Weeds of the Soul

Our apple trees have weeds growing around the base like--well--weeds. Some are wiry grass, some are willowy. Even with wood chips put down last year, the weeds come. We are weeding and adding a heaping amount of wood chips this year.  While I was weeding I thought of some analogies of weeds to sins. I've thought of some of these before, and probably a million others have, too, but I think it is neat that God made His world--even the fallen world--to have correlations and lessons for our lives. Here are some possible correlations.

1. Weeding takes strength, perseverance, and a desire to clean things up.
2. Some weeds are more stubborn than others.
3. Sometimes we have to dig deep.
4. Some weeds are quite pretty . . . but sap strength and fruitfulness from the tree.
5. Sometimes we have to use a sharp implement to cut or dig around the roots.
6. Sometimes just a gentle wiggling and tug will get out a weed, especially if the weeds are surrounded by wood chips (like the Scriptures surrounding an individual).
7. Sometimes our hands get dirty or we get hurt while weeding, especially if we aren't wearing gloves (prayer or Word of God to protect).
8. Getting down closer to the roots helps in pulling out weeds.
9. Pulling out just one weed or two at a time instead of a huge clump can be helpful, making others nearby come up more easily--the roots may be connected in ways we didn't realize!
10. Weed control--constant upkeep--makes things easeasier.refreshing drink of water or encouraging word is always good.
11. Sometimes we skip certain weeds because they are too hard or seemingly insignificant . . . but watch out--they will grow!
12. The final results are beautiful and orderly, more pleasing to all around!

P.S. I don't always philosophize while doing yard work--usually I'm fuller of grumbling thoughts about the heat, bugs, or aching back. . . . There's one "weed" that needs to go!

Good & Angry - Blog Tour Book Review



I signed up for this book not knowing how helpful it would be. After all, I'm pretty even-keeled; I don't explode in anger like some people I know.  But, as I was soon impressed with, everyone has bad anger, whether it comes to the outside very much or not.  We all want our own way and complain at certain times.  Mr. Powlison helps us see the reasons for our anger, both good and bad anger, and how to direct it in the right way.  He helps us see that God is in control, and that our sinful anger is a slap in the face of God's sovereignty.  There is a correct anger--an anger at sin--and a proper desire for righting wrongs, but it more often goes bad and is founded in selfishness and pride.  I saw more clearly that my own lack of anger--my apathy--about certain things is wrong, as well.

There are many helpful examples in the book, and it is quite an easy to read--but convicting--book. 

One caveat: there are two or three uses of certain 4-letter words, one in a real-life example of an angry mother, the other a more legitimate use. 

I will likely be re-reading this book in the future--there is that much to take in and to apply at various times in life.

I'll leave you with a couple quotes:

"Think about this: mercy is not a nonreactive indifference--because it cares.  And it's the furthest thing from approval--because what's happening is wrong.  Mercy includes a component of forceful anger, but anger's typical hostility, vindictiveness, and destructiveness does not dominate."

"Major sins are only minor sins grown up. Complaining has the same DNA as violent rage."

Thanks to crossfocusedreviews.com for allowing me this book to review! My opinions are freely my own.

Lessons In Friendship

Friendship is a beautiful word, and one I've longed to see deeply in my life ever since I was a young child.  I watched Anne of Green Gables, yearning for the kind of "kindred spirit" that Anne had in Diana, or vice versa, since I was mainly more like Diana.  I was the shy, self-conscious one, with a seemingly smaller brain than my intellectual siblings, but with a love for camaraderie and imagination.  My shyness kept friendship to a minimum--probably because I didn't feel sure of myself, or able to express myself without nervousness and stumbling, and that somewhat continues until today.  Perhaps because I was the "baby," the one to be ignored or scowled at because I would tag along, bumbling through things, distracting.  I felt this keenly, though I knew, most of the time, that I was loved.  But being left out, even just occasionally, can be hard for a sensitive person who loves family time.  I'm sure that sometimes it was for my own protection, such as when my family was building a tree fort when I was five or so--we even have a photo of me by the side of the fort, crying.  Words and actions are important--saying "I don't want you to get hurt" is much better than saying "you'd just get in the way." (I'm not sure how my family put it to me, but I'm pretty sure that's how I felt in those type of situations--that I was a nuisance.) That's a lesson for another day, I suppose.

