the apostle john ends his first epistle to the church with this command,
'little children, KEEP YOURSELF FROM IDOLS. amen'
joy is the reality that JESUS..alone..IS ENOUGH.
idols are anyone, anything that we live for..other than Jesus.
to live for anything, no matter how small..no matter how hidden from general view..or even our conscious mind..no matter for how short a time is a sin of the darkest dye..we stand naked and black before God.
this is what the bible calls 'falling short of the glory of God'. He deserves 100% of us..the one who created us, paid the price of our redemption from sin and its penalty by His death on the cross..the one who has from eternity past until the moment of our completed redemption (standing without fault 'before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy' jude 24), suffered/suffers/will suffer because He is not yet our all.
Jesus' commandment, 'BE PERFECT as your Father in heaven is perfect' seals the doom of our continuous attempts to either try to be or flee.
in living for any other than God 100% we not only break the second commandment (no idols) but the first (have no other god before Me) in seeking to be our own god.
not only this condemnation comes but brings no kind of deep satisfaction which we crave. jeremiah 2.13 'My people have committed two evils
they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water,
to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which can hold no water.'
the ongoing futility of our lives is portrayed in the picture given in psalm 135.15f:
'the idols of the heathen
(that would be you and me every time we seek 'life' in anything outside of the LIFE of Jesus Christ within us and vouchsafed to us forever)
are silver and gold,
the work of men's hands.
they have mouths, but they speak not:
eyes have they, but they see not;
they have ears, but they hear not;
neither is there any breath in their mouths.
THEY THAT MAKE THEM
ARE LIKE THEM (lifeless)
so is every one that trusteth in them.
..taken from spurgeon's treasury of david, vol. 7.156..
15f..'the rev. john thomas, a missionary in india, was one day travelling alone through the country, when he saw a great number of people waiting near an idol temple. he went up to them and as soon as the doors were opened, he walked into the temple. seeing an idol raised above the people, he walked boldly up to it, held up hos hand and asked for silence. he then put his fingers on its eyes, and said,
'it has eyes, but it cannot see!
it has ears, but it cannot hear!
it has a nose, but it cannot smell! it has hands, but it cannot handle!
it has a mouth, but it cannot speak! neither is any breath in it!
instead of doing injury to him for affronting their god and themselves, the natives were all surprised; and an old brahmin was so convinced of his folly by what mr. thomas said, that he also cried our,
'it has feet, but cannot run away!
the people raise a shout and being ashamed of their stupidity, they left the temple, and went to their homes. from 'the new cyclopaedia of illustrative anecdote, 1875
18'like them shall be those making them, every one who (is) trusting in them'
if the meaning had been simply, those who make them ARE like them, hebrew usage would have required the verb to be suppressed. its insertion, therefore, in the future form requires it to be rendered strictly, SHALL BE ie. in fate as well as character..see isaiah 1.31 joseph addison alexander.
'like unto them'
a singular phenomenon, known as the Spectre of the Bocken, is seen on a certain mountain in germany. the traveller who at dawn stands on the topmost ridge beholds a colossal shadowy spectre. but in fact it is only his own shadow projected upon the morning mists by the rising sun; and it imitates, or course, every movement of its creator. so heathen (all?) nations have mistaken their own image for Deity. their gods display human frailties and passions and scanty virtues, projected and magnified upon the heavens, just as small figures on the slide of a magic lantern are projected, magnified and illuminated upon a white sheet.
from elan foster's new cyclopaedia of illustrations, 1870
Saturday, October 27, 2012
10.27.2012 LORD, HELP ME WEEP..then start sowing!!! - PSALM 126
(note: is it not true that if i come to the place where i am weeping over the sins of others i will have to sow to them the only answer for their great need)
1'when the Lord turned again the captivity of zion, we were like them that dream.
2then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing
then said they among the heathen,
'the Lord hath done great things for them.
3the Lord hath done great things for us
whereof we are glad.
4turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south.
5they that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6he that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him.
..taken from the treasury of david by spurgeon, vol 7.12f
..we see here not only that zion
(note: in scripture does not this word always refer to the church redeemed and triumphant? or maybe the church which ultimately will be both redeemed and triumphant? not sure..but think so..)
abides, but that her joy returns after sorrow.
abiding is not enough, fruitfulness is added...
'turning captivity' by no means requires an actual removal into banishment to fill out the idea;
rescue from any dire affliction or crushing tyranny would be fitly described as 'captivity turned'.
indeed, the passage is not applicable to captives in babylon,
for it is zion itself which is in captivity and not a part of her citizens:
the holy city was in sorrow and distress;
though it could not be removed, the prosperity could be diminished.
some dark cloud lowered over the beloved capital and its citizens prayed
'turn our captivity Lord..
..the word 'turn would seem to be the keynote of the song:
it is a psalm of conversion-conversion from captivity;
and it may well be used to set forth the rapture of a pardoned soul when the anger of the Lord is turned away from it.
we will call it,
'leading captivity captive'.
1'when the Lord turned again the captivity of zion, we were like them that dream..'
..being in trouble, the gracious pilgrims remember for their comfort times of national woe which were3 succeeded by remarkable deliverances.
..each man said to himself,
'is this a dream? O if it be a dream,
let me sleep on and do not wake me yet.
..let us look to the prison houses from which we have been set free. oh, me, what captives we have been!
..this verse will have a higher fulfilment in the day of the final overthrow of the powers of darkness..
..when Jehovah appeared he did not merely lift us out of despondency, he raised us into wondering happiness.
2'then said they among the heathen..'...it is a blessed thing when saints set sinners talking about the lovingkindness of the Lord;
and it is equally blessed when the saints who are hidden away in the world hear of what the Lord has done for His church..
3'..we are glad'..there is so little of happiness abroad that if we possess a full share of it we ought not to hide our light under a bushel, but let it shine on all that are in the house.
4'turn again our captivity Lord..'
..nothing strengthens faith more effectually than the memory of a previous experience.
'as the streams of the south'
even as the Lord sends floods adown the dry beds
(note: called wadi..a part of the deathly dry desert areas which, when rain comes, is turned quickly into a flowing, rushing torrent...just as quickly to dry up and die away after the rain..)
of southern torrents after long droughts, so can He sill our wasted and wearied spirits with floods of holy delight.
5'they that sow in tears shall reap in joy'
..'sorrow is our sowing, rejoicing shall be our reaping.
if there were no sowing in tears there would be no reaping in joy.
if we were never captives we could never lead our captivity captive.
our mouth had never been filled with holy laughter
if it had not been first filled with the bitterness of grief..
..when a man's heart is so stirred that he weeps over the sins of others, he is elect to usefulness.
WINNERS OF SOULS ARE FIRST WEEPERS FOR SOULS.
(note: of which i am, horribly, an absolute stranger.)
..when our own hears are broken with grief at man's transgression
we shall break other men's heart:
tears of earnestness beget tears of repentance:
'deep calleth unto deep'..
6..it is somewhat singular to find this promise of fruitfulness in close contact with return from captivity;
and yet it is so in our won experience,
for when our own soul is revived the souls of others are blessed by our labours.
all the above commentary is by spurgeon
1.as by the Lord's permission they were led into captivity,
so only by His power they were set at liberty.. john hume in 'the jewes deliverance, 1628
'the captivity of zion'
..why? what was zion?
we know it was but a hill in jerusalem, on the north side.
why is that hill so honoured?
no reason in the world but this,-
that upon it the temple was built;
and so, that zion is much spoken of and much made of, it is only for the temple's sake.
'when we remembered thee, O zion'
that was their greatest grief.
that their greatest grief and this their greatest joy.. lancelot andrews, 1555-1626
'in Jehovah's turning (to) the turning of zion' meaning
to return to the return, or
meet those returning, as it were, half way.
the hebrew noun denotes conversion, in its spiritual sense,
and the verb god's gracious condescension in accepting or responding to it. joshep addison alexander
..
1'when the Lord turned again the captivity of zion, we were like them that dream.
2then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing
then said they among the heathen,
'the Lord hath done great things for them.
3the Lord hath done great things for us
whereof we are glad.
4turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south.
5they that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6he that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him.
..taken from the treasury of david by spurgeon, vol 7.12f
..we see here not only that zion
(note: in scripture does not this word always refer to the church redeemed and triumphant? or maybe the church which ultimately will be both redeemed and triumphant? not sure..but think so..)
abides, but that her joy returns after sorrow.
abiding is not enough, fruitfulness is added...
'turning captivity' by no means requires an actual removal into banishment to fill out the idea;
rescue from any dire affliction or crushing tyranny would be fitly described as 'captivity turned'.
indeed, the passage is not applicable to captives in babylon,
for it is zion itself which is in captivity and not a part of her citizens:
the holy city was in sorrow and distress;
though it could not be removed, the prosperity could be diminished.
some dark cloud lowered over the beloved capital and its citizens prayed
'turn our captivity Lord..
..the word 'turn would seem to be the keynote of the song:
it is a psalm of conversion-conversion from captivity;
and it may well be used to set forth the rapture of a pardoned soul when the anger of the Lord is turned away from it.
we will call it,
'leading captivity captive'.
1'when the Lord turned again the captivity of zion, we were like them that dream..'
..being in trouble, the gracious pilgrims remember for their comfort times of national woe which were3 succeeded by remarkable deliverances.
..each man said to himself,
'is this a dream? O if it be a dream,
let me sleep on and do not wake me yet.
..let us look to the prison houses from which we have been set free. oh, me, what captives we have been!
..this verse will have a higher fulfilment in the day of the final overthrow of the powers of darkness..
..when Jehovah appeared he did not merely lift us out of despondency, he raised us into wondering happiness.
2'then said they among the heathen..'...it is a blessed thing when saints set sinners talking about the lovingkindness of the Lord;
and it is equally blessed when the saints who are hidden away in the world hear of what the Lord has done for His church..
3'..we are glad'..there is so little of happiness abroad that if we possess a full share of it we ought not to hide our light under a bushel, but let it shine on all that are in the house.
4'turn again our captivity Lord..'
..nothing strengthens faith more effectually than the memory of a previous experience.
'as the streams of the south'
even as the Lord sends floods adown the dry beds
(note: called wadi..a part of the deathly dry desert areas which, when rain comes, is turned quickly into a flowing, rushing torrent...just as quickly to dry up and die away after the rain..)
of southern torrents after long droughts, so can He sill our wasted and wearied spirits with floods of holy delight.
5'they that sow in tears shall reap in joy'
..'sorrow is our sowing, rejoicing shall be our reaping.
if there were no sowing in tears there would be no reaping in joy.
if we were never captives we could never lead our captivity captive.
our mouth had never been filled with holy laughter
if it had not been first filled with the bitterness of grief..
..when a man's heart is so stirred that he weeps over the sins of others, he is elect to usefulness.
WINNERS OF SOULS ARE FIRST WEEPERS FOR SOULS.
(note: of which i am, horribly, an absolute stranger.)
..when our own hears are broken with grief at man's transgression
we shall break other men's heart:
tears of earnestness beget tears of repentance:
'deep calleth unto deep'..
6..it is somewhat singular to find this promise of fruitfulness in close contact with return from captivity;
and yet it is so in our won experience,
for when our own soul is revived the souls of others are blessed by our labours.
all the above commentary is by spurgeon
1.as by the Lord's permission they were led into captivity,
so only by His power they were set at liberty.. john hume in 'the jewes deliverance, 1628
'the captivity of zion'
..why? what was zion?
we know it was but a hill in jerusalem, on the north side.
why is that hill so honoured?
no reason in the world but this,-
that upon it the temple was built;
and so, that zion is much spoken of and much made of, it is only for the temple's sake.
'when we remembered thee, O zion'
that was their greatest grief.
that their greatest grief and this their greatest joy.. lancelot andrews, 1555-1626
'in Jehovah's turning (to) the turning of zion' meaning
to return to the return, or
meet those returning, as it were, half way.
the hebrew noun denotes conversion, in its spiritual sense,
and the verb god's gracious condescension in accepting or responding to it. joshep addison alexander
..
Friday, October 26, 2012
10.26.2012 LARRY NORMAN - 'REMIXING THIS PLANET
taken from the cd info..
-norman was the planet's first christian rock artist.
-he started writing his songs in 1956..signed a world wide recording contract with capitol records in 1966
-within 10 years his music helped to change the gospel music scene radically from one dominated by whit southern gospel quartets
first ten albums recorded:
1967-we need a whole lot more of Jesus (and a lot less rock and roll)
1968-both sides of people
1969-upon this rock
1970-street level
1971-bootleg
1972-only visiting this planet
1973-so long ago in the garden
1975-in another land
1976-something new under the son
1977-voyage of the vigilant
when voyage of the vigilant was refused for release, larry decided to create an independent distribution system.
he started street level records in 1978 and his albums went all over the world and by passed the major american companies.
in 1980 larry started phydeaux records to distribute his more controversial projects directly to people who wanted his music. at the end of 1980 he left america, moved to england and continued touring europe and countries beyond. he began performing with different bands and recording most of his rehearsals and performances. he navigated his own musical path which was nowhere near the middle of the road.
in 1996 larry celebrated his birthday on the world wide web and used the internet to welcome hundreds of people from around the world to a seven hour virtual party.
street level cafe/cyberia hosted the 'radio babylon'soiree and utilized three different computers in america and one in ireland. the real time conference with fellow internauts included live CU-see me video for those who wanted to see inside the studio.
for rare albums, videos, compact discs, t-shirts, cassettes and moonrocks write to
street level cafe @ cyberia
3760 market street NE- 306
salem, oregon 97301
te. 503.391.1175
-norman was the planet's first christian rock artist.
-he started writing his songs in 1956..signed a world wide recording contract with capitol records in 1966
-within 10 years his music helped to change the gospel music scene radically from one dominated by whit southern gospel quartets
first ten albums recorded:
1967-we need a whole lot more of Jesus (and a lot less rock and roll)
1968-both sides of people
1969-upon this rock
1970-street level
1971-bootleg
1972-only visiting this planet
1973-so long ago in the garden
1975-in another land
1976-something new under the son
1977-voyage of the vigilant
when voyage of the vigilant was refused for release, larry decided to create an independent distribution system.
he started street level records in 1978 and his albums went all over the world and by passed the major american companies.
in 1980 larry started phydeaux records to distribute his more controversial projects directly to people who wanted his music. at the end of 1980 he left america, moved to england and continued touring europe and countries beyond. he began performing with different bands and recording most of his rehearsals and performances. he navigated his own musical path which was nowhere near the middle of the road.
in 1996 larry celebrated his birthday on the world wide web and used the internet to welcome hundreds of people from around the world to a seven hour virtual party.
street level cafe/cyberia hosted the 'radio babylon'soiree and utilized three different computers in america and one in ireland. the real time conference with fellow internauts included live CU-see me video for those who wanted to see inside the studio.
for rare albums, videos, compact discs, t-shirts, cassettes and moonrocks write to
street level cafe @ cyberia
3760 market street NE- 306
salem, oregon 97301
te. 503.391.1175
10.26.2012 this morning considering PSALM 55.17
taken from spurgeon's treasury of david, vol.3.21
'evening and morning and at noon, will i PRAY and CRY ALOUD: and He shall hear my voice... king james
" COMPLAIN MURMUR " new american standard
complain (7878 siach)- muse, meditate, complain, talk of; murmur (1993 hamah) -growl, roar, be boisterous
..'to begin, continue, and end the day with God is supreme wisdom...
'and cry aloud'..he would give a tongue to his complaint
he would be very earnest in his pleas with heaven.
some cry aloud who never say a word.
it is the bell of the heart that rings loudest in heaven.
some read it, 'i will nurse and murmur
deep heart thoughts should be attended with inarticulate but vehement utterances of grief.
blessed be God, moaning is translatable in heaven.
a father's heart reads a child's heart. spurgeon
'evening and morning and at noon will i pray
this was the custom of pious hebrews. see dan. 4.10. the hebrews began their day in the evening and hence..evening first...
this was observed in the primitive church; but thetimes in different places were various. adam clarke
the three principal parts of the day are mentioned, not as marking special times set apart for prayer, but as a poetical expression fro
'the whole day
'at all times
'without ceasing j.j. stewart perowne
if our poor, frail bodies need refreshment from food three times a day, who, that knows his own weakness, will say that we need not as frequent refreshment for our poor frail spirits? william s. plumer, 1867
i can no more believe him to be frequent and spiritual in ejaculatory prayer, who neglects the season of solemn prayer, than i can believe that he keeps every day in the week a sabbath, who neglects to keep that one which God hath appointted. william gurnall, 1617-79
there is no limited time in the court of heaven for hearing petitions. it is not like the court of earthly princes, for there is a free access any day of the week,any hour of the day, or the night, any minute of the hour. as the lawyer saith of the king, for having his due...so may i say of the godly, for making his prayers and granting his requests..no time unseasonable, so the heart be seasoned with faith; no non term in God's court of requests. He keeps continually open house for all comers and goers; and indeed, most for comers, then goers.
His eyes are always open to behold our tears
His ears are always open to hear our groans
His heart also and His bowels are always open and never shut up so fast,
but they will yearn and turn within Him,
if our misery be never so little.
for as we have not an high priest to pray by
'that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;
so neither have we a God to pray to, that shall see us in distress,
and hear us cal and cry and never be moved. zachary bogan 1625-59
'and cry aloud' the word here employed properly means to murmur; to make a humming sound; to sigh; to growl; to groan. here the language means that he would give utterance to his deep feelings in appropriate tones-
whether words, sighs or groans. albert barnes
'evening and morning and at noon, will i PRAY and CRY ALOUD: and He shall hear my voice... king james
" COMPLAIN MURMUR " new american standard
complain (7878 siach)- muse, meditate, complain, talk of; murmur (1993 hamah) -growl, roar, be boisterous
..'to begin, continue, and end the day with God is supreme wisdom...
