Mind Meld of A Different Kind

PSALM 30
A psalm of David. A song for the dedication of the Temple.

I will exalt you, LORD, for you rescued me.
You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.
O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you restored my health.
You brought me up from the grave, O LORD.
You kept me from falling into the pit of death.

Sing to the LORD, all you godly ones!
Praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may last through the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
When I was prosperous, I said,
“Nothing can stop me now!”
Your favor, O LORD, made me as secure as a mountain.
Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered.

I cried out to you, O LORD.
I begged the Lord for mercy, saying,
“What will you gain if I die,
if I sink into the grave?
Can my dust praise you?
Can it tell of your faithfulness?
Hear me, LORD, and have mercy on me.
Help me, O LORD.”

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!

Understanding Forgiveness
I moderated a theological symposium yesterday at our camp on the topic of entire sanctification. In my paper, I wrote that our misunderstanding of God’s call to complete holiness is due in part to our misunderstanding of salvation. Salvation is a turning point in life.

Too many people who would call themselves Christians have never turned towards Christ realistically. They have prayed a prayer of salvation but there has been no repentance; no turning from one way of living to another.

As the group discussed my thoughts it was brought up that some of us have been spared the experiences of life that make a “dynamic and inspiring testimony”. God has kept us from those sins, therefore the turn in our life is not all that visible.

I understand this position for it describes my path into Christ. I grew into salvation as a natural course of events in my life rather than finding Christ after a lifetime of sinful choices. Yet I struggled with this idea. I have discovered for me it has produced a shallow understanding of forgiveness.

What I mean is by thanking God for keeping me from the “gross sins” of life I have downplayed the critical nature of the sin in my life. My bad attitudes, refusal to submit to my parents, pride, prejudice, all are as damming as murder, adultery, and a host of other sins.

It is not until we truly weep over our sin that God is able to turn our mourning into dancing and joy in the forgiveness He offers to us. Only when I fully understand the ugliness of, and the pain my sin caused Christ, will I find the joy of forgiveness. Until then I take it for granted.

Father of forgiveness and grace, help me to understand the full weight of my sin so that I might appreciate fully the complete freedom you offer in forgiveness. Thank you for your grace in my life, a sinner saved by grace. - Dan Jones

God’s Bent
God could be angry with me for a lifetime. He’d have every reason to be. I see enough of my own flaws and failures to frustrate myself. Good grief, God knows me better than I do. And he’s perfectly holy. It’s hopeless. He should be angry with me all the time.

So how does he do it? How does he know me perfectly without being angry with me perpetually? I think it has something to do with the bent of God’s character. God is holy, triple holy the angels sing. But his holiness grows toward grace like a plant grows toward the sun. God is perfect in every way so that my tiniest flaw could be for him a glaring tear in the perfect fabric of his good creation. But rather than a bent toward perfectionism, his perfection is bent toward grace.

It’s nothing by grace that creates favor for a lifetime!

I suspect David could frustrate the socks off God. All of his protestations of innocence and righteousness when God appears to fail him, his lack of understanding the difference between material blessing and God’s faithfulness – even in this psalm, his spirit of vengeance on the wicked; I’m sure there were days God just shook his head.

But God is bent toward grace. He knew he had a long slow road to bring David, and all of humanity to the brighter light of his Son. And he remains bent toward grace. Thank God! He knows he still has a very long way to help us – me – understand and apply the light of his Son.
At the right times and in the right way God gets angry. After all, he is perfectly holy and we are so prone to get this relationship with him so wrong. But he isn’t bent in the direction of perfectionism.

Holy God, I appreciate and benefit from your bent toward grace. Thank you for relating to me out of this profound character quality. Grant me the grace to reflect it out to others. - Mike Leamon