Pleasing the Lord

You may remember the story, Chariots of Fire, made into a movie in 1981. The young Eric Liddell is racing with his friends in Scotland. After he easily wins, he says, "I believe that God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. When I run, I feel His pleasure."

About a month ago I came across a Bible verse that caught my attention so powerfully that I printed it in letters half-an-inch high across the first pages of my journal— FIND OUT WHAT PLEASES THE LORD! Eph. 5:10.

Then I started to dig—what does please the Lord? For starters, I ran a Bible search on those three words and got seven hits, four OT and three NT. Apparently, “it pleased the Lord to bless Israel.” Num.24:1. “It pleased the Lord to make you [Israel] prosper and increase in number.” Deut.28:63. Then it pleases the Lord to “praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving” (more than sacrificing an ox or a bull). Psa.69:31. “It pleased the Lord…to make his law great and glorious.” Isa.42:21.

The New Testament tells us that we all should be “concerned about the Lord’s affairs”—how we can please the Lord. 1 Cor.7:32. And then, “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” Col.3:20.

Let’s enlarge on the whole subject of “pleasing the Lord,” by brainstorming a list of things that help:—

       • direct communication with the Lord (prayer and Bible reading—we speak to Him and He speaks to us.)

      • raising our children to know Him.

      • associating with and helping all God’s people.

      • assembling with God’s people to worship Him.

      • spreading the knowledge and the love of the Lord everywhere we can.

      • striving for personal holiness. Arthur Dixon recently commented, “Do you want to be holy? Read 1 Corinthians 13!”

This list is almost overwhelming, and it’s far from complete. Here are three more scriptures: Psalm 104:34 says, “May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord,” and 2 Tim.2:4 says “No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.” Finally, 2 Cor.5:9 says, “We make it our goal to please him.”

Perhaps no one outside of scripture said it better than C.S. Lewis: “That some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”

Summer sunrise, from my balcony

Some thoughts about creation

God created light!—not that He just lit a candle or a star and produced light, but that He created light. ‘God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.’ Gen.1:3. And what powers light, that it can travel for four years from the nearest star? What other thing do we know of that can travel undiminished for that length of time, with no other apparent input of energy? No wonder we are told that “God is light.” 1 John 1:5. What better metaphor could there be in the physical world for a pure, unchanging, fadeless and eternal Being? But this is still only a figure of speech because God is greater than light—He can go where light can never go. Psalm 139:12 tells us, “darkness is as light to you,” and Hebrews 4:13 says, “nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.” Ultimately, Paul tells us, He “lives in unapproachable light.” 1 Tim.6:16.




Mount Saint Michael at high tide and low. South coast of England.

 

Book Review: Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

Strong, James, ed. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 1999.

For Father’s Day, my children gave me an iPod Touch. One of the first things I put onto it was a Bible from the Olive Tree Company because it included a search function allowing me to find any word in the Bible. I now use it all the time for my daily reading and my thought was that now I don’t need a concordance any more. How wrong I was, as you will see.

James Strong (1822-1894) was Professor of Exegetical Theology at Drew Theological Seminary in New Jersey, when this work was first published in 1890. Although based on the King James Version of the Bible, it is really only a compilation of facts—it’s almost like a huge computer print-out. As a concordance, it allows you to find any word in the Bible. Where it goes beyond a concordance is this— it allows you to see which Hebrew or Greek word was used to give whatever English word you are searching, and shows what other words were used to translate that same Hebrew or Greek word.

For instance, look up the word “pleased,” as in, “it pleased the Lord to bruise him.” Isa.53:10. The Concordance for this reference indicates that the word for “pleased” is Strong’s Number 2654. When we look up that number, we find that the word has been translated in the KJV by a multitude of other words, including (have, take) delight, desire, favour, like, move, be (well) pleased, have pleasure, will, or would. If we look up any of these words, we will find at least one instance where #2654 was the original. It thus becomes impossible for the non-Hebrew speaker to refine the exact meaning. Perhaps the best modern word to use would be, “It was the Lord’s will to crush him.”

When you think that this book is over 1500 triple-columned, fine-print pages from the days before computers, it’s obvious that Strong was primarily the supervisor and editor— he was backed up in the work by over a hundred colleagues. It must have even become a matter of some pride because when the title says “exhaustive”, it means “exhaustive”— even the words “a” and “an” are indexed!

The publisher now tells us that the entire book has been newly typeset, with “a key word comparison chart for six Bible translations. The words of Jesus are shown in red.” Maybe it’s time I bought a new copy!

Reviewed by Glenn Wilson 

Book Review: Counsel Fireside Reader

Nicholson, J.B., Jr., editor.
The Counsel Fireside Reader.
Port Colborne, ON:
Gospel Folio Press, 2001

Many years ago, my employer sent me to a Dale Carnegie course. I never became a public speaker, but I did pick up one powerful rule. Mr. Carnegie insisted that to relate to an audience, you had to tell stories—not all stories, but at least a few.

