Just the other day, my wife and I were singing Fanny Crosby's Blessed Assurance. There's always one line that sticks out to me:
Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight
Fanny Crosby was blind from the time she was a baby and therefore had no concept of vision at all. That's what makes this line precious.
She is a living example of the irony Jesus spoke of in Matthew 13. After telling the Parable of the Sower he explains to his disciples why he speaks to the people in parables, "Because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." In other words, it was to condemn those who failed to believe for physically seeing Jesus, while failing to perceive spiritually that he was the Christ who was to come.
Crosby, however, is on the opposite side of the irony. Although not able to see, oh how she could see!
Further, it is in this manner that she exemplifies the glory of God in redemption. Paul states it best in 1 Corinthians 1. Take verses 26-29:
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
This is a theme that weaves its way throughout Scripture. Jacob was chosen over his older brother Esau (Genesis 27). Joseph was chosen to save the people of God from famine and all of his older brothers ended up bowing to him (37-50). Jacob then gave Ephraim a greater blessing than the older brother Manasseh, saying, "The younger brother shall be greater than he" (Genesis 48:19). When the office of king began in Israel, David was chosen to be the king by which every other king was gauged, although he was the youngest in his family and a mere shepherd boy (1 Samuel 16).
In teaching his disciples, Jesus makes the same principle clear in terms of the kingdom, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:14).
In Crosby, these twin realities of sight and weakness shine forth wonderfully. God called her, weak in the eyes of the world, and transformed her into a beacon of light through her hymns. What is more, it often these very weaknesses that God uses in our live so that we would rely on Christ. As she wrote:
It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.
Although physical blindness is certainly disabling, it was joy for Crosby. Her very life proclaims with Paul, "I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me...for when I am weak, then I am strong" (1 Corinthians 13:9,10).
Praise God for Fanny Crosby, and that her physical blindness gave way to a spiritual sight that has blessed believers for years. May we press on toward Jesus with all the tenacity she expressed in stating, "When I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior."
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Qoheleth and the Reality of Death
I have it in mind to one day start a blog on the realities of this fallen world, with particular emphasis on death. But considering my track record of posts on this blog, it would be unwise. Nevertheless, it is a topic that I would like to write about on occasion, and one that I feel is often cast aside in western evangelicalism. As I’ve D.A. Carson proclaim multiple times, death has become the last taboo. We can talk about divorce, religion, politics, sex, and homosexuality as normal issues—but if death is brought up, you can bet that the conversation will become awkward in a hurry.
In a class on exegetical method last year, each student in my class was called upon to study a chapter in Ecclesiastes. It turned out to be a valuable endeavor, and helped to deepen my view of the Bible and of the world. This particular book has often been misjudged, and to the degree that it is, we are missing out on truths that will deepen our root in Christ.
Qoheleth, the “preacher” of Ecclesiastes, has often been viewed as a pessimist. This may be due to drastic statements like these: “And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun” (4:2-3).
The reality is that life “under the sun” is frustrating at best and evil at worst. Yesterday my wife cleaned my son’s bottles so they are ready for today. And today, she will clean them again. And tomorrow the cycle will continue. This is life—and it can be quite frustrating (read chapter 1 of Ecclesiastes). But this confronts the easiest aspect of life. What’s worse yet is that my wife will get older. And, Lord willing, she will die before our son. He will then face life without a mom that loved and cared for him many years. This is not a possibility but a reality that is also part of life’s cycle.
But what’s worse yet, children may die before their parents. Parents may never even hold their baby while they live. Ecclesiastes was written during a time when the infant death rate was 50%. That is, every time a woman went into labor she had death hanging over her head. And surely in a time when larger families were the norm, we can presume that most parents dealt with dead babies.
It must also be noted that this is natural evil. This does not even tap into the particular evil of slavery, murder, holocausts, genocides, etc. In fact, it is this category of evil that leads Qoheleth to make the negative statement above. And is he not right? Is it not better to have already died than to go through such oppression as the holocaust and never receive comfort (4:1)? Indeed it is.
It’s not that Qoheleth views life in pessimism—it’s that life is pessimistic. He sounds pessimistic because he’s preaching of a pessimistic world. We must get our minds around this in order to live rightly for the glory of Christ.
The puritans got this. As my professor for this class proclaimed, “The puritans were not sadists!” Take what Noel Piper wrote regarding Jonathan Edwards:
For Jonathan, the reality of death led automatically to the need for eternal life. He wrote to their ten-year-old Jonathan Jr. about the death of a playmate. “This is a loud call of God to you to prepare for death….Never give yourself any rest unless you have good evidence that you are converted and become a new creature. (This was on pg. 33-34 of Faithful Women & Their Extraordinary God. The Edward’s quote is from George Marsden’s biography of Edwards, pg. 412)
Evil is a reality in this present world, and it ought to be recognized for what it is, or else we might miss the call to cling to Christ for the redemption of our sinful souls and the redemption of this sin-cursed world.
In a class on exegetical method last year, each student in my class was called upon to study a chapter in Ecclesiastes. It turned out to be a valuable endeavor, and helped to deepen my view of the Bible and of the world. This particular book has often been misjudged, and to the degree that it is, we are missing out on truths that will deepen our root in Christ.
Qoheleth, the “preacher” of Ecclesiastes, has often been viewed as a pessimist. This may be due to drastic statements like these: “And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun” (4:2-3).
The reality is that life “under the sun” is frustrating at best and evil at worst. Yesterday my wife cleaned my son’s bottles so they are ready for today. And today, she will clean them again. And tomorrow the cycle will continue. This is life—and it can be quite frustrating (read chapter 1 of Ecclesiastes). But this confronts the easiest aspect of life. What’s worse yet is that my wife will get older. And, Lord willing, she will die before our son. He will then face life without a mom that loved and cared for him many years. This is not a possibility but a reality that is also part of life’s cycle.
