Here is a sobering
thought: While The Bible is
indeed true and Truth, everything written therein is not necessarily right, or
even true! It truthfully records many lies, deceits, trickery, murders,
horrific family disputes, and national/global calamities. This awful, yet
truthful history is, of itself, not necessarily ‘The Word’ of The God of The
Bible and His Christ (Anointed Savior). So people who read its surface stories understandably walk away
shaking their heads, wondering how on earth can such texts be ‘sooooo venerated
by soooooo many millions of peoples across the ages of time!’
A perfect example of
this is the entire text of Psalm 74. King David did not write many of the psalms.
Over his life, he learned and intimately knew the heart or spirit of God, and
this is reflected in many (not all) of his writings. Lack of intimate knowledge
of God’s heartbeat would cause great dissonance between what is written (or
read, in our case) and what is ‘the Truth’ to be revealed, understood, applied
and benefited from. Please re-read that sentence. Such dissonance is revealed
in Psalm 74, which is an accurate/truthful account of what the psalmist wrote,
but it misses the Truth of God’s Word.
Psalm 74 is an
accurate portrayal of the ‘surface’ conditions in Jerusalem after the invasion
and destruction by the Chaldeans of Babylon (Babylonians). While true, it is
totally silent on, or deliberately side-steps and, therefore, misses the root
issues that triggered this invasion - issues that would need to be addressed in
the long-haul recovery from this invasion. These issues are sin, the awful
punishment it deserves and attracts, and the tremendous grace available to the God-pardoned
sinner. This issue is quite graphically and rather aggressively summarized in
Ezekiel 14: 13 - 23. As you check it out, pause and breathe a relaxing, deep
breath at the first word of verse 23, ‘Yet’.
This, my friend, is grace at work. The spirit of this message is the
ever-present Truth of The Bible, iteratively accented in e-v-e-r-y story, poem and letter
recorded therein. This is the heartbeat of the God of The Bible.
The thump-thump of
this heartbeat was even more accurately and gracefully heard in the life of
Jesus. He is God’s heart, not only heard, but seen. Both physically and
spiritually, in crucifixion, He took on the types of brute punishment so
vividly described by God to Ezekiel, so you and I could be that remnant of
Grace who escaped total destruction that our sin deserved. (Ezekiel 14:22)
Enjoy a Grace-filled day~
Enjoy a Grace-filled day~
