Goodness of the LORD

I couldn't help but post a passage of scripture that so loudly speaks to me personally and has been so true in my own life. Truly, BLESSED BE THE LORD!!! Read it for yourself and be blessed. See the highlighted portions that emphasize the Lord's goodness.

Psalm 107:1-31

1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.

4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.

5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.

6 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.

7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.

8 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;

11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:

12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.

13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.

14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.

15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.

17 Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.

18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.

19 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.

20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;

24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.

25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.

26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.

27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end.

28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Who is wiser? Part 2

Whoever cared to read my previous post and actually took the time to think about the question I had posed there had enough time to think about it. So, I will now give my own opinion on this matter.
Who is wiser? Jesus or Solomon? My vote goes to Jesus. I'll tell you why. No, it's not a simple answer that goes like this, "because he is God". That is not the reason I wanna give. I first want to clear up some things, some assumptions. Wisdom is not the exact same thing as IQ. A person's IQ may be very high, but he may not be a wise person after all. For example, the international chess legend, Bobby Fischer's IQ was supposedly off the charts, but he wasn't a really wise man. If he was, he wouldn't have been ignored by the world (except for his die hard fans and the nation, Iceland) as an insane person out of touch with this world and living in a dream world of his own making. Another person was Nikola Tesla, who was considered an eccentric genius.

I think wikipedia defines wisdom perfectly. It says

"Wisdom is knowledge, understanding, experience, discretion, and intuitive understanding, along with a capacity to apply these qualities well towards finding solutions to problems. It is the judicious and purposeful application of knowledge that is valued in society. To some extent the terms wisdom and intelligence have similar and overlapping meanings."

King Solomon was granted amazing wisdom by God. Infact, he was blessed with so much wisdom that the bible says

"King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom" - 1 Kings 10:23

But, if you look at the end of Solomon's life as recorded in the bible, it says that

"King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites:

Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.

And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.

For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.

Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.

And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.

And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel" - 1 Kings 11:1-9

Solomon indeed had a profound wisdom. If you want to hear Solomon's wisdom, read the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament in the bible. But sadly, all that Solomon preached and taught, he failed to apply it in his own life. So, what good was his wisdom to him?

Jesus on the other hand didn't mess up his life. So, in this aspect, He was one up on Solomon. Secondly, in an indirect way, Solomon himself attests to the wisdom of Jesus. Want to know how? See what Solomon himself said towards the end of his life.

Solomon said, when taking stock of his life in his old age,

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." - Ecclesiastes 12: 13, 14

Jesus did fear God (the Father) perfectly. So, Solomon vicariously through his writings in Ecclesiastes attests to the wisdom of Jesus, by laying down the only perfect standard of living to which Jesus conformed perfectly.

So, now there are atleast two testimonies agreeing to the fact that Jesus was the wiser of the two.

First, scriptures when it says

"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature" - Luke 2:52

Secondly, Solomon himself.

In addition to these two, we also have Jesus' own testimony to this when He said

"The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here." - Luke 11:31

Now I rest my case. I listed atleast three witnesses to Jesus' wisdom. Scriptures, Solomon and Jesus himself.

Personally, I think Jesus was the wisest man who ever lived.

Who is wiser?

I came across this question "Who is wiser? Jesus or Solomon" posed and debated about in many forms in many forums on the internet. Thought it was so interesting that I'd pose this question again on my own blog.

Here's what God said to Solomon:

"And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;

Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee" - 1 Kings 3:11, 12

Here's what Jesus said about himself (and it is true)

"The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here" - Luke 11:31

Now looks like you have been checkmated, right?

Billy - The Early Years

Last weekend, my wife and I watched the movie "Billy - the early years" with some of our friends. This is a short biographical movie on the early years of Billy Graham. I'd say the movie was okay. I'd say just about average. But, there was one thing from the movie that struck me in a really powerful way. No, it wasn't anything about the life of Billy himself, but it was the old man in the movie who narrates the story of Billy's life to a group of television journalists (and to us).
The old man was playing Charles Templeton, a one time partner in ministry to Billy and gifted evangelist turned avowed atheist/agnostic. The life of Charles (Chuck) Templeton is a sad, poignant story of a once mighty man of God who became a committed agnostic later in life. Reason. His struggles with the age old question about evil and suffering in this world. This is one of the most widely debated and classic questions in religious philosophy. The problem of evil. I will not here in this blog attempt to answer supporters of this argument that rail against the christian faith and the judeo-christian God for the simple fact that this is not a simple issue that can be satisfactorily addressed by a short journal entry in a blog. Moreover, there are tons of really good articles out there on the internet that should answer any intellectual curiosities regarding this problem of evil. Enough material available on the internet to exercise your brains with till the end of your lives. As for me, I will try to talk a little bit about Charles (Chuck) Templeton himself.
I think one of the fundamental mistakes that Chuck may have made when he faced those struggles was looking to man's wisdom to find answers rather than looking to God. When faced with tough situations and questions in life that seem to shake the very foundations of your faith, we ought to go to God, the giver of life and fall at His feet asking Him for wisdom and He will give wisdom. Because that's what the bible promises in James 1:5.

