A S P E C T S - a monthly devotional journal For subscription information on receiving Aspects every month via e-mail, or the laser-printed edition by mail, see NOTES, COPYRIGHT & SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION near the end of this file. Aspects is written by David S. Lampel. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Issue #45, August 1994 (Internet Edition) T H E G O D W H O D A N C E S ----------------------------------------------------------------- In this issue: Perspective 1 - H e W a i t s Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. -Isa 30:18a NASB Perspective 2 - H e R e j o i c e s The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.-Zeph 3:17 Perspective 3 - H e W o r k s How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts! -Psalm 92:5 ----------------------------------------------------------------- There are probably as many imagined pictures of God the Father as there are people who have any consideration of Him at all. We don't know what our invisible God looks like--and we don't even agree on how He occupies His time. Many people have the image of an angry and brutal God, someone who picks up mountains and tosses them about for the sheer pleasure of the panic His actions cause in the populace. Exodus 19:16,18 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently. There is the vengeful God who leaves no transgression unanswered, who roams about the earth seeking hapless humans to zap. Acts 5:3,5 Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?" When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. There is the silent God, seemingly deaf to the pleas of His people and immune to their suffering. Psalm 22:1-2 NASB My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. O my God, I cry by day, but Thou dost not answer; and by night, but I have no rest. Isaiah, in a vision, beheld the untouchable holiness of God, in whose presence humans and their attendant sinfulness cannot even exist. Isaiah 6:1-5 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." ____________________________ So which is He? Which image describes the God we worship? He is all of the above--but so much more. The one character trait of God that the preceding illustrations share is His distance. They all describe a God thoroughly detached from His people, His worshippers. From these images alone it is easy to adopt a distorted and incomplete picture of who God really is, and with what actions He occupies Himself. God expressed His humanity in Christ, so it is convenient to look upon the Father as more detached from humans, as a deity who chose to work through another part of Himself. Reality is quite different. His holiness notwithstanding, the Father is a hands-on, active and vital God. He is busy in our lives every day. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective 1: H E W A I T S ------------- "If we could remember that the divine mercy is not a temporary mood but an attribute of God's eternal being, we would no longer fear that it will someday cease to be. Mercy never began to be, but from eternity was; so it will never cease to be. It will never be more since it is itself infinite; and it will never be less because the infinite cannot suffer diminution. Nothing that has occurred or will occur in heaven or earth or hell can change the tender mercies of our God. Forever His mercy stands, a boundless, overwhelming immensity of divine pity and compassion."(1) ____________________________ Waiting has got a bad reputation. It conjures up a picture of somebody doing nothing but sitting there, mindlessly, uh . . . well, waiting for someone or something. I have a reference book entitled Expository Dictionary of Bible Words; under its listing for "Wait" it says, "see Hope." That just about says it all. The Biblical picture of waiting involves an expectation, because hoping and waiting in the Bible are not aimless. The Christian does not hope something will happen, as in "I hope I get a new car for my birthday!", but the Christian has a hope, as in "My hope is in the Lord." And there is a component of patient expectation in our waiting. Psalm 37:7-8 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. [8] Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil. ____________________________ When God waits, it is an active waiting. His waiting is filled with patience, forgiveness and longsuffering. While we drift backwards, back into old habits better left unremembered . . . God waits. While we stumble and root about, sticking our nose where it doesn't belong . . . God waits. While we bend our ear to the whisperings of the same snake that whispered to Eve . . . God waits. While we test the waters of the dark and bottomless sea of hopeless despair . . . God waits. While we cry out in frustrated anger, mad at a silent and uncaring Father . . . God still waits. It is difficult to detach God's waiting from His love, for love is God's motivation for His waiting. He certainly does not wait upon us, patiently, out of anger or hatred, but out of His deep and mysterious compassion and love. His waiting is the result of His mercy, His grace, and His faithfulness. "The Lord takes peculiar pleasure in His saints. Many think of God as far removed, gloomy and mightily displeased with everything, gazing down in a mood of fixed apathy upon a world in which He has long ago lost interest; but this is to think erroneously. True, God hates sin and can never look with pleasure upon iniquity, but where men seek to do God's will He responds in genuine affection. Now in Christ all believing souls are objects of God's delight."