Psalm 1 From A Personal Context

Don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but I was brought up by two loving parents and one loving television. OK there were a number of televisions in the time of being brought up at home, but we never had multiple televisions in the home, only one in the living room that was the focal point of the room. As is the nature of technology these televisions would die out from time to time and it was a significant time in family life when we got a new one.

In any case, my two loving parents were devout Christians, firm in their faith and their intentions of bringing up their children to have an appreciation of that. I don’t feel they forced their faith on me, they were not that way inclined, but they did exercise their responsibility as parents in ensuring we were looked after as best they could. That meant respecting them as our parents and abiding by what they said. Whenever we abided, we were fine and enjoyed life at home, whenever we strayed from it then there were necessary consequences that we had to face – they actually got worse as we grew up, not in terms of intensity or abuse, but in the sense that they would lift their hand of protection and allow us to suffer some of the deeper consequences to appreciate the value of abiding.

Reflecting on it now as a 31 year old father of three with two young daughters with boundless energy and an equal capacity to be ‘fresh’ (negative) as well as ‘sweet’ (positive) I appreciate the methods of my parents all the more.

I think I was around 10 years old and we were living at 128 Albert Road in the pleasant town of Wellingborough. There we were living the usual routine of school in the weekdays and church on the Saturdays and domestic stuff on Sundays before the Sunday night meeting. It was very rare when we were not at church on a Saturday. It was one of those rare occasions that saw us at home for some reason.

Dad had to go somewhere, which left Mum having to look after her three children. Seeing the opportunity for real freedom and fun we proceeded to create a growing amount of chaos that got to the extent that Mum put her foot down. When Mum put her foot down, even Ruth (the oldest member of the three of us) took notice. As we had transgressed this day of rest with our antics and our foolishness, our Mother set us about the task of doing something more constructive with our time. As well as memorising the Ten Commandments we also had to memorise Psalm 1 and by memorise she meant word-for-word perfect as seen in the good ol’ KJV (because at the time we were of the belief that the good Lord only spoke in the language of Shakespeare).

For hours we were consigned to our bedrooms to complete the task. It was not straightforward – as it was a word for word deal, we couldn’t afford to let anything slip and whenever we tried it off, our Mother, who wasn’t the world’s most literate person was still sharp enough to notice and so it was back to the drawing board. It took the rest of the afternoon to get it done and dusted and by that time the energy was expended and we were going to be of no mischief to our beleaguered mater. At the time we considered it to be punishment in hindsight it’s one of the best things my Mother’s ever done for us

Years passed. I developed a love for drama which required the skill of learning a script by heart, a skill I’d picked up through that episode. I developed a love for philosophy and politics. I grew and did the GCSE’s, A-levels and degree at university. I settled in London and then moved to Stoke-on-Trent. In all the growth and development the Psalm grew in me and I grew to have a greater appreciation for it. When Kevaughn entered my life, one of the few decent things I did in establishing relations with him in the beginning was go through Psalm 1 and get him into appreciating that life is all about being what God-like and what God-no-like and how that life is established. When I got into relationships with fellow travellers with Christ I would often refer to this Psalm as a point of mutual discovery and benefit.

As you would have noticed I feel compelled to come back to a Psalm within which the foundations of life itself can be found. It is a straight talk about people who enjoy their lives and people who don’t. It’s about the company you keep and the passion that drives you day and night. It will either lead to continuing to enjoy life with God eternally or being like the ‘chaff the wind drives away’.

Coming out of a month where it was looking at Proverbs and understanding the key principles and practical tips to managing life well and in the larger context of my life being destined to do good works that Jesus has already prepared for me, then this month and this season is really all about intentionally pressing into what it is to live a life that finds itself succeeding in any endeavour I go on. What is it to have evergreen leaves and to be thoroughly replenished regardless of the season? So I’ll be spending some time along with LJN just going over what lessons can be learnt from this key Psalm.

For His Name's Sake
Shalom
dmcd

Balamory, Suzie Sweet, Keith Floyd and our Heavenly Father

Some things happen in life to assure me that God speaks and that Jesus is coming soon. This morning was a time for one of those things.

I am becoming more and more convinced that children’s television is a device used to infiltrate the minds of the impressionable and sow things into them of a subversive nature. Sometimes the subversion is good, sometimes the subversion is just weird. Take, for example Balamory. If I haven’t informed you before this programme has the temerity to be pitched to my two and four year old daughters and yet have elements in them that would only make sense to someone far older. They have some songs attached so some characters that mark them out clearly for a notable aspect of who they are and what they can do – whether it’s Josie Jump’s athleticism or PC Plum’s dogged determination to find the clues to solve the case in serving his community.

