Ten Words Amid Intolerance

D. A. Carson concludes his book The Intolerance of Tolerance with a chapter entitled "Ways Ahead: Ten Words." What follows are the headings of these ten words:

1. Expose the New Tolerance's Moral and Epistemological Bankruptcy
2. Preserve a Place for Truth
3. Expose the New Tolerance's Condescending Arrogance
4. Insist That the New Tolerance Is Not Progress
5. Distinguish Between Empirical Diversity and the Inherent Goodness of All Diversity
6. Challenge Secularism's Ostensible Neutrality and Superiority
7. Practice and Encourage Civility
8. Evangelize
9. Be Prepared to Suffer
10. Delight in and Trust God

Under the tenth heading, so important that I include it, Carson says this:

Delight in God, and trust him. God remains sovereign, wise, and good. Our ultimate confidence is not in any government or party, still less in our ability to mold the culture in which we live. God may bring about changes that reflect the more robust understanding of tolerance better known in earlier times, and that would be very helpful; alternatively, he may send "a powerful delusion so that [people] will believe the lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:11), and in consequence we may enter into more suffering for Jesus than the West has known for some time. That would have the effect of aligning us with brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world, and enable us to share something of the apostle's joy (Acts 5:41). 

 —D. A. Carson, The Intolerance of Tolerance (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 161-176.

How Senseless Hate Confirms Faith

One of the main reasons that I believe Christianity (not cultural Christianity, I'm talking about the real deal) is utter truth is that Jesus' words keep coming true.

For example, take John 15:18-20. Christians are easily the most hated and persecuted group in the world today, including in the post-Christian West. Every time someone or some group spews senseless hate toward me and brothers and sisters in Christ simply because we are following Christ, my faith is confirmed in his words all the more!

It is not a little ironic that the culture that prides itself on being tolerant has fast become highly intolerant of a group of people with a rich (though not perfect) history of and commitment to tolerance.

If you want to think more about tolerance, I commend D. A. Carson's The Intolerance of Tolerance. If you were to read it simply to appreciate how the word tolerance has been used historically and how it is used in diverse senses today, you'd have spent your time and money well. 

The Crux of the Psalms

Dane Ortlund cites Calvin concerning the chief concern of the Psalms, namely, the cross. A choice quotation. Check it out.

O God, Uphold Us by Your Spirit in Our Trials

A Lutheran prayer for upholding by God's Spirit amid trials:

O Father of all mercy and God of all comfort, strengthen and uphold me by your Spirit. You command that we should wait on him until the reason of our trials shall appear. For you do not for your own pleasure permit us to be tortured and grieved. In fact, you do not permit any evil to be done unless you can make it serve a good purpose. You see my distress and weakness. Therefore you will help and deliver me. Amen. 

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 87.

Suffer a Little for My Sake

"Dear God, I am your creature. You have sent me a cross and suffering, saying to me: Suffer a little for my sake and I will reward you well. Dear God, because it is your will I will gladly suffer. Amen."

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 86.

The Church's Songs and Soul Care

The hymnal, so theologically rich, is a great source for soul care. I believe David Powlison (certainly not alone) has often pointed this out.

Recently, while thinking and walking through some painful and sorrowful concerns with a dear friend, what came to my mind was this verse from Joachim Neander's 1680 hymn, Praise to the Lord, the Almighty:

Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth,
shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires e'er have been granted in what he ordaineth?

Moved with emotion during this conversation with my friend, what came out was what I've often sung with feeling and felt in the depths of my being, corporately and privately. Singing works like that. What the Lord brought to my mind was not something I'd read (though he certainly does that!), but something I'd sung dozens of times. And because so often what we sing will be the theology that comes out in trials and troubles, we best be singing theologically rich and deep songs, songs we can end with "O the depths!" (Rom. 11:33).

Here also, in brief, is a bit of my brief for recovering the psalms for corporate worship. But I still await that great work. When it comes, expect the mutual counseling ministry in the church to come alive and to sustain and strengthen and encourage and embolden a new generation for God's great glory.

—Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (taken from the Trinity Hymnal, based on Psalm 103, translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1863).

How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?

Have a listen to D. A. Carson's message on suffering for solid biblical foundations, wisdom, and hope for the coming day of your pain. Carson is one of those rare scholars with pastoral sensitivities, and so he's worth reading and hearing above most. His book on suffering, How Long, O Lord: Reflections on Suffering and Evil, should be compulsory reading in our churches. I devoured that book years ago and have never regretted spending so much time in it.

Resolved

Here's my last post on Edwards' Resolutions (for now). I love this man's intensity. Oh Lord, give me some of that man's spirit!

61. Resolved, that I will not give way to that listlessness which I find unbends and relaxes my mind from being fully and fixedly set on religion, whatever excuse I may have for it—that what my listlessness inclines me to do, is best to be done, etc.

62. Resolved, never to do anything but duty; and then according to Eph. 6:6-8, do it willingly and cheerfully "as unto the Lord, and not to man; knowing that whatever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord."

67. Resolved, after afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them, what good I have got by them, and what I might have got by them.

—Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 16, pp. 753-759.

The Value of Trials

Here's a little poem I rather like, recorded in The Hidden Life of Prayer: The life-blood of the Christian, by David McIntyre:

Trials make the promise sweet,
Trials give new life to prayer,
Trials bring me to his feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there.

By the way, if you're looking for a good little book to provide instruction for your prayer life, McIntyre's is helpful. It's a simple, short read. Yet it's packed with golden insights.

Spurgeon on Suffering

The following is from Piper's talk on Charles Spurgeon from the 1995 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors. Spurgeon's words are indented as quotations. Piper's comments start at the far left. My words are in brackets.