'and cry aloud'..he would give a tongue to his complaint
he would be very earnest in his pleas with heaven.
some cry aloud who never say a word.
it is the bell of the heart that rings loudest in heaven.
some read it, 'i will nurse and murmur
deep heart thoughts should be attended with inarticulate but vehement utterances of grief.
blessed be God, moaning is translatable in heaven.
a father's heart reads a child's heart. spurgeon
'evening and morning and at noon will i pray
this was the custom of pious hebrews. see dan. 4.10. the hebrews began their day in the evening and hence..evening first...
this was observed in the primitive church; but thetimes in different places were various. adam clarke
the three principal parts of the day are mentioned, not as marking special times set apart for prayer, but as a poetical expression fro
'the whole day
'at all times
'without ceasing j.j. stewart perowne
if our poor, frail bodies need refreshment from food three times a day, who, that knows his own weakness, will say that we need not as frequent refreshment for our poor frail spirits? william s. plumer, 1867
i can no more believe him to be frequent and spiritual in ejaculatory prayer, who neglects the season of solemn prayer, than i can believe that he keeps every day in the week a sabbath, who neglects to keep that one which God hath appointted. william gurnall, 1617-79
there is no limited time in the court of heaven for hearing petitions. it is not like the court of earthly princes, for there is a free access any day of the week,any hour of the day, or the night, any minute of the hour. as the lawyer saith of the king, for having his due...so may i say of the godly, for making his prayers and granting his requests..no time unseasonable, so the heart be seasoned with faith; no non term in God's court of requests. He keeps continually open house for all comers and goers; and indeed, most for comers, then goers.
His eyes are always open to behold our tears
His ears are always open to hear our groans
His heart also and His bowels are always open and never shut up so fast,
but they will yearn and turn within Him,
if our misery be never so little.
for as we have not an high priest to pray by
'that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;
so neither have we a God to pray to, that shall see us in distress,
and hear us cal and cry and never be moved. zachary bogan 1625-59
'and cry aloud' the word here employed properly means to murmur; to make a humming sound; to sigh; to growl; to groan. here the language means that he would give utterance to his deep feelings in appropriate tones-
whether words, sighs or groans. albert barnes
10.26.2012 PAID MY FREAKIN' $111!
i had thought that my freakin' old nature had been chained..if not tamed..by bringing it to the Lord. instead of having a significant period of 'going off' mentally, i thought i had realized...especially when yesterday i gunned the engine and still had seen the red before exiting the intersections..2 of them. that experience, i thought, had confirmed me in the final decision..to pay my fine like a 'good boy' that i ain't. no way. this morning i pulled up to park, going the wrong direction, right outside the souderton district judge deitelhaus' (sp?) office. i came in and..of course..no one in sight..petulantly went out and grabbed my gideons new testament (!!!!) to read while i WAITED. (what a contrast between inward and outward..) upon entering the second time the judge himself with a kindly smile and a gentle voice asked it i could turn the car around...it was liable to a traffic citation! inwardly fuming but with a returning 'kindly..gentle' demeanor went out a second time to turn the car.
after being stopped for 'running the traffic signal' at state and county line roads on the night of the 24th i protested (gently) that i never had seen the red (whether in actuality this was suppressed and flooded over by the slimy subconscious part of my old nature within i do not know..) and that i would be obliged to challenge this in court..
after a fair amount of time with a flow of internal justification (the 'points' actually written down for reference in forming my speech in court) directly after...
the next day the course was to follow, during my time with God (i can't stomach calling Him Lord in the midst of the recounting of all my rebellion against Him..but by His grace He moved me back to 'before Him'
1. suppose i AM actually right and the officer (my old flesh hates police and all authority figures seeing them all as one disagreeable lump of OPPRESSION foisted upon mankind (i have to be honest here for as i write i am seeing the truth of this) BY GOD). mistaken. i pondered..
2. do You have a purpose in this for me?....
3. ...a thought materializes...how many times have i, 'misjudging' of course, actually went through an intersection on a red light..
4. another thought: what would be the charge for each if $111 was divided between the all..
5. not much...
6. another thought..this is really, far from being a travesty of justice, the gentle, kindly warning of God...
7. another...possibly to protect either or both myself and others..
8. You have recently provided so much work for pay...more grace..
9. ok..Lord..i'll pay.
i thought after that it was settled and the peace of God once again reigned...but then all those wicked outcropings this morning again...the mystery of iniquity!
was drawn near to God this morning by a time of listening to larry norman songs. was brought to concern again...as his music has done before in me..over whether i REALLY am saved. was recently so concerned though reading the story of john wesley's conversion and how his moravian friends brought him to concern by the question, 'do you have the witness within?' wow..i think i do but if so i am a spiritual schizophrenic: one part of me is constantly, if not actively roiling in sin, fighting against it's constant temptations and inroads
one part of me is filled with a sense of Jesus' loving, peaceful, at times overwhelmingly gracious presence..i think..
I'M TIRED OF NOT HAVING, though, WHAT LARRY NORMAN 'HAS'. the last sweet prick of do i have the total joyful confidence as norman when he sings in 'joyful delta day' (about the second coming of the Lord) about that glorious day when 'THE CAPTIVES WILL BE RELEASED!!!!
...norman was a sinning saint just like me but even in the face of that he had the confidence that he was one day going to be released!
i won't go on...but i ask that God give me a DIVINELY FOMENTED DISSATISFACTION until all of me is all for Him..here and now...
after being stopped for 'running the traffic signal' at state and county line roads on the night of the 24th i protested (gently) that i never had seen the red (whether in actuality this was suppressed and flooded over by the slimy subconscious part of my old nature within i do not know..) and that i would be obliged to challenge this in court..
after a fair amount of time with a flow of internal justification (the 'points' actually written down for reference in forming my speech in court) directly after...
the next day the course was to follow, during my time with God (i can't stomach calling Him Lord in the midst of the recounting of all my rebellion against Him..but by His grace He moved me back to 'before Him'
1. suppose i AM actually right and the officer (my old flesh hates police and all authority figures seeing them all as one disagreeable lump of OPPRESSION foisted upon mankind (i have to be honest here for as i write i am seeing the truth of this) BY GOD). mistaken. i pondered..
2. do You have a purpose in this for me?....
3. ...a thought materializes...how many times have i, 'misjudging' of course, actually went through an intersection on a red light..
4. another thought: what would be the charge for each if $111 was divided between the all..
5. not much...
6. another thought..this is really, far from being a travesty of justice, the gentle, kindly warning of God...
7. another...possibly to protect either or both myself and others..
8. You have recently provided so much work for pay...more grace..
9. ok..Lord..i'll pay.
i thought after that it was settled and the peace of God once again reigned...but then all those wicked outcropings this morning again...the mystery of iniquity!
was drawn near to God this morning by a time of listening to larry norman songs. was brought to concern again...as his music has done before in me..over whether i REALLY am saved. was recently so concerned though reading the story of john wesley's conversion and how his moravian friends brought him to concern by the question, 'do you have the witness within?' wow..i think i do but if so i am a spiritual schizophrenic: one part of me is constantly, if not actively roiling in sin, fighting against it's constant temptations and inroads
one part of me is filled with a sense of Jesus' loving, peaceful, at times overwhelmingly gracious presence..i think..
I'M TIRED OF NOT HAVING, though, WHAT LARRY NORMAN 'HAS'. the last sweet prick of do i have the total joyful confidence as norman when he sings in 'joyful delta day' (about the second coming of the Lord) about that glorious day when 'THE CAPTIVES WILL BE RELEASED!!!!
...norman was a sinning saint just like me but even in the face of that he had the confidence that he was one day going to be released!
i won't go on...but i ask that God give me a DIVINELY FOMENTED DISSATISFACTION until all of me is all for Him..here and now...
Thursday, October 25, 2012
10.25.2012 PSALM 134
taken from spurgeon's treasury of david..a commentary on the psalms..
title-a song of degrees. we have now reached the last of the gradual psalms the pilgrims are going home and are singing the last song in their psalter. they leave early in the moring, before the day has fully commenced, for the journey is long for many of them. while yet the nigh lingers they are on the move. sas soon as they are outside the gates they see tyhe guards upon the temple wall and the lamps shining from the windows of the chambers which surround the snactuary; therefore, moved by the sight, they chant a farewell to the perpetual attendants upon the holy shrine. their parting exhortation arouses the priests to pronounce upon them a blessing out of the holy place: this benediction is contained in the third verse. the priests as good as say,
'you have desired us to bless the Lod and now we pray the Lord to bless you.
the psalm teaches us to pray for those who are continually ministering before the Lord and
it invites all ministers to pronounce benedictions upon their loving and prayerful people.
text
v1. behold, bless ye the lord, all ye servants of the lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord.
2. lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord.
3. the Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of zion.
v2 'lift up your hands in the snctuary'
(note: one night at my chosen place of worshipping the Lord, mision evangelica in souderton, the pastor made a statement to this effect,
'everyone should lift up their hands to the Lord...for this is commanded in scripture
i had always 'intended' to check this out with a search in strong's concordance of the words 'lift up', 'hands', but due to the fact that i still have a huge mass of depraved rebellion against authority figures, in this case the pastor, i had not yet 'gotten around' to this.
here before me lies the truth of his statement.
now i have still to overcome the difficulty of doing anything 'on command' by another sinful human being. a fair amount of this occurs in worship at this location..not so much to be intolerable..but enough to be grating on each occasion. my practice is to ignore it roundly..except on the rare occasion when the Spirit within radifies. i shall need to adjust my outward behavior..crying to the Lord to give me a softening of heart and a producing within somewhat of a semblance of wholehearted worship to accompany the outer physical adjustment.)
in the holy place they must be busy, full of strength, wide awake, energetic and moved with holy ardour.
hands, heart, and every other part of their manhood must be upraised, elevated and consecrated to the adoring service of the lord.
as the angels praise God day without night, so must the angels of the churches be instant in season and out of season.
'and bless the Lor' this is their main business. they are to bless men by their teaching,
but they must yet more bless Jehovah with their worship.
too often men look at public worship only from the side of its usefulness to the people:
but the other matter is of even higher importance:
we must see to it that the Lord God is adored, extolled and had in reverance.
for a second time the word 'bless' is used, and applied to Jehovah.
bless the Lord, o my oul, and let every other soul bless Him.
there will be no drowsiness about even midnight devotion if the heart is set upon blessing God in Christ Jesus, which is the gospel translation of God in the snactuary. exposition of v2 by spurgeon
whole psalthe last cloud of smoke from the evening sacrifice has mixed with the blue sky,
the last note of the evening humn has died away on the ear.
the watch is being set for the night.
the 24 levites, the 3 priests and the captain of the guard,
whose duty it was to keep ward from sunset to sunrise over the hallowed precincts,
are already at their several posts,
and the mutitude are retiring through the gates, which will soon be shut.
to many of them to open no more.
but they cannot depart without one last expression of the piety that fills their hearts;
and turning to the watchers on tower and battlement,
they address them in holy song, in what was at once a brotherly admonition and touching prayer:
'behold, bless ye the lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord.
lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord.
the pious guard are not unprepared for the appeal
and from thier lofty heights
in words that float over the peopled city and down into the quiet valley of the kedron,
like the melody or angels, they respond to each worshipper who thus addressed them with a benedictory farewell:
'the Lrod bless thee out of zion, even he who made heaven and earth. robert nisbet
the tabernacle and temple were served by priests during the night as well as the day.
those priests renewed the altar fire, fed the lamps and guared the sacred structure from intusion and..plunder.
the psalm before us was prepared for the priests who served the sacred place by night.
they were in dange of slumbering;
and they were in danger of idle reverie.
oh, how much time is wasted in mere reverie-
in letting thought wander and wander and wander! the priests were in danger, we say,
of slumbering, of idle reverie, of vain thougts, of useless meditation, and of profitless talk:
and thereforeit is written,-
'behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the lord.
is it your duty to spend the night in watching?
then spend the night in worship.
do not let the time of watching be idle, wasted time;
but when others are slumbering and sleeping and you are necessarily watchfu, sustain the prasies of God's house;
let there be praise in zion-still prasie by night as well as by day!
'lift up you hands in the sanctuary and bless the lord. samuel martin. 1817-78
v2 'lift up your hands..the lifting up of the hands was a gesture in prayer,
it was an intimation of their expectation of receiving blessings from the Lord, and
it was also an acknowledgment of their having received the the same. samuel eyles pierce
'in the sanctuary. the hebrew word signifying holiness as well as the holy place may here be taken in the former sense, the latter having been sufficiently expressed (verse 1) by 'the house of the Lord..
the priests (which are here spoken to) before their officiating,
which is here expressed by lifting up their hands,
were obliged to was their hands henry hammond
v3 'the Lord that made heaven and earth...the priestly benediction brings God before us in a twofold character. He is described first as the creator of the univers.
He is described, in the second place as dwelling 'in zion' .
in the first aspect, he is represented as the God of nature;
in the second as the God of grace.
when i contemplate Him as the creator of the universe, ther is abundant proof that He can bnless me.
when i contemplate Him as dwelling in the churc,
there is aboundant proof that he wil bless me.
both elements are essential to our faith. n.m'michael
as the priest were called upon to bless God in behalf of the people,
so here they bless the people in behalf of God.
between the verses we may suppose the previous request to be complied with.
the priests, having blessed God, turn and bless the people.
the obvious allusion to the sacerdotal blessing..number 6
title-a song of degrees. we have now reached the last of the gradual psalms the pilgrims are going home and are singing the last song in their psalter. they leave early in the moring, before the day has fully commenced, for the journey is long for many of them. while yet the nigh lingers they are on the move. sas soon as they are outside the gates they see tyhe guards upon the temple wall and the lamps shining from the windows of the chambers which surround the snactuary; therefore, moved by the sight, they chant a farewell to the perpetual attendants upon the holy shrine. their parting exhortation arouses the priests to pronounce upon them a blessing out of the holy place: this benediction is contained in the third verse. the priests as good as say,
'you have desired us to bless the Lod and now we pray the Lord to bless you.
the psalm teaches us to pray for those who are continually ministering before the Lord and
it invites all ministers to pronounce benedictions upon their loving and prayerful people.
text
v1. behold, bless ye the lord, all ye servants of the lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord.
2. lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord.
3. the Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of zion.
v2 'lift up your hands in the snctuary'
(note: one night at my chosen place of worshipping the Lord, mision evangelica in souderton, the pastor made a statement to this effect,
'everyone should lift up their hands to the Lord...for this is commanded in scripture
i had always 'intended' to check this out with a search in strong's concordance of the words 'lift up', 'hands', but due to the fact that i still have a huge mass of depraved rebellion against authority figures, in this case the pastor, i had not yet 'gotten around' to this.
here before me lies the truth of his statement.
now i have still to overcome the difficulty of doing anything 'on command' by another sinful human being. a fair amount of this occurs in worship at this location..not so much to be intolerable..but enough to be grating on each occasion. my practice is to ignore it roundly..except on the rare occasion when the Spirit within radifies. i shall need to adjust my outward behavior..crying to the Lord to give me a softening of heart and a producing within somewhat of a semblance of wholehearted worship to accompany the outer physical adjustment.)
in the holy place they must be busy, full of strength, wide awake, energetic and moved with holy ardour.
hands, heart, and every other part of their manhood must be upraised, elevated and consecrated to the adoring service of the lord.
as the angels praise God day without night, so must the angels of the churches be instant in season and out of season.
'and bless the Lor' this is their main business. they are to bless men by their teaching,
but they must yet more bless Jehovah with their worship.
too often men look at public worship only from the side of its usefulness to the people:
but the other matter is of even higher importance:
we must see to it that the Lord God is adored, extolled and had in reverance.
for a second time the word 'bless' is used, and applied to Jehovah.
bless the Lord, o my oul, and let every other soul bless Him.
there will be no drowsiness about even midnight devotion if the heart is set upon blessing God in Christ Jesus, which is the gospel translation of God in the snactuary. exposition of v2 by spurgeon
whole psalthe last cloud of smoke from the evening sacrifice has mixed with the blue sky,
the last note of the evening humn has died away on the ear.
the watch is being set for the night.
the 24 levites, the 3 priests and the captain of the guard,
whose duty it was to keep ward from sunset to sunrise over the hallowed precincts,
are already at their several posts,
and the mutitude are retiring through the gates, which will soon be shut.
to many of them to open no more.
but they cannot depart without one last expression of the piety that fills their hearts;
and turning to the watchers on tower and battlement,
they address them in holy song, in what was at once a brotherly admonition and touching prayer:
'behold, bless ye the lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord.
lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord.
the pious guard are not unprepared for the appeal
and from thier lofty heights
in words that float over the peopled city and down into the quiet valley of the kedron,
like the melody or angels, they respond to each worshipper who thus addressed them with a benedictory farewell:
'the Lrod bless thee out of zion, even he who made heaven and earth. robert nisbet
the tabernacle and temple were served by priests during the night as well as the day.
those priests renewed the altar fire, fed the lamps and guared the sacred structure from intusion and..plunder.
the psalm before us was prepared for the priests who served the sacred place by night.
they were in dange of slumbering;
and they were in danger of idle reverie.
oh, how much time is wasted in mere reverie-
in letting thought wander and wander and wander! the priests were in danger, we say,
of slumbering, of idle reverie, of vain thougts, of useless meditation, and of profitless talk:
and thereforeit is written,-
'behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the lord.
is it your duty to spend the night in watching?
then spend the night in worship.
do not let the time of watching be idle, wasted time;
but when others are slumbering and sleeping and you are necessarily watchfu, sustain the prasies of God's house;
let there be praise in zion-still prasie by night as well as by day!
