The Study

I took a break from writing.  It seemed I had become bereft of content.  You see, the tag line for this blog (I’m sure you all remember) was until a few minutes ago, “helping people pursue God when no one is watching.”  One question has been nagging me: “Who pursues?”  If anything, I find myself running from God when no one is watching, as if I can feel the hot breath of a hound chasing me down.  Certainly I at times turn to God and search for His wisdom and comfort, but that is only because he has already caught up to me.

I admit now that it is difficult to write about things which we by nature do not do.  You quickly run out of content.  But if you write about what God continually has done, is doing, and will do, you will never lack for things to say.

The Hound of Heaven is the title of a lengthy poem.  It begins:

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears

I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

Up vistaed hopes I sped;

And shot, precipitated,

Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears,

From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.

But with unhurrying chase,

And unperturbèd pace,

Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,

They beat — and a voice beat

More instant than the Feet –

“All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.”

Isn’t it true that we all run from God at times in this manner?  We must know that He is pursuing.  Otherwise, why would we run?  In the end, the hound always gets us to turn and say with the last lines of the poem:

“Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,

I am He Whom thou seekest !

The aim of my future posts will be to help you develop a deeper trust in God.  This trust begins with a simple recognition:  The Hound of Heaven is on your trail.  He’s not out to hurt you.  He wants to transform you.

I find it very difficult to concentrate for very long in silence.  I am sure that is true for for most everyone else.  Therefore, pray aloud!  Personally, I have become so used to thoughts being communicated to me audibly that I find it very difficult not to drift off into daydreams and other adventures when I am left in silence.  Beyond that, forcing yourself to communicate your thoughts audibly attaches your mind to the subject of your prayer and helps you stay focused on the task at hand.

Another way to stay focused during prayer is to be others-centered.  It is our nature to saunter away from that which is very familiar.  We get bored so quickly and seek some kind of distraction.  If while praying about your own secret affairs and personal wishes you find yourself struggling to concentrate, drop that subject at once and begin praying for others.  Imagining your friends – his face, his known struggles, his strained relationships, his laughter, his needs – presents your mind with something tangible on which to work.  You begin to remember your times together and can almost see his face, hear his jokes, and feel his pain.  It is at this point that you begin to pray earnestly.  Your heart begins to throb.  Your mind begins to race.  Your soul becomes absorbed in the joy of intercession.  And, I promise, when you finish praying for all the others, you will find that your mind is prepared to set its affection on your own desires and needs.  You may say, “Well what if I never get to my own needs?  How can I possibly bear the burden of interceding for others when I am in so much need?”  If that is your fear, then be comforted by the fact that the Lord rescued Job out of the pit when he prayed for his friends.

“The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold.” (Job 42:10)

I have had the fortune of knowing a few people who have that rare ability to turn strong ideas and feelings into words.  I am not referring to those who simply play verbal gymnastics in order to impress people with their vocabulary.  I am writing of those who use language as a tool to build bridges and break barriers.  The art of proper speaking (i.e. the right words at the right time) is in the shadows.  The world does not believe in it, nor does it comprehend its power.  It is no small task to be a wizard of words, to speak so simply that even the uneducated can understand you and yet so convincingly that those who contradict you may be silenced.

Many of our failed attempts to affect change around us is due to our inability to communicate well.  Have you ever felt as though you had something inside of you that was anxiously waiting for you to figure out the way to unleash it?  Some kind of powerful tool that you are unable to operate.  Do you ever get the feeling that you have something important to say, only you don’t know exactly what it is or how to say it, frustrated that you can’t make use of its power?  You are simply waiting for the invention of some kind of phrase that would free your thoughts and cause the people to whom you are addressing to jump as if they are sitting on a pin.

The professor Helmholtz in Huxley’s Brave New World while talking to his friend about communicating his feelings interjects,”Words can be like X-rays, if you use them properly–they’ll go through anything.  You read and you’re pierced.  That’s one of the things I try to teach my students–how to write piercingly.”

If only we could wield our words this way.  If only we could pray this way.  If only we could communicate truth this way.  If only we could encourage this way.  If only we could rebuke this way.  But then again, words are not enough, are they?  Many have taken after the King in Shakespeare’s Hamlet who when getting off his knees after prayer remarked, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”  He revealed his own knowledge that his prayers were insincere, consisting of words but no true feelings.

So where does the power come from to speak piercingly?  The Bible gives us an awesome account of this power.  When the apostle Peter finished his foundational address to the people in Acts, the text says the people “were pierced to the heart.”  I believe it was the Spirit of God that did the cutting, but the Spirit does not work in a vacuum.  What was it about the message they heard that made it so piercing?  And what about the messenger?  It was simply this: An informed Peter presented to the people a personal, passionate plea.

First, he was informed.  He knew what he was talking about.  Second, he was personal.  He was not exchanging information with them impersonally like a jet receiving fuel in mid-flight.  The message flowed out of him and through him.  A true preacher is the message.  You cannot separate the message from the preacher.  Third, he was passionate.  So many of us are guilty of speaking with as much enthusiasm as a person reading from the yellow pages.  That’s why preaching has gotten such a bad reputation in our culture.  Most of it is so incredibly lousy and boring.

X-ray communication is the kind that is personal, passionate, and pleading.  It can penetrate the soul with an almost superhuman power.  Do you have a message you want to communicate?  Do you want that message to contain power?  Then stay in your seat until you are informed and stay on your knees until you are filled with a personal passion.  The plea will be natural.

descending a cliff in West Virginia

Last week I had the privilege of having a good friend visit from Pennsylvania.  One of his interests is rock climbing so we went to an indoor climbing gym nearby and spent the day wearing out our forearms and tearing our fingers.  That evening while dwelling on the climbing we did, I remembered a talk I watched by pro climber Matthew Child.  He listed 9 lessons from rock climbing and I’d like to share his lessons with you and invite you to draw some spiritual application from it.  I have written an application from the first principle.  The rest I will leave to you and hope that you will see the implications of each lesson.

1.  Don’t let go. Even while climbing indoors I found myself wanting to let go long before my body needed to.  I have discovered the same principle to be true in my personal prayer and study.  My mind has such a difficult time attaching itself to thoughts of God long enough for it to really have an impact.

2.  Hesitation is bad. Once you make a move, you must follow through.  Otherwise, you burn out very quickly.

3.  Have a plan. If you don’t have a plan while climbing, then you find yourself in a tough spot really soon with no other option than to let go.

4.  Know how to rest. It took me a long time to learn how to rest my body against the wall face.  It is especially important to get your body into a position where you can shake out your arms and legs, regroup, refocus, and keep going.

5.  Fear is bad. The fear of falling can become greater than the desire to reach the top.  Once that fear sets in, it is very difficult to make progress.

6.  Strength doesn’t always equal success. I fooled myself when I saw women half my size climbing with ease and became convinced that If they could do it then I could do it.  Do not boast in your strength – it can deceive you.

7.  Know how to let go. Sometimes retreating is the best course to take.  Never, never, hang on until the bitter end.  A friend of mine nearly suffered a tough fall because he failed to heed this principle.

My friends and I were spending a four day weekend in that collection of cliffs and steep narrow paths that makes the interior of the Grand Canyon such an unearthly place.  Each of us were living in different cities at the time; and now that we were there together, we found limitless adventures awaiting us.

“Listen,” my friend Steve said, on arriving at the bottom of the canyon after 7 miles of hiking, “let’s continue up the north side of the canyon.  There is a waterfall just a few miles up that we can camp at.  I think it will be awesome!”

Two hours later,with a few moments of daylight left, being completely exhausted, and having hiked only two miles up the north side, it began to rain.  We were shut in by sheer precipices in 32 degree temperatures without a tent.  I cannot explain to what we did next to survive through the night.  Just know that Steve received his due ridicule for getting us into the predicament.

The next morning we sat with our legs over the side of the cliff we slept on, drinking coffee and talking about the night we endured.  I remember yelling, at the top of my voice, and hearing the words come back to us without a flaw.  You cannot hike the grand canyon without sounding an echo.  This brings me to the point I want to make.  The whole wide world is a canyon of echoes.