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it (wisdom) shall be given him".

This doesn't mean that we will understand everything perfectly and have all our questions about life answered. But we will definitely have a greater understanding than before. Part of which is to know that we can't know everything. The pursuit of knowledge consists not in knowing everything perfectly, but moving in that direction and knowing that we still have a long way to go. This world and all the evil in it existed long before we ever came into this world and will continue long after we are gone. Which means these issues are far bigger than us. Now, that doesn't mean that we have to stop thinking about them, but it certainly means that it is sheer stupidity to jump to hasty and premature conclusions about them with our limited wisdom and understanding and on top of that to gamble the eternal fate of our souls based on those conclusions we shouldn't have arrived at in the first place. What a foolish thing to do! We cannot make ourselves the prisoners of our own limited knowledge and understanding. All of mankind's accumulated knowledge over the course of history still cannot completely explain life and evil and suffering.
So, going about to understand these issues for purely philosophical reasons is perhaps a good exercise for the mind, but a terrible way to understand God. If you want to understand God, go to God and ask Him to reveal Himself to you and he certainly will as He said in Jeremiah 29:13

"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

The bible never quotes God as saying "You shall find me when you shall search for me with all your mind". Because the very essence of salvation is a personal relationship with God through Christ our saviour and the very essence of every relationship is the heart and not the mind. The mind is not tossed out of a relationship to make place for the heart, but the mind can never fathom what the heart does out of love. Sometime back, I read a book by Richard Wurmbrand, the famous Romanian pastor who was imprisoned and severely tortured for 14 years in communist prisons for his faith in Christ and witness for Him. He said something about love which explains it perfectly. When a mother sees her baby in danger, she'll risk her very life for that one baby without thinking of her other children in that moment. The mind says it is a foolish thing to do, because logically speaking it makes perfect sense for the mother to let alone her baby in the better interests of her other children. But he who knows what love is doesn't try to dissect the mother's love intellectually. Rather people applaud the mother's sacrificial love and then only wonder about the intensity and profundity of that love.
The mind can never comprehend the actions of a heart filled with love. So, rule number one. Never ever make your mind the centerpiece of your relationship with God, rather let your heart be the one holding it together. As for the intellectual struggles, go not to the world seeking answers, but go to your Father and He surely will give wisdom and understanding to gain a better perspective on these issues bigger than life and in the process actually draw you closer to Himself. In any child's life, the parent comes first and then the teacher.
I so wish Charles Templeton went to his Father in heaven first and not to the world's libraries which became his undoing.

Learning to walk

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD,...Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: For the LORD upholds him with His hand. - Psalm 37:23, 24

What comforting words! Just reflect on this father's love of God. His children are not perfect, because they are human beings too, subject to the same passions and feelings as others. But what sets them apart is that they will not be content to be lying down in their failures and stumblings when they fall. Why? Not because they are good, but because their father in heaven is good. He it is that upholds them, picks them up and teaches them to walk. By and by, they will learn to walk without falling. Just like a child learns to walk, falling and yet getting up and not giving up and soon the time will be when he or she no more falls, but walks steady to the delight of the father.
Even so, Lord. With your grace and help, I will learn to walk to your delight. Amen.

