Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Greetings yet again, dear ones.
Becki is off to Beaverton/Hillsboro to pick up the little boys for the weekend. So I’m sending this composition without her full endorsement. However, she did approve the first couple paragraphs before she left. I’ll presume she would do the same for the rest.
I’m not quite sure how everything will fit together today…but I’m pretty sure it will. I’m certainly not bored with nothing to do.
Be blessed. Be diligent to nurture internal conditions necessary to that benefit.
Love, Dad/Ray
There is nothing new and revolutionary about this idea. It is a common standard that runs through this entire Book. Would to God our own nation could collectively grasp and embrace this standard so that national revival and repentance could prepare the way for God’s intervention of national healing and deliverance. But, sorry—I don’t think that will happen, or even can happen any time soon. Even without consideration of end-time Biblical prophecies, national affluence and arrogance is still way too high. There is still too much money, food, debate, rebellion, Hollywood, and freedom so as to allow such a Biblical revival revolution on a large national scale.
The thing that is so very critical for us to grasp and embrace is that what is true of a macro-revival (national) as pronounced here by Samuel is also true of a micro-revival (personal). And there is not the slightest possibility of the macro without the micro.
Perhaps the biggest stumbling block for the majority is the exclusivity clause that God’s standard requires—“with all your hearts…commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only.” Sure, everyone wants the benefits of this deal, but very few want to comply with the terms—not more than a few little superficial drops that can be nicely mixed into the corruption without much disruption. Indeed, “only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14).
Granted, you and I don’t have the Philistines around us trying to conquer and enslave us. But we sure are surrounded with enemies—enemy ideologies—enemies that are far more subtle, insidious, and deadly. In order to ensure that we don’t personally repeat the “boiling frog” story where we are duped by the slow and gradual heat of backsliding, it’s not a bad idea to go on regular personal “witch hunts” within—regular trips through the landscape of our own hearts and minds so as to inspect the quality of the structures and terrain—prepared to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Indeed, this is the vital and personal New Testament application of Old Testament truth.