Of all there is to marvel at in the Grand Canyon, the sights I remember the most are that of animals.  What was it about the fox that only a few of us saw, but the rest of us sought out in earnest if only to get a glimpse of?  What was it about the large crow that seemed to follow us on our journey?  What was it about the deer that prompted me to get as close to it as I could?  Why is it that today, with two years between me and the Grand Canyon, the fox and the crow and the deer stand out more vividly than the snow capped ridges?  There were a hundred things bigger and more noteworthy that the fox, the bird, and the deer.  Why have I remembered the animals?

It is all because of the echoes.  Life is a very relational affair; it longs for a response.  Life loves to meet life and be greeted by it.  To me, an environment is never complete unless somewhere within it is a living, breathing creature.  You may never understand this until you have found yourself in a lifeless place.  You see, we often fail to see the importance of a thing until we are temporarily deprived of it.  I came to realize that the response of life to life is such an essential affair of human existence when I visited the caves of West Virginia and the Redwood forests of northern California.  The eerie sense of being the only living creature on the surface you are exploring almost freezes your blood.  It is a world that is desolate, exhausted, silent, destitute, and cold!  It is a world in which nothing scurries or sings or flies.  It is the absence of any kind of response that begins to plague your psyche.

When you are staring at a dead animal, whether in the field or in the supermarket, do you not find yourself wondering what that creature must have been like when it was alive?  Does not a small part of you wish it could respond to your presence?  When we encounter the utter irresponsiveness of death, we get a glimpse, from a different perspective, of the awesome responsiveness of life. 

The world we live in is a world full of echoes, full of responses.  I am surrounded in all directions by life in many forms.  It may be terrifying or inviting, beautiful or ugly, it does not matter.  Wherever there is life, it will react to the life that is within myself and the life what is within myself will respond to it.  This meeting and greeting is exhiliterating, even if it is just encountering a small rabbit and being fearful of scaring it away.   That is why I have not forgotten the fox, the crow, and the deer.  I assure you, there are more echoes around us than we know.  Even if we didn’t see the fox in the canyon, we knew it saw us just fine, and it gave us an impression of companionship.  The canyon was never desolate.

I have written far more than I had set out to do and it is time to bring this all together and reveal the fruit of these thoughts.

As you go throughout your week, stop and look at the deer alongside the highway or the rabbit in your side yard.  Do you not feel your pulse beat just a hint faster as you stare at these timid creatures?  Life is responding to life!  And stop to have one more look at the dead salmon at the market, or the deer lying on the side of the road.  Do you not have some aching sense knowing that your presence and your voice awakens no responses, no echoes?  And most importantly, take some time each morning this week to look up.  There is, in fact, a higher Life that calls for a response from the life that is within us.

Jesus said, “I am the Life!”  “I have come that you might have life!”  “Whoever believes in Me shall not perish, but have everlasting life!”

As a believer in Jesus, the Bible says that our spiritual life is of Christ, the Life.  His Life seeks from us a continual, waking vibration of response.  And where there is no response, we may find something cold and lifeless.  If you find yourself spiritually cold and desolate, I encourage you to read Psalm 119 and cry out to God, “Revive me in your Word!  Grant to me a responsiveness to your gentle voice!”

Every year I manage to participate in a White Elephant gift exchange, usually at a Christmas party.  I have never once heard anyone explain to me why exactly we call this a White Elephant exchange.  Perhaps that is the reason for the dozens of different ways I have played the game.  No one really knows the point to begin with.

The term is derived from the sacred white elephants that were kept by monarchs in Asia.  To receive a white elephant as a gift from a monarch was considered a curse because the animal had to be retained but could not be put to much practical use.  To give a white elephant gift is to give a gift that is in actuality a curse to the recipient because he will be able to find no practical use for it.

It has occurred to me that Christmas in general is often one big white elephant gift exchange.  Decency demands that a gift be sent and if we are to be perfectly honest we would have to admit that many of the gifts we receive take their ranks among the white elephants.  I must admit it is difficult buying a beautiful book that I have a hunch will be adored but eternally unread.