Ever since that day, I’ve always listened with a slightly critical ear. A preacher who illustrates his message with the occasional story has me with him—I can rejoice or weep as he leads but I can never fall asleep. My emotions are involved as well as my mind—and J. Boyd Nicholson has that gift in his writing.

The first line of the first essay introduces us to Harry, his navigator (a fellow-believer), then to Cookie, a seven year old orphan at a mission in India. Nicholson's heart aches as he says goodbye to her and heads for Burma, never to see her again. We feel the pain—but then he asks the question, “Whatever must it have meant to God the Father to yield up His only Son?”



Napoleon's tomb, June 2012

Nicholson’s second article opens at Napoleon’s tomb in Paris, as his guide proudly states, “Here is the glory of France!” Ten days later, Nicholson is in Jerusalem, in an empty tomb, and cries out aloud, “Here is the glory of Christ!”

The list goes on: “God’s Bag Lady”, the “cloud sandwich”, “Kambungu’s heart,” the ‘Tower of Tears’, “God Bless the Giblites!”, “Two o’clock at Entebbe”, “Love’s Rendezvous”…

Reading on, I came to another story that thrilled me—a blessing on Tom Agnew, auto mechanic! “Not just a ‘fixer’, but a man who put his Christian testimony into his workmanship.” “Later, Tom moved into sales and was renowned for many years as one of that unusual breed, a thoroughly trustworthy car salesman!” “Dealing with Tom, you didn’t even need to kick the tires.”

A few of the essays make dry reading, I’m afraid, and most of these prove the need for ‘story’. There is an exception—I encourage you to read an uncharacteristic chapter by Nicholson, entitled “Tears—in Heaven!”

Just to balance things out, let me mention a few minor ‘cons’ that came to mind. For instance, I’m not sure why Adolph Saphir was included—he wasn’t a real contributor to Counsel Magazine, since he died in 1891. My other comment is more of a suggestion. I don’t really know most of the writers. Perhaps a three or four line biography of each author should have been included as an appendix.

I got my copy of Fireside Reader directly from Gospel Folio Press in Port Colborne, on sale for only $10, but it’s full of treasure. To quote from a preface once written by A.W.Tozer, “here is true gold of Ophir.”

Reviewed by Glenn Wilson

Book Review: God Planted Five Seeds

Johnson, Jean Dye

God Planted Five Seeds.

Sanford, FL:

New Tribes Mission,

1966.

Jean Dye Johnson’s image for her title is straight from the mouth of our Lord, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24) It was the darkest years of World War Two and thousands were dying on the battlefields. What did it matter that five unknown Americans died in a Bolivian jungle?

Johnson’s story begins chronologically with Cecil Dye and a “Cloud Club” outreach he started in a rented room in Saginaw, Michigan. Over a period of months, Cecil and his brother Bob became acquainted with Paul Fleming and gradually a plan evolved for an interdenominational mission to new tribes. Offers of support also came in but they all had some strings attached. “Paul and Cecil rejected all such. They would rather ‘look to the Lord.’…Through missionaries from Latin America, they learned of the unreached tribes of Bolivia, which now became their goal.” At this time Joe Moreno joined the group, offering to be “a flunky for Cecil Dye.”

By the opening of 1943, Cecil and four other men plus Joe Moreno plus some of their families were assembled in Roboré, in eastern Bolivia. Their target was the Ayoré tribes of the Sunsa Hills. For months they worked to piece together some of the language and the culture and to pinpoint their locations, then they started cutting a trail through the jungle to reach these people.

As these five men worked on the trail, communication with their families continued. Then, in November, 1943, all feedback ceased. No more was heard of Cecil Dye, Bob Dye, Dave Bacon, George Hosbach, or Eldon Hunter. Two search parties were sent in but bodies were never found.

Joe Moreno then took over leadership of the mission and worked tirelessly to track down other Ayoré groups and make contact, while the author worked out details of words, phrases, and grammar in their language.

In August, 1947, a band of Ayorés made friendly contact with two railway engineers but not until about June of 1948 did the Ayorés become friendly enough for eleven of them to sleep over in the author’s 15-feet-square, dirt-floored room. Joe arranged for the Ayorés to transfer to a palm grove called Tobité, and there, with extensive help from other missionaries on the team, they clothed and fed the “barbaros”, learned their language, taught them a bit of agriculture, and finally were able to present the gospel.

In April, 1950, an Ayoré turned up in Tobité and, in incidental questioning by an anthropologist, related most of the story of the killings of the five men. In fact, one of the killers had even been in the village.

This is the gist of Johnson’s story. The details can sometimes be revolting (Ayoré burial practices) or can tug at the heart-strings (“I like your Jesus.”)

God Planted Five Seeds is a story worth reading. We have to consider each of these five men as one of God’s elite. In that part of Bolivia there were thousands of “civilized” people who needed to hear the way of life more clearly— but these men heard God’s call to tell the Ayorés of Jesus—people who had NEVER heard of Him. Many trusted Christ, to the extent that when Johnson wrote this story twenty years after the killings she could conclude, “God had planted five seeds. With a full heart, I had seen for myself the harvest.”