'lift up you hands in the sanctuary and bless the lord. samuel martin. 1817-78
v2 'lift up your hands..the lifting up of the hands was a gesture in prayer,
it was an intimation of their expectation of receiving blessings from the Lord, and
it was also an acknowledgment of their having received the the same. samuel eyles pierce
'in the sanctuary. the hebrew word signifying holiness as well as the holy place may here be taken in the former sense, the latter having been sufficiently expressed (verse 1) by 'the house of the Lord..
the priests (which are here spoken to) before their officiating,
which is here expressed by lifting up their hands,
were obliged to was their hands henry hammond
v3 'the Lord that made heaven and earth...the priestly benediction brings God before us in a twofold character. He is described first as the creator of the univers.
He is described, in the second place as dwelling 'in zion' .
in the first aspect, he is represented as the God of nature;
in the second as the God of grace.
when i contemplate Him as the creator of the universe, ther is abundant proof that He can bnless me.
when i contemplate Him as dwelling in the churc,
there is aboundant proof that he wil bless me.
both elements are essential to our faith. n.m'michael
as the priest were called upon to bless God in behalf of the people,
so here they bless the people in behalf of God.
between the verses we may suppose the previous request to be complied with.
the priests, having blessed God, turn and bless the people.
the obvious allusion to the sacerdotal blessing..number 6
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
10.24.2012 ALLENDER ON BOLD LOVE
taken from allender's 'wounded heart' 213f..
the answer to what makes love possible is surprisingly simple: the love of God and the fear of God.
...the cross confuses us when we are certain that cruelty rules the world. it unnerves us when we see no proof of a caring God who is in control of this universe. the cross does not directly deal with the question of
'why me?
but it sets the stage for a response to an entirely different question:
'am i loved?
the cross is the proof of the everlasting, sacrificial love of god, but it is more; it is also the evidence of the wrath of God against sin. God is enraged over sin. He is deadly serious about not letting His own creation succumb to its ravages. he is so serious as to place the wages of sin on the perfect adam, the second man, as a perfect atonement for human rebellion. the lamb of God took the righteous judgment we deserved. the Gather poured out His wrath on His own Son, who endured the shame of the cross for the joy that was set before Him. hebrews 12.2
love is essentially a movement of grace to embrace those who have sinned against us. matthew5.43-8 it is the offer of restoration to those who have done harm, for the purpose of destroying evil and enhancing life. love can be defined as the free gift that voluntarily cancels the debt in order to free the debtor to become what he might be if he experiences the joy of restoration.
..for many abuse victims restoration is the most difficult element in forgiveness. one abuse woman told me,
'i am willing to love him, but don't ever ask me to want to be with him. i can't imagine ever seeing him in this life, and the thought that i might have to spend eternity with him sounds more like hell than heaven.
a victim will not hunger for restoration until the obstacles of deadness, mistrust and the hatred of passion are removed.
once the disastrous effects of powerlessness, betrayal, and ambivalence are entered through honesty and transformed by repentance, the potential for living courageously with others will feel like a desire rather than an onerous burden. meanwhile, shouts of evangelical fervor about loving the abuser fall on deaf ears.
forgiveness is not something to be pushed on the abuse victim.
it is an aspect of the healing process
but not a bitter pill to swallow.
it must be assumed not commanded.
a heart that knows something of the joy of returning to God will be drawn to offer restoration like God.
...for an abuse victim to forsake the call to love, even to love the abuser, is tantamount to saying her heart is no better than the one who abused her.
one woman, in convulsive hatred, shouted,
'i'd rather be dead than restored to him!
i asked her what she would do if God gave her two options-
one: press the left button and God would totally destroy the abuser, so that not one molecule of his being existed next to another, or
two: press the right button and God would totally restore him to be the man, father and husband that God designed him to be.
she wept with longing for a father, but not her father.
i said,
'your father is wicked, perverse, vile and worthy of condemnation.
i did not ask if you wanted to be restored to who he is today, but to a man who is broken and contrite-
a father who could weep over the harm done to you and to the Lord.
'which button would you choose?
it was a moment of writhing pain and anguish,
but her soul had tasted the joy of her own restoration, and
she did not want to withhold the possibility of joy for him.
to have done so would be to deny her own salvation and to call her own good heart evil.
she was unwilling to do so, and in that moment, she began to be able to imagine restoration.
the ability to imagine what the abuser could be if he repented and was redeemed opens the way to hunger for a pure and righteous restoration of relationship.
there are many obstacles to deepening a desire for restoration that revolve around confusion over what it means to love and how to deal with the desire for revenge. what is the goal of love and what will happen if we forgive?
BOLD LOVE IS A COMMITMENT TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES (apart from sin) TO BRING HEALTH (SALVATION) TO (ANOTHER)...the abuser. a metaphor may help explain what that means. a surgeon who sees a cancerous mass in a patient's neck knows it will kill him. his commitment is to destroy sickness for the sake of returning the body to health. he may stick a knife..bombard the mass with chemicals..in order to eradicate the alien presence. or he may strengthen the man's diet, provide rest..until more heroic measures can be implemented...
bold love is reflected in paul's command:
'love must be sincere. hate what is evil; cling to what is good romans 12.9. love is to be without hypocrisy..unfeigned. the proverbs also state,
'better is open rebuke than hidden love. the kisses of an enemy may be profuse, but faithful are the wounds of a friend. (27.5-6 in both passages, love is a powerful force and energy to reclaim the potential good in another, even at the risk of great sacrifice and loss.
for example, if another's arrogance destroys the possibility of relationship with us and with God, we must hate his arrogance and see it as a cancer to be destroyed. i one way , the cancerous mass can be said to be part of the man, but in another sense it is a foreign, alien thing that is not part of God's original design. if we are to hate what is evil and cling to what is good, we are constrained to detest all that is consonant with evil and bind ourselves to whatever is good. therefore, love is not anemic unconditional acceptance that ignores evil in other or ourselves matt. 7.3-6 it is not contradictory to love someone, desire their good and equally work toward destroying their cancer through bringing them to repentance and faith.
...love means courageously using our life for the purpose of reclaiming in another the ground lost to the weeds, thorns, and thistles of satanic intrusion. it might be through direct, frontal confrontation luke 17.3 OR patient, slow kindness ephesians 4.32. (and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.)
(note: is it 'or' or is it 'and'?)
...the desire to do harm to another is not always the same as wanting him to pay for his sin. many times i have prayed for harm to come to a blind, arrogant, harmful man or woman in order to bring them to their senses. paul encourages us to pour burning coals on an evildoer's head rather than strike back in revenge. john stott argues that 'pouring burning coals' is a new testament metaphor for shaming or causing embarrassment...he suggests that our feeding and offering drink to an evildoer humbles and shames him and opens his heart to the possibility of redemption. the purpose for doing good is to destroy evil. many abuse victims who want to do harm to the abuser have not recognized the redemptive
(does he mean 'non-redemptive?)
desire behind their fantasy of revenge.
..the desire to see the abuser pay is honorable and consistent with the longing for the day of judgment. again, what makes this attitude different from seeking revenge?
...revenge leaves no room for restoration. the judgment is final...if i condemn you..i will be held accountable to the same exacting standard i use to reject you. matthew 7.1-2 ...also ..revenge gets in the way of God. our acts of revenge are puny; His are perfect.
(note: and just like we all fall far short of the glory or God our revenge likewise falls far short of the wisdom, grace and love of God in bringing appropriate reaction to our unconfessed, unrepented of sin)
..actual confrontation must involve rebuke. Jesus said,
'if your brother sins against you, rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him. luke 17.3
(note:also, a total uncatagorical (not just to other christians ('brother' above) but all men) 'forgive' in luke 6.37)
rebuke often opens the door to repentance. rebuke ought to clarify the offense, its consequences and the means for restoration.
it is usually best for an abuse victim to invite the abuser to a confrontation, not hiding the purpose for their meeting. the meeting ought to occur in a safe, public place (usually a high class restaurant). it is good to have a friend or two at another table or out in the parking lot praying and supporting the interaction. a confrontation should never be attempted without prayer.
the rebuke must follow a logical sequence, and if a step is not passed, the rebuke cannot continue. the issues that block a step may be discussed between victim and abuser, but resolution cannot occur until the issues are dealt with. in order for a rebuke to be effective, the abuser must take the following steps:
1. when the victim reviews the details of the abuse, the perpetrator must agree that the abuse occurred.
2. the abuser must accept complete responsibility for the abuse-without excuse or blameshifting.
3. when the victim describes the past and current damage from the abuse, the perpetrator must evidence some grief and acknowledgment of harm.
4. when the victim exposes the abuser's current relational failures that inhibit the potential of reconciliation, he must be open to consider the data and deal with the barriers.
5. when the victim describes the process for moving into a new kind of relationship, the abuser must express a willingness to pursue the path and seek additional help (through church discipline, counseling, seminars, or reading).
if the perpetrator, and later the nonoffending parent, is willing to move through all five steps, the victim can offer relationship and take steps to deepen intimacy. if repentance does not occur. the victim can still forgive by offering bold love, but RELATIONSHIP CANNOT BE RESTORED.
...a refusal to normalize a wicked relationship is a gift of excommunication that waits for the sinner's return but does not offer deep relationship until he acknowledges and deals with his sin. the offer of restored relationship (based on repentance), in honest, open hearted kindness, is living out the gospel, even if the offer is spurned and condemned.
...the process of redeeming a relationship is not (done?) after the initial confrontation, even if it goes well. it will require a continual returning to each step, forgiving again and again, as long as there is evidence of repentance.
the lord tells us to 'forgive, if he repents', making restoration of relationship conditional on the response of the offender. repentance is never merely saying, 'i'm sorr'. if that were the case, then repentance would be no different from penance, the performance of an act of contrition. true repentance, even if it is required seven times in a day, will be experienced by the abuser as a sorrow unto life, evidenced in a willingness to be humbled and an emerging hunger to deal with the consequences of sin. anything less is not repentance...
the answer to what makes love possible is surprisingly simple: the love of God and the fear of God.
...the cross confuses us when we are certain that cruelty rules the world. it unnerves us when we see no proof of a caring God who is in control of this universe. the cross does not directly deal with the question of
'why me?
but it sets the stage for a response to an entirely different question:
'am i loved?
the cross is the proof of the everlasting, sacrificial love of god, but it is more; it is also the evidence of the wrath of God against sin. God is enraged over sin. He is deadly serious about not letting His own creation succumb to its ravages. he is so serious as to place the wages of sin on the perfect adam, the second man, as a perfect atonement for human rebellion. the lamb of God took the righteous judgment we deserved. the Gather poured out His wrath on His own Son, who endured the shame of the cross for the joy that was set before Him. hebrews 12.2
love is essentially a movement of grace to embrace those who have sinned against us. matthew5.43-8 it is the offer of restoration to those who have done harm, for the purpose of destroying evil and enhancing life. love can be defined as the free gift that voluntarily cancels the debt in order to free the debtor to become what he might be if he experiences the joy of restoration.
..for many abuse victims restoration is the most difficult element in forgiveness. one abuse woman told me,
'i am willing to love him, but don't ever ask me to want to be with him. i can't imagine ever seeing him in this life, and the thought that i might have to spend eternity with him sounds more like hell than heaven.
a victim will not hunger for restoration until the obstacles of deadness, mistrust and the hatred of passion are removed.
once the disastrous effects of powerlessness, betrayal, and ambivalence are entered through honesty and transformed by repentance, the potential for living courageously with others will feel like a desire rather than an onerous burden. meanwhile, shouts of evangelical fervor about loving the abuser fall on deaf ears.
forgiveness is not something to be pushed on the abuse victim.
it is an aspect of the healing process
but not a bitter pill to swallow.
it must be assumed not commanded.
a heart that knows something of the joy of returning to God will be drawn to offer restoration like God.
...for an abuse victim to forsake the call to love, even to love the abuser, is tantamount to saying her heart is no better than the one who abused her.
one woman, in convulsive hatred, shouted,
'i'd rather be dead than restored to him!
i asked her what she would do if God gave her two options-
one: press the left button and God would totally destroy the abuser, so that not one molecule of his being existed next to another, or
two: press the right button and God would totally restore him to be the man, father and husband that God designed him to be.
she wept with longing for a father, but not her father.
i said,
'your father is wicked, perverse, vile and worthy of condemnation.
i did not ask if you wanted to be restored to who he is today, but to a man who is broken and contrite-
a father who could weep over the harm done to you and to the Lord.
'which button would you choose?
it was a moment of writhing pain and anguish,
but her soul had tasted the joy of her own restoration, and
she did not want to withhold the possibility of joy for him.
to have done so would be to deny her own salvation and to call her own good heart evil.
she was unwilling to do so, and in that moment, she began to be able to imagine restoration.
the ability to imagine what the abuser could be if he repented and was redeemed opens the way to hunger for a pure and righteous restoration of relationship.
there are many obstacles to deepening a desire for restoration that revolve around confusion over what it means to love and how to deal with the desire for revenge. what is the goal of love and what will happen if we forgive?
BOLD LOVE IS A COMMITMENT TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES (apart from sin) TO BRING HEALTH (SALVATION) TO (ANOTHER)...the abuser. a metaphor may help explain what that means. a surgeon who sees a cancerous mass in a patient's neck knows it will kill him. his commitment is to destroy sickness for the sake of returning the body to health. he may stick a knife..bombard the mass with chemicals..in order to eradicate the alien presence. or he may strengthen the man's diet, provide rest..until more heroic measures can be implemented...
bold love is reflected in paul's command:
'love must be sincere. hate what is evil; cling to what is good romans 12.9. love is to be without hypocrisy..unfeigned. the proverbs also state,
'better is open rebuke than hidden love. the kisses of an enemy may be profuse, but faithful are the wounds of a friend. (27.5-6 in both passages, love is a powerful force and energy to reclaim the potential good in another, even at the risk of great sacrifice and loss.
for example, if another's arrogance destroys the possibility of relationship with us and with God, we must hate his arrogance and see it as a cancer to be destroyed. i one way , the cancerous mass can be said to be part of the man, but in another sense it is a foreign, alien thing that is not part of God's original design. if we are to hate what is evil and cling to what is good, we are constrained to detest all that is consonant with evil and bind ourselves to whatever is good. therefore, love is not anemic unconditional acceptance that ignores evil in other or ourselves matt. 7.3-6 it is not contradictory to love someone, desire their good and equally work toward destroying their cancer through bringing them to repentance and faith.
...love means courageously using our life for the purpose of reclaiming in another the ground lost to the weeds, thorns, and thistles of satanic intrusion. it might be through direct, frontal confrontation luke 17.3 OR patient, slow kindness ephesians 4.32. (and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.)
(note: is it 'or' or is it 'and'?)
...the desire to do harm to another is not always the same as wanting him to pay for his sin. many times i have prayed for harm to come to a blind, arrogant, harmful man or woman in order to bring them to their senses. paul encourages us to pour burning coals on an evildoer's head rather than strike back in revenge. john stott argues that 'pouring burning coals' is a new testament metaphor for shaming or causing embarrassment...he suggests that our feeding and offering drink to an evildoer humbles and shames him and opens his heart to the possibility of redemption. the purpose for doing good is to destroy evil. many abuse victims who want to do harm to the abuser have not recognized the redemptive
(does he mean 'non-redemptive?)
desire behind their fantasy of revenge.
..the desire to see the abuser pay is honorable and consistent with the longing for the day of judgment. again, what makes this attitude different from seeking revenge?
...revenge leaves no room for restoration. the judgment is final...if i condemn you..i will be held accountable to the same exacting standard i use to reject you. matthew 7.1-2 ...also ..revenge gets in the way of God. our acts of revenge are puny; His are perfect.
(note: and just like we all fall far short of the glory or God our revenge likewise falls far short of the wisdom, grace and love of God in bringing appropriate reaction to our unconfessed, unrepented of sin)
..actual confrontation must involve rebuke. Jesus said,
'if your brother sins against you, rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him. luke 17.3
(note:also, a total uncatagorical (not just to other christians ('brother' above) but all men) 'forgive' in luke 6.37)
rebuke often opens the door to repentance. rebuke ought to clarify the offense, its consequences and the means for restoration.
it is usually best for an abuse victim to invite the abuser to a confrontation, not hiding the purpose for their meeting. the meeting ought to occur in a safe, public place (usually a high class restaurant). it is good to have a friend or two at another table or out in the parking lot praying and supporting the interaction. a confrontation should never be attempted without prayer.
the rebuke must follow a logical sequence, and if a step is not passed, the rebuke cannot continue. the issues that block a step may be discussed between victim and abuser, but resolution cannot occur until the issues are dealt with. in order for a rebuke to be effective, the abuser must take the following steps:
1. when the victim reviews the details of the abuse, the perpetrator must agree that the abuse occurred.
2. the abuser must accept complete responsibility for the abuse-without excuse or blameshifting.
3. when the victim describes the past and current damage from the abuse, the perpetrator must evidence some grief and acknowledgment of harm.
4. when the victim exposes the abuser's current relational failures that inhibit the potential of reconciliation, he must be open to consider the data and deal with the barriers.
5. when the victim describes the process for moving into a new kind of relationship, the abuser must express a willingness to pursue the path and seek additional help (through church discipline, counseling, seminars, or reading).
if the perpetrator, and later the nonoffending parent, is willing to move through all five steps, the victim can offer relationship and take steps to deepen intimacy. if repentance does not occur. the victim can still forgive by offering bold love, but RELATIONSHIP CANNOT BE RESTORED.