This morning, however, for the first time I came across Susie Sweet’s particular niche - she is as a cook. Nothing wrong with that you may think, but then all of a sudden on my television screen I get this 50-plus year old woman coming across with some hip-hop hybrid of a track explaining how she’s good at cooking and not only that but there’s a significant cameo appearance from Keith Floyd cook extraordinaire who is most frequently associated to his indulgence in wine. (A good time to be reminded of Proverbs 20:1 in word and music, eh?) Just see it for yourself! Well check all of the subliminal and subversive messages being relayed to my daughters there! Thankfully they had already been shipped out to their educational locations for the day, so it was just me watching aghast in bafflement and bemusement.

It was so bizarre. I mean the one that they do for PC Plum is such a spot on spoof of Bohemian Rhapsody it’s untrue and that already got me thinking that they really are pushing the boat out on these children’s programmes to get some things in their head. If you don’t believe me, you check Deborah (the four year-old) out on a good day and the ability to nail on mimic the songs she sees on the television is unerring. And if that’s the songs, you can consider the messages that are already being relayed. There is a reason why I can still remember the theme tune to Button Moon you know!

Thankfully my heavenly Father did not just want me to spot the subversive tendencies of an abnormally cohesive multi-cultural island located presumably in Scotland. Spencer is the (token) black American guy who’s an artist/musician and all that and on today’s episode it wasn’t a day when the people were at school and work, but one of those play days that sees Miss Hoolie do a musical number with top hat and tails and the works. So as part of the fun day away, Spencer was supposed to be organising things and he didn’t. Thankfully Edith was able to sort out the transport side of things and Susie – for it is she – was able to sort out the … yes you’ve guessed it, the cooking side of things (sans alcoholic beverages supplied by contacts of Mr. K. Floyd … well none that were shown anyway, I’m sure afterwards the crew perhaps needed to get plastered to recover from such a weird episode).

So in all of that, the lesson learnt again was the importance of being organised and in doing so recognising that it takes the best of others to ensure things get organised. We cannot do it alone, getting the job done takes a team and ensuring you can depend on them to help out at any occasion. In my case, for example, I am blessed with a supportive family and relational network that means when I’m feeling low and run down with a heavy cold working its way off my chest through vigorous coughing and the bringing up of phlegm (you’re welcome), there are a loving group of people taking it easy with me and likewise prayerfully supporting through this time with words of assurance and healing. Plus as today’s LJN highlights there are other lessons to be learnt in the experience. There you go, clear proof that a loving heavenly Father who yearns to save us all and lift us from the fall communicates these intentions even through Balamory.

For His Name's Sake
Shalom
dmcd

Proverbs 9: Check The Substance Not Just The Package

Whoever is simple, let him turn in here (Proverbs 9:4, 16)

Before I let you loose on my extended thoughts for today I just want to share something that I only noticed today about the portrayals of wisdom and folly in Proverbs 9.

Verses 4 and 16 have both women giving the same opening lines. Wisdom and foolishness are not always easily assessed on their cover packages. What needs to take place is a thorough check of the substance and sometimes doing that will uncover the truth of the offers. Solomon has done us the great favour of actually laying out for us the obvious virtues of time spent with wisdom and the demise that awaits those who go down the road of foolishness.

The key in this chapter as in life is not to just take things on the surface, but to consider it carefully.

For His Name's Sake
Shalom
dmcd

Proverbs 3 - The Wonders of Wisdom in Women

Here are some brief notes through the chapter

Verses 1-4 – Reiteration of the need to retain at the deepest core of our being the wise instructions of the father to benefit from life.

Verses 5-8 – The basis of the advice is complete dependence on God with 100% focus on Him and His way so as to ensure health is a reality for us all over.

Verse 9, 10 – Expressing that trust and dependence by giving Him the very best of what we have accrued and thus ensuring the reciprocation and multiplication principle.

Verses 11, 12 – This is a theme that would be repeated in Hebrews that discipline is not something to be bitter about, but should be recognised for what it is, the heartfelt expressing of compassion and care for the child that only a loving Father can express.

Verses 13-18 – Lady Wisdom highlighted as someone to doggedly chase after more than anything else because of that which she has to offer which is priceless in value

Verses 19, 20 – The vaunted position of Lady Wisdom saw her at the very creation shaping that which is.

