Taking every thought captive

I’ve just returned from the Expositors’ Conference in Edinburgh, and the mp3s are available online for free to any one who is interested. The sessions were conducted by Steve Lawson, Peter Grainger, Craig Dyer, Iain Murray, and Ian Shaw. It was tough going, but well worth it, with a variety of speakers and subjects covered. I found all the sessions profitable, though I found Peter Grainger’s sessions on Jeremiah and Steve Lawson’s evening ministry on Psalms 1 + 19 + 119 (curious numbering pattern, useful for remembering the key psalms on the Word of God).

Now that the summer’s all but over, I hope to resume blogging a little more regularly. I have a few things gathered up from my online inactivity that I plan to post, time permitting.

At the end of his discussion of the God of the psalms, Geoffrey Grogan mentions those psalms where the psalmists come to God with their deeply troubling problems. It is noteworthy that they come to God with them, and that their troubles do not cause them to lose their faith.  “To be puzzled and to give up belief are not the same thing,”\1/ he says. I really found his conclusion heart-warming and helpful:

Christians too may be puzzled by the ways of God, but he has given us such affirmations of his holiness, grace and wisdom in the cross and resurrection of Jesus that faith is constantly renewed as it contemplates these wonderful facts in a spirit of trustful worship. \2/

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Geoffrey Grogan. Prayer, Praise and Prophecy: A Theology of the Psalms. Fearn, Ross-shire: Mentor (Christian Focus), 2001. \1/ p. 75, \2/ p. 76.

Geoffrey Grogan gives Psalm 23 as an example of metaphor in the Psalter. “In asserting that the Lord is his shepherd,” he says, “the psalmist uses a figure familiar to his readers and which therefore conveys more, and does so more vividly, than any abstract statement about God.” (p. 58) *

But for the modern, western, urban reader, I suspect the metaphor has lost a lot of its force. We have romanticised the shepherd, and we have elevated the status of sheep as animals to an unnatural position in the created order. Our Shepherd has become little more than a provider who gives us sheep what we want. Yet, the Shepherd is the dominant figure, not the sheep. He owns the sheep for which he cares. He calls the shots, not us. So he provides graciously what we need, not necessarily what we want. We need to bear in mind that the Shepherd was also a metaphor for the King.

There’s more to the metaphor than we might at first suspect.

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* Geoffrey Grogan. Prayer, Praise and Prophecy: A Theology of the Psalms. Fearn, Ross-shire: Mentor (Christian Focus), 2001.

Tonight I came across Joe Tyrpak’s article “Why Should We Sing the Psalms?” at Church Works Media. He’s subtitled it his Psalm-Writing Testimony, and relates how he came to write modern English Psalm paraphrases. So far he’s posted one composition, Psalm 1, which I rather liked. Joe’s approach is to write with a well-known tune in mind, which makes his paraphrases “plug and play”. He’s also concerned to include the whole psalm, rather than a bit, which is how many modern worship songs approach psalms. I’m certainly looking forward to more like the first one.

Christians are a singing people because they are a believing people:

Then they believed his word;
They sang his praise (Psalm 106:12)

A professional singer may be able to sing oratorios with technical perfection without believing a word that is sung. But such singing is not praise. Praise can only be produced by believers.

That is not to decry effort on the part of believers to sing well, tunefully, accurately, and according to the music. John Wesley’s advice to those who would week to sing his hymns is surely appropriate. How can we praise God “according to his excellent greatness” (Ps 150:2) if we do not seek to do it with excellence ourselves? Sloppy praise is a contradiction in terms.

But true praise is never a performance, nor simply emotion and feelings. It is an expression of belief, not feeling. It therefore must have content, expressed coherently and with meaning. Christians do not chant meaningless mantras interminably; they sing Almighty God’s praises.

Such an awesome task demands that we consider carefully and creatively how we may express the inexpressible. To resort to meaningless mumbo jumbo is not an option—it is not worthy of the one whose glory we seek to express in our praises. What kind of a response is it to mumble meaninglessly when he has spoken clearly and meaningfully?

And yet believing praise will not be dispassionate and devoid of emotion or feeling. Psalm 106 takes the Exodus as its focal point for meditation. Who could say the song of Moses and the people of Israel in Ex 15 was devoid of emotion or feeling?

Praise involves a delicate balance and blend of excellence in word and music, and heartfelt expression of godly emotion and feeling. No wonder the psalmists prays that the word of his mount and the meditation of his heart may be acceptable in God’s sight (Ps 19:14).

In this evening’s service, our visiting preacher spoke from Psalm 32. He confessed to having been recently “converted” to the Psalms. It got me to thinking why I, and so many other Christians, find the Psalms so helpful. I’m convinced that it has a great deal to do with the fact that they show us life as it is — warts and all. In the Psalms we see the disappointments, trials and troublesome times — the times that the world often tries to gloss over or edit out.