...a refusal to normalize a wicked relationship is a gift of excommunication that waits for the sinner's return but does not offer deep relationship until he acknowledges and deals with his sin. the offer of restored relationship (based on repentance), in honest, open hearted kindness, is living out the gospel, even if the offer is spurned and condemned.
...the process of redeeming a relationship is not (done?) after the initial confrontation, even if it goes well. it will require a continual returning to each step, forgiving again and again, as long as there is evidence of repentance.
the lord tells us to 'forgive, if he repents', making restoration of relationship conditional on the response of the offender. repentance is never merely saying, 'i'm sorr'. if that were the case, then repentance would be no different from penance, the performance of an act of contrition. true repentance, even if it is required seven times in a day, will be experienced by the abuser as a sorrow unto life, evidenced in a willingness to be humbled and an emerging hunger to deal with the consequences of sin. anything less is not repentance...
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
10.23.2012 ALLENDER ON REPENTANCE
taken from 'wounded heart'
197.1..the process of change begins with honesty, which is a form of repentance. repentance is an about face movement from denial and rebellion to truth and surrender-from death to life.
in the beginning,honestly facing the characteristic lies and denial associated with sexual abuse usually intensifies the experience of victimization. for the fires time, memories return that rip apart the pretense of a happy childhood or a loving family. not only is the perpetrator faced as wicked, but other family members are seen as aiding the abuser by their complicity, denial or minimization of the harm. often the abuse victim realized that the same patterns that allowed the abuse to occur and go unaddressed are equally operative in her life today. victimization is usually not only an event in the past; in most cases, it is an ongoing, day by day experience.
the return of horrific memories, the exposure of past and current betrayal, the acknowledgment of internal damage, the recognition of current self protective, destructive patters-all are nearly overwhelming. thankfully, the process of absorbing the data is slow and progressive, rather than sudden and final. nevertheless, the process is disruptive and tumultuous. it is impossible to say what the internal process will be like for the honest abuse victim, but a general path that many experience may serve as a guide.
first, the process of honesty opens the door to stunned acknowledgment. the initial shock is somewhat analogous to physical shock. reality is seen, but in slow motion. the observer sees the awful truth, frame by frame, as a known but distant memory. often the unreal, distant memories arrive through current disappointment in a relationship. a birthday forgotten or the inability to receive a complement shakes the foundation of current coping strategies. the pretense that the past is the past and the present is satisfying begins to crumble in the face of deepened hunger and discontent.
disappointment often turns into rage. rage at the hypocrisy of the family. rage at the idiotic illusion of the good life. rage at the failures of those who claim to love but seem to adore only the image of being loving. RAGE IS THE THRASHING OF THE SOUL WHEN IT FULLY AWAKENS FROM THE NIGHTMARE LIE.
rage may be directed first and foremost toward the self. the self contempt infused through the past abuse may come to the surface with a vengeance, though the victim will often direct some of the rage toward the abuser, family, friends or spouse. because the rage is in fact there, the process of sanctification will include facing its ferocious intensity. growth never allows pretending. recovering the anger, however..is not the cure. it may feel good, freeing and energetic to face one's rage, but simply owning anger is not maturity. no matter how alive the soul feels in the midst of recovered anger, rage does not heal the wound or satisfy the soul. in most cases, the rage will lead only to deepened despair.
despair, or a fatalistic, who cares emptiness, is the pendulum swing from honesty to a second round of deceit. the question that surfaces-now far deeper than during the first round-is,
'what use is there in dealing with reality or God of my pain or those who harm me or my sin?
once her emptiness overtakes the initial experience of disappointment and rage, the victim must face a major crossroad. the path taken is either toward more radical denial and plastic functioning or toward deep change through repentance. if honesty is the first phase of the healing process that is experienced with shock, pain and anger, then repentance is the second phase that is entered through sadness, grief and sorrow.
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sorrow alters the damage of the past and present. the process of honest grief over the damage of the abuse and one's autonomous response to it integrates the past into the present without carrying over the burden of hardness and vengeance. sorrow begins to melt the victim's callused hatred toward herself and others.
not all weeping is either restorative or repentant. grief may permit deeper acknowledgment of past pain and restore a greater sense of wholeness, but it may equally strengthen the resolve never to be hurt again.
grief may lead to two separate routes:
the path of sorrow unto life and
the path of sorrow unto death.
one route involves a reowning of lost parts of the soul for the purpose of humbly crying out to God with all that we are for grace and strength to live the God glorifying, other centered life. the second is a reclaiming of lost parts of the soul for the purpose of developing a case against the abuser, a wicked world, and ultimately against a God who did not intervene-a case that supports our right to exist independently of a disappointing, cruel world and the God whose eternal kingdom will replace it. the difference in the paths of sorrow is found in a contrast between repentance and penance.
before defining repentance, let me state two important points. first, the abuse victim is never called by God to repent about the past abuse. many victims have anguished before God, crying out for forgiveness for what occurred or for what they experienced-things that are in no way their fault.
second, repentance is a surprising, wholly unexpected experience that is rarely, if ever, a simple choice of the will to do right and not do wrong. repentance is poorly understood and rarely enjoyed. it is not necessarily transforming for those who labor to simply do right. for that reason, we must clearly define what is and is not repentance.
REPENTANCE IS AN INTERNAL SHIFT IN OUR PERCEIVED SOURCE OF LIFE. it is recognizing that our self protective means to avoiding hurt have not ushered us into real living (the reckless abandon to God that ultimately leads to a deep sense of wholeness and joy) or to purposeful
THE WEIGHT OF THE HOLY REQUIREMENT OF PERFECT, UNBROKEN LOVE IS MORE THAN ANY PERSON, EXCEPT JESUS CHRIST, CAN BEAR.
love silences explanation,
penetrates excuses
and humbles the heart,
preparing that heart to be captured by the gospel of grace.
ultimately, repentance is a hungry, broken return to God.
one of the greatest pictures of repentance is found in the story of the prodigal son (luke 15.11-32), which makes several points about the coming home process.
first, repentance begins...with dissatisfaction. the prodigal..admitted..
'i am eating garbage.
others are happy; i am not happy.
i am not staying here.
i'd rather risk untold shame, facing rejection from my father and taking the lowliest position..that stay in this muck.
it takes brokenness of soul to move back toward the father,
admitting what is true...
..the response of the prodigal's father (God)..
he weeps
restores and
celebrates.
the father is a fool, at least a fool in the eyes of his older son and undoubtedly in the eyes of his community...
he must have felt pressure either to turn his back on his child,
or at least to require a period of penance before allowing his boy to return to the family table.
instead, the father threw a party,
a public spectacle that restored full rights and privileges to the errant son.
the father did not even listen to the penitent litany the son rehearsed before he came into the father's presence...
the contrast of such a response of life is the reaction of death,exhibited by the older son. he viewed the father as a stringent taskmaster who could be pleased only by discipline, obedience, and a martyr's denial. he blamed the father for never giving him a party. the father's response indicated that a party was all his for the asking, but the older son never humbled himself to ask. the tragedy is that the older son actually despised the father more than the young prodigal. the prodigal, at least, trusted the father's goodness enough to ask for the money in the first place and to return in hunger once it was gone. the older brother asked for nothing and, in arrogant self justification, chose to avoid the party to prove he was more righteous than the father. Jesus told the story to shatter the presumptive facade of the righteous pharisees; in so doing he tears away our false assumptions about what pleases God.
what is repentance?
although difficult to define,
REPENTANCE INVOLVES THE RESPONSE OF
HUMBLE HUNGER
BOLD MOVEMENT and
WILD CELEBRATION
WHEN FACED WITH THE REALITY OF OUR FALLEN STATE AND THE GRACE OF GOD.
the Father wants us to be hungry and satisfied with our pigpen cuisine.
He wants us to return in absolute dependence and dine on the fatted calf.
repentance flows from the energy of being stunned, silent and without excuse for the harm we've done to ourselves and others and for breaking the heart of God.
it includes a hunger based refusal to wallow in anything that
makes us less human,
strips anyone of his dignity or
damages our relationship with the Lord.
...biblical repentance always leads us toward coming alive for the explicit purpose of having more to give to others for their well being and to God for His glory. without a radical commitment to seeing our entire existence as wrapped up in furthering God's purpose in other people's lives, recovering our souls can strengthen our tendency to think more about all that happens withing and to require that others treat us with tenderness and respect. longing for love from others is a beautiful part of our dignity as image bearers, but it is self centered to recognize our existence in a way that makes our longing for involvement the most important reality of life.
the point of living is giving, not getting.
by God's grace, we've already received what we long for (and all we need) but do not deserve. now we are privileged to enter into the very nature of ultimate reality:
other centered relating.
repentance moves us in that direction.
repentance vs. penance
what is the difference between true repentance and what might be called 'penance'?
TRUE REPENTANCE ADMITS HELPLESSNESS;
PENANCE PRESUMES THE ABILITY TO MAKE AMENDS ON ONE'S OWN
repentance is a humble declaration of longing;
penance is a self abasing declaration of arrogance.
the arrogance (and rage) of penance..assumes that sin is not that awful; therefore, it can be resolved by right behavior. the father is a slave driver with no heart, who cares only about himself; therefore, it can be resolved by right behavior.
penance is a payback; repentance is a plea for mercy.
the effects of repentance and penance are entirely different.
repentance softens;
penance hardens.
repentance creates a willingness to be humbled.
the person who knows the joy of being lifted up by God is willing to transform laughter into mourning and joy into gloom in order to humble herself before the Lord (james 4.8-10). if she knows that forfeiting her self centered agenda opens the door to life, then she can view trials of various kinds as friends and not enemies (romans 5.3-5; james 1.2-4)
repentance takes away her terror of shame because her soul has already admitted it is naked, wanting and undeserving.
in being accepted as a sinner, she has nothing to hide or fear;
therefore, she is free to love others without fear of their response or rejection. (luke 7.47)
being restored to the Father plants her hope firmly in His goodness and the coming day of perfect justice and union with Him for eternity.
she realized that not even death can destroy her; she need not fear obliteration.
therefore, she is fee to live passionately and boldly because she knows that whatever injustice is served her on the path to loving others will one day be vindicated.
...genuine conviction of sin, on the other hand, leads to a softening of the heart that dispels other centered contempt in the wake of the recognition that we are no better, at core, than those who have abused us.
self contempt is satan's counterfeit for true conviction.
contempt attacks the perceived source of the problem to gain control and then attempts to regain relationship with others and God through penitent deeds. conviction humbly recognizes the need for grace and embraces a sorrow that leads to life and sacrificial love.
a sorrow unto life is a merger of the bitterness that arises from breaking God's heart and the sweet joy of being restored to His embrace. the bitter heartache of wounding the heart of God and the pleasure of dining in His presence, welcome and wanted, is unlike any other emotion. repentance decreases shame, increases passion and welcomes restoration. penance increases contempt, decreases life and resists involvement.
what will repentance look like for the abused man or woman? it will involve a turning from death and a movement toward life in the internal and external arenas of life...
the internal shift will involve at least three elements:
1.a refusal to be dead
2.a refusal to mistrust
3.a refusal to despise passion.
each refusal must finally be energized by a realization that offering all that we are in the service of to others is the essence of life.
the external shift will look different for each individual, but it will be characterized by an active humility before God and a deepened commitment to vulnerable involvement with others.
...deadness..is the choice to rob others of our god given humanness.
it dehumanized relationships, making the response to others robotic and mechanical.
most of all, it is an assault against the creator God, who is the author of life.
to live as a dead being before the living God is to say that death is preferable to life with Him.
in essence, the choice to be dead is the choice to turn one's back on the author of life,
to deny Him the opportunity to touch our lives deeply and
to use us fully according to His good purposes.
THE REFUSAL TO BE DEAD is the choice to admit and embrace our existence:
'i am not a shadow,
a quiet ghost,
a substanceless vapor.
i am a person who can enjoy and be enjoyed by God and
who can relate to others in a way that draws them to an enjoyable relationship with God.
it is the recognition that nerve endings exist in the soul as well as in the body and they are good.
a victim refuses to be dead when she gives herself permission to acknowledge and feel the reality of both past and present.
...i asked an abused friend who hates herself for being uncomfortable in the presence of people (especially men)
what she would do if my nine year old daughter withdrew from Her:
would she warmly pursue her or
ignore her in disgust?
if she saw my little girl cry, would she angrily accuse her of wanting attention or
would she gently hold her while she wept?
of course, she said, she would pursue my child without disgust or anger;
but she would never allow herself to want someone to pursue her without feeling disgust for herself.
her alive heart felt grief over her capacity to be tender toward others but not toward herself.
the difference between how she would deal with my daughter and herself allowed her to weep over her sin of contempt for the first time.
repentance involves admitting we were victims who were unrighteously deprived of life.
from this juncture, however, we have two distinctly different paths from which to choose.
the path of sorrow unto death faces grief and in turn vows,
'never again
i have a right to life and i will never be deprived again.
this approach to grief actually exchanges self contempt for even deeper other centered contempt.
the second route, sorrow unto life,
moves from grief over our own victimization
to an acknowledgment of the damage we have done to others as a result of our choice to live dead and dormant.
a biblical path to handling life always steers us away from self centeredness and reflects the foundational christian ethic of loving others for their sake.
a refusal to be dead sets the stage to deal with A REFUSAL TO MISTRUST.
repentance in the areal of trust is difficult to explain.
the opposite of mistrust would naturally seem to be trust.
therefore, it might seem that an abuse victim ought to trust those whom she currently doubts or suspects of harm.
nothing could be further from the truth.
the problem with mistrust is that many persons are not worthy of trust, or at least deep trust; therefore, to encourage an abuse victim to trust is tantamount to asking her to more deeply doubt her intuition and open herself to more abuse.
the opposite of mistrust is not trust, but CARE.
when we view a person with mistrust, it is as if their life no longer matters.
we 'write them off'.
mistrust prejudges their every word and deed so that they cannot ever reach our heart.
a protective shield descents whenever we're around them and relationship is severed.
to review comments made earlier, boundary building often encourages us to harden our heart so that care, or a receptivity to relationship, is lost. repentance, or a refusal to mistrust, reengages the god given desire to care, to be kind, to comfort, and to be concerned about the temporal and eternal destiny of those who have harmed us.
a refusal to mistrust, however, is neither gullible nor stupid. it looks at evidence, evaluates the past, and makes decisions about trust based on conclusions reached through deductive reasoning. the Lord Jesus commands us to be 'wise as serpents and innocent as doves' matthew 10.16. evidence may force a woman to see that her spouse is an enemy, one who is bent on doing harm...trust is conditional; however, care is not. to care is to use all that we are for the good of others while not walling off the deep parts of our soul. by not writing off others, we tenderly and strongly offer relationship.
...the deepest harm of mistrust is perpetrated against God. God is seen as a games player, a cosmic sadist who twists the screws of pleasure to entice and pain to frustrate His victims. God is somone to placate and ignore or disdainfully despise. the one who does not care is indifferent. she is the kind of person Jesus described as neither hot nor cold;
'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. i wish you were either one or the other! so, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-i am about to spit you out of My mouth revelation 3.15-6. lukewarm indifference
'I JUST DON'T CARE
is more destructive to relationship than hatred.
..REFUSAL TO DESPISE PASSION..
passion, for most abuse victims,is dangerous.
passion is a door that, if opened, may allow rage and lust, violence and promiscuity to pour out like the opening of a pandora's box.
PASSION can be defined as THE DEEP RESPONSE OF THE SOUL TO LIFE:
THE FREEDOM TO REJOICE AND TO WEEP.
one of the most difficult commands to fulfill is..
'weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice' romans 12.15
it requires open hearted, other centered, reckless involvement.
passion is tasting pleasure with delight, brokenness with tears and evil with hatred.
a gifted counselor asked me to supervise her work. in one of our interactions i commented on how she uniquely intertwined gentle acceptance and relentless pursuit in her dealings with clients, two qualities not often found together. she first politely thanked me and then over a few minutes turned formal and cool. something significant had changed in her demeanor and style of interaction. we eventually talked about what had occurred. she acknowledged that she felt initial delight and then terror when i commented on her character. it turned out that she had a significantly unaddressed history of sexual abuse. she literally became nauseous when she received a compliment or felt pleasure.
a refusal to despise passion embraces pain and pleasure-particularly pleasurable arousal of the senses-as God given, wonderful and desirable. it also embraces the sadness of ambivalence. (feeling good and bad at the same thing) a fear of passion makes it nearly impossible to receive deep involvement from others. to some extent the abuse victim has lived in a flat, two dimensional world distant from human touch, tenderness, and ardor. i worked with a woman who admitted with terrible shame that she was more devastated when the family dog died than when her father passed away.
...sadness opens the door to grief-a grief over the loss of unself-conscious spontaneity and unashamed responsiveness to the human touch on soul and body. the loss is permanent on this side of heaven. a child's freedom to cuddle in her daddy's lap with complete confidence and sensual comfort will not be imaginable for the abused person who never experienced it...
repentance will always have one central quality: the purposeful movement of a humble, hungry heart toward a God who will receive and lift up. james stated the picture in the most profound and simple words:
'wash your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts, you double minded. grieve, mourn and wail. change your laughter to mourning and you joy to gloom. humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up james 4.8-10.
repentance is facing what is true;
i am a sinner and double minded and
i deserve to be separated from God.
it is a shift in perspective as to where life is found.
it is a deep recognition that life comes only to the broken, desperate, dependent heart that longs for God.
it is a melting into the warm arms of God,
acknowledging the wonder of being received when it would be so understandable to be spurned.
it is taking our place at the great feast,
eating our fill, and
delighting in the undeserved party being held in honor of our return.
repentance is a process that is never accomplished once and for all.
it is a cyclical, deepening movement that, like a snowball, picks up weight and speed as it rolls.
repentance opens the heart to the bitter taste of sin and the sweet joy of restoration.
it clears the senses in a way that exposes depravity and affirms dignity.
it awakens our hunger for our Father's embrace and deepens our awareness of His kind involvement.
and when we are deeply, truly touched by His love,
we will move boldly into the bittersweet privilege of loving others.
