Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear ones.

Good deal!—there’s no big interferrence to prevent our doing a walk/jog this morning. Becki and I, with anxious Bimbo, will be off on that excursion in a few minutes. When that’s crossed off the list, then I need to get on with some other highlighted needs on the list.

Have a great day doing whatever you need to be doing. Becki just entered the studio…so we’re off.

Love, Dad/Ray.

David didn’t have a monopoly on creative song-writing. The “Sons of Korah” were excellent at it too. And besides being skilled with music, they give wonderful evidence of being as much inspired by the Holy Spirit as was David. Indeed, no one has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit—no one has a monopoly on a passionate HEART AFTER GOD.

Psalm 42 begins with beautifully describing the core motivation of a passionate HEART AFTER GOD—“As the deer pants for the streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God” (42:1-2). At hearing this, I have reason to believe that the self-talk of many will go something like this: “That’s a nice song. It’s important for pastors, evangelists, and missionaries to possess that kind of motivation. But some have it, and some don’t. Maybe someday I can measure up to that standard.” Hey—think again. Rather than regarding it as something exceptional, it really should be something normal. After all, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). The fact is, those who don’t, aren’t. It really is about as simple as that. Loving God passionately is not the greatest nice thing to consider doing if you feel like it—it’s the greatest non-optional COMMAND. The Sovereign Maker knows that this is the essential core requirement for making human life work right.

Discouragement is unavoidable in the course of human life. Everyone encounters it no matter what their heart orientation is. But I’m convinced that those with a HEART AFTER GOD have an edge in dealing with it over those without a HEART AFTER GOD. I don’t think we could find a more profound and all-encompassing capsule of personal psycho-therapy counseling than what the “Sons of Korah” repeat three times within Psalms 42 and 43. It begins and ends with some honest self-talk—“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” My paraphrase: “I say to myself, ‘Self,’ I say—‘What’s wrong with you? Why are you yielding so quickly and unnecessarily to being bummed? You can’t afford to hang out here like this—it serves no good for you or anyone else around you. So here’s what you need to do: Refocus your attention—not on the cause for your feeling bummed, but on the One Who transcends bummers. Refocus your attention on your very reason for being—pleasing Him. Don’t give up on your resolve to trust and worship Him, no matter what.’” Bingo!—problem solved! This may appear to be trite and simplistic. But I judge it to be a basic description of normal healthy practical Christianity—difficult though it may be.