A little reminder

Forgiveness is something everyone wants,

but no one wants to give.

Updateupdate

I've been learning a lot about the seriousness of full-time ministry (I'm considering it). God put upon me the desire to seek out all information and experience I can about it as well as the process that I come around to that. I'll probably post up a bigger, more in-depth post about this later.

Ate with Ray Kwan yesterday. Man, what a guy! He's so humble and sees in himself his true state of sin, yet is so disciplined and determined to know only Christ through the Scriptures. He taught me a lot of stuff about how to study the Word better and a few other resources. Thanks for really really encouraging me and pushing me towards the goal I have, Ray.

Last night was also the night

The all-or-nothing mentality.

Tell me if this scenario is familiar.

You start of the quarter strong, going to every class and every discussion, maybe even popping into a few office hours while you’re at it. You look back at every weekend, nodding your head and patting yourself on the back, telling yourself what a studious and disciplined person you are.

One day, maybe around week 3 or 4, a schedule conflict arises, and you miss a discussion or *gasp* a lecture. Possibly the reason could be that you overslept, talked with a friend on campus for too long, or just plain forgot. Problem? Big problem.

It’s like the dam broke, and now the floodgates of laziness are swung wide open. Since you missed that one class, you say to yourself as you sleep in a bit, “Eh, I missed last week. Going to lecture today would only confuse me. I’ll just learn it all in bulk this weekend.”

Pretty soon, you find yourself in week 5, the midst of midterms, and completely screwed.

Psalm 12: Parts 2 & 3

Again, application is at end.

Psalms 12

"1 Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases to be, For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.

2 They speak falsehood to one another; With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak.

3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaks great things;

4 Who have said, "With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?"

5 "Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, Now I will arise," says the LORD; "I will set him in the safety for which he longs."

6 The words of the LORD are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.

7 You, O LORD, will keep them; You will preserve him from this generation forever.

8 The wicked strut about on every side When vileness is exalted among the sons of men."

 

Part 2: The afflicted, and God’s response to them.

David doesn’t explicitly state why the people mentioned in (5) are afflicted and needy, yet the reason can be inferred from (1-4). These evil men who feed on their own pride and deceitfulness towards one another also affect the innocent around them in various ways.

Not only do the sins of the evil affect themselves, but they devastate the innocent standing around them. Specifically, the deceitful tongue and prideful speech cause those who sincerely trust in the Lord to groan in search of real truth. These afflicted men (parallel to David, the speaker of the psalm) recognize the fallacies of the evil and their declared pride, and long for God to vindicate them from these falsehoods.