Wrestling with how fervently to speak out lest I be taken for one bigoted against others simply for being different, I desire to show love and appreciation for peoples who share a faith so similar and yet so opposite what I believe, that I stagger under the weight. This is not the first time I have been gripped by the needs of a group that deserve respect and concern, while strongly disagreeing with the methods by which those are attained.
As a young adult, I was touched by the sorrows and prejudices faced by the homosexual community. Due to personal contact I was allowed to see some of their trials and joys even while not accepting the validity of the lifestyle. I was perhaps the only evangelical I knew who had spent so much time in their company. (Of course, others with greater ministries did far more, but not where I lived. Mine was not a ministry, it was merely friendship.)
While raising my children, living in their neighborhoods, and being involved in the schools, I was gripped by the dilemma of the illegals. Many of the mothers and children were so sweet, that I could only recognize that these would be good citizens, and make good contributions to our society. Of course, I also saw significant downsides. Many of the older kids seemed to flash signals with their hands which I could only assume were gang signs. (Occasionally they would admit it.)
With my home over the fence from local apartments, we heard sirens at any time of day. Sometimes shots would ring out. A walk through the woods between us and the park revealed sofas, makeshift tents out of plastic, the remains of burnt out fires, along with wrappers and cans from meals shared there. Chauferring children home from school or scouts led to hearing stories. Neighborhood kids growing up quickly led to a surprising abundance of unplanned pregnancies for teenagers who still seemed children to me.
News reports of crimes by those here illegally natually led to concern over the integrity and safety of my country. Frustrations of employment concerns amid neighbor's reports of problems when their sons worked with groups of hispanics arose. Being singled out, not hired because we did not speak their language, being screened by bilingual workers who did not hire us although being well qualified, and who continued to advertise for the spot, these led to occasional resentments and more frequent doubts about human resources commitment to fairness.
During that period I spent an inordinate amount of time subbing for bilingual teachers, some who did not share the same commitment to education as did I, yet were not only receiving teacher's pay (far superior to a sub's) but also a bonus of ten thousand dollars or more for speaking Spanish, even if their English was lacking. (How were they to teach children our language properly?) Some made the kids take extra-long naps so as not to have to teach them in the afternoon. Again I was torn between fighting to protect my own group and rights while wanting to acknowledge the problems of these people. It was not that I could not make up my mind on the issues. It was that the issues were complex, as were the needs of both sides.
People want you to decide which side you are on. Being seen with a group other than those you would naturally belong to raises eyebrows. Defending the rights of others also lends to misunderstanding and suspicion. They demand complete loyalty, which I cannot give. And those you would reach out to, also have expectations. If you cannot provide that, you fail in their eyes as well. I did not seek out these situations, mostly. People I knew and loved brought some of this into my pathway, obstructing my efforts to walk my own path and mind my own business. Perhaps these were just so prevalent that encountering them was inevitable, but somehow most of my neighbors and family managed to avoid entrapment. Yet in all the struggle to understand others and cope with whatever the situation, I have grown as a person. (I note that my body has grown substantially as well, perhaps the result of the stress.) Anyway, I appreciate the many people I have encountered over the decades of my life, and hope that you will show some tolerance for my struggles as well, knowing the love and concern I have tried to show.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
The next segment-the rescue
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
20 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I have not done evil by turning from my God.
22 All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
According to the notes before this Psalm it was written after David had been delivered from Saul and his enemies. Since Psalm 51 and others are songs of confession, it is not that David is delusional about himself. But many of those are from later in his life when he had made some bad decisions, as well as having faced up to bad habits and the consequences to his family. At this point in his young life, however, anyone would have to admit that he had behaved exceptionally righteously, beyond expectation of how one would treat their enemy.
When Saul had repeatedly chased him, intent on killing him, he had crossed over into enemy lines, left a spear right by King Saul's sleeping body. When David returned to safety, he called to them, to point out that if he had had the desire to hurt the sovereign, he could have done so. David respected the Lord's anointed king, and would not hurt him to further his own career. Though Saul was jealous because the people sang of Saul killing his thousands and David his ten thousands, David had patience to wait for God's own timing. The prophet Samuel had long since anointed him saying God was replacing Saul with David, but David still faithfully served Saul and his family.