But the Psalms show us not just the warts of life, for life is more than warts. The Psalms are framed from the standpoint of faith, and set against the backdrop of eternal reality. As our preacher this evening reminded us, they are best understood in the light of the New Testament, where they are so often quoted by the Lord Jesus and his apostles.

The Psalms are prayers we can all pray at some time in our lives, and praises that we can all sing. Not every trouble is solved, but there is a resolution to every problem. The psalmists may be left in trouble, but they are never left without hope. All our hope on God is founded, just as we place our faith in him. Life may be difficult, but it is not hopeless (unless we live it without God).

The Psalms also are examples of how godly men pray, examples that help us pray and praise as we ought. Even if the psalmists’ trouble or situation is not ours we can certainly learn from these godly men at prayer and praise. The Psalms give us models for our own prayer and praise.

So let’s pray as they did. Life has its warts, but Christian believers can pray in the midst of the warts. The psalmists show us how.

Psalm 32 begins, as 119, with a double-barrelled blessing. Part of that blessing is the blessing of covered sin (32:1) which is only possible if we do not cover up our sin ourselves (32:5). it is only possible when we confess our sin (32:5).

The irony of not confessing sin, that is trying to cover it up and hoping it won’t be notices, is that it is ever before me, and before God. No matter how hard I may try to bury it in my own mind, it is like a cork. However many times I try to sink it, it floats! “My sin is ever before me” (Psalm 51:3).

The sin of Achan (Jos 7) illustrates the folly of trying to cover our sin. However well Achan hid his sinful deed from other people, God himself saw it. How true it is: “whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” (Pr 28:13)

Confessed sin is covered sin. And not only is it covered, but it is taken away “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). When God covers sin he removes all trace of it. That is the essence of forgiveness — taking away. These two ideas are also linked in Ps 85:2. God has done this by his Son, as John the Baptizer declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn 1:29) Indeed, it was the very reason Christ came, “You know, he appeared to take away sins.” (1Jn 3:5)

Looking at two things at the same time can be difficult, but it’s what the psalmist recommends. It’s what a good sports team player does. He keeps an eye on the ball, and also on the opposition players, so he can be in place for a pass, or take advantage of gaps in the opposition’s defence.

So in this psalm we are commended to keep our eyes on God’s commandments (6) and his ways (15). It’s probably more a matter of emphasis than distinction. God’s commands are his instructions to us, about what we should or shouldn’t do, about how we should live our lives. God’s ways are how God lives his life. So God himself both tells us what to do, and shows us how to do it.

Through the Old Testament we hear God’s commands, given in the Law, and reiterated, preached and explained by prophets and in writings. The history of the OT shows God at work in ways great and small as we read narratives with its divinely inspired comments to point out God’s ways lest we miss them.

Through the OT and the NT we see the twin track of instruction and example. We hear God speak and we see him act. But we also see God’s laws in action in the lives of his people—in failure and success. Instruction by example is also an important part of God’s teaching strategy.

But in the NT we see God’s ways in action even more clearly, for we see Jesus living according to all God’s commandments. Meditating on God’s precepts has an added dimension for New Covenant believers, for we have the living example of the Lord Jesus on which to draw. Even the strange ceremonial law comes to life when we see in it a faint glimmer of the life of Jesus.

No wonder the psalmist delighted in God’s instruction—taught from the Book, and shown by the Author.

It’s often frowned on—putting words in someone else’s mouth. The barrister will be reprimanded for “leading the witness” by the presiding judge in a trial. We complain bitterly, “you’re putting words in my mouth” when we’re accused of saying something we certainly didn’t mean at all.

But is it ever a good thing? What if you were scheduled to meet a celebrity, a hero, royalty? Or perhaps if you were to meet an estranged relative for the first time in a long time? Many’s the person in such circumstances has been heard to ask, “What shall I say?” Not this time the complaint, “How dare you put words in to my mouth?” but, rather, the plea, “Can someone please put some words in my mouth!”

And when it comes to addressing Almighty God? What words shall we use? The psalmist knew exactly what to say.

With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. (Psalm 119:13)

He had learned that God is the great teacher (Psalm 119:12) and had already done what the disciples had done when they asked Jesus, “teach us to pray”—put some words in our mouths!

It may well be that the psalmist is declaring God’s word to others, perhaps unbelievers (as in Psalm 119:46). But if he relies on God to supply words for his witness, surely he dare not rely on himself to worship God. Is this what he is driving at when he tells us that God’s word is the subject of his songs, presumably of worship (Psalm 119:54)? His praise to God is comprised of God’s own words and addressed to God.

The psalmist’s constant meditation is not simply him thinking his own thoughts on his own. Is he not going over things in his mind before God himself? And who, in the presence of God, would sit and mumble and mutter to themselves alone? One would not do it in the presence of royalty or important people. Christian meditation involves my mind and my God. What I say when I’m meditating I don’t simply say to myself, or simply in God’s presence, but to God himself.

