If someone were to tell me, "Write a paper explaining everything you know on the topic of 'The Sabbath' " I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to write much. Oh sure, I know about the command to honor the Sabbath, etc. My understanding of the reason for the Sabbath, however, has always been woefully shallow. Knowing something is important to God is one thing. Knowing why is another.
Answers come in unexpected places. The other day I was reading K&D's commentary on Isaiah 58 and was absolutely floored and enlightened by their words. The discussion began at vs 13 "If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, (14) then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
Here, slightly abridged by my own discretion and emphases of my own added, are K&D's thoughts:
The third part of the prophecy now adds to the duties of human love the duty of keeping the Sabbath, for the service of works is sanctified by the service of worship. The duty of keeping the Sabbath is also enforced by Jeremiah (17:19ff) and Ezekiel (20:12ff; 22:8,26), and the neglect of this duty severely condemned. The Sabbath, above all other institutions appointed by law, was the true means of uniting and sustaining Israel as a religious community, more especially in exile, where a great part of the worship necessarily fell into abeyance on account of its intimate connection with Jerusalem and the holy land; but while it was a Mosaic institution so far as its legal appointments were concerned, it rested, in a way which reached even beyond the rite of circumcision, upon a basis much older than that of the law, being a ceremonial copy of the Sabbath of creation, which was the divine rest established by God as the true object of all motion; for God entered into Himself again after He had created the world out of Himself, that all created things might enter into Him. In order that this, the great end set before all creation, and especially before mankind, viz., entrance into the rest of God, might be secured, the keeping of the Sabbath prescribed by the law was a divine method of education, which put an end every week to the ordinary avocations of the people, with their secular influence and their tendency to fix the mind of outward things, and was designed by the strict prohibition of all work to force them to enter into themselves and occupy their minds with God and His word. The prophet does not hedge round this commandment to keep the Sabbath with any new precepts, but merely demands for its observance full truth answering to the spirit of the letter.
Again, if you call (i.e. from inward contemplation and esteem) the Sabbath a pleasure (because it leads you to God, and not a burden because it leads you away from your everyday life; cf Amos 8:5) and the holy one of Jehovah honorable...then, just as the Sabbath is your pleasure, so will you have your pleasure in Jehovah, i.e. enjoy His delightful fellowship and He will reward you for your renunciation of earthly advantages with a victorious reign, with an unapproachable possession of the high places of the land - i.e., chiefly, though not exclusively, of the promised land - and with the free and undisputed usufruct of the inheritance promised to your forefather Jacob, - this will be your glorious reward.
I am a visual thinker and the picture they paint of God entering into Himself after He had created the world out of Himself and His desire to draw all men into Himself...well, that picture of the Sabbath was an entirely new one for me. And I must say a convincing one. How well I know that unless one periodically ceases from the active pursuit of daily outward things one will rarely "enter into themselves and occupy their minds with God and His word."
I'm not advocating a strict adherence to the outward form of keeping the Sabbath. But I see for myself the need to plan in periods of conscious ceasing/fasting from daily outward things to occupying my heart with God and drawing into His rest.
I could never hope to say it as well as K&D but if I had to write that paper, at least now I think I'd have a few more millimeters of depth to my answer.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Shared Riches
One of the absolute delights of this season in my life comes from the convergence of two gifts: the gift of unhurried time to bask in God's Word and the gift of a set of books - Keil and Delitzsch's Commentary on the Old Testament, 10 volumes of inestimable value. I share so often from the things I've gleaned from K&D that Pete has suggested that I write a book that simply highlights my sifted riches from their writings. I see merit in the idea because their commentary is not an easy one to read. Most people simply do not have the time to comb through discussions of the innuendos of different Hebrew words and the comparison of various commentators' exegeses of passages to arrive at the nuggets of truth buried at the heart.
I happen to have the luxury of doing exactly that and every day my heart beats a little quicker in anticipation of the riches I know I am likely to find. These godly expositors had an amazing gift for putting each passage of the OT into the overall context of salvation history. One might expect biblical scholars from the mid-1800's to have written something that, while accurate and scholarly, was dry and dusty. In reality, their words have an amazing freshness of truth, faith and devotion. When I die and my children go through my books I'm sure they will wonder at my worn copies and at all the red pencil lines highlighting passages of explanations.
All of that as a foundation for what I really wanted to write about. But perhaps that should be a separate post...