These and other stories of the kings of Israel, and of David are in I and II Samuel, I and II Chronicles and I and II Kings. (The various prophets also reveal some content of the historical periods. They are known as the large and small prophets for the size of the books- example Isaiah and Jeremiah are large and Malaki is small.) Though like the Koran, sometimes they repeat some of the tales, they are coherent stories of many chapters rather than merely a few verses. Anyway, he praises the Lord for his deliverances, because without them, he- a shepherd boy, would not have been raised to king. For us, these are like poetic verses describing the depths of the love we hope He would show us in desperate times. However, as many are the chapters that chronicle David's adventures out in the mountains and all over Israel, it is probable that he actually had storms that came and pushed his enemies back.
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
20 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I have not done evil by turning from my God.
22 All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
According to the notes before this Psalm it was written after David had been delivered from Saul and his enemies. Since Psalm 51 and others are songs of confession, it is not that David is delusional about himself. But many of those are from later in his life when he had made some bad decisions, as well as having faced up to bad habits and the consequences to his family. At this point in his young life, however, anyone would have to admit that he had behaved exceptionally righteously, beyond expectation of how one would treat their enemy.
When Saul had repeatedly chased him, intent on killing him, he had crossed over into enemy lines, left a spear right by King Saul's sleeping body. When David returned to safety, he called to them, to point out that if he had had the desire to hurt the sovereign, he could have done so. David respected the Lord's anointed king, and would not hurt him to further his own career. Though Saul was jealous because the people sang of Saul killing his thousands and David his ten thousands, David had patience to wait for God's own timing. The prophet Samuel had long since anointed him saying God was replacing Saul with David, but David still faithfully served Saul and his family.
These and other stories of the kings of Israel, and of David are in I and II Samuel, I and II Chronicles and I and II Kings. (The various prophets also reveal some content of the historical periods. They are known as the large and small prophets for the size of the books- example Isaiah and Jeremiah are large and Malaki is small.) Though like the Koran, sometimes they repeat some of the tales, they are coherent stories of many chapters rather than merely a few verses. Anyway, he praises the Lord for his deliverances, because without them, he- a shepherd boy, would not have been raised to king. For us, these are like poetic verses describing the depths of the love we hope He would show us in desperate times. However, as many are the chapters that chronicle David's adventures out in the mountains and all over Israel, it is probable that he actually had storms that came and pushed his enemies back.
More of Psalm 18
7. The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because He was angry.
8. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.
9. The Lord parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
10. He mounted the cherabim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
11. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12. Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13. The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.
14. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them.
15. The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of breath of your nostrils.
Having decided to spare any reader my thoughts, interpretations or applications of meditating on this passage, I do note that this appears a very straight-forward description of the Almighty coming to the rescue in a personal battle for one He loves. He does not have angels or others doing his work, he has more than enough from his own abilities to accomplish it. His very anger explodes. He has light and fire within with which to make earthquakes or lightnings. Clouds march towards the battle (advance-as a military term) and lightning becomes his arrows. At the very end, the last verse seems out of place.
I wondered whether he was thinking back to when the Lord had worked for Moses and the children of Israel, but it does not mention them. However, I decided it had more to do with the reaction of something that had occurred previously. God's first reaction is fuming anger which causes the earth to quake. While it goes on to speak of what he does for David's deliverance, a later effect of an earthquake is a tsunami, or rearrangement of waters. (The possibility of the opening of the reed sea for Moses has been explained as a plausible aftereffect of an earthquake, according to some scientists quoted on tv.) Therefore the verse is there for a reason. God acts and the results continue though we may not see them for awhile.
Reminding the reader that his own study should be more than just a peripheral reading. Observation of what words are used is followed by interpretation. What connotations do these words have to oneself, one's language and culture? The application of how one can/should use these to better serve the Lord, obey or correct one's life, follows. Any special words that need further study can be pursued with a word study using a concordance, dictionary, or topical index. If a specific word is not used in a passage but it relates to the subject, a concordance will not bring it up but a topical index will. However, the concordance is the best place to start.