So what words will I use to speak to the one whose very word created all that is? How delightful that God has put his words in my mouth. He has not left my tongue-tied in his presence. He doesn’t delight to see my squirm before him, desperately seeking the words with which to address him. We have a Psalter full of praises and prayers from which to draw. We have an entire Bible to aid us speak to God in appropriate language. Shall we do better than he in discovering that precise turn of phrase that most adequately expresses out thoughts, and most glorifies him?

If the psalmist considered storing God’s word in his heart as a preventative measure against sin (Psalm 119:11), surely another great benefit of Scripture stored in the heart is its ability to supply those words we desperately need to pray to and praise God. If the psalmist shows us that learning God’s word will unleash in us heartfelt praise (Psalm 119:7), he also shows us that learning God’s word will supply the very words we need to praise God as we ought.

How shall we then praise? By using the words he has put in our mouths and on our lips.

One popular and widespread opinion of Christians is that they are narrow-minded people with blinkered vision. They travel a narrow, difficult and lonely road that bypasses all the wonderful attractions this world has to offer.

It’s like a totally urban person who thinks the fell walker is a person deprived of pleasure. Why would anyone subject themselves to the rigorous of climbing hills and mountains, equipping themselves with special clothing and footwear and carrying food and shelter with them? Why suffer the win, the rain, the cold and the heat, and forsake the comforts of AC, refrigeration and the wonderful life indoors? Only a fanatic would travel those narrow paths, and fail to see the beauties of the wide urban avenues with their comforting high-rise glass and concrete structures, such a panoramic view of which is available from the latest SUV!

You mightn’t have the boots, the wet gear, or the inclination to join our intrepid fell walker, but I’m sure we can all see the follow of such notions. They couldn’t be further from the truth. The walker may follow a lonely, narrow and winding path, but they walk through wide open spaces! Forget the wide open urban thoroughfares, gridlocked and reeking of automobile fumes. Who has the better view?

And the narrow-minded Christian walking a lonely, difficult path? The psalmist knows that through the path is narrow, he walks “in a wide place” (45). While God’s law constrains, it does not constrain half so much as sin (breaking God’s law). If anything blinkers the mind it is sin and rebellion against God’s law.

Keeping God’s law, living according to it, enlarges the heart (32)—not the physical organ, nor even the emotions, but in Hebrew thought the intellect and the emotions. Far from opening the mind, sin closes it. Sin locks God out of my thinking (Rm 1), and blocks God from my vision (2Co 4). Instead of seeing a whole universe, I see only my little corner. And living, as I do, in the dark kingdom (Col 1:14), my spirit is affected. Just an n physical darkness I see less clearly, so too in the spiritual realm, I see with less clarity. I grope intellectually, bumping into things I can’t see, and can never make sense of, just as I would if I were physically abandoned in a dark, cluttered room.

My freedom has become a prison, I know there is more to life, if only I could see it, if only I had the capacity to understand it. I’m the victim of the same cruel deception that befell our first parents in the Garden (Gn 3)—I’m blinded by one who would deny me the very sight I need (2Co 4:4). Living in such a cramped world where even the intellectual are so limited as to be insufficient to give my heart the exercise it so desperately needs, I need my heart enlarged. This is precisely what the Gospel of Jesus Christ has done. The same God who created the physical light from the primeval darkness, that aided the explosion of life on the young earth, is prepared to do the same in my dark benighted mind. I can have an enlarged heart, if only I will but open myself to the light that he has shone in the hearts of so many Christian believers—“the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Co 4:6).

Then how will I walk? Where will life take me after that glorious sunrise in my soul? Along a narrow, difficult track? Yes, most certainly, “for the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life” (Mt 7:14). But this narrow, difficult track will let me walk in a wide place (Ps 119:45), just a s the narrow mountain track leads through the wide open spaces of unspoilt beauty and grandeur. Who would want to grope blindly in a dark room when the vast expanse of God’s universe is available to them> Who would want to retain the dismal man-made intellectually crippling, spiritually suffocating world of rebellion against God, when the glorious, heart-enlarging, mind-expanding, spiritually invigorating universe of the great God of eternity lies before them!

How shall I achieve this liberation? By throwing off all restraint? By bursting the bonds and casting away the cords (cf Ps 2:6)?

No! But by bowing to the constraints of Almighty God. By turning from my way to his way. By bowing my knee (Php 2:10) and my heart, and will, and pride in contrite repentance and absolute submission to the king God has set on his holy hill (Ps 2:6), the Lord of heaven and hearth, the Lord Jesus Christ, When I confess him my Lord (Php 2:11) I will experience what Charles Wesley experienced:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

God’s law, which from the outside looks like the greatest restraint on my freedom, turns out from the inside to be the most expansive place to walk I will ever know. The Torah (the law of God) turns out to be a tardis!