Skip to main content

Non Sequitor

 Blessed are You, Lord; teach me Your statutes. (Psalm 119: 12)

Non sequitur (2):  a statement (such as a response) that does not follow logically from or is not clearly related to anything previously said

          Today’s passage may be described by the definition that follows it. What does God’s being blessed have to do with our learning His statutes? There are some who would say that what causes the Lord’s happiness is making statutes that make life miserable and watching people try (and fail) to jump through all the hoops He has dictated that we must. If not that, how does our learning His statutes relate to God’s being blessed? It makes one want to say, “Huh?” It doesn’t seem to follow.

          I was invited to a high school graduation party a couple years ago. When I got to the bar where it was being held, I found the hostess in tears and drinking herself to oblivion. She and her daughter had argued, and the daughter was not attending the party. The friend waxed eloquent about all she had done for said daughter (not just with the party) and about all the child had done to disappoint and spite her (not just with the party.) This is our image of God sometimes, either crying in His beer, or raging drunkenly about what miserable, pathetic, ungrateful sinners we all are. And in our thinking, the only way that God could possibly be happy is if we clean up our act and become brainless, obedient, perfect little “saints.” We return to the problem of how it can follow that God is blessed before we have learned to obey His statutes.

          There are two stereotypes that might shed light on this idea. The first is the stereotype of the parent of a first born. The parent struggles to do everything right because every action they take will either make or break the child. The second stereotype is the grandparent of the first born, whose main concern is enjoying the child. The pressure is off. The responsibility of making the child be perfect is not theirs.

          God has provided the means by which we may be saved. He has set up the universe in a way that suits Him and us. He has designed us to be well suited to the universe. He is blessed, or happy, because the universe fulfills the function He designed for it. He is happy even when we don’t function within the universe well. Our sin doesn’t please Him. In fact, it displeases Him because what we have done is violates the whole idea of the universe running as it is meant to, but His happiness does not depend on our behavior.

          And as we learn to live according to the statutes He established (and which make Him happy) we will become happy, too.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   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 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more