Hidden Treasures

Whew, can you say "Sam's a bad blogger"? I've discovered something very important: I blog best when I'm procrastinating from school. Knowing that, don't expect any consistent posting until September after I've settled into school. I'm actually writing the Harry Potter post now, however, just in time for the release of the final book, so that should be coming sometime in the next two weeks. In the meantime, here's a meditation on Job 28 from my quiet time this morning.

I think Job 28 is one of the most beautiful chapters in Scripture, and especially in Job (second only to God's monologue of creation in chapters 38-41). The entire chapter is worth quoting here; please take the time to read it and savor the beauty and truth contained within:

“Surely there is a mine for silver,
and a place for gold that they refine.
Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from the ore.
Man puts an end to darkness
and searches out to the farthest limit
the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
they are forgotten by travelers;
they hang in the air, far away from mankind;
they swing to and fro.
As for the earth, out of it comes bread,
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
Its stones are the place of sapphires,
and it has dust of gold.

"That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon's eye has not seen it.
The proud beasts have not trodden it;
the lion has not passed over it.

“Man puts his hand to the flinty rock
and overturns mountains by the roots.
He cuts out channels in the rocks,
and his eye sees every precious thing.
He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

“But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
Man does not know its worth,
and it is not found in the land of the living.
The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
It cannot be bought for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.
Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.
The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.

“From where, then, does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
It is hidden from the eyes of all living
and concealed from the birds of the air.
Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

“God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
When he gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
when he made a decree for the rain
and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Think of the camera that follows Saruman's rooks into the mines at Isengard during The Fellowship of the Ring. Reading this chapter is like following that camera, but instead of the heat of the lava and the squalor of the orcs, we are treated to huge caves filled with gold, silver, sapphires, and multitudes of precious jewels. It's a beautiful, breathtaking sight.

But then Job asks the question: Where is wisdom? That which is valuable above all else, where can it be found? Only God knows where it is or how to find it, for it was he who created it. Wisdom is found in the fear of the Lord, for only when we fear God will he impart wisdom to us.

I don't have a lot to say about this passage, mainly because it speaks for itself. No matter how beautiful creation is, it can never match the beauty of wisdom. That is why Solomon tells us in Proverbs 2 that "if you seek [for wisdom] like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." Wisdom is the ultimate treasure, and it is found in knowing God. Search for him and find him, and you will have everything you need.

My Daring Excursion into PC Land, Closing Thoughts

So in this final post, I’ll be discussing what I learned this week. If you want to know the interesting bits of wisdom and insight I picked up during class-time, read my other four posts. But overall, there were a few main things that I learned.

First, I learned that the guys in the PC are hilarious. Seriously. Not only are they incredibly smart and very wise, they also had us laughing so hard at points that our sides hurt. From Merritt’s desperate emergency to Bryce’s 10:31 award to “Super Won”, there were just so many things to laugh at, and I definitely learned that laughter is good for the soul. (On a related sidenote, I also personally learned that laughter can destroy pride pretty fast, as I discovered how to act when put into the hotseat the hard way. Never say anything around Brew that could be remotely construed to be insulting, because he will find a way to hang it around your neck so fast that you won’t know what hit you.)

Second, I learned that the narrative sections of the Bible have a much greater purpose than I was aware of. They show examples of men and women following God and of men and women not following God, but so much more importantly, everything points to Christ and the cross. Sometimes as you look at the individual stories you can’t really see quite how, but by looking at the big picture like we did, it becomes so clear. Judges and Samuel demonstrate the failure of the judges, the priests, and the kings to rule Israel in a righteous way, pointing to Christ, the King of Israel who would be everything the kings were not, and Ruth points to the inclusivity of the gospel and how anyone can be saved, even a Moabite, one of God’s sworn enemies.

Third, I learned the correct way to read Proverbs (something that Brew had hinted at in his last 10:31 message, but became very clear to me during the class) and Psalms. The proverbs are promises and will happen, although not necessarily in this life. The whole book of Proverbs is written with eternity in view, and eternally all the promises will be fulfilled just as God said. The psalms are written to be prayed, and although they grew out of specific experiences, they are widely applicable to our lives today.

The main thing I learned? God’s Word is so much more amazing than I thought at the beginning of the week, and as much as I discovered that this week, I’m sure that I will continue to rediscover it over and over and over again. Isn’t God so good?

My Daring Excursion into PC Land: Day 4

Well, it’s all over. The last day of class has come and gone, and now I’m typing up this post in the audience watching the Godspell rehearsals. For just a half day, we sure covered a lot of stuff in Proverbs and Ruth.

1) The promises of Proverbs are perfectly true, just not necessarily temporally true. Looking at some of the proverbs (“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones” Prov. 3:7-8), it seems that they are wrong. I know plenty of people who fear the Lord and shun evil, and they are in terrible health. How do we reconcile the inerrancy of Scripture with this apparent untruth? Mr. Chick said it well (I hear include four separate quotes that all state different aspects of the issue):

Proverbs promises great things - these great things are true - yet their full enjoyment is often to be experienced in the future. We can trust God’s word knowing that we might not always see the big picture or experience immediate reward, but we know that we will not be disappointed in the end.

