious. “They can wait, its not that bad yet.” Sin is a toxic cancer that first deadens our perception; the wounds are always deeper than we think. “I’m getting better, progressing, feeling stronger – I will be on top soon,” we say to ourselves. The sickness grows.

Only a miracle of grace can awaken us from the deadly sleep of sin. God offers a covenant of comfort. He speaks tenderly. He pardons. The payment for our surgery has been paid, with an all sufficient currency. The most precious commodity in the universe, the blood of Christ is the ransom and the remedy; it both buys and cleans.

The Great Physician is always on call.

Isaiah 35 & VHS

Bethany and I still have some VHS movies even though we got rid of both of our VHS players. This was an attempt on my part to ensure that I will never have to watch Ann of Green Gables again – I have told her that I will buy the set for her on DVD…? Imagine 30 years ago when VHS came out if someone then said, “I’m not buying any of those, I’m holding out for DVDs.””What are DVD’s ?”

“They are what is to come, and they will be superior. I’m going to save all the money that I would spend on VHS and one day, when DVD first comes out, I will have all the movies that you have in a superior format; I will also watch them on a flat screen!”

People might think you odd. They might think you are missing out on watching and enjoying some great films. At times you are weak. VHS players and tapes get cheaper. Maybe just one or two, after all you have been saving all this time and you can certainly afford it. But you hold out preaching, “DVD will come, repent of your VHS ways, sell them now, and save in the hope of the great DVD.”

The wait is worth it. Do not settle for the worlds cheap imitations. “Be strong; fear not! Behold your God will come…”

The sights and sounds of heaven are better than the world’s entertainment.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.- Jim Elliot

Isaiah 20 & Naked

This is the powerful poem by Karsten Piper that I read a few weeks ago when we journeyed through Isaiah 20.

Luke 18:25 by Karsten Piper

He spread his blanket on the sand,
kneeled and arranged his bowls and tools:
hook, mallet, clamp, chisel, rasp, razor.

His smile glinted in the rongeur’s claws,
and upside down in the curette’s spoon.
Light shone out of the needle’s eye.

“Hoosh,” he said and began plucking hairs,
paring calluses, shearing wool, shaving
to the follicles, cutting to the quick.

He sorted these, trimming skin with skin,
hair with hair, into rows of clay bowls,
and set a large basin to catch each sour drip

as he sliced the hide and used both fists
to yank back the whole stubbled, gray pelt,
as wet and red on its underside as afterbirth.

He piled this heavily away, draping it
in clean linen, and turned to the meat and bone
heaving under sheer, tight membrane.

Sawteeth chewed into femur, rib and shoulder.
Pliers twisted and wrenched away tendons
until everything softened, canted, and collapsed-

yet not one sliver dies. Each ribbon and shard
bawls for the horror and hurt of their missing,
wishing for the old braying wholeness.

Pain bloodies evening and morning,
stabbing day after day from even the first cuts,
like the slow light of far stars.

Eyeballs and heart float alone in the last bowl,
dark and defenseless, quavering when he leans down
and they recognize in his eyes how little is left.

“Easy now, Camel,” he says and lifts me
in his fingertips, one quivering strand at a time,
through the eye of the needle.

HT: Desiring God

A Letter to Elijah

ElijahDisclaimer: I do not believe there is a heavenly post from here to heaven. I don’t expect God to act as my mail boy. I don’t anticipate with hope the opportunity to say these things. My hope is much bigger; so much so that this little letter will one day seem trite. This letter was simply my way of grieving and expressing my faith. [Added 11.2.17]

Elijah,

Your name means “Yahweh is God”. Our firstborn son, this was our prayer for your life. We named you after the mighty prophet who proclaimed “O Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.” (1 Kings 18:36) Elijah, we asked God that your life would proclaim the supremacy of Jesus above all the gods of this age; this age that is filled with just as many false contenders for the glory that belongs to Christ alone. Our Everlasting Father works His wisdom in the most mysterious of ways. Elijah, you are a mighty prophet. Your precious life has more powerfully declared the sovereignty and majesty of God than we could have ever imagined. He has magnified His great name in you son, we are so proud of you. You have taught your parents so much about our great Father. Elijah you have preached:

  1. That the fountain of grace flowing from Emmanuel’s veins is the most satisfying flow. The deepest pain finds relief and comfort at the wounded hands of the gentle Shepherd.
  2. That we are pilgrims in this life. For there to be joy mingled with such sorrow is evidence that the presence of God is where all our hearts desires find their fullest satisfaction.
  3. You have made us aware of the depths of the Father’s love as His Son testified that the Father “so loved us that He gave His one and only Son.”
  4. Elijah, most precious to us, you have testified that the sovereignty of God over all things is good. Your almighty Father has made His sovereignty taste sweet to us.

Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away; blessed be the name of Yahweh.
—Job 1:21 (ESV)

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in Yahweh; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.
—Habakkuk 3:17-19 (ESV)

When the righteous cry for help, Yahweh hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. Yahweh is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.
—Psalm 34:17-19 (ESV)

Oh, taste and see that Yahweh is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
—Psalm 34:8 (ESV)

Thank you, dear son, for being the instrument of Yahweh to deliver such a powerful sermon. Your legacy for all eternity will be “Yahweh is God”.

Tolle Lege: Family Driven Faith

Parents (I pray some of you read this blog),

I am so excited and scared about this parenting gig I am about to take up. I immediately began looking for books from trusted sources to disciple me in the task. I was overjoyed when I saw that Voddie had written a book on the family. I first heard Voddie at One Day 2000. The message from Isaiah 1 powerfully stuck in my head, I can still remember parts of it, and made sure to purchase the DVD so I could listen to it again. I have grown to respect him more, and exponentially so after reading his book Family Driven Faith. I would highly recommend it to all parents, not because I am an expert, but because I was deeply nourished. Voddie is a biblically convicted man with a biblically convicting message. He is humbling because he is humble as he expounds the word, revealing his own faults and failures. He knows how to make the word of God both sting and sing. Here are a few excerpts from the introduction to give you a feel for the direction of the book.

Our children are not falling away because the church is doing a poor job-although that is undoubtedly a factor. Our children are falling away because we are asking the church to do what God designed the family to accomplish. Discipleship and multi-generational faithfulness begins and ends at home. At best, the church is to play a supporting role as it “equips the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12, esv).

This book is an effort to put the ball back in the family’s court and to motivate, correct, encourage, and equip families to do what God commands concerning the next generation.

Great Questions Concerning Mood Worship

Greg Gilbert has some great questions that go along with the last post.  Powerfully convicting.

– Do you get bored when someone reads a longish passage of Scripture in your church? Do you start wishing they’d get on with the music?

– Do you need music playing in the background for the reading of Scripture to affect your emotions?

– Does a prayer seem too “plain” or “stark” to you if it doesn’t have music playing behind it?

– Do you feel depressed a few weeks after a worship conference because you haven’t felt close to God in a long time?

– Do you desperately look forward to the next conference you’re going to attend because you know that, finally, you’ll be able to feel close to God again?

– If you’re in a big church with great music, are you able to worship when you visit your parents’ small rural church?

– Do you ever feel worshipful in the middle of the week, at work, at school, etc. just because of thinking about God and his grace? Or does that only happen when the music’s playing?

– Do you tend to feel closer to God when you’re alone with your iPOD than you do when you’re gathered with God’s people in your church?

– Do you feel like you just can’t connect with other believers who haven’t had the same “worship experiences” that you have? Can you only connect with other believers who “know what it feels like to really worship?”

– Is your sense of spiritual well-being based more on feeling close to God, or knowing that you are close to God because of Jesus Christ?

HT: Between Two Worlds

Isaiah 12 & “Loud Noises!”

Name that movie:

Brian Fantana: [shouting] …they don’t belong in the newsroom!

Champ Kind: [shouting] It is anchor*man*, not anchor*lady*! And that is a scientific fact.

Brick Tamland: [shouting] I don’t know what we’re yelling about!

Brian Fantana: You’re with us, Ron, what do you think?

Ron Burgundy: [shouting] She… She… It’s terrible! She has beautiful eyes, and her hair smells like cinnamon!

Brick Tamland: [shouts] Loud noises!

How often is our worship generated simply by mood?  We aren’t necessarily grasping truth, just simply going with the flow of the service be it somber or exuberant.  I do think worship should be contagious.  I do think mood is important, even essential in a sense, but it is not the place we start.

The song of the redeemed in Isaiah 12 is born out of truths:

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.

Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel

The truth of who God is generates our worship.  Too often we simply want an experience.  We don’t want to think, we just want to feel.  Merely seeking a feeling is self-centered.  However if I must start with God, thinking properly about Him, and responding prperly in emotion and action this becomes God glorifying.  Think then feel, or as Driscoll says:

Theology→Doxology→Biography

“I don’t know why I’m singing…I don’t know why I’m crying…I don’t know why I’m so happy…I don’t know why I’m raising my hands…LOUD NOISES!  Wahoo!  I am clueless…but it sure feels good!”