Verse 21-26 – Due acknowledgement and acceptance of this track record will stop sleepless nights and assure safe journeys in the right direction

Verses 27-31 – Due acknowledgement also wards you away from the negative behaviour and influences that can steer you away from doing good towards a more devious approach

Verse 32-35 – The summary points again bears out how God will sort out those who seek Him but will devastatingly sort out those who go the other way. The phrase ‘the devious person is an abomination to the Lord’ had me thinking about what else was an abomination to Him. It also had me reflecting on God’s grace to me because I would be classed in that category before. Thank God for Jesus and the life that comes through Him.

And here are some expanded thoughts.

I have admired women since I could admire anything. The significant figures in my upbringing were mostly women. The dominant characters in my upbringing were mostly women. My mother and sister played critical parts in my formative years. When I got a rebuff from the first approach I made to a girl at the age of 12, the rejection set so deeply that I never asked another girl out until the woman that turned out to be my wife almost ten years later.

In the interim period the fail-safe mechanism meant that I could approach friendships with women free from any fanciful notions that it could be anything more than friends and that meant I could spend time just listening to them and expressing admiration and encouragement to them. That meant a lot of time was spent looking for and celebrating admirable qualities in women.

I’m not saying I was completely pure especially in the troublesome later years where certain incidents led to certain undesirable experiences. Yet for all those experiences my stance with engaging with women was as much as possible respectful and courteous. My dad had a similar charming approach to women which made him easy in their company whilst remaining secure in his marriage. When he left Wellingborough and England the sadness in the church sisters was palpable – a great testimony in itself to the integrity and compassionate service he gave to his church community. I’ve endeavoured to take a leaf from his book in that regard.

These thoughts spring to mind when I particular reflect on Proverbs 3:11-18. In was just looking at the depiction of wisdom as a lady. Here she is far more precious than anything material and whose benefits are so enriching they are worth pursuing wholeheartedly for the rest of life’s days. I can testify that in the short time I’ve been married (five and a half years) the best times have come when I’ve sought to pursue Authrine as the precious person she is and the positive Christ-like qualities that shine through her. When that happens, the pleasantness and peace associated with wisdom herself are real benefits that I receive.

Not in anyway deifying my wife to the status of wisdom incarnate, but recognising that I benefit when I see her as someone embodying wisdom herself in her connection with Christ. This takes the desire and attraction to her from the physical and heightens it to the spiritual. When she practices this more often through encouragement good things ensue. This beats viewing and treating women as objects of lust or caterers of various menial pleasures.

I am blessed to get on with a number of women and I see this in them and for those who are single it is a crying shame that men miss these qualities and they search the elusive all-inclusive package not appreciating that when you can identify and celebrate these qualities as well as pursue them faithfully and honourably then they can benefit in ways beyond their comprehension.

This pursuit of course goes beyond the relationships between men and women and extends to the human pursuit for real life. If they only moved away from the material and sought after the eternal it would so enrich their appreciation of the material whilst treating these as lightly as they should be.

For His Name's Sake
Shalom
dmcd

How Can I Manage?

I’ll probably be in a better position to give a review of February after tomorrow, when I intend to prayerfully look back on what kind of month it’s been and the lesson learnt.

For now I want to point out the new series beginning on me other blog as well as a brief update on future developments for the blogging and other e-activities. As you would have noticed there have been one or two changes in me blogging portfolio but here are some explanations. First of all, February saw the beginning of Life Journey Notes taking over where Daily Thoughts left off.

Where Among Friends is concerned I am slowly transitioning from Blogger to WordPress. I am grateful for Blogger especially in starting me off on the whole buzz so long ago. I’ve been viewing WordPress for some time and as you know I’ve been a bit more active with the StokeCOG blog. I am impressed with what features and functions are on there and now I’m seriously considering what that could mean for the other blogs. This is a work in review and updates will be given as and when possible. There maybe some significant changes by the end of the month.

I was really pleased with the number of inputs over the month of February which built well on the start to the year in January. I trust that March will continue the theme as I intend to make the most of the opportunities to write and develop the craft.