Proverbs are different from the rest of Scripture in the way we experience them, not in the truthfulness of God.

They speak a truth, but not the whole truth at once. They make one point while ignoring equally valid counter claims – this doesn’t mean they are unaware of ‘fuller’ truth - just as the writer in Hebrews in chapter 11 likely was aware of the shortcomings of many he listed in the ‘Hall of Faith.’

Proverbs is written for youth. These are the fundamentals of life. They don’t deny reality, but present a positive view ((e.g. “The righteous falls, but gets up again”).

2) The Christian life is all about pursuing wisdom. Mr. Chick said this was the whole point of Proverbs: The successful Christian life is a constant, ongoing, tenacious pursuit of wisdom and godliness, by way of child-like dependant humble trust, all subsisting and emanating from the empowering grace of God. I think that’s a pretty good summary.

3) Memorizing one or two pithy proverbs will not do if we are to successfully navigate the challenges of life. Mr. Chick quoted a professor of his who, when asked which proverbs should be memorized to give a good feel for the book, replied “All of them.” I need to have all of the book available to me because life is so complicated.

4) God moves as we move. As we studied Ruth, we saw that it was when Ruth stepped out in faith to ask Boaz to be her kinsman-redeemer that God blessed both her and Boaz. Though God has been working well in advance, His sovereignty is often apparent as we step out in humble reliant faith in his promises. He gives us the opportunity to take an active part in his plan for our lives.

There, that’s the shortest one yet, and most of it wasn’t even my own writing. Hope you have benefited from just these little tidbits of all that we learned over the past week.

My Daring Excursion into PC Land: Day 3

These posts are also being posted on the 10:31 blog, run by the guy doing my internship, Dave Brewer. I have heard many complaints, especially from Brew, that the articles I write are way too long (I don't really have to tell you this if you've read this blog for any length of time, you already know). This is the response I gave to introduce Day 3, followed by the rest of the post:

I am well aware that I write too much for normal people to want to read. I think it’s a result of my reading too much Tim Challies and Pyromaniacs, excellent blogs with a penchant for exceeding 1000 words in a typical post. I also tend to have a lot to say no matter where I am, which translates into my blogging. So I’ll try to keep this post short, but since it has several parts, my suggested method of reading it is to browse the headings and read the sections that interest you.

Today we finished Samuel and started into Proverbs. Let me tell you, this course is one of those described as “drinking out of a fire hydrant.” However, I did manage to swallow some bits, so here they are:

1) The Lord’s regret versus the Lord’s sovereignty. As we were talking about how 1 Samuel 15:35 says “the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel” and 15:29 says “the [Lord]…is not a man, that he should have regret” and the apparent contradiction between the two statements. Mr. Chick shared a quote from Dale Ralph Davis that helped me personally as it expounded on the greatness and mystery of God:

Only in the consistent God of verse 29 and in the sorrowful God of verse 35 do we find the God worthy of praise. Here is a God who is neither fickle in his ways nor indifferent in his responses. Here is a God who has both firmness and feeling. If we cannot comprehend we can perhaps apprehend, at least enough to adore.

2) David’s rule, messed-up though it was, demonstrates God’s faithfulness. David sure messed up majorly during his rule. He slept with Bathsheba, killed her husband, took a census against God’s orders, was a failure as a father, etc. And yet he was still considered “a man after God’s own heart,” the man through whom God would found an eternal dynasty, the man from whom Jesus would descend. Why? Because God is faithful, despite our failures. He had promised David that his offspring would rule forever, and even though David failed to live up to his end of the bargain (to rule righteously), God keeps his promises. Plus, David’s failures point to a future king who will never fail: Jesus Christ.

3) A proverb is a short, memorable statement which crystallizes reality and exposes illusion, compelling the hearer to choose reality. That’s John Loftness’s definition, and I really find it a helpful way to understand the purpose of Proverbs.

4) Proverbs uses “Yahweh” as God’s name almost exclusively, showing the importance of the covenant to understanding the book. Yahweh is the name of God used in relation with his covenant with Israel. Since Proverbs uses it almost exclusively, it must have some significance to understanding the book, and what Mr. Chick said is this: “Wisdom is not to be separated from relationship with the one who gives it.” If we’re to understand Proverbs, we must be in relationship with God, the author of all knowledge.

5) He who knows not can be taught, but he who knows not that he knows not is a fool. Just a pithy saying from the mouth of Mr. Chick that I particularly liked.

6) Definition of the fear of the Lord. Brew may have shared this quote from Charles Bridges in his sermon at the last 10:31 meeting, but I thought it was so good I just have to share it again.

But what is the fear of the Lord? It is that affectionate reverence by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his Father’s law. God’s wrath is so bitter and his love so sweet that we have this earnest desire to please him and to fear him, so that we will not sin against him.

There, that’s a little shorter and hopefully easier to read. Tomorrow’s the last day, and it’s only a half-day, so it will likely be a much shorter post. Until then…uh…eat your Wheaties! :-D