Psalm 9 There is but one way.

17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.




The world may reflect itself as profitable, but only the Word is profitable. Judgement waits around the corner and there is one way to it, the Lord Jesus Christ. The oppressed, the poor, the down trodden, who find the hidden pearl, will be protected in the righteous hand of God, while those only on the worldly path will find only judgment.

Psalm 9

My photo.

Pop Images of Spiritual Concepts

Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds—his name is the LORD—and rejoice before him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 68:4-5

Once a friend commented he didn't believe in some old man sitting on a cloud telling him how to live. Well, neither do I.

We've had thousands of years to study Scripture, yet for many there exist these erroneous ideas that remain pop images of spiritual things. Don't you sometimes wonder where they came from, especially when they get used to mock our beliefs?

A lot comes from honest mistakes or people intending to be helpful. An Artist will try to render the un-seeable as a picture the human eye can perceive. Thus the idea of God riding the clouds in Psalm 68 can becomes Michelangelo's Old Man poking through the clouds to point down at Adam. We can be grateful artists did not read the literal translation of Psalm 68:

Sing ye to God -- praise His name, Raise up a highway for Him who is riding in deserts, In Jah [is] His name, and exult before Him. Father of the fatherless, and judge of the widows, [Is] God in His holy habitation. (Young’s Literal Translation)

Otherwise, we may have had endless representations of God as an old man chasing us down on a Camel.

Much of what we think is real history comes from movies, much of what we accept as in the Bible just comes from popular media. When I was a child, I used to sing a sing called "I was Born About ten Thousand Years Ago". (It is also known as The Bragging Song.)

I saw Satan when he looked the garden o'er,

Then saw Adam and Eve driven from the door,

And behind the bushes peeping,

Saw the apple they were eating,

And I'll swear that I'm the guy what ate the core.

Obviously, the core got caught in his throat and we called it Adam's Apple.

Solomon's beloved may have envisioned him: "Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my lover among the young men" (Song of Solomon 2:3), but nowhere in Genesis when it speaks of the Garden of Eden does it mention apples.

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:8-9

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:6

We only know the tree had fruit pleasing to the eye and was good for food, but no description of exactly what the fruit looked like. Why someone somewhere at sometime tagged the fruit as an apple, I do not know. Since some try to turn the whole temptation and fall scene into some sort of repressed sexual myth, it might have been more apropos to make the fruit a pomegranate.

The next verse of "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" touches on another misconception:

I saw Jonah when he embarked within the whale,

And thought that he'd never live to tell the tale.

But old Jonah'd eaten garlic

And he gave the whale a colic,

So he coughed him up and let him out o' jail.

Here is a case of an error by earlier Bible translators, most notably in the King James Version. Out of the choices for the Greek, ketos -- sea monster, whale or huge fish -- they choose whale. Perhaps the translators thought only a whale was large enough to swallow a man whole, but this was not consistent with the Hebrew in the book of Jonah, which meant big fish. They should have chosen the word that matched the book being quoted in Matthew.

This simple wrong choice has caused some sniping at Scripture by critics ever since. I recall reading many years ago an attack on the story of Jonah in which the writer stated whales really had small or restrictive throats for their size and would not be able to swallow a man. I don't know if this is fact or not, any more than stories I have read about people who were swallowed whole by such fish as Great White Sharks and lived to tell the tale. I remember one such story told of a sailor so gulped down. His shipmates managed to capture the shark and sliced it open to free the man and he survived the experience. I also read of supposed experts who said a person might survive a period of time in the stomach of a large fish, but would be bleached white by the digestive juices. No wonder the Ninevehians repented. Imagine the appearance of a ghost before them shouting their doom!

One thing sometimes overlooked is we can't approach such events purely from a human perspective. There is no need to feel we must provide some scientific or natural explanation to miraculous events. Scripture describes God as providing or producing a huge fish to swallow Jonah. This fish may have been a one-time deal, a creation of God's for this singular purpose; that is, an ability to swallow Jonah, hold him prisoner within it's belly for three days and three nights, and spew him out upon the beach unharmed, if somewhat shaken.

