bono did our bible reading today...

40
Words and Music by U2

I waited patiently for the Lord.
He inclined and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clay.

I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song.
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song?

You set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm.
Many will see, many will see and hear.

I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?


Links:
Psalm 40
U2

cosmic disappointment

... no matter what we put our hopes in, in the morning, it is always Leah, never Rachel.... this cosmic disappointment and disillusionment is there in all of life, but we especially feel it in the things upon which we most set our hopes.

Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods

Keller suggests there are 4 responses to this realisation:

1. Continued idolatry and spiritual addiction - You can blame the things that are disappointing you and try to move on to better ones.

2. Self-loathing and shame - You can blame yourself and beat yourself.

3. Cynicism and emptiness - You can blame the world.

4. Reorientate your life towards God and find hope in Him.

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world [something supernatural and eternal]

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Links:
The story of Jacob and Leah from the Bible (Genesis 29:16-35)
'Counterfeit Gods' by Tim Keller

all you need is love?

Most people, if they have really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we have grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality. I think everyone knows what I mean. The wife may be a good wife, and the hotels and scenery may have been excellent, and chemistry may be a very interesting job: but something has evaded us.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

three ways to live

The gospel tells us that our root sin is not just failing in our obedience to God but relying on our obedience to save us. Therefore, the gospel is the “third way,” neither religion nor irreligion. The religious person may say, “I am dong the right things that God commands” and the irreligious person may say, “I decide what is right and wrong for myself.” But both ways reject Jesus as Savior (though they may revere him as Example or Helper). Both ways are strategies of self-salvation – both actually keep control of their own lives. So the gospel keeps us from legalism and moralism on one hand, and from hedonism and relativism on the other.

Tim Keller, The Prodigal God

wrestling

Unless he [the leader] is constantly and faithfully wrestling in the heavenlies with the powers of darkness, there is a real danger in becoming involved in westling with his colleagues.

D.E. Hoste

we're bruised reeds

After conversion we need bruising, so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks; even we need bruising by reason of the remainder of pride in our nature, and to let us see that we live by mercy; and that weaker Christians may not be too much discouraged, when they see stronger ones shaken and bruised. Thus Peter was bruised when he wept bitterly. This reed, till he met with this bruise, had more wind in him than pith. "Though all forsake thee, I will not," (Matthew 36:35). The people of God cannot be without these examples. The heroical deeds of those great worthies do not comfort the Church so much as their falls and bruises do.

Richard Sibbes, "The Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax" (1631)