I happen to have the luxury of doing exactly that and every day my heart beats a little quicker in anticipation of the riches I know I am likely to find. These godly expositors had an amazing gift for putting each passage of the OT into the overall context of salvation history. One might expect biblical scholars from the mid-1800's to have written something that, while accurate and scholarly, was dry and dusty. In reality, their words have an amazing freshness of truth, faith and devotion. When I die and my children go through my books I'm sure they will wonder at my worn copies and at all the red pencil lines highlighting passages of explanations.
All of that as a foundation for what I really wanted to write about. But perhaps that should be a separate post...
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The World I Live In....
I ran across some interesting statistics about my zip code area the other day. I don't know why this fascinates me since my brain in generally accepted as being a-numeric. But somehow these numbers are interesting to me...
There are 53,830 households in 4.2 sq miles, giving it a population density of 12,805 people per square mile, which rates as "very high". For comparison, this ranks slightly higher than the city of Chicago.
51.4% of the population is foreign born and 29% of the residents speak English at home.
The 2008 estimated median household income is $46,423.
In 2008, the median price asked for vacant for-sale homes and condos was $739,000.
The estimated median house value in this zip code was $526,000, while in 2000 it was $205,000.
65% of the residents are renters.
The 2009 cost of living index was 165.4 (compared to a national average of 100).
There are 53,830 households in 4.2 sq miles, giving it a population density of 12,805 people per square mile, which rates as "very high". For comparison, this ranks slightly higher than the city of Chicago.
51.4% of the population is foreign born and 29% of the residents speak English at home.
The 2008 estimated median household income is $46,423.
In 2008, the median price asked for vacant for-sale homes and condos was $739,000.
The estimated median house value in this zip code was $526,000, while in 2000 it was $205,000.
65% of the residents are renters.
The 2009 cost of living index was 165.4 (compared to a national average of 100).
Monday, February 22, 2010
Winter visit to Illinois, part 2
It's really hard to have your heart and your roots in two vastly different places. I'm so glad that I know GOD is the One who chooses our paths for us. I am confident that His wisdom, love and divine plan for His kingdom and glory determine those paths. The older I get, the more I cling to the story of Joseph - the amazing picture of God's sovereignty played out through incredible circumstances. My life isn't nearly as bizarre as Joseph's was!
Here's a photo I took of a prairie sunrise. I was staying at Mark and Janine's lovely farm.
If that looks cold, it really was! It was something ridiculous like 4 degrees.
These photos are inside their home which is to me the quintessential Midwestern farm house. It's as warm inside as it is cold outside!
Winter afternoons are perfect for walks. Here's the creek on our farm and the sun sinking over the fields.
Here's a photo I took of a prairie sunrise. I was staying at Mark and Janine's lovely farm.
If that looks cold, it really was! It was something ridiculous like 4 degrees.These photos are inside their home which is to me the quintessential Midwestern farm house. It's as warm inside as it is cold outside!
Winter afternoons are perfect for walks. Here's the creek on our farm and the sun sinking over the fields.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Winter visit to Illinois, part 1
Natives of Southern California simply can NOT understand how anyone could live in a climate that has days like the one pictured at left. I guess you have to have lived it to know that it is not only do-able but beautiful and enjoyable. What you can't see in the photo is the silence and stillness - something my soul craves and can't find in the megalopolis. This photo is of our beloved barn, sporting it's new steel roof.
One thing I enjoyed during my stop at the farm last week was a walk through the prairie grasses. We had these grasses planted the year after we moved to California in hopes of accomplishing two things. The first was to provide habitat for wildlife. The second was to cut down on mowing and reduce the work and resources required to maintain the farm. The second purpose has definitely been fulfilled. As I walked through the grasses it became apparent to me that the first purpose had also been fulfilled. There were many little birds in the grasses, eating the seat heads from the forbs we had included in the seeding.
Here are a couple shots of flower seed heads "before" being picked clean by the birds...
and "after"...
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Find. Solitude. Here.
At 9 am yesterday Pete and I got in our car in tiny Teasdale, Utah and headed back to LA. We had spent the week exploring some of the most spectacular scenery on earth. Zion and Bryce National Parks one expects to be amazing and they didn't disappoint. In spite of blowing snow and a high of 24 degrees on the day we spent in Bryce, we enjoyed every minute (although I will admit I had forgotten how quickly a wind chill of single digits will suck the heat from your body). Our off-the-beaten-path jaunt down to Kodachrome Valley State Park was another amazing day. The biggest-and-the-best, however, were two things we had never heard of until shortly before our trip.