Also, a good study Bible such as a Ryrie's or any other that is labelled a study Bible, will have footnotes with explanations as well as introductions to each book, outlines of the book, etc. It should be noted that these comments reflect the theological slant of the writer and do not necessarily have the authority of Scripture to back them up. (For example, many of the study Bibles have a pretribulation slant, and sometimes a dispensational view. If you do not know those terms, do not worry about them, just note that notes should be taken with a grain of salt, and reflect only a man's opinion.) Maps at the end are standard for most any version as well. And most Bibles have reference columns that point one to other verses in the Bible that are similar, usually these are noted by alphabetic footnotes rather than numerical. They can be on the sides, in the middle, or at the bottom of the page. I have noticed that some Korans hold similar study helps, so this should not be hard to follow.
Meditations can be different than a Bible study. Perhaps more leftbrained than right, it allows one to soak up rather than analyze the Scripture. I have found that memorizing forces me to concentrate more on the words used, so that more things jump out at me. Repeating them to myself after I have stored it may bring new considerations to mind that never occurred to me when I was first examining the passage. And it also brings people or applications to me to pray over as I claim the Scriptures for living.
8. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.
9. The Lord parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
10. He mounted the cherabim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
11. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12. Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13. The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.
14. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them.
15. The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of breath of your nostrils.
Having decided to spare any reader my thoughts, interpretations or applications of meditating on this passage, I do note that this appears a very straight-forward description of the Almighty coming to the rescue in a personal battle for one He loves. He does not have angels or others doing his work, he has more than enough from his own abilities to accomplish it. His very anger explodes. He has light and fire within with which to make earthquakes or lightnings. Clouds march towards the battle (advance-as a military term) and lightning becomes his arrows. At the very end, the last verse seems out of place.
I wondered whether he was thinking back to when the Lord had worked for Moses and the children of Israel, but it does not mention them. However, I decided it had more to do with the reaction of something that had occurred previously. God's first reaction is fuming anger which causes the earth to quake. While it goes on to speak of what he does for David's deliverance, a later effect of an earthquake is a tsunami, or rearrangement of waters. (The possibility of the opening of the reed sea for Moses has been explained as a plausible aftereffect of an earthquake, according to some scientists quoted on tv.) Therefore the verse is there for a reason. God acts and the results continue though we may not see them for awhile.
Reminding the reader that his own study should be more than just a peripheral reading. Observation of what words are used is followed by interpretation. What connotations do these words have to oneself, one's language and culture? The application of how one can/should use these to better serve the Lord, obey or correct one's life, follows. Any special words that need further study can be pursued with a word study using a concordance, dictionary, or topical index. If a specific word is not used in a passage but it relates to the subject, a concordance will not bring it up but a topical index will. However, the concordance is the best place to start.
Also, a good study Bible such as a Ryrie's or any other that is labelled a study Bible, will have footnotes with explanations as well as introductions to each book, outlines of the book, etc. It should be noted that these comments reflect the theological slant of the writer and do not necessarily have the authority of Scripture to back them up. (For example, many of the study Bibles have a pretribulation slant, and sometimes a dispensational view. If you do not know those terms, do not worry about them, just note that notes should be taken with a grain of salt, and reflect only a man's opinion.) Maps at the end are standard for most any version as well. And most Bibles have reference columns that point one to other verses in the Bible that are similar, usually these are noted by alphabetic footnotes rather than numerical. They can be on the sides, in the middle, or at the bottom of the page. I have noticed that some Korans hold similar study helps, so this should not be hard to follow.
Meditations can be different than a Bible study. Perhaps more leftbrained than right, it allows one to soak up rather than analyze the Scripture. I have found that memorizing forces me to concentrate more on the words used, so that more things jump out at me. Repeating them to myself after I have stored it may bring new considerations to mind that never occurred to me when I was first examining the passage. And it also brings people or applications to me to pray over as I claim the Scriptures for living.
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