(2) Into the Word ------------- Exodus 34:6 ___________________________________ Numbers 14:17-19 ___________________________________ Jdgs 6:15-18 ___________________________________ Psalm 27:14 ___________________________________ Psalm 37:7 ___________________________________ Psalm 40:1 ___________________________________ Psalm 73:1-28 ___________________________________ Psalm 86:15 ___________________________________ Psalm 103:8-10 ___________________________________ Psalm 130:1-6 ___________________________________ Isaiah 30:18 ___________________________________ Isaiah 42:14 ___________________________________ Isaiah 48:9 ___________________________________ Jer 7:13 ___________________________________ Jer 7:23-25 ___________________________________ Jer 11:7 ___________________________________ Jonah 3:10 ___________________________________ Luke 15:11-32 ___________________________________ Romans 9:22-23 ___________________________________ Romans 15:4-6 ___________________________________ 1 Peter 3:18-20 ___________________________________ 2 Peter 3:9 ___________________________________ 2 Peter 3:15 ___________________________________ Rev 2:18-22 ___________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Digging Deeper--Moving Higher ----------------------------- Psalm 136 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever. to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever. who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever. who made the great lights--His love endures forever. the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever. To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever. and brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever. with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever. to him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever. and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever. but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever. to him who led his people through the desert, His love endures forever. who struck down great kings, His love endures forever. and killed mighty kings--His love endures forever. Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever. and Og king of Bashan--His love endures forever. and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever. an inheritance to his servant Israel; His love endures forever. To the One who remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever. and freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever. and who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever. Making it Personal ------------------ Can you recall some specific times when you experienced God's waiting--His patience? Have you ever felt that God lost His patience with you? Have you ever lost your patience with God? Into the Word ------------- Will God ever run out of patience? Will He ever stop waiting when it comes to sin? Here are some references to begin with: Genesis 6:3 ___________________________________ Exodus 34:5-8 ___________________________________ Psalm 103:8-14 ___________________________________ Isaiah 48:9-11 ___________________________________ Jer 7:1-34 ___________________________________ Joel 2:13 ___________________________________ Matthew 21:33-46 ___________________________________ Acts 17:29-31 ___________________________________ Romans 9:1-33 ___________________________________ 2 Peter 3:8-12 ___________________________________ Rev 2:18-29 ___________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective 2: H E R E J O I C E S ------------- "When Christianity says that God loves man, it means that God loves man: not that He has some `disinterested', because really indifferent, concern for our welfare, but that, in awful and surprising truth, we are the objects of His love. You asked for a loving God: you have one. The great spirit you so lightly invoked, the `Lord of terrible aspect', is present: not a senile benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way, not the cold philanthropy of a conscientious magistrate, not the care of a host who feels responsible for the comfort of his guests, but the consuming fire Himself, the Love that made the worlds, persistent as the artist's love for his work and despotic as a man's love for a dog, provident and venerable as a father's love for a child, jealous, inexorable, exacting as love between the sexes."(3) ____________________________ Michal, the wife of King David, reminds me of some people I've met. You see, the Ark of God (Ark of the Covenant) had been moved about several times after being recovered from the Philistines, who had captured it at the battle at Ebenezer. David was determined to bring it back to Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 6:12b-15 So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. [13] When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. [14] David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, [15] while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets. Just picture it: King David is thoroughly outside of himself, bubbling over with joy and praise to God, shouting and singing, trumpets blaring. Everyone has turned out for this wonderful event. And the king is so filled with adoration for his Lord that he can no longer contain his joy, and begins dancing about as hard as he can. Well, then the wife caught the display . . . 2 Samuel 6:16,20 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart. [20] When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!" ____________________________ Church traditions can be a wonderful thing. One congregation will do things one way, and another congregation will do things another way. These traditions allow people of similar personality to band together in serving and worshipping the same God as the church that worships down the street--a church made up of people with entirely different personalities. But isn't it odd that so many of our traditions go against Scripture itself. Take dancing, for example. Do people dance in your church? Is dancing a regular--even infrequent-- part of the corporate worship experience? How about in private; have you ever "danced before the Lord?" "Well," you, or someone else, might say, "such carrying on is coarse and vulgar. It's just `showing off' in front of others. Not acceptable. Undignified." That's what Michal said to King David. She accused him of showing off for the servant girls. Vulgar exhibitionism. But that wasn't what had taken place at all. 2 Samuel 6:21-22 David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD'S people Israel--I will celebrate before the LORD.