197.1..the process of change begins with honesty, which is a form of repentance. repentance is an about face movement from denial and rebellion to truth and surrender-from death to life.
in the beginning,honestly facing the characteristic lies and denial associated with sexual abuse usually intensifies the experience of victimization. for the fires time, memories return that rip apart the pretense of a happy childhood or a loving family. not only is the perpetrator faced as wicked, but other family members are seen as aiding the abuser by their complicity, denial or minimization of the harm. often the abuse victim realized that the same patterns that allowed the abuse to occur and go unaddressed are equally operative in her life today. victimization is usually not only an event in the past; in most cases, it is an ongoing, day by day experience.
the return of horrific memories, the exposure of past and current betrayal, the acknowledgment of internal damage, the recognition of current self protective, destructive patters-all are nearly overwhelming. thankfully, the process of absorbing the data is slow and progressive, rather than sudden and final. nevertheless, the process is disruptive and tumultuous. it is impossible to say what the internal process will be like for the honest abuse victim, but a general path that many experience may serve as a guide.
first, the process of honesty opens the door to stunned acknowledgment. the initial shock is somewhat analogous to physical shock. reality is seen, but in slow motion. the observer sees the awful truth, frame by frame, as a known but distant memory. often the unreal, distant memories arrive through current disappointment in a relationship. a birthday forgotten or the inability to receive a complement shakes the foundation of current coping strategies. the pretense that the past is the past and the present is satisfying begins to crumble in the face of deepened hunger and discontent.
disappointment often turns into rage. rage at the hypocrisy of the family. rage at the idiotic illusion of the good life. rage at the failures of those who claim to love but seem to adore only the image of being loving. RAGE IS THE THRASHING OF THE SOUL WHEN IT FULLY AWAKENS FROM THE NIGHTMARE LIE.
rage may be directed first and foremost toward the self. the self contempt infused through the past abuse may come to the surface with a vengeance, though the victim will often direct some of the rage toward the abuser, family, friends or spouse. because the rage is in fact there, the process of sanctification will include facing its ferocious intensity. growth never allows pretending. recovering the anger, however..is not the cure. it may feel good, freeing and energetic to face one's rage, but simply owning anger is not maturity. no matter how alive the soul feels in the midst of recovered anger, rage does not heal the wound or satisfy the soul. in most cases, the rage will lead only to deepened despair.
despair, or a fatalistic, who cares emptiness, is the pendulum swing from honesty to a second round of deceit. the question that surfaces-now far deeper than during the first round-is,
'what use is there in dealing with reality or God of my pain or those who harm me or my sin?
once her emptiness overtakes the initial experience of disappointment and rage, the victim must face a major crossroad. the path taken is either toward more radical denial and plastic functioning or toward deep change through repentance. if honesty is the first phase of the healing process that is experienced with shock, pain and anger, then repentance is the second phase that is entered through sadness, grief and sorrow.
\
sorrow alters the damage of the past and present. the process of honest grief over the damage of the abuse and one's autonomous response to it integrates the past into the present without carrying over the burden of hardness and vengeance. sorrow begins to melt the victim's callused hatred toward herself and others.
not all weeping is either restorative or repentant. grief may permit deeper acknowledgment of past pain and restore a greater sense of wholeness, but it may equally strengthen the resolve never to be hurt again.
grief may lead to two separate routes:
the path of sorrow unto life and
the path of sorrow unto death.
one route involves a reowning of lost parts of the soul for the purpose of humbly crying out to God with all that we are for grace and strength to live the God glorifying, other centered life. the second is a reclaiming of lost parts of the soul for the purpose of developing a case against the abuser, a wicked world, and ultimately against a God who did not intervene-a case that supports our right to exist independently of a disappointing, cruel world and the God whose eternal kingdom will replace it. the difference in the paths of sorrow is found in a contrast between repentance and penance.
before defining repentance, let me state two important points. first, the abuse victim is never called by God to repent about the past abuse. many victims have anguished before God, crying out for forgiveness for what occurred or for what they experienced-things that are in no way their fault.
second, repentance is a surprising, wholly unexpected experience that is rarely, if ever, a simple choice of the will to do right and not do wrong. repentance is poorly understood and rarely enjoyed. it is not necessarily transforming for those who labor to simply do right. for that reason, we must clearly define what is and is not repentance.
REPENTANCE IS AN INTERNAL SHIFT IN OUR PERCEIVED SOURCE OF LIFE. it is recognizing that our self protective means to avoiding hurt have not ushered us into real living (the reckless abandon to God that ultimately leads to a deep sense of wholeness and joy) or to purposeful
THE WEIGHT OF THE HOLY REQUIREMENT OF PERFECT, UNBROKEN LOVE IS MORE THAN ANY PERSON, EXCEPT JESUS CHRIST, CAN BEAR.
love silences explanation,
penetrates excuses
and humbles the heart,
preparing that heart to be captured by the gospel of grace.
ultimately, repentance is a hungry, broken return to God.
one of the greatest pictures of repentance is found in the story of the prodigal son (luke 15.11-32), which makes several points about the coming home process.
first, repentance begins...with dissatisfaction. the prodigal..admitted..
'i am eating garbage.
others are happy; i am not happy.
i am not staying here.
i'd rather risk untold shame, facing rejection from my father and taking the lowliest position..that stay in this muck.
it takes brokenness of soul to move back toward the father,
admitting what is true...
..the response of the prodigal's father (God)..
he weeps
restores and
celebrates.
the father is a fool, at least a fool in the eyes of his older son and undoubtedly in the eyes of his community...
he must have felt pressure either to turn his back on his child,
or at least to require a period of penance before allowing his boy to return to the family table.
instead, the father threw a party,
a public spectacle that restored full rights and privileges to the errant son.
the father did not even listen to the penitent litany the son rehearsed before he came into the father's presence...
the contrast of such a response of life is the reaction of death,exhibited by the older son. he viewed the father as a stringent taskmaster who could be pleased only by discipline, obedience, and a martyr's denial. he blamed the father for never giving him a party. the father's response indicated that a party was all his for the asking, but the older son never humbled himself to ask. the tragedy is that the older son actually despised the father more than the young prodigal. the prodigal, at least, trusted the father's goodness enough to ask for the money in the first place and to return in hunger once it was gone. the older brother asked for nothing and, in arrogant self justification, chose to avoid the party to prove he was more righteous than the father. Jesus told the story to shatter the presumptive facade of the righteous pharisees; in so doing he tears away our false assumptions about what pleases God.
what is repentance?
although difficult to define,
REPENTANCE INVOLVES THE RESPONSE OF
HUMBLE HUNGER
BOLD MOVEMENT and
WILD CELEBRATION
WHEN FACED WITH THE REALITY OF OUR FALLEN STATE AND THE GRACE OF GOD.
the Father wants us to be hungry and satisfied with our pigpen cuisine.
He wants us to return in absolute dependence and dine on the fatted calf.
repentance flows from the energy of being stunned, silent and without excuse for the harm we've done to ourselves and others and for breaking the heart of God.
it includes a hunger based refusal to wallow in anything that
makes us less human,
strips anyone of his dignity or
damages our relationship with the Lord.
...biblical repentance always leads us toward coming alive for the explicit purpose of having more to give to others for their well being and to God for His glory. without a radical commitment to seeing our entire existence as wrapped up in furthering God's purpose in other people's lives, recovering our souls can strengthen our tendency to think more about all that happens withing and to require that others treat us with tenderness and respect. longing for love from others is a beautiful part of our dignity as image bearers, but it is self centered to recognize our existence in a way that makes our longing for involvement the most important reality of life.
the point of living is giving, not getting.
by God's grace, we've already received what we long for (and all we need) but do not deserve. now we are privileged to enter into the very nature of ultimate reality:
other centered relating.
repentance moves us in that direction.
repentance vs. penance
what is the difference between true repentance and what might be called 'penance'?
TRUE REPENTANCE ADMITS HELPLESSNESS;
PENANCE PRESUMES THE ABILITY TO MAKE AMENDS ON ONE'S OWN
repentance is a humble declaration of longing;
penance is a self abasing declaration of arrogance.
the arrogance (and rage) of penance..assumes that sin is not that awful; therefore, it can be resolved by right behavior. the father is a slave driver with no heart, who cares only about himself; therefore, it can be resolved by right behavior.
penance is a payback; repentance is a plea for mercy.
the effects of repentance and penance are entirely different.
repentance softens;
penance hardens.
repentance creates a willingness to be humbled.
the person who knows the joy of being lifted up by God is willing to transform laughter into mourning and joy into gloom in order to humble herself before the Lord (james 4.8-10). if she knows that forfeiting her self centered agenda opens the door to life, then she can view trials of various kinds as friends and not enemies (romans 5.3-5; james 1.2-4)
repentance takes away her terror of shame because her soul has already admitted it is naked, wanting and undeserving.
in being accepted as a sinner, she has nothing to hide or fear;
therefore, she is free to love others without fear of their response or rejection. (luke 7.47)
being restored to the Father plants her hope firmly in His goodness and the coming day of perfect justice and union with Him for eternity.
she realized that not even death can destroy her; she need not fear obliteration.
therefore, she is fee to live passionately and boldly because she knows that whatever injustice is served her on the path to loving others will one day be vindicated.
...genuine conviction of sin, on the other hand, leads to a softening of the heart that dispels other centered contempt in the wake of the recognition that we are no better, at core, than those who have abused us.
self contempt is satan's counterfeit for true conviction.
contempt attacks the perceived source of the problem to gain control and then attempts to regain relationship with others and God through penitent deeds. conviction humbly recognizes the need for grace and embraces a sorrow that leads to life and sacrificial love.
a sorrow unto life is a merger of the bitterness that arises from breaking God's heart and the sweet joy of being restored to His embrace. the bitter heartache of wounding the heart of God and the pleasure of dining in His presence, welcome and wanted, is unlike any other emotion. repentance decreases shame, increases passion and welcomes restoration. penance increases contempt, decreases life and resists involvement.
what will repentance look like for the abused man or woman? it will involve a turning from death and a movement toward life in the internal and external arenas of life...
the internal shift will involve at least three elements:
1.a refusal to be dead
2.a refusal to mistrust
3.a refusal to despise passion.
each refusal must finally be energized by a realization that offering all that we are in the service of to others is the essence of life.
the external shift will look different for each individual, but it will be characterized by an active humility before God and a deepened commitment to vulnerable involvement with others.
...deadness..is the choice to rob others of our god given humanness.
it dehumanized relationships, making the response to others robotic and mechanical.
most of all, it is an assault against the creator God, who is the author of life.
to live as a dead being before the living God is to say that death is preferable to life with Him.
in essence, the choice to be dead is the choice to turn one's back on the author of life,
to deny Him the opportunity to touch our lives deeply and
to use us fully according to His good purposes.
THE REFUSAL TO BE DEAD is the choice to admit and embrace our existence:
'i am not a shadow,
a quiet ghost,
a substanceless vapor.
i am a person who can enjoy and be enjoyed by God and
who can relate to others in a way that draws them to an enjoyable relationship with God.
it is the recognition that nerve endings exist in the soul as well as in the body and they are good.
a victim refuses to be dead when she gives herself permission to acknowledge and feel the reality of both past and present.
...i asked an abused friend who hates herself for being uncomfortable in the presence of people (especially men)
what she would do if my nine year old daughter withdrew from Her:
would she warmly pursue her or
ignore her in disgust?
if she saw my little girl cry, would she angrily accuse her of wanting attention or
would she gently hold her while she wept?
of course, she said, she would pursue my child without disgust or anger;
but she would never allow herself to want someone to pursue her without feeling disgust for herself.
her alive heart felt grief over her capacity to be tender toward others but not toward herself.
the difference between how she would deal with my daughter and herself allowed her to weep over her sin of contempt for the first time.
repentance involves admitting we were victims who were unrighteously deprived of life.
from this juncture, however, we have two distinctly different paths from which to choose.
the path of sorrow unto death faces grief and in turn vows,
'never again
i have a right to life and i will never be deprived again.
this approach to grief actually exchanges self contempt for even deeper other centered contempt.
the second route, sorrow unto life,
moves from grief over our own victimization
to an acknowledgment of the damage we have done to others as a result of our choice to live dead and dormant.
a biblical path to handling life always steers us away from self centeredness and reflects the foundational christian ethic of loving others for their sake.
a refusal to be dead sets the stage to deal with A REFUSAL TO MISTRUST.
repentance in the areal of trust is difficult to explain.
the opposite of mistrust would naturally seem to be trust.
therefore, it might seem that an abuse victim ought to trust those whom she currently doubts or suspects of harm.
nothing could be further from the truth.
the problem with mistrust is that many persons are not worthy of trust, or at least deep trust; therefore, to encourage an abuse victim to trust is tantamount to asking her to more deeply doubt her intuition and open herself to more abuse.
the opposite of mistrust is not trust, but CARE.
when we view a person with mistrust, it is as if their life no longer matters.
we 'write them off'.
mistrust prejudges their every word and deed so that they cannot ever reach our heart.
a protective shield descents whenever we're around them and relationship is severed.
to review comments made earlier, boundary building often encourages us to harden our heart so that care, or a receptivity to relationship, is lost. repentance, or a refusal to mistrust, reengages the god given desire to care, to be kind, to comfort, and to be concerned about the temporal and eternal destiny of those who have harmed us.
a refusal to mistrust, however, is neither gullible nor stupid. it looks at evidence, evaluates the past, and makes decisions about trust based on conclusions reached through deductive reasoning. the Lord Jesus commands us to be 'wise as serpents and innocent as doves' matthew 10.16. evidence may force a woman to see that her spouse is an enemy, one who is bent on doing harm...trust is conditional; however, care is not. to care is to use all that we are for the good of others while not walling off the deep parts of our soul. by not writing off others, we tenderly and strongly offer relationship.
...the deepest harm of mistrust is perpetrated against God. God is seen as a games player, a cosmic sadist who twists the screws of pleasure to entice and pain to frustrate His victims. God is somone to placate and ignore or disdainfully despise. the one who does not care is indifferent. she is the kind of person Jesus described as neither hot nor cold;
'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. i wish you were either one or the other! so, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-i am about to spit you out of My mouth revelation 3.15-6. lukewarm indifference
'I JUST DON'T CARE
is more destructive to relationship than hatred.
..REFUSAL TO DESPISE PASSION..
passion, for most abuse victims,is dangerous.
passion is a door that, if opened, may allow rage and lust, violence and promiscuity to pour out like the opening of a pandora's box.
PASSION can be defined as THE DEEP RESPONSE OF THE SOUL TO LIFE:
THE FREEDOM TO REJOICE AND TO WEEP.
one of the most difficult commands to fulfill is..
'weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice' romans 12.15
it requires open hearted, other centered, reckless involvement.
passion is tasting pleasure with delight, brokenness with tears and evil with hatred.
a gifted counselor asked me to supervise her work. in one of our interactions i commented on how she uniquely intertwined gentle acceptance and relentless pursuit in her dealings with clients, two qualities not often found together. she first politely thanked me and then over a few minutes turned formal and cool. something significant had changed in her demeanor and style of interaction. we eventually talked about what had occurred. she acknowledged that she felt initial delight and then terror when i commented on her character. it turned out that she had a significantly unaddressed history of sexual abuse. she literally became nauseous when she received a compliment or felt pleasure.
a refusal to despise passion embraces pain and pleasure-particularly pleasurable arousal of the senses-as God given, wonderful and desirable. it also embraces the sadness of ambivalence. (feeling good and bad at the same thing) a fear of passion makes it nearly impossible to receive deep involvement from others. to some extent the abuse victim has lived in a flat, two dimensional world distant from human touch, tenderness, and ardor. i worked with a woman who admitted with terrible shame that she was more devastated when the family dog died than when her father passed away.
...sadness opens the door to grief-a grief over the loss of unself-conscious spontaneity and unashamed responsiveness to the human touch on soul and body. the loss is permanent on this side of heaven. a child's freedom to cuddle in her daddy's lap with complete confidence and sensual comfort will not be imaginable for the abused person who never experienced it...
repentance will always have one central quality: the purposeful movement of a humble, hungry heart toward a God who will receive and lift up. james stated the picture in the most profound and simple words:
'wash your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts, you double minded. grieve, mourn and wail. change your laughter to mourning and you joy to gloom. humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up james 4.8-10.
repentance is facing what is true;
i am a sinner and double minded and
i deserve to be separated from God.
it is a shift in perspective as to where life is found.
it is a deep recognition that life comes only to the broken, desperate, dependent heart that longs for God.
it is a melting into the warm arms of God,
acknowledging the wonder of being received when it would be so understandable to be spurned.
it is taking our place at the great feast,
eating our fill, and
delighting in the undeserved party being held in honor of our return.
repentance is a process that is never accomplished once and for all.
it is a cyclical, deepening movement that, like a snowball, picks up weight and speed as it rolls.
repentance opens the heart to the bitter taste of sin and the sweet joy of restoration.
it clears the senses in a way that exposes depravity and affirms dignity.
it awakens our hunger for our Father's embrace and deepens our awareness of His kind involvement.
and when we are deeply, truly touched by His love,
we will move boldly into the bittersweet privilege of loving others.
