You'll get up from your throne and help Zion�
it's time for compassionate help.
Oh, how your servants love this city's rubble
and weep with compassion over its dust!
The godless nations will sit up and take notice
�see your glory, worship your name�
"When the prophet treats of the restoration of the Church, he sets forth the divine mercy as its cause. He represents this mercy under a twofold aspect, and therefore employs different words. In the first place, as in the matter under consideration, the good deserts of men are entirely out of the question, and as God cannot be led from any cause external to himself to build up his Church, the prophet traces the cause of it solely to the free goodness of God. In the second place, he contemplates this mercy as connected with the Divine promises. In magnifying the Divine mercy, his design was to teach true believers that their safety depended on it alone."
In simpler terms, when God restores, it is solely because of his Divine mercy and goodness.
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
"Pastor-Theologians"
Weekend Reading
In Paul's writings concerning those who would be leaders in the church, the main qualification is character. They must be people of holiness.
However, another concern is soundness of doctrine. "They must believe the truth sincerely and be able to teach it clearly."
Pastors must be sound theologians. Simple as that sounds, we have, in the past couple of hundred years, separated the two, seeming to believe that pastors belong in churches while theologians belong in seminaries. This could have a lot to do with the state of the Church today. EVERY pastor should be a theologian. "The truth that God has revealed in His Word is to be explored, understood, believed, taught, and defended. That describes the work of a theologian, and pastoral ministry cannot be effectively carried out by a man who does not engage in this kind of effort." Instead we get Sunday sermon series on how to have a successful marriage or be good parents. (There is nothing wrong with having classes about these subjects, but they are not acceptable sermon topis, in my opinion.)
"Churches are to be governed by the Word of God. Those men who bear the responsibility to lead a church have no alternative but to be well grounded in Scripture."
There are a couple of reasons for this. First is that pastors have the responsibility to feed the flock. The only acceptable diet for God's "sheep" is His Word. If the pastor is not theologically sound, there is no way he can fulfill this responsibility.
The second reason is that the pastor must also defend the flock. "He must affirm truth and refute error, both of which require discernment born of careful study." The pastor cannot refute error if he is not well acquainted with the truth.
If we want to see a renewed vitality in the Church, we must insist that our pastors also be theologians.
"Losing God"
Deuteronomy 28:19
Reading from the English Standard Version:
19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
Deuteronomy 28 speaks of promised blessings for obedience and promised curses for disobedience. The curses were so horrible that they included "a siege so severe that women would be driven to cannibalize their own children."
These curses being temporal in nature, and only having to do with Israel, can we even imagine "the unimaginable agony of being under God's curse for all eternity?"
If we think that the curse for violating God's law is too severe, it is because we don't understand the nature of God or sin. "God is transcendent in His majesty and sovereign in His authority. every sin, be it ever so small in our eyes, is an assault on that authority." When we sin, we say to God, "I don't care what you say, I will do as I please!" Also, God has commanded us to be holy. So, each sin is an insult to his character. It's almost as if, when we sin, we are saying, "I don't want to be like you."
Father, I confess that a major part of my life has been, more or less, a game. I don't know that I have ever taken "life" very seriously. I mean, look at me, Lord! I'm so undisciplined. I'm seriously overweight. God, I cry out to you for help to get things more in line with your precepts; with your plan for me. You have been more than patient. You have been so gentle, for the most part, in reminding me. I'm so grateful to you, Father, that you have never stopped reminding me, and that you have never stopped loving me.
I pray, Lord, that I will always be learning from you. You have given me a love for theology. You have given me a zeal for truth. I thank you for this, and pray that it will stay with me for all my days. I'm not a "pastor;" you have not given me that calling. However, as a worship leader, I believe it is important to be theologically sound.
I praise you for your Divine mercy and goodness. I thank you that you are always in the business of restoration, no matter how many times we fail. We are your children, and we cannot ever cease to be your children. I praise you, Father!
Pray for the protection of Israel amidst the increasing threats of Iran and destabilization of the Middle East.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has raised the stakes against Israel by describing the Holocaust as a lie, just as world powers are trying to decide how to deal with the nuclear ambitions of an Iran in political turmoil. "The pretext (Holocaust) for the creation of the Zionist regime (Israel) is false ... It is a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim," he told worshippers at Tehran University at the end of an annual anti-Israel "Qods (Jerusalem) Day" rally. Simultaneously, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking international support affirming his nation�s right to self defense. "So I am telling international leaders: You are telling us that you support our right of self defense. Don't tell us that after the next agreement, tell us now," Netanyahu told Israeli TV.
Grace and peace, friends.