Is it important whether the popular images of these events are correct? Does it really matter if Jonah was swallowed by a whale or by a big fish? I suppose in some ways, not at all, as long as the story is understood to have happened and the significance of it is understood. Still, even if one small detail isn't of much import on the surface, I think the correct version should be emphasized. Some of these misconceptions do make a difference and some distract from the truth.

And certainly the truth of Jonah in the belly of a wh...uh...big fish is important. Maybe we should take a look at why.

WHAT’S SO IMPORTANT ABOUT A BIG FISH STORY?

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you." (Matthew 12:38)

He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah". (NIV)

And he answering said to them, `A generation, evil and adulterous, doth seek a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah '. (Young's Literal Translation)

But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of Jonas. (King James Version)

But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of Jonah. (American Standard Version) [Matthew 12:39 from four translations]

Let's walk up to anyone at random on an American street.

"Excuse me for asking, but who was Jonah"

"He was the guy got swallowed by a whale."

"And then what?"

"Oh, it's a whale of a tale. He built a little fire on the raft he was on and when the whale sneezed he whooshed out on the wave."

"I believe you're thinking of Pinocchio. I'm talking about Jonah in the Bible."

"Oh, that old fish story."

"Well, you're getting warmer. He was swallowed by a big fish, not a whale."

"Okay, big whoop. So, how'd he get out?"

"The fish vomited him out onto the shore."

"EEEEouuuuu!"

"And if you don't understand the sign of Jonah, God might vomit you out, too!" (Well, I probably shouldn't actually say that, it might be considered offensive. I admit it sounds yucky. On the other hand, if it is an important point do we pull our punches; soften our blow, just because someone might find it a bit gross? If it does seem somewhat unscriptural to put it this indelicate way I suggest you read Revelation 3:15-16.))

Most people remember Jonah being swallowed because as children it was a popular Sunday school lesson or they have seen many illustrations of some bearded guy being gulped down by a whale. I don't know how many actually read Jonah. Perhaps they think he is a character in Moby Dick. Admittedly, Jonah can be a hard book to find in the Old Testament being so few pages long. If you haven't read it, go do so now. It shouldn't take more than five minutes once you find it. There are only 4 chapters, 33 paragraphs and 1,751 words in the NIV translation. It's tucked in there between Obadiah and Micah. (That makes it easier to find, right? I used to have a minister who every once in awhile would refer the congregation to a verse in Hezekiah. Boy, you should have heard all the pages turning and he'd just chuckle, hee hee hee!)

But why is this strange little story even there? And what's all this vine and worm stuff at the end? Why should we care about this guy Jonah at all?

Because there is a lot of important information compressed into this little story, ideas that should concern you and me.

First let's familiarize ourselves with the story.

We first hear of Jonah in 2 Kings 14:23-25 and learn he was the son of Amittai (name means My Truth). Jonah (whose name means Dove) was a prophet from Gath Hepher serving under King Jeroboam II of Israel. Jeroboam II ruled from 793 BC to 753 BC. Jonah's adventures with the big fish probably occurred around the year 785 BC. (As an aside, Jonah also appears in the Qur'an [Koran] in Sura X.)

One day "the word of God came to Jonah" with an assignment. Get up to Nineveh post haste, Jonah! (Nineveh was an important Assyrian city, one that would become the capital of the Assyrian Empire in about five decades after Jonah's trip. It was at the site of modern day Mosul, Iraq.) This wasn't a pleasure trip; it was all business. God was unhappy with the wickedness there and Jonah was to tell the people to straighten up and fly right or God was going to do a Sodom and Gomorrah on them.

Jonah packed his bag and jumped onto a boat at Joppa -- heading in the wrong direction. He had no intention of warning those people. They were ba-a-ad. What kind of bad? Nahum tells us they were making evil plots against God, were exploiting the helpless, exceedingly cruel in war and if that weren't enough, they were hip deep in prostitution, idol-worship and witchcraft. Jonah wasn't going to go one mile out of his way for such folk, let alone 500.

Jonah, as a paying passenger, went to his quarters and slept. While he was snoring, God hit the boat with a furious storm. The seaman were scared enough to start praying to their own gods, which didn't help at all. It got so bad the ship captain roused Jonah and told him to get up and pray to his God, too.

Meanwhile, the sailors were casting lots trying to figure out who might be responsible for what had befallen them and all signs pointed to Jonah. They already knew he was on their ship in disobedience to his God, because he had told them so when he bought his ticket. Figuring this might have something to do with the problem, they asked him what to do. Give Jonah some credit. He said, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea."

Give those sailors some credit, too. Bad as things were, they didn't really want to kill the guy. They did everything possible to row out of the storm, but realized it wasn't going to happen. After some heartfelt prayers to The God, they did toss Jonah overboard.

Soon as they did, the sea grew calm and you had a bunch of guys who recognized who the real God was.

This didn't help Jonah, though. He was sinking like a he had a heart of stone (which maybe he did). Looked pretty bad for Jonah, flailing around helplessly in open water, but God had a plan; God always has a plan. God had prepared a big fish to swallow him and for the next three days and three nights Jonah got to think hard about what he could have done and should of done and wished he would have done.

Jonah spent his time praying; always a good idea in tight situations, besides what else is there to do inside a fish? He prayed for forgiveness with thanksgiving and he promised to make good on his mission. With that, God caused the fish to throw up and Jonah found himself back on dry land. He must have been a mess.

Well to make a short story even shorter, Jonah went to Nineveh and spent the next three days telling them to repent or perish. Then he stood back to see what would happen.

What happened was the people of Nineveh did repent and turn to God for mercy and were spared destruction (at least for this time. They kind of backslid later and didn't fare so well as a result, but that's neither here or there.)

Jonah wasn't happy about this. He was angry. He wanted to see those Assyrians get theirs. He wanted the big pyrotectic ending. He didn't get it and just sat and mumbled about it. He was so mad he told God that was why he never wanted to come here, because he knew God was forgiving and merciful. Jonah was so absorbed in self-pity over not getting his own way he suggested God let him die. God simply asked him what right he had to be angry?

Jonah went off to brood. And what did God do? He provided a vine to shade the man so he'd sulk in comfort. Jonah was pretty happy about that. He adored that nice cooling vine, but then God had a worm chew down the vine at dawn and when the sun began beating down Jonah wanted to die again.

But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"

"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."

But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?" Jonah 4:9-10

Who made the vine? God. Jonah had made a little shelter, but it was the cooling vine, which really provided him with protection from the heat. Who made the worm that chewed down the vine? 
God.
Then the sun blazed down on Jonah because man is never as adequate in what he builds for his own salvation, as is what God provides. But did Jonah express appreciation for the time the vine did give him comfort? No, he felt he was entitled to that vine and he was angry and sulking again. Jonah was a pretty self-absorbed fellow. Here he was thinking only of himself, angry over a vine he had nothing to do with and not caring a fig about the fate of one hundred and twenty thousand people and their animals. And God had even told him those people were ignorant of right and wrong and needed guidance to know their right hand from their left. Jonah had a duty to try to show the people the way.

And what is God saying? You worry about your own comfort and things you didn't raise a hand to tend or make. God made and tended those people, all people. They may have been mean and nasty people, but despite that God cared about them. He wasn't going to wipe them out without giving them a chance to change. He made them, he tended them, he had a right, like the vine, to grow them or dispose of them as he saw fit. It wasn't what Jonah wanted; it was what God willed.

We're all a lot like Jonah if we're honest with ourselves. How many Ninevehians have you wanted to wipe out in your life?

"Hey, look at that fool drive. He cut me off. I hope he slams into a tree and kills himself."

"Man, those Wall Street guys don't deserve to make that much more money than me. I work hard. They probably got it by cheating or on whom they know. Look, they're taking that CEO out in handcuffs. Oh, I'm lovin' it. Hope he gets life at hard labor."

"Did you see that? That guy jumped the line and got the last Arianna Grande concert tickets. What'll I tell my kid, I promised her...hey buddy, drop dead!"

"I hate comedians making all those jokes about my faith. Using all those four-letter words to do it, too. I wish lightening would strike them."