"Scenic Byway" has to be the understatement of the century when applied to Utah State Route 12. The entire route is only about 122 miles long but it took us most of a day to drive it because we kept halting to take pictures and gape in awe. The route travels through the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument (GSENM), a decidedly unexciting name for 1.9 million acres of the most untouched and exciting land in America. We traveled from about 4000 ft elevation to over 9100 at the summit where the aspen and ponderosa pines were shrouded in snow. I can't begin to describe the unusual geologic formations and panoramas along the way. I think this road has to be the best-kept secret in America and perhaps it's a good thing. The visitor's centers throughout the national monument are also extremely informative and well-done.
Our other big discovery was another national park that was every bit as interesting and amazing as the more famous Bryce and Zion. Capitol Reef NP is a short jaunt from where Utah Rt 12 ends. We spent an entire day on the park's scenic drive and hiking on some of the trails, getting up close and personal with geology that leaves you speechless. It was a day I will never forget.
Our accomodation for the last two nights near Capitol Reef was a cabin in Teasdale, just a few miles from the park. Teasdale is a couple miles off the highway and has a population of about 200 people. There are 2 churches and no businesses in the village (unless you count the guy who does welding in his garage and has a sign by his driveway). There was nothing primitive about the cabins, though. The best feature was the wall of windows to the southeast, looking out on a rock hill...and on the best star show you can imagine! By shoving our bed about a foot toward the windows we could lie in bed, warm and comfortable, and watch the meteors, track Jupiter's progress across the sky, bask in the moonlight, and then once the moon had set and the sky was inky dark, be amazed at the brilliance of the stars. Pete got up around 4:30 and went out back to view with the telescope while I stayed in bed and used the binoculars, taking the term "armchair astronomer" to a new (lower) level.
One of the brochures that the state of Utah publishes has this motto on the front: Find. Solitude. Here. Nothing could have spoken to my heart more - solitude is exactly what I crave and our days there delivered on the promise. For the first time I can remember, I wasn't ready to go home when vacation was over. The entire population of Wayne County, UT is around 2500 people and there are about 2450 square miles of land in the county, giving them a population density of about 1 person per square mile. In contrast, Los Angeles County has just over 10 million people and an area of 4850 square miles, giving it a population density of over 2100 people per square mile. Each square mile in LA Co has about as many people as Wayne Co has all together! I know one person in LA County that would qualify as a displaced person - one who would feel much more at home up in Wayne county. Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam...
I'm not complaining about living in LA (well, not too much). I'm very thankful for the blessings of our life here and I have a long list of them. But times like last week remind me that my roots are in a very different kind of place and that the solitude and quiet of a different kind of life are my natural habitat. Sometimes it's nice to be reminded.
"Scenic Byway" has to be the understatement of the century when applied to Utah State Route 12. The entire route is only about 122 miles long but it took us most of a day to drive it because we kept halting to take pictures and gape in awe. The route travels through the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument (GSENM), a decidedly unexciting name for 1.9 million acres of the most untouched and exciting land in America. We traveled from about 4000 ft elevation to over 9100 at the summit where the aspen and ponderosa pines were shrouded in snow. I can't begin to describe the unusual geologic formations and panoramas along the way. I think this road has to be the best-kept secret in America and perhaps it's a good thing. The visitor's centers throughout the national monument are also extremely informative and well-done.
Our other big discovery was another national park that was every bit as interesting and amazing as the more famous Bryce and Zion. Capitol Reef NP is a short jaunt from where Utah Rt 12 ends. We spent an entire day on the park's scenic drive and hiking on some of the trails, getting up close and personal with geology that leaves you speechless. It was a day I will never forget.
Our accomodation for the last two nights near Capitol Reef was a cabin in Teasdale, just a few miles from the park. Teasdale is a couple miles off the highway and has a population of about 200 people. There are 2 churches and no businesses in the village (unless you count the guy who does welding in his garage and has a sign by his driveway). There was nothing primitive about the cabins, though. The best feature was the wall of windows to the southeast, looking out on a rock hill...and on the best star show you can imagine! By shoving our bed about a foot toward the windows we could lie in bed, warm and comfortable, and watch the meteors, track Jupiter's progress across the sky, bask in the moonlight, and then once the moon had set and the sky was inky dark, be amazed at the brilliance of the stars. Pete got up around 4:30 and went out back to view with the telescope while I stayed in bed and used the binoculars, taking the term "armchair astronomer" to a new (lower) level.