Over on LJN I’m starting a new series based on journeying through the book after Psalms over this month. Titled March Through Proverbs every day is looking at each chapter in this book on wisdom to get just that – wisdom. Wisdom is becoming all the more critical in my life at present. I am noticing that I’m not managing everything well and feel that to be effective and productive in all aspects of my life good management is key. Good management comes from being able to know what to do and when. Being able to know what to do and when based on information at your disposal and a good understanding at any given time is a good definition of wisdom. James later on gives the assurance that if I’m lacking in wisdom then I can ask God who is only too willing to generously download a substantial portion. I need it – I’m asking for it and as life would have it God has given this opportune time to go through this book and reconnect with Him to be wise in the ways of the world.

In a world where management is a hot topic especially in the arena of my favourite sport – football – the parallels with my life are only too apparent. I have time, skills, money, relationships, responsibilities and other resources that I must use properly in order to bring out the desired outcome for the benefit of many and importantly the glory of God. I recognise some aspects could do with more prayer and more considered and proactive applications. So it won’t be just a case of writing the posts, but monitoring the different incremental changes that I go through in life to manage things better, like my time and my priorities.

My life cannot be a case of the tail wagging the dog and with various pulls on my life it can often feel the case, but a new day has dawned and the God of all wisdom is waiting to lead me to a better way of doing things.

I use this chance to mention I’m actually happy about Manchester United winning the League Cup. Neither am I surprised that Liverpool have actually lost a League match for the first time since November seriously denting their chances of winning the league and promptly being overtaken on goal difference by Chelsea. I look at the league table now and feel that it makes more sense – it’s a lot more realistic. The race for 4th place is looking interesting and I hope Aston Villa can hold on despite the recent result.

The reason why I’m happy for Manchester United is because it is only right that the best team win the trophies if they are able to do so. I’m not convinced that this United side or squad is the best in their history, but they are definitely ahead of their domestic rivals. I don’t mind if they become the first side to do the domestic treble. I doubt if they will do the quintuple, because the result against Inter actually did the Italian side a favour more than United. If they had scored an away goal they would have the upper hand. Now Inter go back and play at United, knowing they can afford to play a tight game at Old Trafford, and should they score an away goal it would put the cat amongst the pigeons. It is by no means a foregone conclusion and even if they dispatch of the Serie A leaders there are far too many quality sides still left in the competition.

Although Liverpool is seriously underachieving in the League, Rafa knows his way around the Champions League and we would pose more of a threat. As for the league, I’m not downhearted at all because it is something I was expecting. To hear Rafa talk about not scoring enough goals and that being a problem is so daft an observation by a man whose system of football and team selections and formations never convinced anyone of scoring tons of goals. We will flatter to deceive again this season because of his obstinate take on team selection.

That’s life and bad management though, and it’s for me to learn from these errors and make sure whether it’s with a team that I’m a part of or in my own private life I similarly don’t mess up in terms of making the right selections. Back round to the whole need for wisdom.

For His Name's Sake
Shalom
dmcd

That's Just Stupid

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. (Psalm 14:1-3 ESV)

GOD sticks his head out of heaven. He looks around. He's looking for someone not stupid-- one man, even, God-expectant, just one God-ready woman. He comes up empty. A string of zeros. (Psalm 14:2, 3a MSG)

This evening the word ‘stupid’ has cropped up frequently in my thoughts and some of my conversations with others. Obviously I am not the target of such an accusation in these conversations or thoughts, but the prevalence with which the word appears suggests that stupidity has been the name of the game tonight.

Now stupid is a word that our daughters are not allowed to use with each other or in any given situation. As is often the case with the parental prerogative though, despite not being able to say it themselves, we can justifiably use it as sparingly as we do. Thank God for parental privileges, eh! Don’t worry, either. Despite being bereft of that word both Deborah and Abigail have taken on with great gusto the use of the ‘disgusting’. Such is the mixture of disdain and relish with which both use the word that I’m not altogether sure whether I was saving myself the hassle with the ban on the word stupid.

In any case as I journeyed through the stupid phase I got to the point where I discovered something that really did epitomise stupidity. For all of my best endeavours to support people out of stupid decisions, thoughts and acts, it would be really be stupid of me to a) get hung up on the person choosing to stay in the stupidity and b) take drastic action to remove the choice from the individual so that they were kinda forced to go along with my radical rescue package that of course would help everyone out.

Reference is often made to the so-called Prodigal Son and how he came to his senses and made the decision himself to return home to get some grub. I’d argue that circumstances forced him to that decision, and more importantly, it was not anything as such that the son did that restored his fortunes but the gracious loving act of a compassionate father to reinstate the dead, lost son to his place in the family. The point is that for all my informed opinions about people and their decisions, the stupid person lives without God which is all of us, but for the grace of God and so it is only because of Him that I enjoy whatever good things I have in life.

