Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, dear ones.

Beautiful morning. The dry spell has no doubt allow me to access a property for picking up a bunch of logs. I’m letting that become a priority today…but lots of other stuff is pushing on me.

I did not yet deliver the big table and benches. When I called the client on Saturday afternoon to work out plans for delivery that evening, they were still in Florida, and said I had till the end of this week to deliver. What? Wish I had known. I took that as license to back off and spend more time with the family.

Blessings on your running around today.

Love, Dad/Ray.

That is a wonderful wish. Think of it—if it were so, we would have nothing short of heaven on earth. Wishing for it, praying for it, and pursuing it is in harmony with the prayer template Jesus presented to His disciples—“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in Heaven.” Nurturing this attitude of heart is the only mindset that can allow our even coming close to its fulfillment on earth. It’s all part of learning to love what God loves, hate what God hates, and be “brokenhearted” (34:18) over what breaks His heart.

OK—if universal “fear of the LORD” is out of the question, what about the possibility of setting up just one nation where that is the norm—where it is established as a requirement for citizenship? After all, David is inspired to exclaim, “Blessed in the nation whose God is the LORD” (33:12). Sorry—even that option is proven to go down in defeat. Our recent review of Israel’s ancient history confirms that. And even our own USA which was originally founded upon Biblical theism is fast becoming more antagonistic to the God of the Bible than revering of Him. It is truly a democracy where the majority rules. And whereas the majority of its populace is fast choosing to hate what God loves, and love what God hates, what are the odds that she will get it all nicely worked out on her own?—that peace, equity, and justice will prevail over conflict, confusion, and corruption? NOT A CHANCE! Even within a working democracy, interpersonal conflict will be unavoidable. But what’s worse than establishing conflict with the Sovereign LORD?—“The face of the LORD is against those who do evil” (34:16).

Once again, we seem to continually arrive at the same conclusion—that peace on earth is not possible on any kind of man-made collective basis. Our only hope for even beginning in that direction is on an individual personal level. Just be reminded that it’s not even possible on that basis—not without establishing the “Prince of Peace” as personal LORD.

That option allows our only escape (refuge) from universal condemnation. It’s like a protective guarantee. “The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him” (34:22). “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2).