Monday, October 22, 2012
10.22.2012 PSALMS 120-134 - THE SONGS OF DEGREES or, THE GRADUAL PSALMS
taken from the treasury of david-volume 6.400f, a commentary by charles haddon spurgeon on the psalms.
'this little psalter within the psalter consists of fifteen brief songs. why they are grouped together and what is meant by their generic name it would be hard to tell. the conjectures are very many, but they are mere suppositions. out of them all the conjecture of dr. jebb best commends itself to my own mind, though it would be quite consistent with this suggestion to believe that the series of songs arranged by david became the pilgrim psalms of after ages, and were chanted by the Lord's people as they went up to the temple. they are 'songs of the goings up'; so some read the word. those who delight to spiritualize everything find here ascents of the soul, or language fitted to describe the rising of the heart from the deepest grief to the highest delight. i have thought it well to indicate the methods by which learned men have tried to explain the term 'songs of degrees', but the reader must select his own interpretation. spurgeon
in (I chronicles 13.7).. it is related, that david brought up the ark from kirjath-jearim to the house of obed-edom. the word used in the.. verse, for 'bringing up' the ark, is of the same etymology with, and cognate to that which is translated 'degrees'. and upon this occasion the great event was celebrated by the accompaniment of sacred music.
'and david and all israel played before God with all their might and with singing and with harps and with psalteries and with timbrels and with cymbals and with trumpets
again, (in 15.14)..the same term is employed for bringing up the ark to jerusalem: and the choral services of the levites are mentioned in immediate connection. and in (II chronicles 5.5)..we are told the solomon assembled the people at the dedication of the temple, to bring up the ark from sion to the temple of the Lord. john jebb
i abide in the simple and plain sense as much as i may and judge that these psalms are called the psalms of degrees because the levites of priests were wont to sing them upon the stairs or some high place; even as with us he that beginneth the psalms or preacheth, standeth in a place above the rest, that he may be the better seen and heard. for it seemeth not that these psalms were sung of the multitude which were in the temple, or of the rest of the choir, but of certain which were appointed to sing them, or like as some other of the psalms have their name and title from the singer. but how should a man know all their rites and ceremonies, especially after so long a time, whereby they are now clean worn out of the memory or all men? seeing therefore among such a multitude of psalms, when the law was yet in his full force and power, some were wont to be sung with one manner of ceremony and some with another, according to the time and place, as the use and custom then was, let this suffice us to think that this title pertaineth to no point of doctrine, but only to the ceremony of the singers, what manner of ceremony soever it was. martin luther
there were 15 steps by which the priests ascended into the temple, on each of which they sang one of these 15 psalms. david kimchi
no trace in history, or authentic tradition, can be found of these steps, which owe their construction solely to the accommodating fancy of the rabbins, who, as usual, imagined facts, in order to support their preconceived theories. john jebb
it is an additional objection to this rabbinical conceit, that david, whose name several of these psalms bear-and others of which have evident reference to his time and circumstances-lived in the time of the tabernacle which had no steps. james anderson's not to calvin in loc.
in the version of theodotian, executed in the early part of the second century, with the express view of correcting the errors of the septuagint, as well as in the translations by aquila and by symmachus, these psalms are rightly described as songs for the journeys up and are thus at once referred to the stated pilgrimages to the temple. the expressions,
'thou shalt GO UP to appear before the Lord they God thrice in the year. exodus 34.24,
'if this people GO UP to do sacrifice I kings 12.27-
a form of expression constantly employed as often as these sacred journeys are mentioned-is precisely that which the psalms themselves exhibit:
"i was glad when it was said unto me, GO UP unto the house of the Lord;
and while we may well adopt this view, for the additional reason that it is in harmony with the whole spirit and sentiment which they breathe throughout, we shall find these psalms to form at the same time one of the most admirable and instructive manuals of devotion with which the love of our heavenly Father, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, has been pleased to bless us.
robert nisbet, in 'the songs of the temple pilgims', 1863
...from the customs of the orientals still prevalent, i think it highly probable that such an explanation (that devout pilgims on their way to jerusalem to keep the great feasts of the Lord sang them) of the title may be substantially correct. nothing is more common than to hear individuals and parties of natives, travelling together through the open country and along mountain paths, especially during the night, break out into singing some of their favourite songs.
once, descending from the top of sunnin, above beirut, with a large company of natives, they spontaneously began to sing in concert. the moon was shining brightly in the clear sky and they kept up their chanting for a long time. i shall not soon forget the impression made by that moonlight concert, as we wound our way down the eastern side of lebanon to the buka'a, on the way to ba'albek. through the still midnight air of that lofty region the rough edge of their stentorian
(very loud and powerful in sound)
voices, softened into melody, rang out full and strong, waking the sleeping echoes far and wide down the rocky defiles of the mountain. something like this may have often rendered vocal this dreary ascent to jeruaslem. it is common in this country to travel in the night during the summer, and we know that the hebrew pilgims journeyed in large companies. on his ascent along this road from jericho to the holy city, Jesus was attended not only by the twelve apostles, by by others, both men and women; and it would be strange indeed if sometimes they did not seek relief from this oppressive solitude by singing the beautiful songs of zion. william m. thomson, in 'the land and the book', 1881
when we consider the place in the psalter which these 'songs of degrees, or of the goings up' occupy, we see good reason to accept the statement (of the syriac version, and of s. chrysostom, theodoret, euthymius, and other fathers, and also of summachus, aquila and of hammond, ewald and many moderns), that these psalms describe the feelings of those israelites who went up with zerubbabel and jeshua and afterwards with ezra, and still later with nehemiah, from the land of their captivity and dispersion at babylon, susa and other regions of the east, to the home of their fathers, jerusalem. hence, in some of the foregoing psalms, we have seen a reference to the dedication of the second temple (ps. 118), and of the walls of jerusalem (ps. 102), and to the building up of the nation itself on the old foundation of the law of God, given to their fathers at sinai (ps. 119) christopher wordsworth
gesenius has the merit of having first discerned the true meaning of the questioned inscription, inasmuch as first in 1812, and frequently since that time, he has taught that the fifteen songs have their name from the steplike progressive rhythm of their thoughts, and that consequently the name, like the triolet (roundelay)
(a song in which a phrase, line or the like is continually repeated)
in western poetry, does not refer to the liturgical usage, but to the technical structure. the correctness of this view has been duly appraised more particularly by de wette, who adduces this rhythm of steps or degrees, too, among the more artificial rhythms. the songs are called songs of degrees or gradual psalms as being songs that move onward towards a climax, and that by means of (greek) plokA (epiplokA), ie. a taking up again
of the immediately preceding word by way of giving intensity to the expression; and they are placed together on account of this common characteristic, just like the michtammim, which bear that name from a similar characteristic. franz delitzsch
we may notice the following characteristics of nearly all these psalms:
sweetness and tenderness;
a sad pathetic tone;
brevity;
an absence generally of the ordinary parallelism;
and something of a quick, trochaic
(pertaining to a trochee, which is a foot (commonly refers to the movement of the foot in beating time)of two syllables(a vocal sound or set of sounds), a long followed by a short in quantitative meter, or a stressed followed by an unstressed in accentual meter.)
rhythm. the speaker's commentary
though it may be they are so called because of their excellency ; a song of degrees being an excellent song, as an excellent man is called a man of high degree I chron. 17.17;
these being excellent ones for the matter of them, their manner of composure, and the brevity of them. john gill
'this little psalter within the psalter consists of fifteen brief songs. why they are grouped together and what is meant by their generic name it would be hard to tell. the conjectures are very many, but they are mere suppositions. out of them all the conjecture of dr. jebb best commends itself to my own mind, though it would be quite consistent with this suggestion to believe that the series of songs arranged by david became the pilgrim psalms of after ages, and were chanted by the Lord's people as they went up to the temple. they are 'songs of the goings up'; so some read the word. those who delight to spiritualize everything find here ascents of the soul, or language fitted to describe the rising of the heart from the deepest grief to the highest delight. i have thought it well to indicate the methods by which learned men have tried to explain the term 'songs of degrees', but the reader must select his own interpretation. spurgeon
in (I chronicles 13.7).. it is related, that david brought up the ark from kirjath-jearim to the house of obed-edom. the word used in the.. verse, for 'bringing up' the ark, is of the same etymology with, and cognate to that which is translated 'degrees'. and upon this occasion the great event was celebrated by the accompaniment of sacred music.
'and david and all israel played before God with all their might and with singing and with harps and with psalteries and with timbrels and with cymbals and with trumpets
again, (in 15.14)..the same term is employed for bringing up the ark to jerusalem: and the choral services of the levites are mentioned in immediate connection. and in (II chronicles 5.5)..we are told the solomon assembled the people at the dedication of the temple, to bring up the ark from sion to the temple of the Lord. john jebb
i abide in the simple and plain sense as much as i may and judge that these psalms are called the psalms of degrees because the levites of priests were wont to sing them upon the stairs or some high place; even as with us he that beginneth the psalms or preacheth, standeth in a place above the rest, that he may be the better seen and heard. for it seemeth not that these psalms were sung of the multitude which were in the temple, or of the rest of the choir, but of certain which were appointed to sing them, or like as some other of the psalms have their name and title from the singer. but how should a man know all their rites and ceremonies, especially after so long a time, whereby they are now clean worn out of the memory or all men? seeing therefore among such a multitude of psalms, when the law was yet in his full force and power, some were wont to be sung with one manner of ceremony and some with another, according to the time and place, as the use and custom then was, let this suffice us to think that this title pertaineth to no point of doctrine, but only to the ceremony of the singers, what manner of ceremony soever it was. martin luther
there were 15 steps by which the priests ascended into the temple, on each of which they sang one of these 15 psalms. david kimchi
no trace in history, or authentic tradition, can be found of these steps, which owe their construction solely to the accommodating fancy of the rabbins, who, as usual, imagined facts, in order to support their preconceived theories. john jebb
it is an additional objection to this rabbinical conceit, that david, whose name several of these psalms bear-and others of which have evident reference to his time and circumstances-lived in the time of the tabernacle which had no steps. james anderson's not to calvin in loc.
in the version of theodotian, executed in the early part of the second century, with the express view of correcting the errors of the septuagint, as well as in the translations by aquila and by symmachus, these psalms are rightly described as songs for the journeys up and are thus at once referred to the stated pilgrimages to the temple. the expressions,
'thou shalt GO UP to appear before the Lord they God thrice in the year. exodus 34.24,
'if this people GO UP to do sacrifice I kings 12.27-
a form of expression constantly employed as often as these sacred journeys are mentioned-is precisely that which the psalms themselves exhibit:
"i was glad when it was said unto me, GO UP unto the house of the Lord;
and while we may well adopt this view, for the additional reason that it is in harmony with the whole spirit and sentiment which they breathe throughout, we shall find these psalms to form at the same time one of the most admirable and instructive manuals of devotion with which the love of our heavenly Father, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, has been pleased to bless us.
robert nisbet, in 'the songs of the temple pilgims', 1863
...from the customs of the orientals still prevalent, i think it highly probable that such an explanation (that devout pilgims on their way to jerusalem to keep the great feasts of the Lord sang them) of the title may be substantially correct. nothing is more common than to hear individuals and parties of natives, travelling together through the open country and along mountain paths, especially during the night, break out into singing some of their favourite songs.
once, descending from the top of sunnin, above beirut, with a large company of natives, they spontaneously began to sing in concert. the moon was shining brightly in the clear sky and they kept up their chanting for a long time. i shall not soon forget the impression made by that moonlight concert, as we wound our way down the eastern side of lebanon to the buka'a, on the way to ba'albek. through the still midnight air of that lofty region the rough edge of their stentorian
(very loud and powerful in sound)
voices, softened into melody, rang out full and strong, waking the sleeping echoes far and wide down the rocky defiles of the mountain. something like this may have often rendered vocal this dreary ascent to jeruaslem. it is common in this country to travel in the night during the summer, and we know that the hebrew pilgims journeyed in large companies. on his ascent along this road from jericho to the holy city, Jesus was attended not only by the twelve apostles, by by others, both men and women; and it would be strange indeed if sometimes they did not seek relief from this oppressive solitude by singing the beautiful songs of zion. william m. thomson, in 'the land and the book', 1881
when we consider the place in the psalter which these 'songs of degrees, or of the goings up' occupy, we see good reason to accept the statement (of the syriac version, and of s. chrysostom, theodoret, euthymius, and other fathers, and also of summachus, aquila and of hammond, ewald and many moderns), that these psalms describe the feelings of those israelites who went up with zerubbabel and jeshua and afterwards with ezra, and still later with nehemiah, from the land of their captivity and dispersion at babylon, susa and other regions of the east, to the home of their fathers, jerusalem. hence, in some of the foregoing psalms, we have seen a reference to the dedication of the second temple (ps. 118), and of the walls of jerusalem (ps. 102), and to the building up of the nation itself on the old foundation of the law of God, given to their fathers at sinai (ps. 119) christopher wordsworth
gesenius has the merit of having first discerned the true meaning of the questioned inscription, inasmuch as first in 1812, and frequently since that time, he has taught that the fifteen songs have their name from the steplike progressive rhythm of their thoughts, and that consequently the name, like the triolet (roundelay)
(a song in which a phrase, line or the like is continually repeated)
in western poetry, does not refer to the liturgical usage, but to the technical structure. the correctness of this view has been duly appraised more particularly by de wette, who adduces this rhythm of steps or degrees, too, among the more artificial rhythms. the songs are called songs of degrees or gradual psalms as being songs that move onward towards a climax, and that by means of (greek) plokA (epiplokA), ie. a taking up again
of the immediately preceding word by way of giving intensity to the expression; and they are placed together on account of this common characteristic, just like the michtammim, which bear that name from a similar characteristic. franz delitzsch
we may notice the following characteristics of nearly all these psalms:
sweetness and tenderness;
a sad pathetic tone;
brevity;
an absence generally of the ordinary parallelism;
and something of a quick, trochaic
(pertaining to a trochee, which is a foot (commonly refers to the movement of the foot in beating time)of two syllables(a vocal sound or set of sounds), a long followed by a short in quantitative meter, or a stressed followed by an unstressed in accentual meter.)
rhythm. the speaker's commentary
though it may be they are so called because of their excellency ; a song of degrees being an excellent song, as an excellent man is called a man of high degree I chron. 17.17;
these being excellent ones for the matter of them, their manner of composure, and the brevity of them. john gill
Saturday, October 20, 2012
10.20.2012 VAUDOIS VIII - JANAVEL AND JAHIER
this is a continuation of the events chronicled on VAUDOIS VII.
it has been already stated that the vau of angrogna, and the refugees of the plain of piedmont, had, in great part, retired into the valley of perouse; those of st. martin, forewarned by a man who, although a catholic, was compassionate, of the arrival of the troops of galeazzo, with commission to put all to fire and sword, made hast to gain the valley of pragela; and such of the inhabitants of bobi as contrived to escape the massacre sought an asylum in that of queyras, across frightful snows, precipices, and rocks. all these places of refuge were then within the dominions of the king of france.
with the view of shutting that hospitable coutry against the vau, the duchess of savoy, who appears to have taken a much greater part in thses disastrous events than her son, wrote to the court of france. she wished to prevent her subjects from leaving the valleys and to have them massacred there. mazarin did not enter into her niews; he replied that humanity imposed upon him the duty of opening as asylum to the fugitive vau.
this gave them facilities for rallying, arming and organizing themselves. they wee even able to re-enter their country inmuch greater numbers than they had left it, for a multitude of their brethren from queyras and prgela joined them. meanwhile, a man of energy and ability, captain joshua janavel, who alone had foreseen the treachery, supported, doubtless, by the hand of God (in which no one ever put more absolute confidence than this intrepid warrior), kept in check the enemy's army and, by slow degrees, drove it from the valleys.
this came to pass as follows:
-it will be recollected that the 24th of april was the day fixed for the general massacre of the vau. troops had been contoned in theprincipal place of each commune, except rora; not, however, that that place was to have been spared. accordingly, on the morning of that day of extermination, the marquis of st. damian had sent a battalion of 500 or 600 soldiers from le villar, in order to surprise rora, under the command of count christopher of lucerna, who was designated the count of rora, because his apanage had been given him in that seigneurie. these soldiers climbed the steep slopes of the mountain of brouard, which lay between them and rora. janavel (jana), whose residence was at the base of a long ridge which that mountain sends out in the direction of lucerna, saw the soldierss ascending on the way towards the menaced village; and he, ascending on the way towards the menaced village; and he, ascending also by a different way, gathered together as he went, six determined men like himself, with whom he posted himself in a favourable position on the path by which the troops must pass, who advanced in expectation of taking the village by surprise. there he awaited them with his little party, behind some rocks that left a narrow passage only, through which they must of necessity pass.
so soon as they were engaged in this defile
(a narrow passage, especially between mountains)
jana and his companions united in one loud cry and discharged their peices, of which every one took effect; six soldiers fell, the rest drew back; those who followed, believing the ambuscade to be fomed by a much larger body than it really was, wheeled about, and the advanced guard was then separated from the main body of the squadron. the vau, concealed amongst rocks, where the enemy could form on estimate of their numbers, poured in their fire, and cleared the ground of the advanced guard, causing it to disband and take to flight. the rearguard, which had yet scarcely arrived at the summit of the mountain ridge, seeing that the foremost ranks were endeavouring to re-ascend it, made all hast to get down again by the side on which it was advancing, without having even seen those by whom it hd been attacked; the fugitives likewise, turning their backs upon the vau, saw them as little; and thus a whole battalion retired before a corporal's party, or rather before the exaggerated image of a perilous ambuscade. such incidents are rare, but they can be conceived. it was thus that the entire army of brennus took to flight before the temple of delphi, at the noise made by the priests of apollo, transformed, by the affrighted imagination of the soldiers, into supernatural combatants.
jana, returning by rora, apprise the inhabitants of that village of the danger which they had run. ignorant of the massacres which had been perpetrated on that same day in the valley of lucerna, the people of rora immediately went to complain to the marquis of pianesse, of the invsion atempted against them in the morning.
