Judge Me, According to My Righteousness

(So, I told you all that today's post would be better than yesterday's. I hope I don't let you down! Though, it'd be hard to be worse than yesterday's!)

Psalm 7:8: The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.

I have had a hard time with that verse in the past. God forbid that I were to be judged according to my own righteousness - which is as a filthy rag. I need the righteousness of Jesus, or else I am without hope at the judgment.

So, when I see David say "judge me according to my righteousness," I am always taken back by that. I don't perceive David as being so arrogant as to think that he has enough righteousness to ask God to judge him according to it. David is the guy that said, Behold I am shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

What then does David mean when he says that phrase or similar phrases throughout the Psalms? Well, I think it has to do with the same idea as the signers of the Declaration of Independence had. After introducing the Declaration, and listing the grievances that they had against the king of England, they have a conclusion paragraph, in which is stated:

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States"

They were saying, "God, we are going against the king of England for just reasons. We are separating from their power. We appeal to You, to judge if our intentions are right." They recognized that they were not only declaring independence, but also declaring war at the same time. They appealed to God to give them victory in the war if their actions were right. In a sense, they were saying, "God, judge us according to our righteousness."

Next time you read David talking about how he is just, and asking God to judge him accordingly, I think you'll find that he is not asking for God to judge his eternal life based on his own righteousness, but rather, for the temporal task and enemy at hand.

Just a thought...

News Story

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4394493&page=1

All I can say is that tomorrow's post will be better than today's, but for some reason, I couldn't resist sharing this news story.

I think this may explain some of the issues with Internet Explorer!

Just a thought...

Non-Staggering Faith

Romans 4:19: And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:
Romans 4:20: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

I love the example of Abraham and his faith. The New Testament uses him as an illustration a few times, with Romans 4 being one of the most instructive. His faith is what saved him, and he is the father of all of us that believe too. Read the chapter - it's all in there.

Well, when we get to vss. 19-20 of that chapter we are told that Abraham was not weak in faith. We are told that Abraham did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief. The illustration being used is when God told Abraham that he was going have a child. At the time, Abraham was 99 years old! Again, Abraham was strong in faith... staggered not...

So, with that in mind, when I recently read the account in Genesis 17, the following verse stuck out to me:

Genesis 17:17: Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall [a child] be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

Ok... putting this all together: Abraham was not weak in faith; he did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief, yet Abraham's response to God's promise: "Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed..."!

What do we learn from this? Some of what God says will be quite difficult to understand at first. That is ok. It is not a lack of faith to be surprised, or to even doubt what we believe God is doing or would have us to do. But, here's the difference between Abraham and what many others, un-believers, would do: Abraham went forward in his actions based upon the promises of God.

What do I mean by that? Well, um, Abraham was 100 (ok,99), and his wife was 90 years old. Ok? They both doubted what God was saying to them. They both laughed at it. Yet, at the same time, Abraham's faith convinced him that God was true. So, what did he do? Maybe he went to the grocery store, brought her a basket of mandrakes, a nice bouquet of lilies, (I should stop now!)...

Anyway, what's my point? God's call may sound unbelievable to us at first, but once we are sure that God is leading, then we must do what is necessary to be obedient to God's call!

Just a wrinkly thought....

High Moses

Matt sent me this link in a comment from my post from yesterday, and I went to it and thought that it would make a great post for tomorrow... then I remembered that I had not posted yet for today, so thanks, Matt!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080304/od_afp/israelreligionoffbeat;_ylt=AhXT0938PZRbqwVxbSaGo0es0NUE

That is the link to an interesting news story explaining some of the stories in the Old Testament, such as Moses receiving the 10 Commandments and Moses hearing God at the burning bush. Now, read the article before continuing, or the rest of this may ruin the article a bit.

This article brings up a couple of good thoughts, but I think the one that we really should pay closest attention to is this statement:

Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush," suggested
Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances.

Just a thought...

Honor Thy Mother

John 2:3: And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
John 2:4: Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
John 2:5: His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

The above account is the story of the first miracle performed by Jesus during His earthly ministry. But follow along with me in the account of those three verses. Jesus & His followers, aka disciples, were invited to a wedding. Jesus' mother was already there. They run out of wine at this wedding. It seems to me that Jesus had never before done a miracle, even in private. It could be that is not the case, but verse 11 says, "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana..." Whether that just refers to public miracles or private, I can't say for sure.

Mary knew Jesus. Mary knew Him better than any other human being on earth. IF, in fact, this is the very first miracle Jesus did on earth, then Mary was kind of stepping out by faith here. She could not have known what Jesus was going to do. I expect that it was simply a case of, Hey, Jesus can fix this problem - not expecting that a miracle was to follow.

What catches my attention today is Jesus' answer to her: "Woman, what have I to do with thee, mine hour is not yet come." First of all, when I call my wife, Sarah, Woman, I don't see why she should have a problem with it. That's what's Jesus called His mom - and we are supposed to walk in His steps, right?! Anyway, the other thing I see to this is that He essentially was telling His mom, Hey, it's not time for me to go to the cross yet, and by doing miracles, it is kind of the kick-off of this whole thing, and it won't be stopped.

But, even though Jesus said that it wasn't the best time for this, what seems to happen in the next verse, His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. She, for some reason, assumed that her Son was going to obey her wishes, even though He said it was not the best time for it. It seems to me that Mary had such confidence in the honor that Jesus had showed to her all of His life, that she had no reason to doubt that He would honor her here and solve this problem. This 30 year old man, honored His mother's wishes, even though it may not have been the best timing. And this wasn't even obedience, it was honor. The difference: Obedience is doing what somebody else says. Honor is doing what somebody else wants.

Honour thy father and thy mother. Jesus did. It seems to me that He began all of His miracles as a result of His honoring His mother.

Just a thought...

Today's paper

In today's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper, there was an article about the Town of Greece being sued for allowing prayer before their meetings:
http://www.rochesterdandc.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080229/NEWS01/802290364

What is my thought on this? Well, clearly, the Town of Greece is violating the principles established by our forefathers. I mean, in the Constitutional Convention, when Benjamin Franklin said:

"In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings?...

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that "except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move-that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that Service.

(ok, that was more than I intended to post of the quote, but it was all good!)

And then there's George Washington:

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports... Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles." - George Washington, Farewell address

And the people at the Town really should consider Abraham Lincoln:

"God rules this world. It is the duty of nations as well as men to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow... and to recognize the sublime truths that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord." - Abraham Lincoln

But, President Lincoln wasn't one of the founding fathers, so he doesn't count.

I am reminded again, as was brought to our attention Wednesday with Tom Stiles from New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedom, that we need to pray for our rulers. Right now the Town of Greece is standing up for a religious right that it has, and a religious right that our local clergy currently has. Let's pray that these rights don't get taken away because some anti-Christians are making a fuss.

ok, and on a side note... Benjamin Franklin mentioned Babel in his post, and recently I was reading that account in Genesis. Did you know that the city that they were building is what is called Babel? If you read the account, God used tongues to keep them from making their city which He called Babel. The "Tower of Babel" should more properly be called the Tower which was in the City of Babel. "What's your point?" you may ask (and it has nothing to do with the first part of this post). Well, we need to read the Bible with fresh eyes. Trying to ignore those things which we take for granted, and only focus on those things which God's word actually says to us. How hard, how impossible that is... I wonder if I should have stretched this out into a post for Monday?! oh well...

Just a couple of thoughts

Thank you, Noah

Genesis 8:20: And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Genesis 8:21: And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

I had never put these two verses together before. And, maybe today I am connecting things that God did not intend for me to connect. But those verses above say that Noah offered, the LORD smelled a sweet savour, and then He said, I will not again curse the ground...

Was it Noah's sweet smelling sacrifice that moved God to establish the covenant to not destroy the earth again with a flood? Was it because of Noah?

If so, I wonder how many times the sacrifices that we offer to God (for example: "sacrifices of righteousness" [Ps. 3:5]) impact other people in a greater way. Noah only enjoyed some 300 years of that covenant with God. Whereas, the rest of us have enjoyed it for a total of 4,000 years or so. I personally haven't enjoyed it that long, but the rest of mankind has.

Anyway, just a thought