Puritan Talk

Here are two of the real Spiritual Heavies who make me ache for God with all my heart:

"This perfection of God [omniscience] fits Him to be a special object of trust. If He were forgetful, what comfort could we have in any promise? How could we depend on Him if he were ignorant of our state? His compassion to pity us, His readiness to revive us, His power to protect and assist us, would be insignificant without His omniscience to inform His goodness and direct the arm of His power. This perfection is, as it were, God's office of intelligence... You may depend upon His mercy that has promised, and upon his truth to perform, upon His sufficiency to supply and His goodness to relieve, and His righteousness to reward you, because He has an infinite understanding of you and your needs."

- Stephen Charnock (1628-1680)

Prepare to be stunned...

"This Son [Jesus]... was a gift to us; for our sakes he descended from His throne, and dwelt on earth; for our sakes He was made flesh... made a curse, and scorched in the furnace of His Father's wrath... He gave Him to us, to suffer for us as a man, and redeem us as a God; to be a sacrifice to expiate our sin by translating the punishment upon Himself, which was merited by us. Thus he was made low to exalt us, and debased to advance us, made poor to enrich us (II Cor. 8.9)... He was ordered to taste the bitter cup of death, that we might drink the rivers of immortal life... Thus was the righteous given for sin, the innocent for criminals, the glory of Heaven for the dregs of death, and the immense riches of a Deity expended to restock man."

- Charnock

Proverbs for Starters- Part I

One of the things I set out to do at the beginning of this time of R&R in the States was to spend time daily in the Proverbs. A central reason for this (there are several) was that in 1998 when I had a time of really stuffing up my relationship with Christ through pursuing my own ego, the Proverbs was a section of Scripture that radically pointed me back to the person of Jesus.
So with a time of rest available and a desire for restoration as the reason for this rest Proverbs was definitely a book I wanted to live in for a season.

Proverbs are a unique section of the scriptures as they seem to resemble very few other books in approach or outlook. Some scholars/individuals may go as far as to say that there seems to be no references to Salvation or God's redemptive plan and in this sense the Proverbs are 'out of place' in Scripture. I think people are reading the Proverbs trying to find in them what was not intended by God to be in them if they were to have that outlook.

The Proverbs are within a section of the Scriptures known as Wisdom Literature and in that lies the greatest clue to the Hermeneutic (means of interpretation) one should hold when reading this book.
Also the Proverbs seem to have little continuity (I say 'seem' as in reality there is much continuity) in comparison with other sections of Scripture, the Gospels or more Historical books for example. It is a book loaded with short 'pithy' statements. And I think for a consumer generation like ours (also one that is 'unwise', self-centered', Godless, riddled with 'foolishness') that makes it a simply magnificent book to read- repeatedly and regularly.

PROVERBS GETS TO THE POINT AND DECLARES TRUTH IN MACHINE GUN FASHION- A WISDOM 'ATM'!!

So with that in mind, I am going to take time to do only my second 'series' of musings (see series on What we're Looking For). Again, they are only mine, they will definitely not be any where near the best thoughts available on the Proverbs or anything for that matter, but your invited to pop in and check them out.

Simon