I look a fool

After Jonah 3:10-4:11 

I did what you told

me; I risked my life

to speak to these evil,

godless, vicious people.

I did it; I told them

what you told me would

come. I predicted their

city to be destroyed,

judgment to be rained 

down. They repented;

you spared them. I’m

a fool, a laughingstock,

never to be heeded

again.

 

Have pity, man.

Have compassion.

Not on yourself

but for the people

of this great city.

They heard you speak.

They heard your words.

They turned their hearts.

 

Photograph by Sander Sammy via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

The Dead Sea Will Live Again – Clint Archer at The Cripplegate.

 

Orphaned Widow – Patsy Kuipers at Back 2 the Garden.

 

Rediscovering the Joy of Writing: Six Lessons for a Lifelong Habit – Scott Hubbard at Desiring God.

 

Scorched – Reflection and poem by Louise Gallagher at Dare Boldly. 

 

Bookstore Tour: Transom is a Tarrytown Delight – L.L. Barkat at Tweetspeak Poetry. 

They listen and heed

After Jonah 3 

I got it. I understood

what you wanted me

to do. I prayed

forgiveness, I prayed

obedience, I prayed

acceptance. You heard,

and I learned what it

meant to be vomited

by a fish.

I listened (finally).

I heeded (finally).

I went to the city.

I spoke what you told

me to say.

They listened.

They heeded.

They repented.

You relented.

 

Photograph by Kevin Bosc via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Silence – poem by Kathleen at The Course of Our Seasons.

 

We Were a Peculiar People Once: Reflections of an Old-Time Baptist by David Lyle Jeffrey – reviewed by Casey Spinks at Front Porch Republic. 

 

Should You Head Back to School at a Seminary? – Joshua Nangle at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Religion.

 

Lessons from the Sky – poem by Nathaniel Todd McKee at Society of Classical Poets.

In the belly of the fish

After Jonah 1:17 – 2:10 

By my own will,

my own mistakes,

I found myself

in the belly of a fish.

 

The smell, the stench,

the acids staining my skin,

I brought upon myself

in the belly of the fish.

 

In the depths of despair,

in the clutch of fear,

I did only what I knew

in the belly of the fish.

 

I appealed to mercy,

I appealed to memory,

I appealed in worship,

in the belly of the fish.

 

My plea was heard,

my prayer was accepted,

and I was catapulted from

the belly of the fish.

 

Photograph by Todd Cravens via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

At Thirteen: A Poem Inspired Across Generations – Lucia Haase at Society of Classical Poets.

 

A Liturgy for When the House Feels Too Full of Children – Millie Sweeney at Story Warren.

The lot falls

After Jonah 1 

Lots are cast;

the lot falls

on him, guilt

designated and

justified.

The sea rages,

threatening all

because of his,

one man’s,

disobedience.

And he tells

them. He tells

them to quiet

the storm 

by tossing him

into the sea.

First refusing,

they ultimately

obey, throwing

him into the waves,

sacrifice as act

of obedience.

 

Photograph by Li Yang via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

Invited into a Rich Community: An Interview with Matt Wheeler – Matt Connor at The Rabbit Room. 

 

“Ghost in This House” and “From a Sinner Who Didn’t Make It All the Way Through Baptist Summer Camp” – poems by C.B. Anderson at Society of Classical Poets. 

 

White – poem and artwork by Sonja Benskin Mesher. 

Rejecting the call

After Jonah 1 

It is clear, the call,

that is. The call is

clear, nothing opaque

or ambiguous or

confusing about it.

And it is simple:

go.

The destination is

mentioned in such

an offhand manner

that obedience is

assumed.

 

He pales and shakes.

He flees, far away

from where he’s

told to go. But is it

fear of where he’s

told to go or that

he knows it’s

a command of grace

and salvation. And

those people deserved

none of it. 

 

It’s like being sent 

to Beijing or Nigeria

or Pyongyang or

Moscow or Caracas.

Not because the people

don’t need it but

because they don’t

deserve it.

 

Photograph by Jakayla Toney via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

St. Clare: A Sonnet – Malcolm Guite.

 

Believers in an Unbelieving World: How the Early Church Engaged Society – Stephen Presley at Desiring God.

 

There’s No Point in Keeping Receipts Unless We’re Balancing Them (and We’re probably Not Balancing Them) – Samuel D. James. 

Walls collapse

After Hebrews 11:29-31

 

They are a laughingstock,

marching around the city;

no attack, no siege, just

a march around the walls.

After the first time,

the first day, the people

of the city begin to laugh,

and mock, taunting

the marchers, who ignore

them and keep marching. 

The fifth time around, 

the fifth day, the people

and the city are beyond 

their mocking; now they

are bored, wondering

when these fools will

give up and march away.

