Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67
Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.
Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.
| Sparre Home Page | Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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15 June 11
Good afternoon, dear ones.
The day has not gone entirely as planned. In other words, it’s been quite normal. I’ve already been to Salem and back. I was surprised to pass Thano in his pickup as I was nearing home…as I thought he did not work at Safeway today. I learned that he was called to work to fill a need…and he accepted…even tho his two little ones are here. I got Kaden to lay down with me for a while. He finally conked out…still sleeping. Good. So I’ll get this off in the interlude. Little Nicholas just woke up…and Becki is changing his daidies. Hmm…the auto spell-checker doesn’t seem to recognize that word “daidies.” Oh well.
OK…I have someone here…and we need to talk business…so good bye for now. Blessings on the rest of your day.
Love, Dad/Ray
15 June 2011
Psalm 44
Focus: “Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.” Psalm 44:23.
This is not an upbeat psalm. It’s an expression of discouragement and disillusionment. It is a role-model psalm only in the sense that it is an honest one that flows out of a very common struggle faced by virtually all serious Bible believers. In fact, coming to think of it, I think it’s more than common—it’s essential—essential for the development of an essential balanced Bible-based faith. I’m inclined to believe that this struggle is not only allowed by God, but designed by Him for this very purpose. I believe the sooner we get this figured out, the better off we’ll be. And if we don’t get it figured out, well—I’m afraid that our lives are destined to be an up and down roller-coaster ride at best. After all, the bottom line principle of New Testament Christianity is not wealth, comfort, luxury, and success (by earthly standards), but THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH (Ephesians 1:17. See also 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.), no matter what feelings and circumstances seem to say. Paul affirms, “We live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
My view is that we all have to personally work through some mythology, superstitions, culture, and misconceptions on the road toward this practical balanced Biblical faith. For example, many of us have been raised with the Christian notion that IF we are sufficiently yielded and devoted to God, and IF we pray enough, read the Bible enough, engage in ministry enough, then we will become such a valuable asset to God that He will be obligated to reward us with wonderful feelings, wonderful circumstances, and wonderful effectiveness. I confess to have been afflicted with that virus in my past. Sorry folks—I can’t find any compelling evidence that God really works that way. While God leads, guides, and blesses those who seek Him, we had better not predetermine what that looks like.
If my judgment is correct, the author (or authors—“Sons of Korah”) didn’t get it exactly right in this psalm—any more than a present day Christian gets it exactly right when he thinks that the function of prayer is to inform God of stuff that got by Him—that He didn’t know about. The author says, “Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.” Granted—there is some poetic expression going on here, but no way is the OMNISCIENT God sleeping or unaware of what’s really going on. And there is no way that He arbitrarily rejects those who seek Him. So what would motivate the author to speak in these terms? I can only figure that his overview of God suffers as a result of his insistence to measure his righteousness in terms of feelings and circumstances. His SIGHT is more in control of his FAITH—rather than his FAITH more in control of his SIGHT.
I’m inclined to quote myself from when we discussed Psalm 42: “So learning to live according to what I KNOW rather than according to what I FEEL continues to be one of the most important and challenging pursuits of my life.” And one thing I KNOW is that God is worthy of my worship and trust in spite of my feelings or circumstances.
“True prayer is a way of life, not just in case of an emergency.”