As I've continued to meditate on Zephaniah, yesterday I was struck by one of the most beautiful images of salvation I've seen. First in 3:14, God calls His people to sing and rejoice and exalt. Why? They've been cleared of being criminals, and He has removed their enemies. (Incidentally, their greatest crime which was removed was against God Himself.) There is no longer any need for them to fear or feel guilt! They have been saved by the Mighty One who rescues with rejoicing. The Lord now lives among them! Indeed, He calls all of them to a great festival. At this festival, the crippled and the 'black sheep' are honored guests due to His salvation: they are released from oppression and isolation into love and unity. Furthermore, their forfeited fortunes are restored to them. Amazing!
As I pondered this, I wished for a parable or allegory to understand it better, what would it look like for a mighty king to throw a feast for crippled enemies and restore their fortunes, for life... and I got about that far and was reminded of David's treatment of Mephibosheth. As I read the story again in 2 Samuel 9, I was blown away by the magnitude of the kindness of God as modeled by David. See, Bethany and I are watching a show about the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman as part of our Turkish learning, and it's completely unthinkable that even such a good and wise sovereign would allow a rival to live, much less bring him to a feast. Typically, even brothers and stepbrothers might be killed to gain and keep the throne; Suleiman had both his best friend and his oldest son killed when he thought they were threats.
So, think of the overwhelming grace of David, the king of Israel, who suddenly has the idea to honor the previous king's family, particularly the line of the previous crown prince! So, David searches for a potential claimant to his throne in order to 'show the kindness of God to him'! And yes! that is what he does, he finds Mephibosheth, a crippled grandson of the former King Saul, son of Crown Prince Jonathan. He tells him to fear nothing and to come eat always at the king's table. Then, he restores the family fortune to him, a crippled rival who had expected death. Indeed, that is the kindess of God, a magnificent display of the gospel of the Mighty One's salvation of broken cripple rebels.
May our wondering, thankful response to our Sovereign be that of Mephibosheth to his king: And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”
Scripture arrangement of the related passages: 2 Samuel 9:1-11 & Zephaniah 3:14-20
I heard this catchy song in a friend's car a couple weeks ago, so once I figured out how to find it, I wanted to figure out the words. So, here's my translation of "Aşkı Bulacaksın" which I only completed so I could give it to my wife. Hopefully, I can improve the translation as my understanding of Turkish idioms improves! A version of the song performed by Tanju Okan is embedded between my English translation and the Turkish words.
In my 'Top Recommendations from 2012,' I listed The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross as my most thought-provoking book from last year. It continues to challenge my thinking in a variety of areas, including getting me to read a book called 'Honor and Shame' by Roland Muller (also in The Messenger, the Message, and the Community.) This book deals with the topics of guilt-, fear- and shame-based cultures in relation to the Scriptures; most importantly it calls us to see the good news of Christ fully as it speaks to every person's guiltiness, fearfulness and shamefulness before the King and Judge of the universe.
Most of us who were trained in a Western theological system were not taught to deal theologically with the Gospel outside of a guilt-justification context. Thus, when people don't feel guilty before God, for instance in an Islamic (shame-based) or animistic (fear-based) culture, we struggle to bring the good news of salvation and true life to them. Many of us have never felt particularly shamed or dirty before God, simply guilty; or maybe, we've never wondered if the spiritual forces which attack us are stronger than those which defend us. In either case, the Gospel speaks thoroughly to these issues, as well, of course, as addressing our guiltiness. And we do want a fully displayed Gospel!
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| A Tree Leaning on a Graveyard Fence |
The entire rhythm of life changes pretty drastically in Istanbul for the summer months of July and August; this, of course, effects not only our individual lives but also our gathering as Christ-followers. When most of our fellowship that is still here gathered yesterday, we discussed the creation of the world. We were again struck by the awesome weight and privilege of being made in God's image; how would it change our lives if we lived out the truth that we are (redeemed) image-bearers - it would destroy depression, pride and a multitude of other sins.
But, we were also impacted by the goodness of God's nurture for His people - seven times declaring that He had made a good world in chapter 1, then, making sure that Adam had the perfect companion because it was 'not good' for him to be alone. In between these points, two aspects of God's overflowing provision for His people are mentioned: God had every kind of beautiful tree with good fruit grow in the Garden of Eden, and in verses 11-12 while describing the area's geography,
"...Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good..."I haven't heard of gold that humans didn't think was good, but this gold was good. The point of this odd little statement seems to be highlighting the magnificence of God's provision, the wonder of what He gave (and gives) to His people to care for, the greatness of His care for His own. Just as the trees and the stars praise Him, gold also declares His goodness and glory to us. May we have gracious understanding and response.
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| İzmit's Landscape |
I wanted to find a way to tie this post with the previous post, but the topics were slightly too far apart despite both falling under the topics of work and leadership. I've been reading in Proverbs recently and again came across the verses about the Ant and its hard work, which is related to the way of wisdom. It is fascinating that the Ant is specifically lauded for doing this without a manager, particularly in light of the generally accepted wisdom regarding leadership being the hinge for everything, an example of which is found in the previous post.
But consider the Ants without a manager in this video:
