Threads from Henry's Web

Tag: call

  • Psalm 119:146 – Save Me

    Psalm 119:146 – Save Me

    I have called out to you! Save me!
    that I may keep your testimonies.

    We can miss the point of God saving us in two very different ways. First, we can see God’s salvation as a simple ticket out of our current situation. This applies whether we are being saved from a potentially deadly accident or ultimately from our sins. Second, we can see God’s salvation as setting us on our feet so that we can move forward and get it right ourselves.

    Neither of these gets the message. God’s call opens to us the possibility of being holy. There is no possibility outside of that. Further, God’s call puts God in the driver’s seat, making us into the people we were designed to be.

    We read about this in Romans 8:29-30:

    For those whom he foreknew, he also determined to be the same in form as the image of his son, so that he could be the firstborn of many brethren. And those he determined, he also called, and those he called, he also make righteous, and those he made righteous, he also glorified.

    As a note to those who may see my translation “determined,” rather than predestined as a more Wesleyan translation here, I think the verse itself makes it clear that we’re talking about God’s action, and by grammar, “determined” comes before “called.” Dealing with this theological detail is not within the cope of this post.

    What is within the scope is that the initial call invites entrance into a process, all of which is accomplished by God, all the way to final glory. In other words when we cry out “Save me!” we’re inviting God to take us on a complete journey. That call is the one opening to actually observe God’s law. That too comes as God’s gift.

    It’s also outside the scope of this post to discuss why we actually come to cry out in the first place. Suffice it to say I believe that even that is God’s gift, right along with our very life.

    Crying out to God is a serious thing. You’re entering a one way street, heading out on a ride to eternity.

    Are you ready for the ride?

  • With All the Faults and Failings

    With All the Faults and Failings

    One of the things I find most interesting about the Bible is the way that its stories openly–one might even say brutally–cover the faults and failings of the main characters. Nobody manages to come off all that well in the story. Even Moses, author of the Torah, or perhaps receiver of it, is not presented as a perfect man, though his failings seem rather minor. I’m reasonably certain that I would have done massively worse in his situation!

    I was reminded of this aspect of Bible stories when I listened to the story of Jephthah while walking on my treadmill, and then listening to my pastor’s sermon on Sunday, which was taken from Matthew 1. The sermon was focused on the righteous actions of Joseph, but I couldn’t help looking over the genealogy as he spoke.

    We’re introduced to Jephthah as “a mighty warrior” but he was the son of a prostitute. Yet he’s presented as one of the people who saved Israel. In Judges 11:15-28 he gives quite a recitation of the history of Israel, and in verse 29, the spirit of the LORD comes up him. What struck me in reading the story, besides the always disturbing story of his daughter, is that he is otherwise presented as a solid leader in Israel.

    My mind links things in sometimes odd ways, and what struck me in this story was the mention that Jephthah’s mother was a prostitute. It’s sparse and bold, neither covered up nor overemphasized. It was not, as one can gather from the story itself, something that endeared Jephthah to the good and normal citizens of Israel.

    That, in turn, led me to the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. It’s odd, considering the times, that there are four women mentioned here. Tamar, who seduced her father-in-law while acting as a prostitute (Genesis 38), Rahab, the prostitute from Jericho who saved her family’s lives by helping the Israelite spies escape, Ruth the Moabitess (Deuteronomy 23:3), who was quite clearly a chaste woman, but barred from becoming an Israelite by the law, and finally “the wife of Uriah the Hittite,” the victim of David’s lusts.

    It interested me to consider why the Bible emphasizes these people. And I do the authors of these stories as making these folks stand out. Further, they stand out in some of the most powerful stories in the Bible. Genesis 38 hardly seems a necessary part of the story of the patriarchs, yet it is woven in later.

    I think there’s a point to be made here. The Bible is not a story of spiritual superheroes with superior ancestors. The heroes of the Bible do not stem from noble stock, the sort of people from whom we expect great things. Jephthah had become an outlaw with good-for-nothing men gathered around him. Then he got a call and the spirit of the LORD came upon him.

    And here in Matthew we have a close tie to the stories of Hebrew scriptures in these little hints provided in the genealogy. Jesus is the son of David–such noble ancestry! But look! There are some moments in that story that other people might prefer to tell.

    All that stands between you and me and doing great things is that call and that spirit. Good-for-nothing isn’t really in God’s vocabulary. “Nothing” is waiting for God’s “something.”

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)