All of that to say that what keeps me from beating the bush about the stupid things other do is being reminded of the stupid things I have done and the arms of the waiting father rushing to greet me and Himself set me up straight with the robe and the ring. I have seen the loving Father do that to so many other people and it is as ever for me to look to Him and trust Him to do what’s best in all things and ask for mercy that will allow me to avoid making some of the stupid decisions that I have made in this short time I have had knocking about this glorious dust-bowl we call earth.

God have mercy on our stupid souls.

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate. (Luke 15:20-24 ESV)

For His Name's Sake
Shalom
dmcd

Daily Thoughts - Wisdom: Worth The Search

If you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, (Proverbs 2:4)

So we need wisdom for a peaceful life. It should be obvious that it’s worth pursuing wholeheartedly. Yet for all the advances in technology and the material wealth we’ve accumulated we’re no happier now than we’ve ever been. That’s because we’ve pursued these goals more than wisdom. For every new fad there’s no breakthrough in how best to use it. This can be applied personally, rather than looking for a brand new car or mobile phone, we should desperately look to gain godly wisdom. It is indeed treasure – it’s worth pursuing for that peaceful life in relationship with God.

For His Name’s Sake
Thanks
da man cd

Daily Thoughts: Wisdom – For A Peaceful Life

The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel (Proverbs 1:1)

Of all the verses in the first chapter of Proverbs to go for this may appear to be the least likely. Verses 2-4 are rich with verses about the purpose of the proverbs and how they would be valuable to us.

Verses 5 and 6 likewise have plenty to say about the nature of proverbs themselves and what our quest in hearing them is based on. Verse 7 is a beauty for the whole emphasis of understanding the purpose of life.

Verses 8 and 9 the whole parental concern approach to advising children for the way to grow up. Verses 10-14 the whole set-up of the way of evil-doers and modern applications to be wary of for what some people call a good time.

We see in verses 15-19 the tragic consequences of following the way of the scornful with each verse a goldmine for daily thoughts. Then we have in verses 20-22 the wonderful woman of Wisdom and her plea for fools to just stop fooling. Verse 23 is a brilliant verse on the benefits of following wisdom and the generous nature to be found there.

Verses 24-32 is a devastating series of tragedies that befall those who choose to neglect Wisdom all more than apt to pick in highlighting the consequences of such a folly. To be honest as well the verse that particularly stands out is verse 33 with an outstandingly tremendous promise of what Wisdom does for us when we follow her – I mean forget a daily thought that right there is a three week teaching series!

So why verse one? It’s just a starter – it’s not even the main course of the introduction. Stick with me and hopefully you’ll appreciate as I did the goodies in this verse. It all hangs on the man who wrote the proverbs. Did you know that the name Solomon means peaceful? Well that right there is a fountain of goodness for any study on Proverbs. The ultimate benefit of wisdom, the reason why fearing God is the beginning wisdom and those promises found in verse 33 are so valuable is because it’s about living a peaceful life.

Imagine living life at ease because you’re in connection with the Source who can give direction in every aspect of life. Imagine having the skill to negotiate through those tricky and potentially traumatic times in life – finances, parenting, marital relationships or death – and coming out successful. Now you are seeing life at peace.

Peacefulness is not primarily external; it’s an internal reality – wholeness – only made possible by God Himself. So Solomon is the best person to write about wisdom because even in his naming and his destiny he was to be one who brought peace through wisdom. That’s even clearer when we remember one of his first direct recorded contacts with God where the Almighty allows him to choose anything he wants and the new king of Israel asks for … wisdom. (Check 1 Kings 3:5-14 especially verse 9, 11 and 12) Now that’s God’s kind of person and this is what qualifies him to write one of the most popular books in the Bible. The result of this request and indeed this book is arguably the golden era of united Israel – peace in the region, political treaties made, partnerships developed, prosperity prevailing and people enjoying it all.

Solomon’s end was tragic and a reminder that we cannot take Wisdom for granted once we have her. We must cherish her more than life itself for without her there’s no life and by following what she has to offer there is fullness of life – and she has plenty to give and is generous with it (James 1:5). The point of this verse though and this daily thought, is to highlight the writer of the proverbs and how we too should then aspire to be peaceful ones because our lives are based on the Wisdom of God. Thankfully we’re given the Perfect Personification of Wisdom whom we are called to pursue wholeheartedly, Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:24).

For His Name’s Sake
Thanks
da man cd