National news conference tonight. President Obama addresses the nation tonight and is expected to discuss health care reform. In an interview Tuesday with CBS News' Katie Couric, the President said he plans to "keep the pressure on" for passage of a health care reform bill by the Congress' August recess.
Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,
sparrows and swallows make nests there.
They lay their eggs and raise their young,
singing their songs in the place where we worship.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God! (The Message)(I'm not positive about the verse division here)
"[The Psalmist] might sometimes find a comfortable retreat, and might even dwell among unbelievers with some degree of honour and state; but so long as he was deprived of liberty of access to the sanctuary, he seemed to himself to be in a manner banished from the whole world. Undoubtedly, the proper end which we ought to propose to ourselves in living, is to be engaged in the service of God. The manner in which he requires us to serve him is spiritual; but still it is necessary for us to make use of those external aids which he has wisely appointed for our observance."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
"Encouraging Young and Old"
1 Timothy 5:1
Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, (ESV)
Paul is giving Timothy some instruction about how to handle the corrective process regarding older men in the church. There are many times when younger people deal inappropriately with the elderly in the church. Paul is admonishing Timothy to make sure, even though he might need to correct some errors, that he deal with the elderly with the respect due their age. "Unless the problems of character or doctrine are especially grievous, Timothy's approach is to be one of gentle persuasion."
Timothy is to seek restoration, not humiliation, loving older men as though they were his father.
"Pray or Work?"
1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. (ESV)
When Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, he faced some serious opposition. His response was that he prayed and set up a guard against that opposition. "He recognized his dependence on God, but he also accepted his responsibility to work--to stand guard."
We seem to be too divided between the two "camps" in modern times. Some would want to call an all night prayer meeting. Posting a guard would be "depending on human effort instead of God." Others would want to organize the watch, but would be too busy to pray.
Nehemiah and the people who followed him did both.
There are instances in the Old Testament where God supernaturally intervened and fought for Israel. But those events are the exception, not the rule. "However...there is not a single instance in New Testament teaching on holiness where we are taught to depend on the Holy Spirit without a corresponding exercise of discipline on our part."
I pray that I would always desire to worship you in your "sanctuary." I recognize that, since Christ came, your temple is inside of each individual Christian, but there is still a joy that comes from gathering with other believers and praising you. Keep that desire alive in me, Father.
I pray, too, that I would always have a healthy respect for my elders. Likewise, I pray that that same respect be shown me when I am considered "elderly." Let me never act in a way that makes me undeserving of that respect.
I pray that I would not try to depend solely on prayer when it comes to my own journey of holiness. If I am to pursue this holiness, it is to be just that; a pursuit. I cannot "pursue" if I am just sitting here praying. I must exercise certain disciplines along the way. I must "practice" that which would make me holy. Prayer is only a small part of that equation. So give me spiritual energy to work out my salvation and engage this pursuit to the best of my ability.