Besides a constant read through Proverbs, we could also be drinking regularly from the incredible engagement with God that is the Psalms. There we will find, not "theology" in the Western sense, but a real-life interaction between saint and savior.
Todays for me was, of all things, psalm 119. it's way too big for me to just read through one time one day, so I'm going to take it in it's own acrostic division. (acrostic means that each section's first lines start with a letter of the alphabet, in order)
Today's acrostic section was the first one, Aleph. (bet is the next one aleph-bet/alphabet)
In it I had v. 6 jump out.
"6 Then I would not be put to shame
when I consider all your commands."
there's a presupposition here--a pre-existing condition: SHAME, when the saint considers the commands of God.
Does shame grab you when you read the Word? Do you steer clear of the Law or the old testament because you"don't understand them"? does "don't understand them" really mean that you don't like the feelings you have when you read them because they make you feel fear and shame?
and that confuses you?
that has confused me, too.
In this Psalm, we get permission to let the shame abide with you for a bit. The saint here is ashamed, and he's powering into the Word anyway. That shame is an honest shame, not a condemnation, but a humility before God.
He feels shame when he reads the commandment of God. In Romans it says that the Law is our tutor to bring us deep into Christ. Elswhere, it says that the word the Law, or the sayings of the wise, ar elike "goads".
"goads" are things that poke the oxen when they're attached to a cart, to keep them from kicking, or backing up on you, or getting out of line. Shamgar, one of the judges, used an ox goad (like a sharp stick--not attached to the cart) to kill a bunch of dudes...
If you feel "goaded" (we all do from time to time), don't pull away. push through. there's good news on the other side of that shame.
Those goads will keep you on the Path (who is Jesus), in the Way (who is Jesus).
So consider the Ancient Path, spoken of in today's Jeremiah passage on the Jeremiah study site (ch. 18).
Check out Jeremiah 6:16
Prov. 12:28
and that song, as well.
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The mixture between bitter and sweet; between condemnation and consolation. How else to explain it than to say "experience it"?
ReplyDeleteI need to be spending more time follwing my own advice.