[22] I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor." King David's dancing was for the Lord. He was simply demonstrating his love for the Lord in a tangible, physical way. He wasn't showing off for the servant girls at all, but showing his thanksgiving and love for his God. Much like God shows His love for us. Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. The word translated "rejoice" in this verse is a joy that expresses itself in the gestures of the body.(4) It means, literally, to spin around. In other words, God dances over us with singing! His love for us is so full that, at times, it must be expressed physically. Our God isn't a stodgy curmudgeon at all! He loves us and cares about us--and sometimes leaps about with joy over us. We're usually the stodgy curmudgeons. We're the ones too inhibited, too proud, to demonstrate our adoration of the Lord. But He is never inhibited; God is never too proud to dance joyfully for us. What a great God we have! Into the Word ------------- Exodus 15:19-21 ___________________________________ 2 Sam 6:12-22 ___________________________________ Psalm 30:11-12 ___________________________________ Psalm 104:31-32 ___________________________________ Psalm 149:3 ___________________________________ Psalm 150:4 ___________________________________ Isaiah 62:5 ___________________________________ Isaiah 65:17-19 ___________________________________ Jer 32:38-41 ___________________________________ Zeph 3:17 ___________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Digging Deeper--Moving Higher ----------------------------- Making it Personal ------------------ It's been many years since I've danced in public--the last time was probably to a Beatles' tune. But like King David, I, too, have experienced a joy for the Lord that could not be contained--a joy that had to be let out, expressed with moving feet, upraised arms, and a silly grin on my face. However, my dance didn't take place in the streets of Jerusalem, but in the privacy of my home. Have you ever experienced this kind of joy and thanksgiving? If you haven't, why do you think that is? If you have felt this kind of joy in the Lord, have you let it out, expressed it physically? If no, try to put down in words why you haven't. If you don't think people should do such things, try to put down in words why not. Into the Word ------------- In what other ways does God express His joy over us? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective 3: H E W O R K S ------------- Just As If Dad Had Made It It was that most horrible of days. We sat in the front pew of the church and listened to the Pastor's words of tribute. Less than seventy-two hours before, Dad had breathed his last. He had gone quickly and painlessly in the hospital that had struggled in vain to repair his tired heart. But in the end, that unflagging organ that had stood by him those sixty-two years, had finally surrendered. The defect in his heart had been congenital, and sufficient to keep him from action in World War II. It had not, however, kept him from a life filled with activity and arduous labor. He took pride in being a man who put in an honest day's work supplying the needs of his family. For him, life's most difficult task had always been relaxation; it was almost impossible to catch him at rest. Until now. Now he was finally at rest, before us, next to the altar of the church. Dad had loved working with wood. It had been for him a favorite activity after the rigors and noise of his job at the railroad. He had a small, piecemeal shop down in the basement of our home--complete with a workbench littered with unfinished projects and a perpetual film of sawdust. Over the years he had produced many useful items: Christmas candlesticks for all the families, salad bowls, wooden plaques, bookends and picture frames. All had been crafted with much care and love. But Dad's handiwork was noted for one more quality: Somewhere on each piece would be a rather obvious flaw. If a picture frame, at least one of the corners would not join properly; if one of his stately candlesticks, it would be handsomely turned, but leaning a bit to one direction; if a salad bowl, somewhere around the lip could be found the gouge created when his lathe tool had slipped in his hands. The family was never quite able to understand why someone with Dad's innate abilities would allow such imperfections. But we all loved him and his hand-made gifts, and especially appreciated the way he took our good-natured kidding over the blemishes in his crafts. Eventually Dad's tired heart placed him in the local hospital. You're a very sick man, Mr. Lampel, they said with much shaking of their heads. We can't figure out what's wrong with you, but you're a very sick man. And they were unable to find the answer. So the day came when the family gathered in hushed weeping in the basement of the funeral home to select a proper and fitting casket. They were all arranged about the room in gleaming order, their scrolls and fancywork shining in the subdued light. Most glowed with a metallic sheen of bronze, silver, pewter or gold. They were all very nice, but none seemed quite right. Dad had never been what you would call a flashy person. He was of simple, pioneer stock: sweat on the brow and dirt under the fingernails. Leaving school after the eighth grade, he had gone to work to support his family. If you want something in this life, you had better go out and earn it had been his motto. Manual labor was all he knew and he knew it proudly. No, there wasn't anything fancy about Dad. But oh, how he cut a striking figure on Sunday mornings, dressed in his finest; his shoes had been shined, his tie precisely knotted, and the lint brushed from the shoulders of his dark-blue suit. He was handsome and dashing those Sunday mornings as he proudly ushered the churchgoers down the aisle to their seats. He always offered them a smile and a generous welcome. And now we sat in the front pew of that church. We had finally selected a fitting casket for him; the pallbearers--his friends and fellow ushers and Deacons--had just carried it down that same aisle and left it standing between us and the Pastor. It was made of wood. It glowed warmly--not the cold, lifeless, brassy