'if they meant to attack you, it was not by my orders, he replied, the troops which i command never made any such wicked attempt. it can only have been a horde of piedmontese robbers and vagabonds. you would have done me a peasure if you had cut them in pieces. however, he added, with an air of kindness, i shall take care that such alarms do not take place again.
it was not an alarm, in good sooth, which he intended, but a surprise which should crush them all. proof of this was soon afforded.
on the folowing day a new battalion was sent against rora, by the mountain of cassulet. this time jana had 17 men with him; the number seems very small, but under his guidance they were worth an army. of these 18 men, 12 were armed from head to foot, 6 had only slings. he disposed them in three bands of 6 men each, to wit, 4 musketeers and 2 slingers. his position was chosen beforehand; it was again a defile, in which 10 men had scarcely room to manouvre: he had almost twice the number and occupied the most adnatageous position.
as soon as the battalion of the marquis of pianesse had advanced into the dpths of the scene of ambuscade, the vau made their appearance. an officer and 10 foot soldiers fell at ther first dicahge. stones flew like hai, whistling amongst the ranks of the enemy, who fell into disorder.
'every man save himself! cried a coward.
the troops began to diband. jan and his men rushed upon them from the rocks above, a pistol in one hand and a sword in the other. their agility, vigour and intrepidity multiplied their numbers; it seemed as if jaguars or lynxes flew from crest to crest of the rocks, as lightly as winged insects from flower to flower. the battalion, already surprised, thrown into confusion, and half routed, saw its discharges of musketry wasted amongst empty bushes, or upon im0penetrable rocks, and yet men resolute and completely armed, springing up, falling down, and leaping about before their eyes from these bushes and these rocks, and scattering death around their steps. the battalion, or rather the companies which were irst surprised and most engaged, recoiled involuntarily before them. the retrograde movement extended, the contgion of terror spread, one was carried alon by the example of another-and presently these 600 men, who had been led to a field of battle with which they were not acquainted, fled towards lucerna, ignorant alike of the number of their adversaries, and of the number of the dead whom they left behind them.
men who flee do not deefend themselves-they do not see the danger, they aggravate it by their flight, giving arms to the enemy by their own weakness, and doubling the energy of his assaults. it was thus with the battalion of the moutain of cassulet. it had lost only 12 men in the defile, it lost 40 in the flight. the folowing are the words inwhich jana, thirty years after, when banished from his country, recalled in his exile that glorious event:
'we were but very few in number; a few fusileers, and six or seven slingers, wo were not yet able to use the musket and we defeated the enemy; if we had not, we would have been all destroyed. when they fought down hill, the stones of the slings and the ten fusileers did more execution than you could have believed.
from these few words it appears that amongst that little handful of combatants who saved rora, and who ere long became the salvation of the valleys, there were some young men who were ot yet able to use the musket. it is impossible not to be all the more struck with the success of this heroic phalanx; we know not which most to admire, their courage, or the divine protection which gave them the victory. but valour is not to be measured by age, nor the strength of an army by the number of its soldiers. jana's troop had already given proof of this, and was to give further proof of it.
the marquis of pianesse, a second time frustrated in his projects, sent to rora, cound christopher, the seigneur of the place, to restore confindence amongst the vau and to repudiate, as a mistake, the sending of troops into their valley.
'reports have been made agains you, said he, whose falsehood has been discovered; you have only to keep yourselves quiet, and you shall live in peace
at the same time he cause a battalion, more numerous than the former,to be collected, for the purpose of annihilating them. it seems marvellous that the vau could allow themselves to be caught by such promises; and such impudence of falsehood seems surprising in a man of noble birth; but we must not forget that they considered lying to be a sin, and that he regard it as a virtue. has not the highest organ of catholicism, an ecumenical council, declared that it is lawful to break faith with heretics? and did not the propaganda, jesuitism, and all that constituted the life and power of the romish church at that period, make it a duty? what a protestant would reckon disgraceful, is matter of pride to a papist. to accomplish the shedding of blood by treachery was a legitimate triumph for rome. yet we may suppose that confidence was not completely restored to the minds of the vau.
next day, being the 27th of april, an entire regiment moved into the valley, pressed on towards rora, took possession of all the paths, occupied all the positions, burned a number of houses which lay in its way and carried off a load of plunder and the flocks of the inhabitants, who had retired to the heights of friouland. jana, with his men, beheld from distance the ravaging of the valley, but durst not approach because of the great numbers of the enemy. however, when he saw them encumbered with booty, and embarassed by the flocks which they took away with them,
he encouraged his seventeen men,
fell upon his knees, offered a fervent prayer to the God of armies, and
with undaunted boldness conducted his little troop to an advantageous position named damasser.
the regiment was arrested in its passage-
did not know the number of the enemy-
did not choose to abandon the booty-
lost its foremost men, and
thought it best to turn bck and retire upon le villar.
but the vau knew their own mountins better than these stranger troops;
they took a short path,
got before them,
posted themselves on their line of passage,
and again cut off their retreat.
this was near the summit of the mountain which separates rora from le villar, on a little grassy plain, named the pian pra, which means the smooth meadow.
the army of pianesse advanced, bearing along with it an immense booty.
it marched in disorder and carelessly,
for the foes over whom it had been unable to gain any advantage had disappeared from its path, and as no trace of them was to be perceived, it seemed that they had thought it best to make no further demonstration.
all at once a destructive fire was opened at a short distance from amongst the trees.
the soldiers, instead of defending themselves, hurried forward in their course.
they were already on the descent of the mountains.
jana's party rolled down upon them an avalanche of stones.
they dispersed themselves in order to avoid them.
hereupon the vau rushed in amongst these disbanded soldierss.
in vain they attempted to rally;
the ground did not any longer permit it;
many of them lost their footing
and were helplessly killed, or fell over the precipices.
however, the greater part of the army arrived at le villar,
but they had left their booty by the way;
the vau lost none of their men,
and recovered possession of all their property which had been carried off.
having re-ascended to the pian pra,
jana caused his men to halt.
'let us give thanks, said he.
his men fell on their knees.
"O God! exclaimed their intrepid leader,
we bless Thee for having preserved us.
protect our people in these calamities,
and increase our faith!
this short prayer was followed by the Lord's prayer and the apostles' creed.
meanwhile the fugitives arrived at lucerna.
the marquis of pianesse,
furious, humiliated, burning with rage, yet desirous to restrain himself,
perceiving that it would be vain to have recourse to new acts of deceit or perfidious protestations,
convoked the whole forces under his command, from bubiano, from barges and from cavour.
they were all to assemble at lucerna in order to march upon rora;
the day and the hour were appointed;
but the zealot who conducted the massacre oat bobi, ,mario de bagnol, wished to have the glory all to himself of destroying this miserable handful of adventurers, for so they designated these heroic mountaineers who defended, with so much courage, their unhappy families.
captain mario accordingly set out with his musketeers two hours before the other troops. he had three companies of regular troops, one of volunteers and one of piedmontese outlaws. a fifth of irish..they..even received a promise beforehand, that a free grant would be made to them of the dispeopled lands of the valleys. they fought, therefore, for their own interest...
captain mario divided his troops into two parties, of which one took the right, and the other the left side of the vale of rora. they advanced without resistance to the rocks of rummer, already signalized four days before as the scene of jana's first victory. jana was again in trenched there, his little troop augmented by a number of new combatants, and thus raised to the number of from30 to40 men. but the right of the count of bagnol, having deployed upon the heights, had got above rummer, and threatened to attack the vau in the rear, whilst the rest of the assailants would have attacked them in front.
jana saw the trap in which he was on the point of being taken;
and with the promptitude of decision and energy of action which mark military genius,
he exclaimed, 'forward!
to the broua!
(notes: a patois word, signifying the summit)
the victory is up there!
and wheeling about,
he left the position which he had occupied opposite to the front of captain mario,
whose movement in pursuit was retarded by the necessity of scaling rocks,
and turned against the upper detachment which was already deploying upon the smooth brow of the hill;
all the vau had their pieces loaded;
jana turned them directly upon the right wing of that detachment which was maneuvering in order to surround them.
'Fire! cried he.
a terrible discharge was poured in upon the enemy;
the bulk of the troops inclined in that direction to resist the vau;
but jana had flung himself upon his belly on the earth, and the bullets passed over his head:
and immediately taking advantage of the clouds of smoke which still covered him,
instead of pressing on in his original direction,
he made a sudden bend, and proceeded, sword in hand, to cut his way through the left wing,
where the enemy was already weakened by the movement of concentration which had taken place to the opposite side.
breaking in this way the line of the invaders,
he passed through them,
and attained the summit or broua which he had pointed out to his soldiers.
here he had the advantage of the ground;
and all the vau ranging themselves in order of battle,
with their backs against the rocks,
with the triple energy which is given by
a good cause, trust in God, and success,
they faced their foes with an intrepidity that daunted them.
in vain did the two divisions of the count of bagnol's troops re-unite, in order to assail them;
they could make no impression upon the vau.
the enemy formed a circle embracing all the base of the hill,
and as the level of the water rises around a promontory,
the circle closed as the enemy ascended towards them;
but it did not pass a certain limit,
for the soldiers who formed it fell dead as they came within the range of the bullets of the vau.
as the snow melts on the side of a mountain,
this army became gradually less;
and here its course of invasion was stayed.
'the vau, says leger, made so long and courageous a resistance, that at last confusion and a sense of dismay manifestly seized on that great multitude of assailants, and they took flight, leaving 65 of their number dead on the ground, without reckoning the wounded and the corpses which were carried away.
seeing that the enemy retired by the opening of the valley, the vau would have pursued them.
jana stayed them.
'better than that! said he;
they must be utterly destroyed.
and passing along the heights till he had got before the fugitives, he ran to post himself again, with his invincible fusileers, at a narrow pass called pierro capello.
the enemy's troop came up, now beginning to recover breath. at the moment when they least expected it,
the vau fired upon them again,
hurled down masses of rock,
rushed upon them,
and redoubled their affright, their disorder, and their loss;
there was not a shadow of resistance-
a panic, or rather the fear of the God of jacob seized upon these disbanded soldiers,
so that not being able easily to flee, because of the difficulty of the paths,
they flung themselves headlong over rocks, and into ravines and torrents,
and were drowned or lay dead beneath precipices,
if they did not fall by the swords or the bullets of their terrible assailants.
captain mario himself was with great difficulty drawn out of a hole full of water,
in which he must otherwise have been drowned;
and was carried back without his accoutrements, and without hat or shoes, to lucerna,
where he died a few days after.
..astonishing as were already the repeated victories of jana over enemies 50 times more numerous, it is not without surprise that we observe that the marquis of pianesse now called to arms all the disposable troops under his command, and caused nearly 10,000 men to march against the little commune of rora, so perseveringly defenced by a simple company of ..mountaineers. it was in the beginning of may, 1655: 3000 men set out from bagnol, 3000 from le villar, and 4000 from lucerna, to make a simultaneous assault upon a village of 50 houses.
the division from le villar was the first to make its appearance.
jana repulsed its attack;
but whilst he was engaged in battle,
two other divisions entered the lower part of the valley,
plundered the village,
burned the houses,
massacred the inhabitants,
committed monstrous outrages,
and carried off as prisoners the unfortunates who had not been killed.
the position was no longer tenable;
jana had no longer anything to defend;
rora was destroyed;
its inhabitants were slain or taken captive;
and he withdrew with his ..cohort into the valley of lucerna.
next day he received from the marquis of pianesse a note in these terms:
-'to captain janavel.
your wife and your daughters are in my hands-
they were made prisoners at rora;
i exhort you for the last time to abjure your heresty, which will be the only means to obtain pardon for your rebellion against the authority of his royal highness, and to save the lives of your wife and your daughters, who shall be burned alive if you do not submit. and if youpersist in your obstinacy, without putting myself to the trouble of sending troops against you, i will set such a price upon your head, that were you the devil incarnate, you must certainly be brought to me dead or alive; and if you fall into my hands alive, you may lay your account with it that there are no torments so cruel that they shall not be inflicted upon you. this warning is for your guidance-consider how you may turn it to your advantage.
the following is janavel's reply:
'there is no torment so cruel that i do not prefer it to the abjuring of my religion; and your threats, instead of turning me from it, confirm me in it all the more.
as for my wife and my daughters, they know if they are dear to me!
but God alone is Lord of their lives;
and if you destroy their bodies, God will save their souls.
may He graciously receive these beloved souls and likewise mine, if it so happen that i fall into your hands.
...a price was immediately set upon his head.
he had still one son, a young boy, who had been committed to the charge of a relative belonging to le villar. fearing lest he also might be made prisoner, the intrepid and afflicted father took with him this child, bore him across the snows to the other side of the alps, descended into dauphiny and there deposited his son- re-victualled his little escort, and took some days' repose, of which he availed himself to recruit his band-and then, still putting his trust in God, he crossed the alps once more, re-entered the valleys and took the field again, more powerful, formidable, and intrepid than ever.
meanwhile leger, the moderator of the vau churches, had proceeded to paris, where he published a statement, addressed to all the protestant powers of europe. many proofs of the liveliest sympathy and most active interest reached the vau churches from all parts. on the other hand, the court of savoy, or rather the duchess, urged by the propaganda and by the pontifical...nuncio pursued with vigour...the expulsion or complete extermination of the israel of the alps...
after having requested of mazarin that an asylum should be refused them in france and having failed to obtain her request, she next requested that he would have them removed from the frontiers of piedmont, at least three days' journey. the execution of this scheme having been also refused, she requested and obtained a prohibition against french subjects coming to the help of the vu who still remained in the valleys.
she was so active in her proceedings-her designs were so laoudly proclaimed, that even in the valleys themselves, many persons doubted if the vau would ever be able to recover their position. francis guerin, minister of roure, in pragela, confidently prophesied to the refugees that they ought to renounce the hope of returning to their native country, the time being come when the candlestick must be removed out of its place.
the captain of the duke of savoy's swiss guards being from the cnaton of glaris, where there were a few catholic families ill contented to dwell in a protestant country, proposed to charles emanuel II that he should receive these families into the valleys, and send the vau in exchange, into the canton of glaris.
cromwell, on his part, made offer to the vau to receive them into ireland, in place of the natives whom he had expelled from that island. but the reply of the moderator was more in accordance with the interests of his native land; he entreated the protector to send a plenipotentiary to turin, to exert himself for the reestablishment of the vau in the valleys, instead of their removal from thence. the plenipotentiary sent was morland, who rendered such important service in the pacification of that unfortunate country and who afterwards wrote a remarkable history of the events which had there taken place.
most of the foreign powers, from the king of sweden to the helvetic canons, wrote to charles emanuel in favour of the vau. 'this business makes a great noise in switzerland, as well as in france and germany, wrote the sardinian ambassador...'your highness will give it such consideration as you deem fit at a tie when the common arms might be more profitably employed elsewhere...
...all were unanimous in their condemnations...the court of savoy, however, presently adopted the course of contradicting the news...
in switzerland, in england, in holland and in almost all protestant countries, collections were made and public fasts were held upon account of the vau...catholics..louis XIV..commanded lesdiguieres to receive the vau fugitives kindly, and to assure them of his royal protection.in the valleys of le queyras and pragela, which belonged to france,the people took up arms for the help of the persecuted. the regular troops deserted with the same view...captain janavel had already returned to the valleys with his valiant party, augmented by numerous recruits from le queyras...
it was just at this time that janavel effected his junction with captain jahier (27th of may), on the banks of the angrogna. these two warriors, uniting their forces, became more formidable...
next day, at daybreak, having sought encouragement in prayer, and feeling the necessity of some energetic demonstration to save their country, they assailed the town of st. segont, and made themselves masters of it. to preserve themselves from the enemy's fire366last
it has been already stated that the vau of angrogna, and the refugees of the plain of piedmont, had, in great part, retired into the valley of perouse; those of st. martin, forewarned by a man who, although a catholic, was compassionate, of the arrival of the troops of galeazzo, with commission to put all to fire and sword, made hast to gain the valley of pragela; and such of the inhabitants of bobi as contrived to escape the massacre sought an asylum in that of queyras, across frightful snows, precipices, and rocks. all these places of refuge were then within the dominions of the king of france.
with the view of shutting that hospitable coutry against the vau, the duchess of savoy, who appears to have taken a much greater part in thses disastrous events than her son, wrote to the court of france. she wished to prevent her subjects from leaving the valleys and to have them massacred there. mazarin did not enter into her niews; he replied that humanity imposed upon him the duty of opening as asylum to the fugitive vau.
this gave them facilities for rallying, arming and organizing themselves. they wee even able to re-enter their country inmuch greater numbers than they had left it, for a multitude of their brethren from queyras and prgela joined them. meanwhile, a man of energy and ability, captain joshua janavel, who alone had foreseen the treachery, supported, doubtless, by the hand of God (in which no one ever put more absolute confidence than this intrepid warrior), kept in check the enemy's army and, by slow degrees, drove it from the valleys.
this came to pass as follows:
-it will be recollected that the 24th of april was the day fixed for the general massacre of the vau. troops had been contoned in theprincipal place of each commune, except rora; not, however, that that place was to have been spared. accordingly, on the morning of that day of extermination, the marquis of st. damian had sent a battalion of 500 or 600 soldiers from le villar, in order to surprise rora, under the command of count christopher of lucerna, who was designated the count of rora, because his apanage had been given him in that seigneurie. these soldiers climbed the steep slopes of the mountain of brouard, which lay between them and rora. janavel (jana), whose residence was at the base of a long ridge which that mountain sends out in the direction of lucerna, saw the soldierss ascending on the way towards the menaced village; and he, ascending on the way towards the menaced village; and he, ascending also by a different way, gathered together as he went, six determined men like himself, with whom he posted himself in a favourable position on the path by which the troops must pass, who advanced in expectation of taking the village by surprise. there he awaited them with his little party, behind some rocks that left a narrow passage only, through which they must of necessity pass.
so soon as they were engaged in this defile
(a narrow passage, especially between mountains)
jana and his companions united in one loud cry and discharged their peices, of which every one took effect; six soldiers fell, the rest drew back; those who followed, believing the ambuscade to be fomed by a much larger body than it really was, wheeled about, and the advanced guard was then separated from the main body of the squadron. the vau, concealed amongst rocks, where the enemy could form on estimate of their numbers, poured in their fire, and cleared the ground of the advanced guard, causing it to disband and take to flight. the rearguard, which had yet scarcely arrived at the summit of the mountain ridge, seeing that the foremost ranks were endeavouring to re-ascend it, made all hast to get down again by the side on which it was advancing, without having even seen those by whom it hd been attacked; the fugitives likewise, turning their backs upon the vau, saw them as little; and thus a whole battalion retired before a corporal's party, or rather before the exaggerated image of a perilous ambuscade. such incidents are rare, but they can be conceived. it was thus that the entire army of brennus took to flight before the temple of delphi, at the noise made by the priests of apollo, transformed, by the affrighted imagination of the soldiers, into supernatural combatants.
jana, returning by rora, apprise the inhabitants of that village of the danger which they had run. ignorant of the massacres which had been perpetrated on that same day in the valley of lucerna, the people of rora immediately went to complain to the marquis of pianesse, of the invsion atempted against them in the morning.
