Skip to main content

Perfect (Again)

 

       “As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. (II Samuel 22:31)

Yes, I know. The exact same words as yesterday, but a different reference. It’s part of a song David sang, and it’s included both in the history books and the “hymnal” of Israel that we call the Psalms. I chose it as the verse of the day because I realized that I didn’t clearly make the point that I wanted to.

Have you ever grabbed a table knife to insert or remove a screw, used a shoe to squash a bug, or a paper towel to funnel something into a jar? Have you used a rock for a hammer or (thanks to a friend for this one) a short-handled broom that requires that you bend over to sweep? None of these are perfect tools for accomplishing the task. There are screwdrivers and even power tools to insert or remove screws, fly swatters to kill bugs, and actual funnels. The handle on a hammer and the long handle on brooms are better suited to their jobs, converting smaller amounts of energy into more work.

But how often do we use things that aren’t designed to do what we want? They may show our creativity or resourcefulness, but they aren’t technically perfect tools. So when God selects a tyrant (or worse), a natural disaster, or one of us to accomplish a task, it’s not that He approves of the person or that the person is ideally suited to the task in a way that we’d approve. What it means is that this person is a tool that God can use to accomplish His goal. The only time God could be said to have actually used the perfect tool, He sent Jesus to live, die, and rise. All the rest of the time, He’s showing His creativity and resourcefulness by using “rocks” and “knives” to accomplish His will, and somehow, His will ends up done, though not as well as it would be if He used something made specifically to do that one task.

That’s good news for us, because we’re the make-shift tools that He uses. It brings to mind a song sung by Don Francisco decades ago: Balaam - YouTube Music

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more