"Those people over there, always trying to kill anyone who doesn't agree with them, even blowing themselves up to do it. I hope they all rot in hell!"

Are we any different than Jonah? Do we see beyond our own comfort zones? Do we look at what others do and stop and pray for them? Do we care about their life or soul? Can we get beyond our own hate to love those who hate us? Can we get beyond our own love of self to love others, for that matter?

Big funeral a few years back for Michael Jackson. A lot of people showed up expressing their love for the man. Really? Did they actually even care about the man? Perhaps if someone had really cared about the boy, he wouldn't have been so weird. If someone had really loved the man, perhaps he wouldn't be dead. Maybe he would have been happier being just another live local singer in a coffee shop than lying in a gold coffin. Did all those people come to say goodbye to someone they loved or did they come just to say they'd been there?

You don't want to leave this life just saying, "I been there". You want to leave saying, "I cared about those others who be there."

There is something else we need take note of in Jonah. If God has a purpose for you (and he does have a purpose for us all) you can't run away from it. He'll find a way to suggest you do it or...well, maybe you don't want to think about the "or".  It'll be worse than a big fish and let m tell you, I am not fond of seafood. I'm even less fond of being seafood.

Right about now, you may be wondering why this post began with quotes from Matthew. Jonah was Old School, wasn't he? He was back in BC, right? Maybe I should care about people, but why the big production with giant fish and vicious storms and all the drama?

Another man died around the time Michael Jackson left us and he who was also only 50 years old. He didn't quite get the big splash Michael Jackson got (or that Jonah made either), but he was memorialized some. That was the pitchman Billy Mays. (Do you remember him?) Its time to quote Mr. Mays:

"But wait, there's even more!"

Yes, it'll have to wait until next time. It's an offer you don't want to pass up and operators are standing by. It isn't going to cost you $19.95 either. It's totally free, not even a small handling and shipping charge.

You be sure to come back now, you hear.

WHAT HAS 5 LETTERS AND STARTS WITH J?

JONAH OR JESUS, MAKE A CHOICE

You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple. The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God. Jonah 2:3-6

As the crowds increased, then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you."

He answered.

Jesus said, "This is a wicked and adulterous generation. It asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. (Matthew 12:38-41 and Luke 11:29-32)

Can you imagine the faces of the Pharisees? This would be akin, I suppose, if someone stood in our church and said at the judgment Madelyn Murray O'Hair would rise up and condemn us. They must have been even more in a fury when Jesus told them He was greater than not only Jonah, but of Solomon. They probably couldn't even think about what the sign of Jonah meant. They didn't realize He was going to meet their demand for a miraculous sign, but most of them didn't recognize it when he did.

Why does Jonah get highlighted here? Was it because his name began with J and has five letters? No. Is it because his name means Dove, a bird often used to represent the Holy Spirit and peace? Not exactly. Does Jonah act exactly like Jesus? Hardly. It is because the prophet was an archetype of Christ in the Old Testament.

Let's look at Jonah's story a little closer.

Where was Jonah different? For one thing, Jesus set his sight on Jerusalem to fulfill his purpose and God's will. Jonah set his sight on Joppa and transportation to escape from his purpose. For another thing, when Jonah did actually complete what God's plan was for him, he sat around grumbling and griping about the outcome.

So what's the prototyping here?

Jonah is asleep on a ship during a terrible storm (not the only thing I think Jonah slept though). When he is awakened, he tells the sailors to throw him overboard. He willingly sacrifices himself for the saving of those men. They comply to his command that he must be sacrificed and toss him in the sea where a big fish swallows him. He is buried in the heart of the sea in a fish-tomb for three days and three nights and then he is thrown up upon the land. He is resurrected so to speak. The sailors have been saved from drowning and have begun praising and sacrificing to The God, so we could say they were resurrected as well.

Jonah now goes to Nineveh and preached salvation to them. They repented and their city isn't destroyed and so they too are saved out of Jonah's sacrifice and resurrection.

Jonah's similarities to Jesus don't continue after this point, however. Instead of rejoicing these sinners in Nineveh were rescued from destruction, he is upset by it and angry. Jesus' sacrifice was so all men would be saved who believed upon Him. Jonah felt his own sacrifice was wasted on people who didn't deserve any salvation and he wanted them dead.