The greatest drama ever enacted - The rookie and the Master

The young boxer enters the boxing ring, ready to win the fight of his life. He looks around to find a stadium full of supporters who cheer him, "GO CHAMPION, GO! YOU CAN DO IT". The young boxer can feel the adrenalin rush in his body. He's all pumped up. And, he's got a stadium full of people who root for him. What else can he expect? It is an opportunity of a life-time that he simply cannot afford to lose. He has to win this match. It's a DO or a DIE thing for him. He has to win it at all costs.
The referee blows his whistle to start the first round. The rookie fires off his knuckles instantly, landing punches on his opponent which seem to be assuring him of a guaranteed victory with every punch he lands. He feels elated that the round has started off so well. He seems to be gaining greater and greater control over his opponent with every passing second. Until finally,......there is a sudden hush in the stadium. The young rookie has been knocked out with one single, powerful blow from his opponent. His supporters disappointed, yet always hopeful and never the ones to lose hope start cheering him up again. "Cmon CHAMP. GET UP, you still can do it".
"Well, it's only the first round of my first match, that's okay. I am only starting, but in any case, the victory is mine, for I know who has trained me". So saying to himself, the rookie tries to regain his strength and gets up, ready for the next round. This time, he seems to be in a much better shape. He seems to have learned his opponent's tricks. The opponent tries the same old trick he used to win the first round. But, the rookie has learnt better. He's not stupid. He's not falling for this one again. "That's one victory right there", the rookie thinks to himself, "he can't use the trick anymore on me". The opponent is surprised, but not concerned. He's won so many matches before that he's all too wise to know exactly what each situation needs. He pulls out a second trick, different from the first one from his huge bag full of tried and tested tricks. "This one will surely do", thinks the opponent to himself. And, boy! is he right?
The rookie is lying on the floor, blood splattered alongside him. The second trick of the opponent worked just perfect. There's only one person in the entire stadium who's all smiles. It's the opponent himself who's laughing wickedly at the poor rookie and his supporters. He snarls at the supporters in their faces, his bloodthirsty face just thirsting for more of the rookie's blood. And he swears to the rookie's supporters he will draw out even the very last drop of blood the rookie has.
"Wake up son. You can fight and even win this match", a familiar voice rings in the rookie's ears. It's that of his master. His master has come. The master's tender voice strengthens him and he regains his spirits. In a short while, the rookie is back on his feet. Blood trickling down his face and all, but a renewed vigor and energy filling him up.
The referee blows the whistle. The action begins. This time, the rookie surprisingly appears stronger than in the first two rounds, his blood stained face notwithstanding. He lands punches on the opponent with such force and energy this time that the opponent himself is taken by surprise. Suddenly, the opponent appears to be losing in everyone's eyes. But, that's not to be so. He is an old warrior. He's been there and done that all too many times before. And, he's got a trick tailormade for every situation. Out he pulls a third one and before the joyful shouts of the rookie's fans could lift the roof off the stadium, he makes sure the roof is intact and still in place. His old and faithful trick proves faithful once again. The rookie is hanging on to the ropes at the edge of the ring for dear life, blood just gushing out of his mouth like water from a spring, eyes swollen and almost blinded. He needs to be hospitalized immediately. "The match is over, I've lost", thinks the dejected and downcast rookie in his semi-conscious state, the shock of losing the match paining his soul far more than the wounds inflicted on his body.
"Do not lose heart my son. Do not lose courage. You need not lose your own blood anymore. Because, I've already shed my blood and given it for you, down to the very last drop. This old warrior that you think is defeating you is himself a defeated foe already. I've defeated him long back. Fair and sqaure, once and for all. He's really my enemy, not yours. And now the fight that you think he's trying to win over you is really not to win over you, but only to get back at me, the sore loser that he is. He knows fully well that once he can deceive you into thinking that this is your battle, he can pain me by paining you, because then he's not blinding YOUR eyes, but touching the apple of MY eye. You need not need to fight in this battle. All you need to do is simply keep your guard carefully, obeying the instructions I've given you. Because, he cannot land a blow on you unless you first lose your guard, disobeying my instructions. And the blows that you will land on him are not blows from your own knuckles, because your own knuckles are too weak to even elicit an annoying smirk from him. What you need is simply my name and my word. Use it and he's sure to cringe back in fear and will leave with his tail in between his legs".
The rookie, though has lost his own strength is once again strengthened by his master's words and returns to the center of the ring. The opponent is greatly surprised. He had thought that he had finished the rookie. He hates this. He hates it when rookies keep coming back, again and again. It's not new to him. He's faced this countless times before. And he's getting more and more thirsty and desperate for that one final, complete victory over a rookie which seems to be eluding him, and which to him is not just a victory over the rookie as much as it is over the one he hates the most, the master of the rookie. His hatred for the master of the rookie keeps only increasing, because this master has not only won a resounding victory over him long back, the sound of which keeps echoing down the corridors of time and in his ears, but to add pain to his misery, his own final destiny seems to be appoaching at a more and more rapid pace with every rookie that he faces.

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