and every man’s hand against him. He shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
(Genesis 16:12)
In the film version of Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring, there is a memorable line that is much to my purpose in this post.
Weary with toil, sick with grief, heart stretched to the breaking point between the call of fear and duty, Frodo is standing alone beside a river, rehearsing the words of a recent conversation with Gandalf.
“I wish the ring had never come to me; I wish none of this had ever happened,” said Frodo.
To which Gandalf replied, “So do all who live to see times like these. But that is not for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
And so it is today.
Though we could wish it otherwise, once again the spirit of Ishmael is abroad in the world. Wild, angry, hostile to every man, it requires, alas, that every man of good will should respond and raise his hand against it.
I wrote the following essay to help Christians do that very thing. For again, the battle is upon us, and like it or not, we must equip ourselves to fight: for the souls of Muslim people, for the souls of those whom they seek to enslave, for the preservation of our way of life, and for the glory of the one true and living God.
Hopefully, we will not have to fight with bombs and bullets. But most assuredly, we will have to fight with truth, spoken in love.
Here, then, is a brief summary of the Islamic worldview. I offer it to assist you in understanding the gist of Islam, and also to suggest some ways in which we all might be able to help our Muslim neighbors experience the glorious liberty of the sons of God . . . and peace in the presence of those who would dearly love to dwell with them as brethren.
To read the essay, please click here.
Dining Daily With the King
And Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table.
As I have done, so God has repaid me.” Then they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
(Judges 1:7)
I recently received an invitation to take a stroll down the Avenue of the Giants. No, the promoters did not have in mind a walk in one of our nearby redwood forests. Rather, they desired that I should join them at a dinner party to celebrate the outstanding careers and accomplishments of a number of alumni from my high school.
The roster was impressive. It included a renowned filmmaker, two Pulitzer Prize winning journalists, a medical researcher, two physicists, two mathematics professors (one at Cal, the other at Stanford), and the founder of popular non-profit advocating for environmental protection.
God bless them all. And God be praised for whatever good any of them have been able to accomplish, for every good and perfect gift comes from Him (James 1:17).
But brothers and sisters, before ascribing too much glory to the sons of men—and certainly before envying them—let us take a cautionary lesson from the life of Adoni-Bezek.
If Anyone Lacks Wisdom . . .
I never remember, in all my Christian course, a period now of sixty-nine years and four months, that I ever SINCERELY and PATIENTLY sought to know the will of God, by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, through the instrumentality of the Word of God, but that ALWAYS I have been directed rightly.
But if honesty of heart and uprightness before God were lacking, or if I did not patiently wait before God for the instruction, or if I preferred the counsel of my fellowmen to the declarations of the Word of the Living God, I made great mistakes.
—George Mueller
Lord, Lift Up Your Feet!
LORD, LIFT UP YOUR FEET!
Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations.
The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
(Psalm 74:3)
Years ago on a family ski trip my little brother fell and tore the ligaments in his right knee. It was a nasty fall and a nasty injury. When it happened, he let out a cry heard all across the slopes. My father, who had reached the bottom of the hill where we were skiing, heard it too, and instantly turned and headed back up. I can still see him, lifting up his skis, climbing the hill as fast as he could. I can still hear his voice, too: “Hold on son, I’m coming!”
That memorable event supplies a powerful picture of our redemption, as does the text before us. Psalm 74 is the cry of one of God’s children, pleading for help because the enemies of the nation have entered the land and are laying waste to God’s inheritance. All is in desolation. The people are under a severe discipline from the LORD, against whom they have sinned. Like my brother so many years ago, they are down for the count. The psalmist knows they’ll never get up again unless God lifts up his feet and races to their aid.
Snakes on a Rock
SNAKES ON A ROCK
There are three things which are too wonderful for me,
Yes, four which I do not understand:
The way of an eagle in the air,
The way of a serpent on a rock,
The way of a ship in the midst of the sea,
And the way of a man with a virgin.
(Proverbs 30:18-19)
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how many of God’s creatures like to bask.
Our pet rabbit likes to lie on the grass, stretch out his fore and hind legs, and bask in the sun.
The seals down at Goat Rock, braving the gawkers on the beach, will lie on the sand at the river’s mouth for hours on end and bask in the sun.
Basking sharks, I assume, enjoy swimming near the surface of the water so they can bask in the sun.
Mulling all of this, I suddenly remembered that Solomon, too, was intrigued by baskers. As he thought about the four wonders mentioned above, he knew there was a spiritual significance attached to each of them—and that he couldn’t see it.
But we who are in Christ can!
That’s because the New Testament repeatedly tells us that Christ is our Rock; and also that we—who once had a nature and a standing like that old serpent, the devil—are nevertheless loved by God, who lifted us out of our holes in the earth, and set safely upon the Rock of His Son.
We’re snakes all right. But thanks be to God, the Father no longer sees us that way. Because we’re in Christ, he sees us as sons. Therefore, we can bask in the healing and warming light of his love, with no fear of getting picked off!
So next time you’re feeling low and mean—even downright snakey—take a lesson from the rabbits, the seals, the sharks, the lizards, and all the other baskers.
Remember that you’re on the Rock—and then spend a little time just basking in the Father’s love.