One of the brochures that the state of Utah publishes has this motto on the front: Find. Solitude. Here. Nothing could have spoken to my heart more - solitude is exactly what I crave and our days there delivered on the promise. For the first time I can remember, I wasn't ready to go home when vacation was over. The entire population of Wayne County, UT is around 2500 people and there are about 2450 square miles of land in the county, giving them a population density of about 1 person per square mile. In contrast, Los Angeles County has just over 10 million people and an area of 4850 square miles, giving it a population density of over 2100 people per square mile. Each square mile in LA Co has about as many people as Wayne Co has all together! I know one person in LA County that would qualify as a displaced person - one who would feel much more at home up in Wayne county. Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam...
I'm not complaining about living in LA (well, not too much). I'm very thankful for the blessings of our life here and I have a long list of them. But times like last week remind me that my roots are in a very different kind of place and that the solitude and quiet of a different kind of life are my natural habitat. Sometimes it's nice to be reminded.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Sowing in the evening
Earlier this week I had a low moment. I can't remember exactly what the catalyst was. I do remember that I was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense that investing in the lives of people seemed to cost a whole lot more than it returned. And I couldn't deny that little question niggling in the back of my mind: Is it really worth it?
In my more rational moments I realize that evaluating the returns lies totally outside of my domain. But once in a while, I can't evade the questions, "Why in the world is this so important to me? Why do I keep doing it? What would happen if I just stopped caring?"
The moment passed and I got on with life and doing the things I know really matter - building up people in the kingdom and helping glorify Jesus here on earth. I would have forgotten the incident completely except for something that happened today.
Out of the blue, an email came from someone I didn't have a close relationship with but with whom I had shared time in the Word in a fellowship setting. It has been over two years since we had seen each other and have had no contact at all since then. She shared simply and in just a few sentences that God had used our time in the Word to ignite in her a love for Him and the desire to pursue Him. And she's been doing that ever since.
As her words touched my heart a verse came to mind. The Preacher, in Ecclesiates 11:6, says this: Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.
The farming analogy is used in Scripture for all kinds of labor. To me this spoke of the labor of sowing the Word in people's lives (see Mark 4:14 - not the shortest verse in the Bible but a close runner-up). As I thought about the verse I thought especially about the "do not be idle in the evening" part. This is certainly the "evening" part of my life and the words encouraged me to keep on sowing and not get weary. We do not know when the sowing will succeed. I had no idea that the seed was growing and bearing fruit in this dear sister's heart. The Lord, for purposes of His own, decided to encourage my faith by letting me see a tiny glimpse. For that I am thankful and by that, I am humbled.
In my more rational moments I realize that evaluating the returns lies totally outside of my domain. But once in a while, I can't evade the questions, "Why in the world is this so important to me? Why do I keep doing it? What would happen if I just stopped caring?"
The moment passed and I got on with life and doing the things I know really matter - building up people in the kingdom and helping glorify Jesus here on earth. I would have forgotten the incident completely except for something that happened today.
Out of the blue, an email came from someone I didn't have a close relationship with but with whom I had shared time in the Word in a fellowship setting. It has been over two years since we had seen each other and have had no contact at all since then. She shared simply and in just a few sentences that God had used our time in the Word to ignite in her a love for Him and the desire to pursue Him. And she's been doing that ever since.
As her words touched my heart a verse came to mind. The Preacher, in Ecclesiates 11:6, says this: Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.
The farming analogy is used in Scripture for all kinds of labor. To me this spoke of the labor of sowing the Word in people's lives (see Mark 4:14 - not the shortest verse in the Bible but a close runner-up). As I thought about the verse I thought especially about the "do not be idle in the evening" part. This is certainly the "evening" part of my life and the words encouraged me to keep on sowing and not get weary. We do not know when the sowing will succeed. I had no idea that the seed was growing and bearing fruit in this dear sister's heart. The Lord, for purposes of His own, decided to encourage my faith by letting me see a tiny glimpse. For that I am thankful and by that, I am humbled.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)