THE BIBLE SPEAKS
by
Background Scripture:
1 Chronicles 15:1-28...
Devotional
Psalms 150
The
“ark” to which the title refers is probably not the same “ark” that comes to
your mind. It is natural to assume that we are speaking of Noah’s ark, the
wooden ship that Noah was instructed by God to build. (Gen. 6:14-16). Neither
is it a reference to the ark of the infant Moses, the container of Nile
bulrushes (papyrus), mud and pitch in which Moses was placed by his mother to
hide him from the Pharaoh’s decree (Ex. 2:3).
Instead, it is the ark (a chest or box),
the Ark of the Covenant constructed of acacia wood and overlaid with gold for
the Holy of Holies in the
The ark was carried wherever the
Israelites went, including into battle. It was in a battle with the Philistines
that the ark was captured and spirited away by the enemy. Only later, when the
Israelites vanquished their enemy, was the ark recaptured. The first attempt to
return it to
THE
MYSTERY OF THE
In the centuries following the ark was removed from the temple and lost.
We do not know who took it, when, how or where it was taken. Quite possibly it
was during one of the several invasions of
So why spend time learning about an
ancient Hebrew relic that has been lost for centuries? I think we can learn
from how the people of
When they were exiles in
Christian
worship. The essence of that worship was the conviction that God was present.
GOD’S
PRESENCE
Today, there is a lot of controversy
over the ways in which Christians worship. Some hold that the old forms of
worship do not appeal to the younger generations we are trying to reach. Some
churches find that even the older generations seem to be remiss in worship
attendance. And why do so many members stay away when Holy Communion is served?
I do not know the answers to these
questions, but I wonder whether all of us ought not to ask ourselves whether
worshippers are experiencing the sense of God’s presence. I wonder about church
services that are basically folksy and entertaining, with sermons consisting of
a number of jokes or funny stories at the beginning and ending, and with a bit
of scripture and a few platitudes in-between. I wonder about churches that
follow faithfully time-honored rituals that many find stale and mind-numbing.
Does any of this worship engender a sense of the presence of God?
Rufus Jones has written: “Worship is the act
of rising to a personal, experimental consciousness of the real presence of God
which floods the soul with joy and bathes the inward spirit with refreshing
streams of life.” I agree, but is that what we are looking for and experiencing
in our churches? Is the ark still missing?
THE BIBLE SPEAKS
by
THE VIEW
FROM A
HIGH HORSE
Background Scripture:
1 Chronicles 17:1-27.
Devotional
Psalms 78:67-72.
When
you read this, we will still be in the midst of a monstrous presidential
primary campaign. Candidates’ words will be examined to determine if anyone has
quietly changed his or her positions on various important issues. And, if so,
candidates will probably be claiming that they hadn’t “changed” but simply
“clarified” what they said previously. Sure.
1
Chronicles 17 tells us of a quick, dramatic turn-about by the Prophet Nathan.
Living in the lap of luxury, David exclaims, “Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of
the Lord is under a tent.” And Nathan tells him to go ahead with his
plans. But less than twenty-four hours later, he commands King David, not to
build God a new “house.”
(The writer, I think, is playing a little game
with the reader: In my RSV he uses the word “house” thirteen times in chapter
17..But, sometimes he is speaking of God’s house, sometimes David’s palace and
sometimes David and his descendents.)
Had God changed his
mind? (Not likely!). Had Nathan misunderstood God the first time? The writer
doesn’t know and neither do we. All we know is that in a dream God clearly
stated that he did not want a temple built for him at this time. Politicians
and journalists would accuse Nathan of being inconsistent or even a “bogus
prophet” who is not in touch with the Lord. Who needs a prophet who can’t get
the message right every time?
“SECOND THOUGHTS”
Actually, I think we do. Although he was erroneously positive that he
had God’s direction in this matter, Nathan was still capable of having “second
thoughts.” He was open to God’s word even if it meant he had to acknowledge
that he had erred. That is a rare quality. God can teach such people, but the
proud cannot learn what they already think they know.