[Spurgeon says this about suffering:]

"It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I have an affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was never filled by his hand, that my trials were never measured out by him, nor sent to me by his arrangement of their weight and quantity" (see note 51).

[Piper comments:]

This is exactly the opposite strategy of modern thought, even much evangelical thought, that recoils from the implications of infinity. If God is God he not only knows what is coming, but he knows it because he designs it. For Spurgeon this view of God was not first argument for debate, it was a means of survival.
Our afflictions are the health regimen of an infinitely wise Physician. He told his students,

"I dare say the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness ... If some men, that I know of could only be favoured with a month of rheumatism, it would, by God's grace mellow them marvelously" (see note 52).

51. "The Anguish and Agonies of Charles Spurgeon," p. 25.
52. An All Round Ministry, p. 384.

Through the Precious Blood

Following the same vein as the last post, here's another song, this time from Sovereign Grace Praise, that Em and I have been enjoying and laying up: Through the Precious Blood.  The lyrics are by Mark Altrogge with Sovereign Grace Praise.  It's from the Come Weary Saints CD.

You have ordained every breath we take
In pleasure or pain, there is no mistake
Gladness and grief, both are in Your hand
And sufferings brief carry out Your plan
And our fleeting sorrows
Will yield an endless prize
When some bright tomorrow
We’ll see You with our eyes, and

Grace upon grace flows down, flows down
Grace upon grace flows down, flows down
Through the precious blood of Christ

Father of lights, Giver of all grace
Your mercies crown our lives all our days
River of Life, quench our thirsty souls
For no true delight does Your love withhold
And in every season
We are satisfied
For just one reason
Christ was crucified, and

All good gifts, every good thing
Comes to us freely, so freely
All good gifts, every good thing
Comes to us freely, so freely
Through the precious blood
Through the precious blood

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

When Trials Come

One of the routines my wife and I have developed is one of routinely considering the pain and suffering coming our way at God's sovereign appointment.  Doesn't sound fun, does it?  Sound morbid?  Perhaps.  It could be.  Or perhaps, and more likely, it's a sober practice to help prevent inebriation with the silliness and banality and superficiality of our world—this world that numbs us so thoroughly with television and entertainment and vacations and so on, all the way up to the day of meeting the Judge of all the earth, who will consign each to everlasting heaven or everlasting hell.  Perhaps this routine then is part of what God is using to steel us and give us backbone to prepare for our terminal cancer or brain injury or heart attack or lost baby or fierce persecution or whatever (our fill-in-the-blank day of dark news).  And I highly recommend it.

This routine includes regularly laying up Scripture, not least the promises of God; praying for God to make us ready for the day when death beckons, not least if it comes early; and also laying up Gospel-soaked lyrics from psalms, hymns, and Spirit-songs.  What follows is one such Gospel song which we've enjoyed and pondered of late.  It's called When Trials Come, written by the Gettys. 

When trials come, no longer fear
For in the pain our God draws near
To fire a faith worth more than gold
And there his faithfulness is told
And there his faithfulness is told

Within the night I know your peace
The breath of God brings strength to me
And new each morning mercy flows
As treasures of the darkness grow
As treasures of the darkness grow

I turn to wisdom not my own
For every battle You have known
My confidence will rest in You
Your love endures; Your ways are good
Your love endures; Your ways are good

When I am weary of the cost
I see the triumph of the cross
So in its shadow I shall run
Till You complete the work begun
Till You complete the work begun

One day all things will be made new
I'll see the hope You called me to
And in Your kingdom, paved with gold
I'll praise Your faithfulness of old
I'll praise Your faithfullness of old

—Keith and Kristin Getty, 2005 Thankyou Music

God Moves in a Mysterious Way

William Cowper produced in 1774 what is probably my favorite hymn: God Moves in a Mysterious Way. It expresses the mysteries and glories of Providence, learned through real-life experience of God's all-wise Word and ways.

Cowper battled depression and despair almost all life long. He even spent considerable time in a mental institution. Believing while afflicted of soul, he wrote a number of poems and hymns, one of which has powerfully touched my soul.

So here I reproduce Cowper's hymn that surely is matter for mediation, that surely is the raw material of counseling. No one could go wrong getting it by heart. 

God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform;
he plants his footsteps in the sea,
and rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
of never failing skill
he treasures up his bright designs
and works his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
the clouds ye so much dread
are big with mercy, and shall break
in blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
but trust him for his grace,
behind a frowning providence
he hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding ev'ry hour;
the bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flow'r.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
and scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
and he will make it plain.

Faced with suffering and loss, these words and others like them are what I want to hear again and again. My wife and I love the doctrine of providence. And we are learning to love and trust the infinitely trustworthy God who reigns supreme still more and more with each passing day as we stand in grace and exult in hope of the glory of God.

God is so wise, so good, so just. We eat and drink ten thousand providential mercies every day. There is no place we'd rather be than in the hands of this sovereign Lord, our heavenly Father, who never errs as he governs all things wisely and well—for his glory and our good. Bless his holy name.

God Has Made Them Both

Eccl. 7:14 says this:  "In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him."  The trusting and delighting consideration that God makes both the day of prosperity and the day of adversity is essential for being a joyful, sober-minded, and hope-filled Christian in a world where two contrary kinds of experiences are frequently juxtaposed: the birth of a baby or a marriage and the diagnosis of your deadly disease or death of a loved one.  Who will not go mad or suffer utter confusion (assuming you are sober, your eyes are open, and your head is not in the sand) if God is not seen and trusted with delight to be governing all things wisely and well--and doing so for our everlasting good?