If Jonah was a foreshadowing of Christ in his encounter with the fish, he seems to be a foreshadowing of the Pharisees, and of the Nation of Israel, to whom Jesus gives the sign of Jonah. As Christ is the Vine of Life, a vine grows up to give comfort to Jonah, but a worm eats it away much as hatred has eaten away any compassion or caring in the heart of Jonah. Jonah, who was a prophet, who knew the Law and heard the Word of God, did not grasp the Spirit of the Law, exactly like the teachers of the Law in Jesus' day. Jonah's comforting by the vine was only temporary. We could also say the Vine was like Christ in it was sent to comfort Jonah, but was cut off and because it was cut off Jonah was angry with it.

He probably resented the sparing of Nineveh even more because they weren't Hebrews or Jews, they were gentiles, "dogs", and an enemy of his nation. Yet, just as we find his nation rejecting Christ and salvation then salvation going out to the gentiles, we see it foreshadowed here.

However, this salvation of Nineveh did not last long, it was only temporary. Nineveh was to revert to evil and would perish in due time. The blood of lambs and goats is only sufficient to bring salvation for a short time. The sacrifice of any man, other than Christ, cannot bring lasting salvation either. The only lasting saving grace can be found in the Lord Jesus Christ, the last sacrifice, who like the sign of Jonah, was buried in a tomb for three days and three nights and resurrected to bring eternal life to everyone who is drawn to Him by God and believes. Who do you choose, Jonah or Jesus?

A Note About The Three Days and Three Nights

Jesus said he would be "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth". Some critics are happy to quote this as proof of an error. They point out if Jesus died on the cross at 3:00 PM on Friday and rose at dawn on Sunday, that is not three days and three nights. It is barely a day and a half.

Some defend this by claiming this is an expression, a colloquialism, and it was fulfilled by there being a portion of three days. Jesus died in the day on Friday (day 1), He was in the grave Friday night and all day Saturday (day 2) and he arose Sunday morning (day 3).

I have no problem with this as an explanation. We do the same thing ourselves. For instance my wife and I took a little mini-vacation during a Fourth of July weekend (although it got cut short when my wife fell in the shower at the hotel.) We told our kids we were going away for three days. We left late Thursday afternoon (4:00PM), stayed over Thursday night planning on going to several sites during the next day, then spending Friday night at the Hotel and coming home on Saturday. We counted Thursday, Friday and Saturday as three days, but in reality it would have been just somewhat over a day and a half (Thursday evening, All Day Friday, Saturday morning).

But in the case of Jesus, I believe in a different scenario. I don't think Jesus died on a Friday. I think this was a mistake made out of ignorance of Judaism. Scripture does not tell us on which day Jesus died. What do we know? We know Jesus died during Passover week. Have you wondered why it is that Passover and Easter never quite line up? Passover comes about the time of Easter, but it may fall on any day of the week, while Easter always falls on Sunday. Why should this be?

The Jewish calendar was based on moon phases. Passover came on a different day each year and when set in our modern calendars this was also on a different date, week and sometimes month each year. Easter is calculated similarly, so the two holidays always fall near each other, but not exactly because the early Christians decided to make Esther always be on a Sunday. It is sort of like our Memorial Day and Presidents Day. Originally these days were on a specific date, but some people wanted to have long weekends, so they were made a certain Monday of a certain month each year.

As we speak of an Easter week, with it's Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, Passover is a multi-day celebration as well. There is Erev Pesah followed by Pesah, or the First Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is a weeklong feast, in which the seventh day celebrates the crossing of the Red Sea. The day after the First Day of Unleavened Bread is called The Omar or First Fruits. The Omar runs for 50 days, ending on Pentecost.

The First day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a Sabbath Day.

Here is what Scripture tells us. Christ was crucified the day before a Sabbath and hurriedly buried. He died at 3:00 PM, which was the hour the lambs were traditionally slaughtered for the Pesah feast. His body was prepared and wrapped and buried before sundown because the Sabbath started then. The women observed this preparation and the laying of his body in the tomb. We are told the women then prepared spices, rested on the Sabbath and went to the tomb early on the first day of the week (Luke in 23 and 24). In Mark 16 we learn the women bought the spices after the Sabbath. These statements seem contradictory for how could they get the spices before they purchased them, but this isn't mystical at all and really helps explain the three days and three nights question.

Jesus died at 3:00 PM on Erev Pesah. Joseph of Arimathea took the body and prepared it for burial. The women followed along and observed this all the way to the laying of Jesus in the tomb, and then went home for the High Sabbath of Pesah. On the day after that Sabbath, the women purchased their spices and prepared them, then rested for the weekly Sabbath on Saturday. Early on the First day of the Week, they went to the tomb and found Jesus all ready risen.

If Erev Pesah fell on a Wednesday, then Jesus lay in the ground all Wednesday night and Thursday Day (1 night and 1 day), all Thursday night and Friday day (2 nights and 2 days) and all Friday night and Saturday day (3 nights and 3 days). Scripture does not tell us when Jesus rose. Considering bribes were given to the guards to lie and say they fell asleep (an absurd premise given the number of guards and the punishment for such dereliction of duty) it was probably in the night. We do know the women went to the tomb at daybreak on Sunday and He was already gone.

I don't want to get further into this, which would be a whole other essay. Whether "three days and three nights" was an expression meaning a portion of three days or whether (as I believe) a literal three days and three nights passed, it doesn't change the fact that Christ was crucified, buried and Resurrected. And that this was a final sacrifice and a permanent means of salvation for all people who come to Christ.

***

(Madelyn Murray O'Hair, if you didn't know, was brutally murdered by an office manager at her American Atheist organization. He did it to steal money from the organization and then he murdered her and some of her family, cutting their bodies into pieces with a saw and burying the remains on a Texas ranch. This is what William Murray, Madelyn's son, had to say about his mother, from whom he was estranged after being baptized a Baptist and becoming a preacher: "My mother was an evil person... Not for removing prayer from America's schools... No, she was just evil. She stole huge amounts of money. She misused the trust of people. She cheated children out of their parents' inheritance. She cheated on her taxes and even stole from her own organizations. She once printed up phony stock certificates on her own printing press to try to take over another atheist publishing company.... Regardless of how evil and lawless my mother was she did not deserve to die in the manner she did." [Wikipedia])

***

Purpose of Life and God's Plan

All my life I have heard this question asked. "What is the purpose of life?" When asked that question thirty-eight years ago, my answer was "pleasure". I was an Atheist and believed there was no real meaning to life. Our being here was purely a series of accidental events over a vast continuum of time and our existence amounted to little more than a hiccough, a mere moment in eternity. We came, we saw, we died and then we were nothing but someone else's memory and even that would eventually fade. Therefore, as a beer commercial once touted, we should grab all the gusto we could and have fun. I believed in the mantra of the time, "If it feels good, do it".

And to that end is how I lived. I didn't live to work, I worked to live and my definition of living was wine, women and song. I didn't see the illogic of that saying because I didn't like wine and I didn't grab the gusto of that beer, because I didn't like beer, and I was true to only one woman and I can't carry a tune. My motto then was whiskey, rum, vodka, bourbon and gin, sex-sex-sex and whistling a happy song even if the key shifted often. The real illogic was it didn't bring me joy nor keep the sorrow away. It did not matter how franticly I practiced pleasure in my nights and on my weekends, death, disaster and disease remained a reality.

But thirty-nine years ago all that changed. I got salvation, not in bars or bedrooms, but in the quiet of an evening on my knees. Now, as a Christian, if you ask that question I can tell you with absolute faith what is the purpose of life.  "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." 

That particular quote comes from Mark 12:30, but it is not just a Christian bromide; it is the over riding command of God known to Christian, Jew and Muslim for it first appears in the Books of Moses such as Deuteronomy 6:4, as well as throughout like in Joshua 22:5 - "But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul."

Now the cynic will ask does this fidelity to God and following Christ prevent death, disaster and disease? No, of course not, but those things are not from God, but because of human will turned away from God. The troubles of this world are due to sin, not necessarily our own in every case, but both the good and bad among us must share in the consequences. Being Christian does not shield me from moments of sadness or tragedy, but it takes away the constant sorrow and replaces it with continuous joy because my eyes are on Jesus and my heart on God's promises. The endurance to the end of the slings and arrows of a cursed and sinful world is the proof of our love for God and that we can endure it to the end is the proof of his love of us. 

If you think the Christian lives in a La-la Land where birds always sing and lightning never strikes, then you haven't read the Bible. Point me to a faithful follower of God who lived a life of ease never touched by stress or pain. Our life is not never to suffer, but to experience that inner joy of knowing God has us in his hands even when we hurt.

But what of God's plan for us. Isn't that the other thing we often hear, especially if you are a Christian?  God has a purpose and plan for every person. You begin to ask, what is God's purpose and plan for my life? Perhaps, as I once did, you begin to worry that you missed it or you somehow rejected it.

Oh, can you refuse God? The obvious answer is, yes, you do so when you reject Christ, but I believe you can also reject God's call to a purpose in his plan. It will not stop God's plan, don't flatter yourself in thinking that, but it will certainly bring you sorrow. I cite Esther 4:13-14 for my opinion: "Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

And do not worry that you have missed God's purpose and plan for your life somehow. See, here is the problem of why we get to thinking that. We want to be another Moses or Ruth or Mary or Paul or Billy Graham of even another Esther. Wanting to be those things is not God, it is ambition and ego. We do not choose how God uses us, we can only be willing to be used. I believe the reality is that God might be using me in someway right now and I don't even know it. Our purpose is not to obtain glory, but to reflect the glory of God. If you think this must be by some great achievement, effort or leading accomplished by you, then think upon this in John 9:

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." 

But you do have a command to keep you busy in the meantime so you don't fret about how God will use you. You are to tell others the Gospel, and who knows, maybe that is your purpose. 

You also have another command second only to loving God, "The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31.  Do these two things and you'll not have to worry about being used by God and what your purpose is in life.
 

Getting Here Part XI: You Got to get Down to get Up

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. James 5: 13-20 (NIV)

I stood by the bed saying words I would never have expected to say.

"Maybe we should give church a try again."

I expected an argument and a rejection. Religion was the past long gone.

"Where," she asked in a whisper.
"I don't know? How about that new church down the road?"

Just a few weeks ago this new church opened on the Balckwood-Clementon Road, down the hill from us and just a bit from our street. I knew nothing about it not even which denomination. It looked like many Protestant Churches, steeple on top, big cross on the front.

"Okay," she said.

What was left at this point. We had talked in the hospital and it seemed decided she would have her tubes tied while there. This was the end of the road for that dream, that persistent hope of hers to have a child of our own. I had given that hope up five years ago. Where do you go when you wake up from your dreams and find they are all nightmares?

She had wanted children and a home of her own. This didn't appear to be on the menu of our life. Children were officially an impossibility and although I had a descent job, we had not put anything away in the bank. Remember, we were going to have fun and worry about that later when we got old. 

I wasn't even writing much anymore. My last published paid article was in "Animal Lover's Magazine" a year ago. I had been promoted so-to-speak at Welded Tube. I say so-to-speak because I was still Assistant Controller, but Computer Systems Manager had been added to my duties. Between my added responsibilities, which had me on-call 24/7, and our party-hardy lifestyle there wasn't time to squeeze in any writing.

There was nowhere to go from where we were. Lois was in the deep doldrums of depression and I just didn't have any enthusiasm for anything anymore. Where was any help for us? More sex and more drink, was that the escape from misery? Most my life I was confident in myself to overcome any adversity. I was a loner, who constantly plotted my own course in life. Now I felt like a captain of a boat lost at sea in high waves, a think fog with a broken rudder and a leaky haul. Yeah, it was that bad.

But there was a God. I heard his voice in that baby's heartbeat. I didn't know much about Him, but I felt that maybe church might help in finding out. What was the worse that could happen, more disillusionment? So the next Sunday we went.