Today I'm focusing on friendship, but now you know some of my background, and partly why it's hard for me.

However, I'm certainly not without blame.  Proverbs 18:24 says: "A man who has friends must himself be friendly . . . "

I was not very friendly, very much looking out for the interests of others (Philippians 2:4)--an unsaved person is not at all good at this.  But even now, as a Christian, I struggle with this . . . selfishness, and perhaps self-pity, is ingrained.

That is one of the lessons I've been thinking about, trying to achieve: be interested, truly interested, in others.  Even if they're talking about a plain piece of wood, or any boring subject you can think of--if it interests them, it should (if it's not a bad subject/gossip) be of vital importance to us.  ("Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. -Philippians 2:4)

Another lesson is not to nurture jealousy.  This can be a real joy-killer, and leads to bitterness, anger, and perhaps distance or the end of a friendship.  There are many Bible verses about jealousy.

Another lesson is to empathize with your friends, both in sorrow and in joy.  Romans 12:15 says: "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep."  If you don't truly put yourself in your friends' shoes, they can sense this, and won't have your true care, concern, or excitement.  I don't mean to say that we should put on a front, but that we should try our best to understand and show our care, whether it be with a sincere smile, hug, note, gift, deeper conversation, or what-have-you.  This goes along with being interested in others, and not being jealous.

I have felt jealous, hurt, and bitter, at times, when I felt left out of my friends' lives.  I didn't receive what I thought I should--the recognition, thanks, position, etc.  This stems from pride.  I'm thinking I'm more important than I really am, more wonderful, when I am but dust and ashes, terribly sinful.  Even if I happen to be forgotten for something I should have received thanks for, I have to put myself in my friends' shoes, and realize they can't always remember everything.  They may not have realized how much something cost us in effort, time, or money.  They may not realize that we were hurt, or longing for something, or how important it is to us. We (or me, especially, with my quietness) may not have expressed much of an interest.  Can our friends read our minds?  Perhaps if they have known us for all our lives, they can often anticipate our reactions or desires (I have a dear sister like this, and ironically her name is Ann), but if it's a friend of shorter standing, one cannot expect such special capabilities.

Parts of being a friend are serving, laying our lives down for the other, listening, being humble, thinking the best, loving--I Corinthians 13 springs to mind.  The very definition of friendship in Merriam Webster has to do with helping the other person.  Do we expect to do all the "getting" in friendship, or do we expect to give of ourselves?  "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." -Philippians 2:3

And when other friendships falter, there is the precious end of the verse I quoted from earlier (Proverbs 18:24): "A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."

. . . How amazing is that, when God knows all our sins (infinitely magnified in His holy sight)?  He pities us as a dear Father. ("As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him." -Psalm 103:13) 

But more than that, we can call Him friend, as that verse in Proverbs states, as well as this verse: "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you." - John 15:15

When we focus on this--believe this--it makes so much difference.

The Lazy Man's Rut - A Poem

by Melissa M.
11-12-12

Clinging to past success,
Like spider to web,
I dangle precariously,
Fear tickling my gut,
But outputting nothing--
The lazy man's rut.

Tomorrow will be enough,
My heart wants to say.
But will it be, indeed?
Or will I fall prey
To hopes dashed
And a wasted day?

Tackle the goal head on,
Even if hard the load.
Easier now, I'm sure,
Than tomorrow's hour,
When panic and shame
Defeat and devour.

Lyrics and Quote from the Treasury of David

Hymn of Gethsemane - quite lovely!

