Something Worth Boasting About

What are you most proud of in your life these days? Your education, a new transaction, intelligence, a new look, ministry success, athletic talent, new business, musical abilities, your children, physical stamina, expertise in your field, influence, money in the bank, beauty, success, hard work…

All good things.

But let’s also keep in mind Jeremiah 9:23-24, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.”

When it comes to boasting we tend to get the shoe on the wrong foot. That’s partly because or mostly because the world doesn’t give the time of day to such nonsense. Have you heard of the Academy Awards recognizing an actress lately who understands and knows God? Read any Fortune 500 magazines honoring men of God? When is the last time you remembered a university president being appointed based upon his intimate knowledge of the Lord? I’m hoping that we aren’t absorbing some of those same priorities in the church body as well.

There’s really only one thing to boast about. It actually sounds a little strange to even say it. But our boast is that we know our Lord personally, intimately and practically, directly discerning, recognizing and interacting with His character. That goes against the flow of conventional worldly wisdom and is something worth boasting about.

India Comes to Our Door

India came to our doorstep this week. A bag of San-Cha tea grown in Assam, the richest tea growing district in India arrived in our mail box. Sarah was there this summer and picked up a gift for us. “For the family who gave me a love for homemade chai”, she said. It was much like the gift another friend from Chicago gave us a few years ago. Good stuff.

India also came into our home by way of a book I’m reading by Ravi Zacharias. Ravi is Indian born and a leading Christian apologist of our day. He’s brilliant, very heady. Mostly over my head if you want to know the truth. You should give him a read sometime if you haven’t already. I recommend Beyond Opinion. But he can also be very down to earth as he is in his autobiography Walking from East to West: God in the Shadows.I’ve gotten a good taste of India culture as he describes food (A typical Indian sweet is made purely from milk and sugar that’s repeatedly reduced until it’s thickened and then loaded with pistachios or coconut or almonds or other genuine flavor.), housing (This is a simple little house like most others on the street, very small, made up of four rooms, each measuring about ten feet by ten. Even these small rooms are carefully compartmentalized. There may be a stove next to the bed, that sort of thing.) and lots more.

He has some good insights about the religion of India too. It’s particularly helpful for those who have hopes of sharing their faith in our multi-ethnic society. (Each time I visit a Hindu temple in India, I am conscious that the religious lives of the people worshiping there have been shaped and transferred to them around these temples for literally thousands of years. Their songs, their chants, their superstitions, their commitments, and their fear of the spirits have all come to them across the centuries in the womb of their heritage…This connection with past generations and centuries is one reason why it is very hard for anyone from the East to convert to Christianity. It is a much more intricate matter than in the West where, generally speaking one thinks individually. In the East, one’s thinking is collective.).

That’s not all. Our experience culminated with a special Indian meal. It got started days in advanced with a trip to the International Grocer to purchase basmati rice and garam masala. Then on Saturday Diana and the girls made a wonderful dish of chicken tikka masala to go along with the naan and chai tea. Add a little Indian instrumental music and it brought India from our doorstep into our home and right to our table.

The Book of Common Psalms

The Psalms were not only the songbook of Israel but are also a centuries old prayer book. (That is where I was headed with the last post, but it took on a life of its own. It was as if it were saying, “No, no, you can’t go there yet, write about the honest sharing of David first.” So what could I do but comply?)

The prayers of the Psalms teach us to pray. They put words of revelation on the tip of our tongue to give us confidence in what we are expressing. They form a foundational understanding of the essence and ways of God for us to build our prayers upon. They give us a jumpstart when we are uncertain how to get going or simply don’t have the motivation. In a time of pain and need? Let a lament be your guide. Want to express some honor to the Creator? There are praises galore. Is there some sin gnawing at you? Try one of the Psalms of repentance. Has Christ come into view? Use one that speaks of the Messiah.

As people who love the Scriptures (and we do) our habit is to talk about God, to debate about Him and even to defend Him. All the while neglecting the profound depths of talking with Him. Praying the Psalms requires that we deal with God. It provides us with a guide to interact in honesty and thoroughness, accuracy and emotion, humility and intimacy.

There certainly isn’t a formula for praying the Psalms, but there are different ways to use them. For instance you may simply want to read through a passage and use the big idea or a specific phrase that settles in your mind. Or you can also use the exact words of a Psalm. I remember hearing a friend pray a passage once as he changed the pronouns (he, his, him) to the personal pronoun (you). It seemed so personal, powerful, and profound. Or you can pray exact phrases then expand on them before coming back for another phrase. The key of course is not the method you choose but just to give praying the Psalms a try.

The Poetry of Life

Poetry is a language of the imagination, playing with words in a way that captures life from a unique perspective. It lets us enter into the emotions and experience of the writer. Add just the right melody to poetry, throw in some tambourines, cymbals, flutes, trumpets and harps (150) and you have powerful pieces of work. Masterpieces for pilgrimage (122), war (18), reflecting (23), lamenting (5), dancing (149) or worshiping (33). You have the Psalms. Hebrew poetry set to music. The song book of Israel.

David’s poetry (and the other authors for that matter) is honest, real, vulnerable, emotional. He doesn’t sanitize his feelings, giving us only the cheery, kind, acceptable ones (although he gives us those too). He pulls back the curtains of his heart and lets us take a peek at the unacceptable, the ugly. ”Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer.” (4) “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing.” (5) “I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.” (6) “Break the teeth in their mouths, O God.” (58) Isn’t this where we all really live? Life in general and the Christian life in specific are not always riding the wave. Sometimes we are pulled under by the surf.

While exposing us to his deep emotions in the given situation, David is not held captive by those emotions. He constantly comes back to his center of gravity. The LORD is his refuge (31), fortress (59), stronghold (18), hiding place (32) and ever present help in trouble (46) to name a few. And in coming back to that center of gravity David unveils for us some breath taking views of God. “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. O my Strength, I sing praise to you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.” (59)

Somewhere along the line we have lost the idea that acknowledging our rawest emotions can actually lead us to encounter our Heavenly Father. An encounter that can fill us with hope, truth, healing, peace and transformation. Somehow in our desire not to be controlled by, lead astray by or be deceived by our emotions (which we certainly want to avoid), we have denied ourselves the opportunity to admit and deal with them. It’s a failure that covers up pain, creates wounded blind spots and hinders our spiritual growth.

David comes along and with the poetry of a shepherd, king and fugitive gives us encouragement to discover God in life. Life as it is and not as we wish it. Life as we are and not where we wished we were. Poetry in motion. The poetry of life.