Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Hello, dear people.
Overcast and kind of windy. There’s the weather report. Could I make it as a weatherman? Beyond the meteorological weather are the political, international, economic, moral, and spiritual weather conditions. I’m predicting a storm.
These little boys in our care are also reflections of human nature—with constantly changing weather—shifting one minute from peaceful calm to furious storm the next. Is that not significant?
OK…the day is staring me in the face. I’d better get on course with what it is requiring.
May your day be glazed with His grace. Hey, somebody could compose a song…
Love. Dad/Ray.
If you have ever watched an action-packed movie of suspense, intrigue, and violence, you can watch it right here in these three chapters! Wow! My adrenalin needs to be replenished.
What a dismal window into the natural heart of man these chapters present! I’m convinced that this observation represents the intended value of the whole ugly record. If you are seeing what I’m seeing through this window, you will resonate with a conclusion that I have to draw as it relates to the democratic form of government that we typically view as the best. Of course, this conclusion speaks to every form of human government as well. Sorry—I’m even including church governments. I’ve been in countless church administration business meetings. In nearly every case, voting for a position is preceded by a prayer—“Lord, guide our voting so the person of Your choosing will be selected.” Even so, in some cases the votes are so divided that they have to cast votes again (sometimes, many times) in order to achieve an election. Is there something amiss with this picture? After all that, it’s all too often that the person of “God’s choosing” turns out to be a flake. This not to say that voting is bad. For now, I guess it’s necessary. We just need to understand what we’re dealing with. So here’s the deal: Human voting is NEVER a matter of choosing perfection over imperfection. It is ALWAYS a matter of choosing between the lesser of two (or more) evils. Every candidate is clothed in flesh. If this evaluation is valid, that is the absolute best we can do on this side of eternity. On the other side there is simply no place for voting, competition, and war.
Here’s another observation that comes from these chapters as it can relate to international relations: Everyone on both sides of a conflict wants to claim that God is on their side. Everyone invokes the Name of God as support for doing what they want to do.
So, what’s the point? How do we glean any benefit from these realities? Here are a couple suggestions that you might expect:
- BE CAREFUL. Understand that we are all navigating through a mine field of flawed human nature.
- NEVER BE DIVERTED IN YOUR PURSUIT OF A PERSONAL HEART AFTER GOD—even though your flawed human nature may find reason to challenge “NEVER.”