Verse 12. For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head. We lose ourselves when we speak of the sins of our lives. It may astonish any considering man to take notice how many sins he is guilty of any one day; how many sins accompany any one single act; nay, how many bewray themselves in any one religious duty. Whensoever ye do anything forbidden, you omit the duty at that time commanded; and whenever you neglect that which is enjoined, the omission is joined with the acting of something forbidden; so that the sin, whether omission or commission, is always double; nay, the apostle makes every sin tenfold. James 2:10. That which seems one to us, according to the sense of the law, and the account of God, is multiplied by ten. He breaks every command by sinning directly against one, and so sins ten times at once; besides that swarm of sinful circumstances and aggravations which surround every act in such numbers, as atoms use to surround your body in a dusty room; you may more easily number these than those. And though some count these but fractions, incomplete sins, yet even from hence it is more difficult to take an account of their number. And, which is more for astonishment, pick out the best religious duty that ever you performed, and even in that performance you may find such a swarm of sins as cannot be numbered. In the best prayer that ever you put up to God, irreverence, lukewarmness, unbelief, spiritual pride, self seeking, hypocrisy, distractions, etc., and many more, that an enlightened soul grieves and bewails; and yet there are many more that the pure eye of God discerns, than any man does take notice of. -- David Clarkson.

Quotes

Comments on Psalm 40:8

'I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.'



'That [Jesus] came into the world to die for us is a mercy of the first magnitude; but that he came in love to our souls, and underwent all his sufferings with such willingness for our sakes, this heightens it above all apprehension.
...
Did Christ find pleasure in abasement and torment, in suffering and dying for me, and can I find no pleasure in praying, hearing, meditating, and enjoying the sweet duties of communion with him? Did he come so cheerfully to die for me, and do I go so dead heartedly to prayers and sacraments to enjoy fellowship with him? Was it a pleasure to him to shed his blood, and is it none to me to apply it, and reap the benefits of it? O let there be no more grumblings, lazy excuses, shiftings of duty, or dead hearted and listless performances of them, after such an example as this. Be ready to do the will of God, be ye also ready to suffer it. And as to sufferings for Christ, they should not be grievous to Christians that know how cheerfully Christ came from the bosom of the Father to die for them. What have we to leave or lose, in comparison with him? What are our sufferings to Christ's? Alas! there is no compare; there was more bitterness in one drop of his sufferings than in a sea of ours. To conclude: your delight and readiness in the paths of obedience is the very measure of your sanctification.' - Condensed from John Flavel.

'Thy law is within my heart. The law of God is not to be kept in books, but in the midst of our heart, that we may rightly understand the same, admire it, and observe it.' - Martin Geier.

'This law was in his heart, in the midst of his bowels. He did as much delight in it as we do in following those inclinations which nature has implanted in our hearts, as we do in eating and drinking. So he expresses it John 4:34 , "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." He was as willing to bleed and die for thee as thou art to eat when hungry. He was delighted as much to be scourged, wounded, crucified, as thou delightest in meat when most delicious.' - David Clarkson.

Today's Messages

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. - Psalm 84:10

I hope this is true for all of us, and that you had a blessed Lord's Day!

Today's sermon and message for the Lord's table were needed.

 The Lord's table message revolved around the leaven in the lump of bread....

Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. - 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

Our dear elder likened this to ink poured in pure water, tinting the whole glass of water. So leaven makes a lump of bread rise--not just part of it.  And so sin affects the whole of our being if we don't cast it out.  This is a scary thought, is it not?

We must continually remember what Jesus has done for us.

The main message was about the parable of the sower and ground. What kind of hearts do we have?  Mine tends to become anxious and excessively focused on things, which is a lot like the thorny ground.  May God be all our hope and stay and joy, not the things of this world, which choke out the Word of God.

Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. - Matthew 13:22

Instead, I pray we will be as this:

But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. - Matthew 13:23

Sermon Link

I listened to this Spurgeon sermon today, and I have to say it made me wonder about myself.  Why is there so little zeal for God in my life?  I needed the questioning, the rebuke, the refreshing.  Spurgeon does lay it on frankly and perhaps over-dogmatically, but in the end he confesses his sin, too, so I realize that though I sin, God is a great Savior, yet I dare not use that as an excuse for lethargy.  And it is also a message for the lost, those seeking God.  Please take a listen.  Holy Violence

Has God Forgotten the Sin of the Unforgiven?

Quote from Spurgeon's book, The Treasury of David:
Psalm 10, verse 11.--"He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it." Because the Lord continues to spare them [the wicked], therefore they go on to provoke him. As he adds to their lives, so they add to their lusts. What is this, but as if a man should break all his bones because there is a surgeon who is able to set them again? . . . . . Because justice seems to wink, men suppose her blind; because she delays punishment, they imagine she denies to punish them; because she does not always reprove them for their sins, they suppose she always approves of their sins. But let such know, that the silent arrow can destroy as well as the roaring cannon. Though the patience of God be lasting, yet it is not everlasting." --William Secher.

Praise the Lord for forgiving, for blotting out my sin, though I am as depraved (wicked) as anyone! Yet I do not want to displease my Savior, though I often do. I need Thee every hour, oh Lord.

Sin

Here are some more quotes from Spurgeon's The Treasury of David. I know how weak I am and how much more I should hate sin, so the first quote was a bit comforting to me. I do hate sin, but when I don't vehemently hate it or deeply sorrow over it (as I should!) I start to question my salvation. May God grant a greater sorrow over and hatred of sin--because sin is a great offense to God.

~~~
'For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.
The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. - Psalm 5:4, 5
~~~

(On verse 5 of Psalm 5): 'What an astonishing thing is sin, which maketh the God of love and Father of mercies an enemy to his creatures, and which could only be purged by the blood of the Son of God! Though all must believe this who believe the Bible, yet the exceeding sinfulness of sin is but weakly apprehended by those who have the deepest sense of it, and will never be fully known in this world.' -- Thomas Adam's Private Thoughts, 1701-1884.

(On verse 5, last clause): 'For what God thinks of sin, see Deut. vii. 22, Prov. vi. 16; Rev. ii. 6, 15; where he expresseth his detestation and hatred of it, from which hatred proceeds all those direful plagues and judgments thundered from the fiery mouth of his most holy law against it; nay, not only the work, but worker also of iniquity becomes the object of his hatred.' -- William Gurnall.

On verse 10 Spurgeon writes:
"Against thee:" not against me. If they were my enemies I would forgive them, but I cannot forgive thine [God's]. We are to to forgive our enemies, but God's enemies it is not in our power to forgive. These expressions have often been noticed by men of over refinement as being harsh, and grating on the ear. "Oh!" say they, "they are vindictive and revengeful." Let us remember that they might be translated as prophecies, not as wishes; but we do not care to avail ourselves of this method of escape. We have never heard of a reader of the Bible who, after perusing these passages, was made revengeful by reading them, and it is but fair to test the nature of a writing by its effects. When we hear a judge condemning a murderer, however severe his sentence, we do not feel that we should be justified in condemning others for any private injury done to us. The Psalmist here speaks as a judge, ex officio; he speaks as God's mouth, and in condemning the wicked he gives us no excuse whatever for uttering anything in the way of malediction upon those who have cause us personal offence. The most shameful way of cursing another is by pretending to bless him. We were all somewhat amused by noticing the toothless malice of that wretched old priest of Rome when he foolishly curse the Emperor of France with his blessing. He was blessing him in form and cursing him in reality. Now, in direct contrast we put this healthy commination of David, which is intended to be a blessing by warning the sinner of the impending curse. O impenitent man, be it known unto thee that all thy godly friends will give their solemn assent to the awful sentence of the Lord, which he shall pronounce upon thee in the day of doom! Our verdict shall applaud the condemning curse which the Judge of all the earth shall thunder against the godless.'

Sobering thoughts. Yet I believe they are true. And there were a lot more good thoughts from the commentary on this psalm, but I couldn't post them all.