The seventh time, and

the seventh day, almost

no one is watching. And

then those inside the city

hear the trumpets blow,

the ground shakes,

a great cracking noise

is heard, the walls

collapse. 

No one mocks.

No one taunts.

No one is bored.

 

Photograph by Square Lab via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

A Distant Shore – poem by Mitch Chase at Biblical Theology.

 

What It Feels Like – Wes Bredenhof on clinical depression.

 

August – poem by Kathleen at The Course of Our Seasons.

 

Some Post-Animated Protestations of Goliath of Gath – poem by James Sales at Society of Classical Poets.

Laughingstock

After Hebrews 11:1-3, 7 

He was a laughingstock,

an object of ridicule

and derision, the butt

of jokes and snarky

sayings, insults, snide

remarks, called a fool

and an idiot, demented,

bullied, his family

ridiculed with him,

seeing his sons turn

red to hear their father

consistently insulted.

That is, until the clouds

appeared, until the clouds

turned dark, until the wind

rose and howled,

until the rains came.

 

Photograph by Dan Cook via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

But Now I See: John 9 – Doug Spurling at Spurling Silver.

 

What is the “Common Good?” – Andrew Walker at Crossway.

 

He Gives to His Beloved Sleep – Haylee Williams at For the Church.

 

Breathing Space, July – Tomas Tranströmer at Poetry Foundation (translated by Patty Crane).

Sheep's choice

After Psalm 95

The sheep have a choice:

accept who they are,

crowd around the shepherd,

heed the shepherd’s voice.

Or

Do what’s always been done

(Meribah),

ignore what’s in front of their nose

(Massah),

begrudge the blessings

(manna),

Test, or vex, or both, the shepherd

(12 spies),

Reject the promise,

Reap the wilderness,

Find no rest.

That’s the choice.

Photograph by Sam Carter via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Life in three steps

After Philippians 2:5-11

What is this life

what is the definition that

cuts away the fluff and

the adverbial adjectives,

that brings the truth

forward into the light? It

begins with equality – 

the idea that equality is

not to be grasped, not

to be sought. That’s step 

one. Step two: empty self 

of self, allow it to drain 

away, self replaced by 

servanthood, service, 

serving others, with serve

being the opposite of self.

Step three: humility, not

without a point or purpose,

but to be obedient, sitting

in the lifelong classroom

called obedience. Like

the author of good news,

we give up the right

to be right.

Photograph by Jake Hills via Unsplash. Used with permission.

No I won't go

Taken from Jonah

No I won’t go

I won’t I will flee

run away I will not

do this what you ask

because I know what

you will do when they

repent you will forgive

you will relent and not

destroy them let me turn

my face to the rock

and die. I cannot

face your compassion

for the undeserving

I cannot countenance

your forbearance and

you ask me if with

your great heart if you

should care let me die

in the heat let me die

in the sun

Photograph by Linnaea Mallette via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

The Greatest

It’s a familiar scene. Jesus is asked what is the greatest commandment, and he answers by saying “Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And then he adds the second greatest commandment – “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

In The Discipline of Grace, Jerry Bridges points out that Jesus is actually quoting for the Old Testament – back to the Law, Deuteronomy 6:5. And in the context of the Deuteronomy passage, the subject and theme is obedience.

In everyday life, it is not in our nature to obey. We do it for a number of reasons – fear of consequences, fear of retribution, hope for gain or recognition or even escape from recognition. But we don’t obey because we want to. Obedience doesn’t come naturally. And if you doubt that, watch a toddler. Or a teenager. Or an adult.

Bridges recognizes this, and then asks, then how are we to love God? How are we to do something that feels unnatural?

We are to observe God’s commands, keep and them and be careful about obeying them. We are to teach them to our children and constantly talk about them.

Bridges draws n analogy about cruise control and racing. Cruise-control obedience is obedience on autopilot – obeying without really thinking about. Race-car obedience is a total focus on obedience, in much the same way a race-car driver is totally focused on his (or her) race.

“To love God with all our heart and soul and mind,” he writes, “…means to obey Him with all our heart and soul and mind.” And it’s all wrapped up in love – that God loved us first. Because of that love, we respond in love.

Bridges doesn’t mention it, but reading this chapter kept reminding of Paul’s explanation of love in 1 Corinthians 13, what he called “the most excellent way.” The words are as familiar as the response of Jesus to the question of the greatest commandment.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

That is indeed a most excellent way – the way to the obedience – the way to love God with all of our hearts and with all of our souls and with all of our minds.

Over at Reforming the Informing, Tim Challies is leading the discussion of The Discipline of God. Today’s focus is Chapter Seven, “Obeying the Great Commandment.” To see what the discussion’s about, please visit Tim’s site.