But what’s worse yet, children may die before their parents. Parents may never even hold their baby while they live. Ecclesiastes was written during a time when the infant death rate was 50%. That is, every time a woman went into labor she had death hanging over her head. And surely in a time when larger families were the norm, we can presume that most parents dealt with dead babies.
It must also be noted that this is natural evil. This does not even tap into the particular evil of slavery, murder, holocausts, genocides, etc. In fact, it is this category of evil that leads Qoheleth to make the negative statement above. And is he not right? Is it not better to have already died than to go through such oppression as the holocaust and never receive comfort (4:1)? Indeed it is.
It’s not that Qoheleth views life in pessimism—it’s that life is pessimistic. He sounds pessimistic because he’s preaching of a pessimistic world. We must get our minds around this in order to live rightly for the glory of Christ.
The puritans got this. As my professor for this class proclaimed, “The puritans were not sadists!” Take what Noel Piper wrote regarding Jonathan Edwards:
For Jonathan, the reality of death led automatically to the need for eternal life. He wrote to their ten-year-old Jonathan Jr. about the death of a playmate. “This is a loud call of God to you to prepare for death….Never give yourself any rest unless you have good evidence that you are converted and become a new creature. (This was on pg. 33-34 of Faithful Women & Their Extraordinary God. The Edward’s quote is from George Marsden’s biography of Edwards, pg. 412)
Evil is a reality in this present world, and it ought to be recognized for what it is, or else we might miss the call to cling to Christ for the redemption of our sinful souls and the redemption of this sin-cursed world.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Reintro into Blogosphere
It has been 10 months since my last post. Wow. Although my reasons may not seem convincing, let me explain. On September 10, 2010, my son—David Benjamin Tarter—was born. He has been a blessing in so many respects, but has surely hindered the blogging category of life.
In addition to David, I was entering the last semester of undergrad studies, working part-time, competing in the final season of my football career, and eventually moving from Minneapolis to Punta Gorda, Florida where we now reside. Life was busy and blogging became a non-essential (see my wife’s wonderful blog for all that has occurred in our life lately). Nevertheless, it has not left my mind and I have been perpetually creating ideas for future posts—this being the first.
From here on out, I intend to post once a week…please note the term intend. I will strive for discipline in the midst of controlled chaos, but would not bet my son’s life on it.
That being said, I thought it would be fitting to jot down some convictions impressed upon me during our stay in the Twin Cities:
1) I am NOT “God’s gift” to my wife, the church, or anyone.
2) I am very incompetent in so many ways.
3) I am quite thankful that God uses the weak things of the world for his glory.
4) My wife is very competent in many ways—and there are storehouses of knowledge that I can gain from listening to her.
5) God is the gracious benefactor of all good things, and I am a lowly beneficiary of his grace. I have nothing to give the Lord God Almighty. I simply receive that which he freely gives—this is the essence of Gospel reception.
6) Worship is not truly worship if one does not engage their mind along with their heart in praise and adoration. We are called to take part in the kingdom that worships in “spirit and in truth.”
7) In D.A. Carson’s words, “A text without a context is a pretext for a proof-text.” All of scripture must be read in context—in both the immediate and holistic sense.
8) The Bible is not a topical religious resource, or a mystical self-help book, but the revelation of who he is in all his glory, culminating in the person of Jesus Christ.
9) Any education or knowledge one might gain that is never tied back to God is ultimately superficial. This includes math, science, economics, etc.
10) Being with God in perfect fellowship forever is the “good news” of the Gospel; i.e. God is the Gospel, and heaven is not heaven without God.
This list is surely not exhaustive, but I think it shows the core of what God has done in my heart and mind these past 3 years.
In addition to David, I was entering the last semester of undergrad studies, working part-time, competing in the final season of my football career, and eventually moving from Minneapolis to Punta Gorda, Florida where we now reside. Life was busy and blogging became a non-essential (see my wife’s wonderful blog for all that has occurred in our life lately). Nevertheless, it has not left my mind and I have been perpetually creating ideas for future posts—this being the first.
From here on out, I intend to post once a week…please note the term intend. I will strive for discipline in the midst of controlled chaos, but would not bet my son’s life on it.
That being said, I thought it would be fitting to jot down some convictions impressed upon me during our stay in the Twin Cities:
1) I am NOT “God’s gift” to my wife, the church, or anyone.
2) I am very incompetent in so many ways.
3) I am quite thankful that God uses the weak things of the world for his glory.
4) My wife is very competent in many ways—and there are storehouses of knowledge that I can gain from listening to her.
5) God is the gracious benefactor of all good things, and I am a lowly beneficiary of his grace. I have nothing to give the Lord God Almighty. I simply receive that which he freely gives—this is the essence of Gospel reception.
6) Worship is not truly worship if one does not engage their mind along with their heart in praise and adoration. We are called to take part in the kingdom that worships in “spirit and in truth.”
7) In D.A. Carson’s words, “A text without a context is a pretext for a proof-text.” All of scripture must be read in context—in both the immediate and holistic sense.
8) The Bible is not a topical religious resource, or a mystical self-help book, but the revelation of who he is in all his glory, culminating in the person of Jesus Christ.
9) Any education or knowledge one might gain that is never tied back to God is ultimately superficial. This includes math, science, economics, etc.
10) Being with God in perfect fellowship forever is the “good news” of the Gospel; i.e. God is the Gospel, and heaven is not heaven without God.
This list is surely not exhaustive, but I think it shows the core of what God has done in my heart and mind these past 3 years.
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