In our individual lives, we must be cautious of turning the truths that we have learned from our parents, our churches, and our bibles into white elephants.  I have had friends who have done well by all appearances.  They are at home at a party; their wives think there is noone like them; their peers are excited at their appearance.  But that is as far as it goes.  You may never see them serving in church; they are doing little work for which the world will remember them when they are gone; and, as far as you can tell, they are laying up few treasures for themselves in the invisible world.  I can imagine one of these guys sitting on the lap of his mother and listening to her tell him about the story of Jesus.  His innocent heart easily responds to the wonders of the story and as he grows up he regurlarly receives deposits of biblical truth.  But at some point along the journey he stopped making use of it and his faith has become a white elephant.  It is like the old family Bible under the coffee table – very precious, but rarely used.

The first thing I set out to accomplish when I arrive in my office each day is to I try to read an essay by F.W. Boreham.  Something about his writing stirs my imagination and prepares my mind for the day.  This past week I have been reading what Boreham has written on leisure and the importance of rest.  So often our lives become complex to the point of craziness and we long for simplicity.  These thoughts led me this morning to Galatians 3 where Paul wrote, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?  Having begun in the spirit, are you now going to continue in the flesh?”  We so often forget the majestic simplicities of the gospel, and involve our tired brains and hungry hearts in tortuous systems that lead us a long, long way from home.

“A man’s life is like a garden,” wrote Boreham, “There is a limit to the things it will grow.  You cannot pack plants in a garden as you pack sardines in a tin . . . it is too much.  There must be a thinning out.”  He then goes on to explain that in the process of thinning out our gardens we need to be careful not to sacrifice all the pansies and keep all the potatoes.

What is needed in life is a margin.  Imagine trying to read a book that is printed to the edge of every page.  There would be no place for your thumb!  It is the margin that makes all the difference.  If my work occupies every working moment of my time, whether it is in action or thought, I am a slave to it.  My wife needs to know when I am at home in the evening that my job does not get my best, but that she gets my best.  A good husband, like a good book, needs to secure a margin.  There are very few things more repelling then the feeling that a man has no time for you.  It may be a good book, but if it does not contain margins, then I will never enjoy it.  A man may be an excellent person, but if he lacks leisure, restfulness, and poise, I will never feel at ease around him.

It is a fact that the most winsome people in the world are those that make you feel that they are never in a hurry.  G.K. Chesterton in his Father Brown mystery series writes of a hurried woman who upon passing Father Brown and his friend smiled at them and went sweeping into the house.  “That woman’s over-driven,” said Father Brown; “that’s the kind of woman that does her duty for twenty years and then does something dreadful.”  One of the greatest hindrances to developing relationships is busyness.  In reading Omnivore’s Dilemma I discovered that “17% of meals are eaten in cars.”

When I am losing control of my life and it gets tangled and twisted, and I want an older person to help me, I will be too timid to approach the man who is always in a rush.  I instinctively feel that he is far too busy to care about my troubles.  He is the type of person who tears through life like a tornado.  A feverish countenance is stamped upon his face and you’d think he would die if he stood still.  He seems to be constantly glancing at his watch or pulling out his phone, and is always muttering something about his next appointment.  He completes a remarkable amount of tasks throughout his day and his work ethic is something to marvel at.  But he would be much better off in the long run if he secured a margin.  He makes everyone around him, especially his family, feel as if he is far too busy for them.

Take for example a shrinking young girl who comes to the pastor because she is perplexed about her relationships with guys.  Her self image is at an all-time low and she feels sure, from hearing some of the things he has taught, that he could help her.  But she remembers that in his office he keeps a sign that reads, “Carpe Diem!” which reminds her that his time is precious.  She fears that, before she has gotten through half of her aching story his head will be nodding faster and faster as he seeks to conclude the conversation.  Busyness creeps up on us so quickly and it is very easy to go too fast.  For all that we accomplish, we may be losing life’s best.

Practically speaking, the ones closest to us love when we have a margin.  The rush and throb and tear of life has no business robbing me of my restfulness.  I must keep a quiet heart.  I must guard my margins.  I must find time to run a wood path, to play soccer, to camp in the mountains.  I must cultivate the friendship of parks and books and animals.  I must sit in front of the fire and laugh with my friends.

These have been a few thoughts that have been written on my mind since reading Boreham this past week.  I’ll finish with this quote:  “There are many things in a man’s life that he can give up, just as there are many things in a book that can be skipped, but the last thing to go must be the margin.”

