Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear ones.

The morning has already been full so far. Becki and I were able to squeeze in our WOG (walk/jog). In so doing, we were able to accommodate Dandy’s passion for chasing sticks again.

I’m hoping I can pick up the crane truck today from the mechanic. I have a guy on the string who is about climbing the walls waiting for me to haul a shed to his place and set it down with the crane. And there remains a pile of signs and sawing to do.

Have another blessed day.

Love, Dad/Ray.

These visions that Ezekiel tries to describe are hard for my little head to handle. The symbolism they contain seems beyond my limited comprehension—especially the four-faced “cherubim” and their accompanying “wheels.” I can’t seem to make these “wheels” roll right with clear and profound meaning. However, there are contents of the passage I get, not the least of which is the importance of my cooperation with the Sovereign LORD, and the utter foolishness of resistance and rebellion. I judge that I’m not responsible for what I don’t or can’t understand—but am responsible for what I do and can.

There is also another implicit warning about unfounded “understanding”—that is, using one’s own biased and self-centered reasoning to come up with a scheme of things that is out of step with God’s purposes and intentions. Jesus had to contend with this kind of error during His earthly ministry. His adversaries, who were almost entirely made up of the elite spiritual leaders of their day, were so hung up on their own preferred understanding of things that they concocted more rules and regulations than the Scriptures warranted so as to support their additions—and created a convoluted religious mess! That’s religion for you!—man-made rules and regulations beyond or outside what God requires. Wow!—do you see what I see? Based on our discussion of yesterday, this so-called religion is just another form of IDOLATRY. I think that’s worth underscoring.

In what way were the Jews that remained in Jerusalem following the invasion by the Babylonians guilty of error? I think the core answer can be squeezed from a careful analysis of what God says that some of these phoney spiritual leaders were saying. “They say, ‘Will it not soon be time to build houses? This city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat.’ Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man” (11:3-4). Many who escaped the sword and the exile, rather than seeking God with humility and intercession for their brothers, were still part of this “rebellious house” and were now turning to arrogance. They were thinking (like Job’s comforters) that, “The reason all those other people faced tragedy and punishment from God was because they had to be BAD people—but God clearly likes us much better as evidenced by the fact that we are here, providentially preserved, and they’re not. We are his choice morsels in His cooking pot, and they have to be the undesirable bones that needed to be discarded.” Phooey! It prompted a bunch of “false visions” and “flattering divinations.” And thus begins another round of ugly correction for their unfounded arrogance.

Question: What better way to cope with where you are with what you’re facing than with a humble HEART AFTER GOD? So, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are sick or well, have an ugly boss or a nice one, on a roll with things going your way or struggling with set-back after set-back, understand a lot or a very little—just hang in there with a HEART AFTER GOD. All you can do is what you can do. You can do this. You’re not really responsible for what you can’t.