glow of metal, but the rich, loving glow of hand-rubbed mahogany. Dad's warmth shone through that wood. It had once lived, just as he had once lived vigorously the life God had offered him. It somehow reflected the honest, true love he had for people. And it had not been turned out by a machine, but a man--a laborer--with sweat on his brow and dirt under his fingernails. And there, on the right-hand side, was an angular gouge in the surface. The workman's tool had slipped in his hands and had left its calling card. Just as if Dad had made it. ____________________________ Our God has sweat on His brow and dirt under His fingernails. He works for us. Psalm 92:4 For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. That word "work" means exactly what it says; here is what the Hebrew dictionary says: "to work emphatically, with attention and diligence, as a workman at his trade." God's work on our behalf did not end after the first six days of creation. Come Monday morning, after His seventh-day sabbath, He returned to work. And He still works, He still labors for His people. The only difference is that in the work of God's hands, there is never a flaw. You will never find the product of His labor leaning a bit, the corners will always join perfectly, there will never be found a gouge in the wood where His tool slipped. God never makes a mistake. His works are perfect. Into the Word ------------- Deut 32:3-4 ___________________________________ Job 9:1-12 ___________________________________ Job 38:1-39:30 ___________________________________ Psalm 19:1-6 ___________________________________ Psalm 26:6-7 ___________________________________ Psalm 40:5 ___________________________________ Psalm 66:3 ___________________________________ Psalm 92:4-5 ___________________________________ Psalm 111:1-8 ___________________________________ Eccl 3:14 ___________________________________ Jer 10:12 ___________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Digging Deeper--Moving Higher ----------------------------- Making it Personal ------------------ How has God worked for you lately? Into the Word ------------- It's easy to forget about God's activities on our behalf. It's easy to think of Him only in His majesty, sitting on His throne--thinking of Him as we might an earthly monarch: having everything done for Him by someone else. But our God is not a passive, inactive God. What references can you find that speak of His specific activities for us? What specific works is He performing right now? A Final Thought --------------- In the stars His handiwork I see, on the wind He speaks with majesty, Tho He ruleth over land and sea, what is that to me? I will celebrate Nativity, for it has a place in history; Sure He came to set His people free-- what is that to me? Till by faith I met Him face to face And I felt the wonder of His grace-- Then I knew that He was more than just a God who didn't care, that lived away out there-- And now He walks beside me day by day, ever watching o'er me lest I stray, Helping me to find that narrow way-- He's everything to me.(5) ======================================================================== NOTES, COPYRIGHT & SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Notes ----- 1 A.W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in The Christian Life (HarperSanFrancisco, 1992), p141. 2 A.W. Tozer, p157. 3 C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, Chapter 3. 4 Hebrew 1523 (Strong's). giyl, gheel; or (by perm.) guwl, gool; a prim. root; prop. to spin round (under the influence of any violent emotion), i.e. usually rejoice, or (as cringing) fear:-be glad, joy, be joyful, rejoice. 5 Ralph Carmichael, Copyright 1964, Lexicon Music, Inc. Copyright Information --------------------- All original material in Aspects is Copyright (C) 1995 David S. Lampel. This data file is the sole property of David S. Lampel. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this data file must contain the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright (C) 1995 David S. Lampel."). This data file may not be used without the permission of David S. Lampel for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold. This includes all of its content. Brief quotations not to exceed more than 500 words may be used, with the appropriate copyright notice, to enhance or supplement personal or church devotions, newsletters, journals, or spoken messages. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture is from the New International Version. NIV quotations are from the Holy Bible: New International Version, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission. NASB quotations are from the New American Standard Bible (C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Subscription Information ------------------------ Aspects is published monthly. There are two preferred methods of receiving it on a regular basis: 1) You may subscribe to the laser-printed (hard copy) edition, which is sent out via regular mail. This edition is different from this file you are reading in the following ways: - a "typeset" look, with italics, larger titles and headings, etc. - Scripture text and quotations are more obviously set apart - lines printed for your notes after each question - arrives pre-punched for a 3-ring binder - generally looks better 2) You may subscribe to the e-mail edition, which will be "mailed" to you directly each month. This edition will be formatted just like this file you are now reading--which still contains all the text of the printed edition. There is no charge for either option. 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Endnote reference numbers are enclosed in parentheses (); quotations are enclosed by quotation marks " ", and are further set apart from original text by indentation and the presence of a following endnote reference; Scripture references are indented and cite the reference in the first line. If you would prefer reading Aspects in its more native, printed form, we would encourage you to subscribe to the edition that is mailed out every month. ---------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/aspects: asp-045.txt