We sort of dragged ourselves up the walk that day. I guess we both thought about our past experiences visiting churches, but at the door were a couple of people who smiled and asked us our names. Another man came and handed us a bulletin and led us to a pew halfway down the aisle. It was a compromise. I like to sit down front, Lois prefers the back, so we sat in the middle. Another man came over and introduced himself and welcomed us. No one was glaring at us as if we were interlopers on their private island.

It was then I glanced at the bulletin. At the top was the church name, Laurel Hill Bible Church, which really told me nothing. It was the next line that really caught my eye, "An Independent Fundamentalist Church". 

Whoa, baby, what had I gotten us into? My immediate inclination was to get up and run for the exit, but that would be too embarrassing. We'd just sit and ride it out if somewhat nervously. My idea of a Fundamentalist Church was people rolling down the aisles and kissing snakes. These were going to be a  bunch of Bible-thumping fanatics, brainwashed zombies, pie-in-the-sky freaks.

Although, no one looked very freakish. No one was waving some tract at us. People were just saying good morning and nice to see you and being just plain friendly everyday people.

The Pastor gave a sermon on James 5 that morning. I sat stunned. I sat sweating. I sat feeling he was preaching directly and only to me. I had never felt that way in a church service before in my life. How could this man know so much about me? At the end he gave an alder call, something I learned he always did. No way I was going to walk up to the front. That would have been so humiliating, but when he asked if anyone felt the need for prayer I did raise my shaking hand.

It was on the next September 1975 Tuesday afternoon I went into my little writing den at our apartment. I got down on my knees. I felt like crying. My whole body was quivering. I wasn't certain what to say. When I was 14 and in the Boy Scouts one of my patrol members was also a friend. His name was Jim Dawson and he was pretty religious. He often talked about Jesus during campouts. Once he gave me this card to put in my wallet. It said, "If you were to die tonight where would you be tomorrow?" This was followed by H______. You were supposed to fill in the blank as either Heaven or Hell.  I asked him, "How am I supposed to know that?" I was kind of angry about it.  I told him I thought I was a pretty good guy, so I would hope heaven, but didn't see how you could really know. 

I guess I remembered some of what Jim had said way back then because I stuttered out a pretty disjoined prayer asking God to forgive me and for Jesus to come into my heart.

I'm sure what I said wasn't elegant, but it worked. I knew it the moment I stood up. It would be hard to make someone who hasn't experience it understand how different I felt. I felt lighter. I also soon discovered other changes. Now I wanted to read the Bible. I did still have one about the place. More amazing, when I read it I was understanding it. I knew a lot of the stories, of course, I had been forced to Sunday School and I had seen those Hollywood movies like the Ten Commandments, Samson and Delilah, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba ( oh yeah, that movie was real Scriptural) and King of Kings. Reading the Bible was a struggle with all those thees and thous, begots and begats and other arcane words that I didn't understand. The Bible had been mostly gobbledygook to me. Now it made sense when I read it. I could understand it, not just the surface stories, but the shades of meaning in every verse.

On the next Sunday, humiliating or not, I walked down the aisle at the alder call.

Now some might discount any real miracle here. I don't see it that way. If God could open my eyes to His Word, then he could do anything. I was to find out that was true in the next few years. What God was to do in Lois and my life was impossible. If nothing else, what was to happen is proof positive of the power of faith in Jesus Christ and the mercy of God.

To be continued...

The song, "Help Me" written by Larry Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers (partial lyrics below) seemed so apropos to where I once was and how I asked that I have shared it here. The little video is Johnny cash singing it and I think cash captured that voice of the desperate man calling out to God better than anyone.

Oh, lord, Help Me walk
Another mile, just one more mile;
I'm tired of walkin' all alone.

And lord, Help Me to smile
Another smile, just one more smile;
Don't think I can do things on my own.

I never thought I needed help before;
Thought that I could get by - by myself.
But now I know I just can't take it any more.
And with a humble heart, on bended knee,
I'm beggin' You please for help.

"Help Me" by Larry Gatlin


This is Johnny Cash singing Larry Gatlin's song "Help Me, which captures the essence of a broken man turning to God.