Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. The weather is extremely beautiful. I am thankful for such treat when I am in home base. It is indeed a good feeling to be home for more than a week and with such good weather – what a bonus! God intended for us to enjoy life in accordance to His original plan for mankind. If we obey His design for us, we will be truly blessed. Unfortunately, our rebellious nature gets in the way. Our soul detours us from the great plan of God for our lives….we suffer and groan without knowing why. We even demand God for an answer of our suffering. As a result we live in our own bitterness and rebellion – our little self-centered world. Have mercy on us O Lord!!!
Poetry is language used with intensity. It is not, as so many suppose, decorative speech. Poets tell us what our eyes, blurred with too much gawking, and our ears, dulled with too much chatter, miss around and within us. Poets use words to drag us into the depths of reality itself, not by reporting on how life is, but by pushing-pulling us into the middle of it. Poetry gets at the heart of existence. Far from being cosmetic language, it is intestinal. It is root language. Poetry doesn’t so much tell us something we never knew as bring into recognition what was latent or forgotten or overlooked. The Psalms are almost entirely this kind of language. Knowing this, we will not be looking primarily for ideas about God in the Psalms or for direction in moral conduct. We will expect, rather, to find exposed and sharpened what it means to be human beings before God.
Prayer is language used in relation to God. It gives utterance to what we sense or want or respond to before God. God speaks to us; our answers are our prayers. The answers are not always articulate. Silence, sighs, groaning—these also constitute responses. But always God is involved, whether in darkness or light, whether in faith or despair. This is hard to get used to. Our habit is to talk about God, not to him. We love discussing God. But the Psalms resist such discussions. They are provided not to teach us about God but to train us in responding to him. We don’t learn the Psalms until we are praying them.
I totally agree with Peterson that we always like to talk about God but not to God. Only if we are aware of what and who we are before God, we will not be able to live a full abundant life in Him. God intended for us to live an enjoyable life. We just need to recognize who we are and who God is before we can enter into this beautiful communion with our Creator – just like the good old days in the Garden of Eden, where the Creator had daily communion with His creatures – Adam and Eve. Deep down inside, our soul desires this kind of communion because it is the ultimate void within us.
With love in Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. The weather is extremely beautiful. I am thankful for such treat when I am in home base. It is indeed a good feeling to be home for more than a week and with such good weather – what a bonus! God intended for us to enjoy life in accordance to His original plan for mankind. If we obey His design for us, we will be truly blessed. Unfortunately, our rebellious nature gets in the way. Our soul detours us from the great plan of God for our lives….we suffer and groan without knowing why. We even demand God for an answer of our suffering. As a result we live in our own bitterness and rebellion – our little self-centered world. Have mercy on us O Lord!!!
Poetry is language used with intensity. It is not, as so many suppose, decorative speech. Poets tell us what our eyes, blurred with too much gawking, and our ears, dulled with too much chatter, miss around and within us. Poets use words to drag us into the depths of reality itself, not by reporting on how life is, but by pushing-pulling us into the middle of it. Poetry gets at the heart of existence. Far from being cosmetic language, it is intestinal. It is root language. Poetry doesn’t so much tell us something we never knew as bring into recognition what was latent or forgotten or overlooked. The Psalms are almost entirely this kind of language. Knowing this, we will not be looking primarily for ideas about God in the Psalms or for direction in moral conduct. We will expect, rather, to find exposed and sharpened what it means to be human beings before God.
Prayer is language used in relation to God. It gives utterance to what we sense or want or respond to before God. God speaks to us; our answers are our prayers. The answers are not always articulate. Silence, sighs, groaning—these also constitute responses. But always God is involved, whether in darkness or light, whether in faith or despair. This is hard to get used to. Our habit is to talk about God, not to him. We love discussing God. But the Psalms resist such discussions. They are provided not to teach us about God but to train us in responding to him. We don’t learn the Psalms until we are praying them.
I totally agree with Peterson that we always like to talk about God but not to God. Only if we are aware of what and who we are before God, we will not be able to live a full abundant life in Him. God intended for us to live an enjoyable life. We just need to recognize who we are and who God is before we can enter into this beautiful communion with our Creator – just like the good old days in the Garden of Eden, where the Creator had daily communion with His creatures – Adam and Eve. Deep down inside, our soul desires this kind of communion because it is the ultimate void within us.
With love in Christ,
Lawrence
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment