Song of the Week

"Before There Was Time" - Caedmon's Call

I don't know if I've posted this before, but it's good enough to post again!

Before there was time
There were visions in Your mind
There was death in the fall of mankind
But there was life in salvation's design

Before there were days
There were nights I could not see Your face
But the night could not keep me from grace
When You came and took my place

Chorus

So I cry holy only begotten Son of God
Ancient of days
I cry holy only begotten Son of God
And sing the praises
Of the One who saved me
And the promises He made

Before there was time
You counted the hairs on my head
You knew all the words that I've said
And You purchased me back from the dead

Before I was made
You searched me and knew my ways
You numbered all my days
And You set forth the steps I would take

Chorus

You saved me; You raised me
You saved me; You pulled me from the grave

Chorus 2x

So I cry holy only begotten Son of God
Ancient of days
I cry Holy only begotten Son of God
And sing the praises
Of the one who saved me
And the promises He made
Before there was time

Remember Forgiveness

GOD forgives and forgets. He casts our sins into the bottom of the ocean, and "remembers them no more". He wilfully removes the memory of our sin from His focus, which I find absolutely astounding. God, Who has all knowledge all at once at the forefront of His mind, does not hold our sin against us.

Jeremiah 31:34 - "And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Hebrews 8:12 - "For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

He has forgiven us, and clothed us in the righteousness of Christ. That's all He sees. In His sight, we're His precious, righteous children, bought at a high price and therefore of everlasting worth and loveliness.

We sometimes think that God is just waiting for a chance to pounce and punish us for our sin, or maybe for the mere fact of being sinners. When things go "wrong" in our lives, we immediately think, maybe it's because we've done something wrong; that one sin we didn't quite confess, that one wrong turn that we didn't repent of...God points His heavy finger at us and says "I've got you now!"

But that's not how God works.

He disciplines with a purpose of reconciliation and growth; a deeper relationship.

Hebrews 12:6 "For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."

Revelation 3:19 "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent."

He does NOT punish us according to our sins. (Psalm 103:10)

Christ bore that punishment. (1 Corinthians 15:3) He died for our sins.

God sees us as His children, not as sinners. (John 1:12)

He has effectually forgotten that we ever sinned. (Micah 7:19)

We are on His mind in love and righteousness.

You don't have to fear that you have done something that God cannot forgive or forget.

You don't have to be afraid of God, as though He is some sort of unloving God Who deals out punishment in cruelty, striking you just because He can.

Remember that you are forgiven.

Remember that "there is nothing you can do to make God love you more; and there is nothing you can do to make God love you less".

Song of the Week

"Love Song For a Saviour" - Jars of Clay

In open fields of wild flowers,

She breathes the air and flies away

She thanks her Jesus for the daises and the roses

In no simple language

Someday she'll understand the meaning of it all

He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens

As close a heartbeat or a song on her lips

Someday she'll trust Him and learn how to see Him

Someday He'll call her and she will come running

And fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and she'll pray,

I want to fall in love with you

Sitting silent wearing Sunday best

The sermon echoes through the walls

A great salvation through it calls to the people

Who stare into nowhere, and can't feel the chains on their souls

He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens

As close a heartbeat or a song on our lips

Someday we'll trust Him and learn how to see Him

Someday He'll call us and we will come running

And fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and we'll pray,

I want to fall in love with you

It seems too easy to call you Savior,

Not close enough to call you God

So as I sit and think of words I can mention

To show my devotion

I want to fall in love with you

I can't remember if I've posted this one before, but it's worth posting again if I have.

"God Is Squeezing You"

Have you ever heard that phrase?

There are two encouraging thoughts to notice:

1) God is doing the squeezing.

2) It's when He's squeezing you that He's holding you most tightly.

Before and After?

I wrote this because I was thinking about the time before Christ, and afterward, and the stark difference between the two. (As a side theological note: by the final line I don't mean that Christians no longer sin - but "I am not what I once was"....) Thoughts?

~

Flailing sorrows, empty words

Swarming over me in hordes

Will this torture never cease?

I am lost; I can't find peace.

Taking painful remedies

That only strengthen the disease

I kill myself; and yet I claim

That I am not the one to blame.

~

Pointing fingers; ruined lives

All the while my sickness thrives

To break me down, delude, enslave

Until I meet an early grave.

This lie that cuts straight to the heart

This burden has become an art.

I am an expert at this life

Of death and war, of pain and strife.

~

Where is hope among my being?

...is this mercy that I'm seeing,

Wondrous love outpouring here

Consuming me; it draws me near

And I find rest: At last! At last!

So now my former Self is past.

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God

"Suffering and the Sovereignty of God" by John Piper and friends is probably one of the best books I have read so far this year.