Reviewed by Glenn Wilson. Special thanks to Phil Proctor for the recommendation (and for his many years of faithful service with New Tribes Mission).

Footnotes to the Book “God Planted Five Seeds”

 

1. Our own Mary Gemmell Dickson was a child in the missionary school in Esmeralda, in Cochabamba Valley, Bolivia, when the killings took place. Her parents were with the Bolivian Indian Mission and worked in the mountains at 11,000 feet. Some of the students at her school feared for their own parents who worked in the jungles. Thankfully no other lives were lost at that time.

2. Peter & Mima Horne, mentioned early on in the book as “Scottish Brethren missionaries” who hosted these five men, were from Isa Penman’s home assembly in Scotland— Waterside Gospel Hall in Irvine. In later life, they retired to Scotland but missed their adopted land so much that they finally moved back to Bolivia. Peter ended his days there, so Mima moved back again to Scotland and passed away there in the 1980's.

3. The final footnote for the moment relates to the railway station in Arica, Chile, where the missionaries had to prove that they were really transporting their own musical instruments. This was the railhead at the start of the journey to La Paz in Bolivia. See the attached photos by G.Wilson, of the “rock” at Arica, and the old railway station itself (“FERROCARRIL DE ARICA A LA PAZ”).  Ì

“I heard there was a secret chord…”

The Montreal poet, Leonard Cohen, has written a haunting secular song, Hallelujah, about King David. Like all good poets, he has full control of his metre and rhyme—beyond that, he creates images that puzzle but eventually satisfy. After the first few hearings, we may hardly know where Cohen is going: “the baffled king composing,” “her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you,” “she broke your throne and she cut your hair…”

We realize, of course, that the song is about David’s sin with Bathsheba. When David had Uriah murdered, (2 Sam.11:15) he ultimately became a “shedder of blood,” guilty beyond anything he had ever done in wartime. And this is why God said, “You are not to build a house for my Name.” (1 Chron.28:3)

To put it bluntly, David was an adulterer and a killer, and under the Mosaic law (e.g., Lev.20:10) both he and Bathsheba deserved to die by stoning. As a murderer, David doubly deserved death. (Lev.24:17) When Nathan the prophet confronted him with his sin (2 Sam.12) David was crushed. He knew there was no sacrifice he could offer for atonement, so he sought the Lord at last in the tabernacle, (2 Sam.12:20) praying: “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psa.51:16 ,17)

We know that there really was a “chord that David played and it pleased the Lord,” because we read that somehow, David was “a man after my [God’s] own heart.” Acts13:22 There is even a quotation in Proverbs that sounds like David’s advice to his son: “Lay hold of my words with all your heart, keep my commands and you will live.” Prov.4:3, 4.

On the lowest level, this story proves to me that a believer can do anything an unbeliever can do except perish. On a higher level, it shows me what God can forgive. On another level, it shows me what I should do in David’s situation. Poor David prayed, “Take not your Holy Spirit from me.” What a difference for the believer today—we have the Holy Spirit Who has come “to abide with us forever”, to help us control our passions, and guide us to what is best. May we never quench Him! Thank the Lord for this Comforter and Guide!

A bit about priests and altars…and sacrifices

Some background information to get us started— In Old Testament times, God set up a priesthood through Aaron and his sons. Their assistants, so-to-speak, were all the rest of the tribe of Levi. When the priests and the Levites came into the promised land, they weren’t given any inheritance like the other tribes, except for a few towns and some surrounding pasturelands. God had no intention for them to become farmers— their primary duty was to serve the tabernacle, so He arranged that they should live by the work they would do.

All of the Israelites were required to make various offerings— grain offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, burnt offerings, fellowship offerings, freewill offerings. But a very large part of these offerings became the property of the priests. For instance, with the grain offering, the priest was to “take a handful of fine flour and oil…and burn the memorial portion on the altar.” “Aaron and his sons shall eat the rest of it.” Lev.6:16.

The same was true when the sin offering was slaughtered—“the priest who offers it shall eat it.” Lev.6:26. God’s gift to the priests is extended even further in Numbers 18:8—“all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion and regular share.” And it doesn’t stop there— God says, “I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain.” Num.18:12. In fact, “the first offspring of every womb, both man and animal, that is offered to the LORD is yours.” Num.18:14.

One of the worst examples of abuse in this department was Eli’s sons. 1 Sam.2:12-29. They took what they were allowed but then extorted far more.

But leaving all that behind, look at the Apostle Paul’s comments. He says, “Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?” 1 Cor.9:13. “Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?” 1 Cor.10:18.

All this preamble finally brings us up to the key New Testament verse on the subject: “We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.” Heb.13:10. In other words, those priests who were still just doing their duty at the time the book of Hebrews was written had no right to the better Altar and greater Sacrifice, which is Christ.

And so the wonderful conclusion is this: As we “break the bread” and “drink the wine”, we portray the spiritual benefit we get as a spiritual priesthood, as we eat of that Sacrifice which, as believers, we now have a right to.