'if they meant to attack you, it was not by my orders, he replied, the troops which i command never made any such wicked attempt. it can only have been a horde of piedmontese robbers and vagabonds. you would have done me a peasure if you had cut them in pieces. however, he added, with an air of kindness, i shall take care that such alarms do not take place again.
it was not an alarm, in good sooth, which he intended, but a surprise which should crush them all. proof of this was soon afforded.
on the folowing day a new battalion was sent against rora, by the mountain of cassulet. this time jana had 17 men with him; the number seems very small, but under his guidance they were worth an army. of these 18 men, 12 were armed from head to foot, 6 had only slings. he disposed them in three bands of 6 men each, to wit, 4 musketeers and 2 slingers. his position was chosen beforehand; it was again a defile, in which 10 men had scarcely room to manouvre: he had almost twice the number and occupied the most adnatageous position.
as soon as the battalion of the marquis of pianesse had advanced into the dpths of the scene of ambuscade, the vau made their appearance. an officer and 10 foot soldiers fell at ther first dicahge. stones flew like hai, whistling amongst the ranks of the enemy, who fell into disorder.
'every man save himself! cried a coward.
the troops began to diband. jan and his men rushed upon them from the rocks above, a pistol in one hand and a sword in the other. their agility, vigour and intrepidity multiplied their numbers; it seemed as if jaguars or lynxes flew from crest to crest of the rocks, as lightly as winged insects from flower to flower. the battalion, already surprised, thrown into confusion, and half routed, saw its discharges of musketry wasted amongst empty bushes, or upon im0penetrable rocks, and yet men resolute and completely armed, springing up, falling down, and leaping about before their eyes from these bushes and these rocks, and scattering death around their steps. the battalion, or rather the companies which were irst surprised and most engaged, recoiled involuntarily before them. the retrograde movement extended, the contgion of terror spread, one was carried alon by the example of another-and presently these 600 men, who had been led to a field of battle with which they were not acquainted, fled towards lucerna, ignorant alike of the number of their adversaries, and of the number of the dead whom they left behind them.
men who flee do not deefend themselves-they do not see the danger, they aggravate it by their flight, giving arms to the enemy by their own weakness, and doubling the energy of his assaults. it was thus with the battalion of the moutain of cassulet. it had lost only 12 men in the defile, it lost 40 in the flight. the folowing are the words inwhich jana, thirty years after, when banished from his country, recalled in his exile that glorious event:
'we were but very few in number; a few fusileers, and six or seven slingers, wo were not yet able to use the musket and we defeated the enemy; if we had not, we would have been all destroyed. when they fought down hill, the stones of the slings and the ten fusileers did more execution than you could have believed.
from these few words it appears that amongst that little handful of combatants who saved rora, and who ere long became the salvation of the valleys, there were some young men who were ot yet able to use the musket. it is impossible not to be all the more struck with the success of this heroic phalanx; we know not which most to admire, their courage, or the divine protection which gave them the victory. but valour is not to be measured by age, nor the strength of an army by the number of its soldiers. jana's troop had already given proof of this, and was to give further proof of it.
the marquis of pianesse, a second time frustrated in his projects, sent to rora, cound christopher, the seigneur of the place, to restore confindence amongst the vau and to repudiate, as a mistake, the sending of troops into their valley.
'reports have been made agains you, said he, whose falsehood has been discovered; you have only to keep yourselves quiet, and you shall live in peace
at the same time he cause a battalion, more numerous than the former,to be collected, for the purpose of annihilating them. it seems marvellous that the vau could allow themselves to be caught by such promises; and such impudence of falsehood seems surprising in a man of noble birth; but we must not forget that they considered lying to be a sin, and that he regard it as a virtue. has not the highest organ of catholicism, an ecumenical council, declared that it is lawful to break faith with heretics? and did not the propaganda, jesuitism, and all that constituted the life and power of the romish church at that period, make it a duty? what a protestant would reckon disgraceful, is matter of pride to a papist. to accomplish the shedding of blood by treachery was a legitimate triumph for rome. yet we may suppose that confidence was not completely restored to the minds of the vau.
next day, being the 27th of april, an entire regiment moved into the valley, pressed on towards rora, took possession of all the paths, occupied all the positions, burned a number of houses which lay in its way and carried off a load of plunder and the flocks of the inhabitants, who had retired to the heights of friouland. jana, with his men, beheld from distance the ravaging of the valley, but durst not approach because of the great numbers of the enemy. however, when he saw them encumbered with booty, and embarassed by the flocks which they took away with them,
he encouraged his seventeen men,
fell upon his knees, offered a fervent prayer to the God of armies, and
with undaunted boldness conducted his little troop to an advantageous position named damasser.
the regiment was arrested in its passage-
did not know the number of the enemy-
did not choose to abandon the booty-
lost its foremost men, and
thought it best to turn bck and retire upon le villar.
but the vau knew their own mountins better than these stranger troops;
they took a short path,
got before them,
posted themselves on their line of passage,
and again cut off their retreat.
this was near the summit of the mountain which separates rora from le villar, on a little grassy plain, named the pian pra, which means the smooth meadow.
the army of pianesse advanced, bearing along with it an immense booty.
it marched in disorder and carelessly,
for the foes over whom it had been unable to gain any advantage had disappeared from its path, and as no trace of them was to be perceived, it seemed that they had thought it best to make no further demonstration.
all at once a destructive fire was opened at a short distance from amongst the trees.
the soldiers, instead of defending themselves, hurried forward in their course.
they were already on the descent of the mountains.
jana's party rolled down upon them an avalanche of stones.
they dispersed themselves in order to avoid them.
hereupon the vau rushed in amongst these disbanded soldierss.
in vain they attempted to rally;
the ground did not any longer permit it;
many of them lost their footing
and were helplessly killed, or fell over the precipices.
however, the greater part of the army arrived at le villar,
but they had left their booty by the way;
the vau lost none of their men,
and recovered possession of all their property which had been carried off.
having re-ascended to the pian pra,
jana caused his men to halt.
'let us give thanks, said he.
his men fell on their knees.
"O God! exclaimed their intrepid leader,
we bless Thee for having preserved us.
protect our people in these calamities,
and increase our faith!
this short prayer was followed by the Lord's prayer and the apostles' creed.
meanwhile the fugitives arrived at lucerna.
the marquis of pianesse,
furious, humiliated, burning with rage, yet desirous to restrain himself,
perceiving that it would be vain to have recourse to new acts of deceit or perfidious protestations,
convoked the whole forces under his command, from bubiano, from barges and from cavour.
they were all to assemble at lucerna in order to march upon rora;
the day and the hour were appointed;
but the zealot who conducted the massacre oat bobi, ,mario de bagnol, wished to have the glory all to himself of destroying this miserable handful of adventurers, for so they designated these heroic mountaineers who defended, with so much courage, their unhappy families.
captain mario accordingly set out with his musketeers two hours before the other troops. he had three companies of regular troops, one of volunteers and one of piedmontese outlaws. a fifth of irish..they..even received a promise beforehand, that a free grant would be made to them of the dispeopled lands of the valleys. they fought, therefore, for their own interest...
captain mario divided his troops into two parties, of which one took the right, and the other the left side of the vale of rora. they advanced without resistance to the rocks of rummer, already signalized four days before as the scene of jana's first victory. jana was again in trenched there, his little troop augmented by a number of new combatants, and thus raised to the number of from30 to40 men. but the right of the count of bagnol, having deployed upon the heights, had got above rummer, and threatened to attack the vau in the rear, whilst the rest of the assailants would have attacked them in front.
jana saw the trap in which he was on the point of being taken;
and with the promptitude of decision and energy of action which mark military genius,
he exclaimed, 'forward!
to the broua!
(notes: a patois word, signifying the summit)
the victory is up there!
and wheeling about,
he left the position which he had occupied opposite to the front of captain mario,
whose movement in pursuit was retarded by the necessity of scaling rocks,
and turned against the upper detachment which was already deploying upon the smooth brow of the hill;
all the vau had their pieces loaded;
jana turned them directly upon the right wing of that detachment which was maneuvering in order to surround them.
'Fire! cried he.
a terrible discharge was poured in upon the enemy;
the bulk of the troops inclined in that direction to resist the vau;
but jana had flung himself upon his belly on the earth, and the bullets passed over his head:
and immediately taking advantage of the clouds of smoke which still covered him,
instead of pressing on in his original direction,
he made a sudden bend, and proceeded, sword in hand, to cut his way through the left wing,
where the enemy was already weakened by the movement of concentration which had taken place to the opposite side.
breaking in this way the line of the invaders,
he passed through them,
and attained the summit or broua which he had pointed out to his soldiers.
here he had the advantage of the ground;
and all the vau ranging themselves in order of battle,
with their backs against the rocks,
with the triple energy which is given by
a good cause, trust in God, and success,
they faced their foes with an intrepidity that daunted them.
in vain did the two divisions of the count of bagnol's troops re-unite, in order to assail them;
they could make no impression upon the vau.
the enemy formed a circle embracing all the base of the hill,
and as the level of the water rises around a promontory,
the circle closed as the enemy ascended towards them;
but it did not pass a certain limit,
for the soldiers who formed it fell dead as they came within the range of the bullets of the vau.
as the snow melts on the side of a mountain,
this army became gradually less;
and here its course of invasion was stayed.
'the vau, says leger, made so long and courageous a resistance, that at last confusion and a sense of dismay manifestly seized on that great multitude of assailants, and they took flight, leaving 65 of their number dead on the ground, without reckoning the wounded and the corpses which were carried away.
seeing that the enemy retired by the opening of the valley, the vau would have pursued them.
jana stayed them.
'better than that! said he;
they must be utterly destroyed.
and passing along the heights till he had got before the fugitives, he ran to post himself again, with his invincible fusileers, at a narrow pass called pierro capello.
the enemy's troop came up, now beginning to recover breath. at the moment when they least expected it,
the vau fired upon them again,
hurled down masses of rock,
rushed upon them,
and redoubled their affright, their disorder, and their loss;
there was not a shadow of resistance-
a panic, or rather the fear of the God of jacob seized upon these disbanded soldiers,
so that not being able easily to flee, because of the difficulty of the paths,
they flung themselves headlong over rocks, and into ravines and torrents,
and were drowned or lay dead beneath precipices,
if they did not fall by the swords or the bullets of their terrible assailants.
captain mario himself was with great difficulty drawn out of a hole full of water,
in which he must otherwise have been drowned;
and was carried back without his accoutrements, and without hat or shoes, to lucerna,
where he died a few days after.
..astonishing as were already the repeated victories of jana over enemies 50 times more numerous, it is not without surprise that we observe that the marquis of pianesse now called to arms all the disposable troops under his command, and caused nearly 10,000 men to march against the little commune of rora, so perseveringly defenced by a simple company of ..mountaineers. it was in the beginning of may, 1655: 3000 men set out from bagnol, 3000 from le villar, and 4000 from lucerna, to make a simultaneous assault upon a village of 50 houses.
the division from le villar was the first to make its appearance.
jana repulsed its attack;
but whilst he was engaged in battle,
two other divisions entered the lower part of the valley,
plundered the village,
burned the houses,
massacred the inhabitants,
committed monstrous outrages,
and carried off as prisoners the unfortunates who had not been killed.
the position was no longer tenable;
jana had no longer anything to defend;
rora was destroyed;
its inhabitants were slain or taken captive;
and he withdrew with his ..cohort into the valley of lucerna.
next day he received from the marquis of pianesse a note in these terms:
-'to captain janavel.
your wife and your daughters are in my hands-
they were made prisoners at rora;
i exhort you for the last time to abjure your heresty, which will be the only means to obtain pardon for your rebellion against the authority of his royal highness, and to save the lives of your wife and your daughters, who shall be burned alive if you do not submit. and if youpersist in your obstinacy, without putting myself to the trouble of sending troops against you, i will set such a price upon your head, that were you the devil incarnate, you must certainly be brought to me dead or alive; and if you fall into my hands alive, you may lay your account with it that there are no torments so cruel that they shall not be inflicted upon you. this warning is for your guidance-consider how you may turn it to your advantage.
the following is janavel's reply:
'there is no torment so cruel that i do not prefer it to the abjuring of my religion; and your threats, instead of turning me from it, confirm me in it all the more.
as for my wife and my daughters, they know if they are dear to me!
but God alone is Lord of their lives;
and if you destroy their bodies, God will save their souls.
may He graciously receive these beloved souls and likewise mine, if it so happen that i fall into your hands.
...a price was immediately set upon his head.
he had still one son, a young boy, who had been committed to the charge of a relative belonging to le villar. fearing lest he also might be made prisoner, the intrepid and afflicted father took with him this child, bore him across the snows to the other side of the alps, descended into dauphiny and there deposited his son- re-victualled his little escort, and took some days' repose, of which he availed himself to recruit his band-and then, still putting his trust in God, he crossed the alps once more, re-entered the valleys and took the field again, more powerful, formidable, and intrepid than ever.
meanwhile leger, the moderator of the vau churches, had proceeded to paris, where he published a statement, addressed to all the protestant powers of europe. many proofs of the liveliest sympathy and most active interest reached the vau churches from all parts. on the other hand, the court of savoy, or rather the duchess, urged by the propaganda and by the pontifical...nuncio pursued with vigour...the expulsion or complete extermination of the israel of the alps...
after having requested of mazarin that an asylum should be refused them in france and having failed to obtain her request, she next requested that he would have them removed from the frontiers of piedmont, at least three days' journey. the execution of this scheme having been also refused, she requested and obtained a prohibition against french subjects coming to the help of the vu who still remained in the valleys.
she was so active in her proceedings-her designs were so laoudly proclaimed, that even in the valleys themselves, many persons doubted if the vau would ever be able to recover their position. francis guerin, minister of roure, in pragela, confidently prophesied to the refugees that they ought to renounce the hope of returning to their native country, the time being come when the candlestick must be removed out of its place.
the captain of the duke of savoy's swiss guards being from the cnaton of glaris, where there were a few catholic families ill contented to dwell in a protestant country, proposed to charles emanuel II that he should receive these families into the valleys, and send the vau in exchange, into the canton of glaris.
cromwell, on his part, made offer to the vau to receive them into ireland, in place of the natives whom he had expelled from that island. but the reply of the moderator was more in accordance with the interests of his native land; he entreated the protector to send a plenipotentiary to turin, to exert himself for the reestablishment of the vau in the valleys, instead of their removal from thence. the plenipotentiary sent was morland, who rendered such important service in the pacification of that unfortunate country and who afterwards wrote a remarkable history of the events which had there taken place.
most of the foreign powers, from the king of sweden to the helvetic canons, wrote to charles emanuel in favour of the vau. 'this business makes a great noise in switzerland, as well as in france and germany, wrote the sardinian ambassador...'your highness will give it such consideration as you deem fit at a tie when the common arms might be more profitably employed elsewhere...
...all were unanimous in their condemnations...the court of savoy, however, presently adopted the course of contradicting the news...
in switzerland, in england, in holland and in almost all protestant countries, collections were made and public fasts were held upon account of the vau...catholics..louis XIV..commanded lesdiguieres to receive the vau fugitives kindly, and to assure them of his royal protection.in the valleys of le queyras and pragela, which belonged to france,the people took up arms for the help of the persecuted. the regular troops deserted with the same view...captain janavel had already returned to the valleys with his valiant party, augmented by numerous recruits from le queyras...
it was just at this time that janavel effected his junction with captain jahier (27th of may), on the banks of the angrogna. these two warriors, uniting their forces, became more formidable...
next day, at daybreak, having sought encouragement in prayer, and feeling the necessity of some energetic demonstration to save their country, they assailed the town of st. segont, and made themselves masters of it. to preserve themselves from the enemy's fire366last
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