Several decades ago, Richardson Dilworth, district attorney of
This is a factor, not
only in politics, but in all phases of life, including religion. It is all too
rare for religious people to admit they have been in error. The more we know of
Jesus, the more humble we should become. The more we read the Bible, the more
it should induce humility in our hearts. Yet someone told me that the reason he
was not impressed by the gospel is that “it is often spouted by the most
arrogant people.” I agree with Thomas Guthrie: “The Christian is like the
ripening corn; the riper he grows the more lowly he bends his head.”
THE HIGH LIFE
David was the Lord’s
anointed king of
Do you ever ask: Why, Lord, am I
well-fed when so many are poorly nourished and starving? Why do I live in a
nation where I can speak my mind freely, while others tremble under tyranny? If
you end up thinking, well I guess I deserve it; you are in for a fall!
There’s an old adage (which I just made
up): those who sit proudly on their high
horses do not realize how painful and terrifying it will be when they fall!
THE BIBLE SPEAKS
by
A LAME
DUCK’S
SWAN
SONG
Background Scripture:
1 Chronicles 28:1-28...
Devotional
Psalms 132.
One of
the signs of changing times is the preoccupation of entrepreneurs with the
short-run view. Business is often conducted as if there were no tomorrow. “Take
the money and run”
seems to be the marketplace battle. There is little company loyalty to
employees and vice-versa. The exclusivity of short-term profits engenders greed
and corruption.
Yesterday I attended the luncheon meeting of
the Harvard Business School Alumni
of
Dallas and our speaker, a celebrated CEO of a “model” retail corporation,
decried the current practice of hiring the cheapest employees to be found and
putting them to work without training, adequate compensation and without “a
clue to what they are supposed to be selling.” Is
this a religious concern? Yes, I think it is, because a short-run vision is
concerned primarily with a selfish me-and-mine attitude of ‘don’t think about
tomorrow.’ When short-term profit is our only goal, it becomes an idol, a
substitute for God. So, what does this have to do with 1 Chronicles 28?
A
LONG-RUN VISION
The farewell address of King David may
seem an ancient event, but it is instructive for us. King David begins by
declaring what his intention had been as King. “I had it in my heart to build a
house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of
our God; and I made preparations for a building. But God said to me, ‘You may
not build a house for my name, for you are a warrior and have shed blood.” (28:2,
3).
David had to admit that he had failed to
carry out his plans and he was going to have to entrust them to his successor.
He was now aware that he had begun a task so demanding that it could not be
completed in the span of his mortal life. David had accomplished simply amazing
things for
A couple of years ago I read a book
about the future of Christianity. According to the author, the future of the
faith seems promising in Africa, South America and Asia, but the outlook for
the
GOD’S
HANDS AND OURS
David then lays out for Solomon and the
people the game plan for the future: keep the commandments, know the God of
your father, serve him, seek him, be strong and of good courage for the God who
was with David and his people will be with Solomon and his people. Know that he
will not forsake you, but will be with you to the end of the task (28:9-20).
That seems like good advice for us, too.
When our work is done, that does not mean that God is done. The
At the very beginning of World War II,
when an unprepared
David was a lame-duck singing a
swan-song, but it was a song his people would continue to sing when he was
gone.
THE BIBLE SPEAKS
by
PROMISES,
PROMISES
Background Scripture:
2 Chronicles 6; Luke 24.
Devotional
Psalms 135:1-5.
For
most of my life, if not all of it, I have been one of those persons who
believed that there was no problem that could not be solved if I worked at it
hard enough, long enough and gave it my all. But there have been times in that
lifetime that I found myself confronted with a crisis that remained
unresponsive to the best and highest of my efforts. Fortunately—or better,
providentially---it was then that I found that I had nothing left but God’s
promises.
What
had he promised me? Did he promise to help escape my problem? No. Did he
promise to wave a magic wand and fix everything? No, not that either. Did he
promise to save me from pain, loss, shame or consequences? No, no, no! No, the
promise God made me---and you---is that he would be with me and bring me
through to the other side. So, whenever we sing R. Kelso Carter’s hymn,
“Standing on the Promises,” I know it from my own experience.
The
Jews never spent much time or effort in trying to nail down what God was and
is; instead they witnessed to what God had done, was doing and would do. The
address of Solomon in 2 Chron. 6 is such a testimony. He speaks of what God has
done with his father David: “Blessed
be the Lord, the God of
GOD KEPT HIS PROMISE
All
that David and Solomon had from God on this subject was the promise that
Solomon, the son, would achieve what David, his father, was prevented from
doing. And, says Solomon, “Now the
Lord has fulfilled his promise which he made…And I have built the house for the
name of the Lord…And there I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of the
Lord which he made with the people of Israel” (6:10,11). Solomon’s
temple is the symbol of the promises that God has kept. Kneeling at the altar,
Solomon testifies to the faithfulness of God and then goes on to pose eight
questions, each followed by a prayer of intercession.
The
first is “But will God dwell indeed
with man on earth?”96:18). And Solomon responds with an intercessory
prayer asking that he will make this temple a place where God will be present.
He also asks God to respond “If a man
sins against his neighbor…” (6:22), “If thy people are defeated before the enemy…” (6:24,25), if “heaven
is shut up and there is no rain…”(6:26,27), “If there is a famine… (6:28-31), if a foreigner comes to the
temple to pray (6:32,33), “If thy
people go out to battle against their enemies… (6:34,35), and “If they sin against thee…and thou art angry
with them, and dost give them to an enemy…”
This is
a delineation of the covenant relationship between God and
A FAILED “CHOSEN ONE”
Solomon
built a magnificent temple. His wisdom was the heart of the wisdom literature
of
God kept his
promises; Solomon did not. But, of course, what matters now is not between
Solomon and God, but us and our Lord. God is faithful; are we?
*(Personalities of the Old Testament,
Charles Scribner’s Sons, NY,1949).
THE BIBLE SPEAKS
by
A
FORMULA
FOR
REFORM
Background Scripture:
2 Chronicles 34.
Devotional
Psalms 119:25-40.
I counted more than
32 verses of the Old Testament that say, “He
did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,” (2 Chron. 33:2), and
practically all of these are evaluations of the kings of
So
Josiah was “the new kid on the block,” both literally and figuratively. He was
only eight years old when he began to reign. By the time he was twenty he was
already shaking-up things, getting rid of all the pagan sites of worship that
had accumulated during the reigns of many kings, including his father Amon, who
was murdered after only two years on the throne, and his grandfather, Manasseh,
one of the most despised of all Hebrew monarchs. With a heritage and bloodline
like that, who would have thought he would become a reformer?
FINDING THE BOOK
At the
age of 26 Josiah instituted a massive program of renewing the temple which had
become old and seedy. In the midst of that program someone found a scroll that
apparently had lain there unremembered and undiscovered for many, many years.
We believe that this scroll was probably an earlier edition of Deuteronomy.
When Hilkiah the high priest called out to Shaphan the scribe, “”I have found the book of the law in the
house of the Lord” (34:15), neither could have guessed how
revolutionary this scroll would become.
With
its laws and rituals from of old, Deuteronomy suddenly became a new measuring
stick by which to measure the life of the nation. Shaphan was certainly being
falsely nonchalant when he took it to King Josiah and said, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book”!
(34:18). But there is nothing dispassionate about the reaction of Josiah: “When the king heard the words of the law he
rent his clothes,” a traditional act of anguish and/or remorse. “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for
those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book
that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on
us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord…” (34:21).
THE “WEASEL”
There was yet one
person needed to ignite this vital reform: a true prophet who would confirm
that this scroll was an authentic revelation for the king and his nation. There
probably were numerous prophets in the land at that time. Unfortunately, most
of them told the people
what they wanted to hear, not what God wanted them
to hear. So, to get the truth, hard to swallow though it might be, they went to
a prophetess by the name of Huldah. How ironic that her name probably meant
“weasel”! But she told it as she saw it: terrible times would fall on
the nation because of their apostasy. The scroll
would not prevent disaster, but because King Josiah wanted to know God’s will,
the disaster would not come during his reign. And it didn’t.
So here we have the
ingredients for reform and reformation: a leader who is willing and able to
break out of the pattern into which he was born, a measuring stick against
which to measure the life of the people, and a prophetess, who like a weasel,
tenaciously hung on to the truth no matter how much or who it would wound.
So, the
epitaph for Josiah and his people: “And
Josiah took away all the abomination...and made all that were in