It has really been a blessing. There are nine chapters, each written by a different person, each person having gone through specific suffering, and learned something of the sovereignty of God through their particular suffering.

The neat thing about the book was that it led me to praise God, more than leading me to dwell on the theological side of things (though the book certainly was theological - and full of truth!). Because God being sovereign in suffering is an absolute truth, I can praise Him and dwell on His absolute goodness. I can trust Him in the darkest of times.

These are the chapters (reading these almost gives you a full lesson on the sovereignty of God):

1) Ten Aspects of God's Sovereignty over Suffering and Satan's Hand In It - John Piper

2) "All the Good That Is Ours In Christ": Seeing God's Gracious Hand in the Hurt Others Do To Us - Mark R. Talbot

3) The Suffering of Christ and the Sovereignty of God - John Piper

4) Why God Appoints Suffering For His Servants - John Piper

5) Sovereignty, Suffering, and the Work of Missions - Stephen F. Saint

6) The Sovereignty of God and Ethnic-based Suffering - Carl F. Ellis, Jr.

7) God's Grace and Your Sufferings - David Powlison

8) Waiting For the Morning During the Long Night of Weeping - Dustin Shramek

9) Hope...The Best of Things - Joni Eareckson Tada

I'd recommend this book to anyone.

Click here for a pdf copy.

Song of FOREVER

This song is so awesome.

"Still Alive" - Portal

This was a triumph

I'm making a note here:

HUGE SUCCESS

It's hard to overstate my satisfaction

Aperture Science

we do what we must because we can

for the good of all of us except the ones who are dead

but there's no sense crying over every mistake

you just keep on trying until you run out of cake

and the science gets done and you make a neat gun

for the people who are still alive

I'm not even angry

I'm being so sincere right now

even though you broke my heart and killed me

and tore me to pieces

and threw every piece into a fire

as they burned it hurt because I was so happy for you!

Now these points of data make a beautiful line

and we're out of beta, we're releasing on time

so I'm glad I got burned

Think of all the things we learned for the people who are still alive

go ahead and leave me

I think I prefer to stay inside

maybe you'll find someone else to help you

maybe black mesa

that was a joke, haha, fat chance

anyway this cake is great, it's so delicious and moist

look at me still talking, when there's science to do

when I look out there it makes me glad I'm not you

I've experiments to run, there is research to be done

on the people who are still alive

and believe me I am still alive

I'm doing science and I'm still alive

I feel FANTASTIC and I'm still alive

While you are dying I'll be still alive

and when you're dead I'll be still alive

STILL ALIVE, still alive

I'm going against every particle of my being by posting this. I don't do well with showing people my poetry.

How sweet the broken, blistered feet

Of those who spread the gospel pure!

Where blood, and dust, and sorrow meet

Where love is clear, and faith is sure;

Where tears despairing, happy tears,

Or tears of trials far and near

Come together through the years

To stop and be collected here.

Our God is just; He knows our frame

That we are dust, that we are frail-

Our God is here, so we proclaim

The Good News: Onward, without fail!

Fear not the wicked Enemy;

Proclaim the truth with a brave will!

To be sure he is a flea

He can harass, but never kill.

What harm that God decrees to bring

Will come to pass, from Him above

But know that even suffering

Is ordered by His steadfast love.

God is with you as you speak

About His grace, the Gospel true

Encouragement is what you seek:

Be encouraged! He's with you.

What Does Inerrancy Mean?

I love D. A. Carson.

1 Corinthians 2:14

"The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God,

for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them

because they are spiritually discerned."

This verse would seem to make the case that one cannot understand or accept the truth unless he is saved. It is those who are in the Spirit who can understand (even if only in small part) what is "spiritually discerned".

How can one choose to be saved without the prior work of God if one a) won't accept the things of the Spirit, and b) doesn't even understand them?

God MUST work first. Since this is so, it must be observed that salvation and belief begin with God Himself, not us.

"To the great truths, What God is in himself, and what he is in relation to us, human reason makes not the least approach." (Read the whole article - going on a tangent for a second, it's kind of amazing how I can start writing a blog in the morning, save it for later, and read something in the evening that so closely fits with what I was trying to say...)

If it began with us, we'd reject it. It is by God's grace we have been saved, through faith, and this is not of ourselves - it is the gift of God, not a result of works (even such works as pretended acceptance of salvation prior to the work of God in one's heart...) that no one may boast.

We cannot boast because there's nothing to boast about. God saves us, God sanctifies us, God gives His Spirit, God gives understanding, God gives grace.

God gives and we receive.

It is a remarkable thing about salvation, that God loved us enough to break through the walls we had built up around our hearts, the defensive lines set up against Him. He tore them away and revealed Himself. He showed us our sin and died for it. He offered salvation and adopted us as His children.

He is Mighty to save.