The Ryrie Study Bible

I am often asked by people in our church, “What translation and what study Bible should I use?”  Personally, I wish there wasn’t such a plethora of English Bible translations available.  I’m not sure I could justify writing another translation of the Bible in English when there are 2000 language groups in the world without Bibles.  But since we are forced to make a choice, I recommend the New American Standard or the New Living Translation.  My study Bible of choice is the Ryrie Study Bible.

Click to go to website

My mentor while I was in college is good friends with Dr. Ryrie and much of what I learned from him originated with Dr. Ryrie.  Here are two reasons why I suggest the instruction and commentary of Charles Ryrie:

1.  He is clear.  Very often in attempting to communicate biblical truth we muddy it in the process.  Dr. Ryrie places great importance on the need to be as clear as possible with as few as words as possible.

2.  He keeps the main thing the main thing, namely, the gospel of grace.  The Bible is a story of God redeeming mankind through His son Jesus Christ.  Often times writers and commentators take us far away from the simple truths of the gospel.  Dr. Ryrie keeps you on track.

Check out the video of Dr. Ryrie to the right.  He gives a great talk called “The Gospel According to Peanuts.”

The mighty monosyllable, “No.” is not easily mastered.  Never does our generosity become more evident than the Christmas season, and for some of us, the root of all of our troubles during the Christmas season lies in our inability to say, “No.”

Here are five suggestions to help you master the word “No.” this Christmas season:

1.  The month of December is replete with open arms of invitation.  Will you join us at this function?  Are you free for dinner?  Will you help those in need?  At first sight, nothing but good can come of these.  Perhaps we feel it is our duty to show ourselves friendly.  Perhaps we feel finally popular.  If your answers to these invitations are in any way dictated by a need to meet expectations or to put up a front so that others will love and accept you, then you will attend to everyone’s wishes to the impoverishment of your own soul.  Read Ephesians 1-3 and be reminded of the blessings you have in Christ and know that you possess intrinsic value.

2.  If you are not careful, a crisis will encroach upon you suddenly, as crises almost always do.  Like a pack of dogs that rush all at once upon the baffled deer, 20 separate circumstances will conspire to simultaneously convince you that you are managing life unwisely.  It is during these times that you must remain poised and patient.  Don’t be too quick to answer every need.

3.  Wake up early and spend long mornings every week reading.  I know of nothing that can better prepare you for a long and arduous day than to bathe your mind in the Word of God, followed by a good story to engage your imagination.  Then in the evenings, spend time talking over coffee or around a fire with friends and family.  If you have elderly relatives, take time to listen again to their stories and memories.

4.  The dog that follows everybody is no good to anybody!  You must be selective with who and what will receive your time, attention, and affection.  The Bible says, “Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place you see.”  You can widen a river until it so broad and so shallow that it becomes incapable of navigation.  As a general rule of thumb, it is far better to be narrow and deep.  Make an intentional decision to bless abundantly a few people this Christmas, and then commit that decision to God and ask Him to help you keep it.

5.  Your significant other will think that if it is your duty to attend to so much during the Christmas season and so not feel obliged to complain.  But they may feel very lonely when you are always dashing out the door.  When troubles attend them, they will feel as if you are far too busy to bother you with their needs.  And when they see other men playing with their children in the snow, their heart will ache for theirs.

If we are not careful we can become like that lighthouse attendant who gave to the poor in the cabins around him the oil of the mighty lanterns that should have been lighting the seas.  He had been giving the oil to the poor when he should have been using it in the lighthouse with whose care he was charged.

This Christmas, I encourage you to not become like the Huma, the bird that never stayed still, but was always in flight.

It is, I believe, our human tendency to find ourselves hemmed in by small things – the finer details of church and politics, the infinitesimal flaws in relationships, the pull of insignificant materials and goods.  We in these moments find ourselves, of all people, most pitiable.  The smallest things in life suddenly are able to set us off.  And what do we so often do?  Ironically, we choose to only engage in small talk.  Let’s not talk about religion, education, politics, and philosophy.  Let’s instead talk about sports, the weather, movies, and events.  It is far safer on the shore where the boat can’t be rocked.

Here is a prescription to our malady:  Read more…