Streams of Tears

Christians rightfully say that "We live in a fallen world." I find myself saying, or thinking, that thought frequently, particularly as I hear about some of the troubles in the world and as I hear of tragedies here on the reservation. Over and over, every day, we are confronted with evidence that the world created by God in the opening verses of Genesis 1 has been corrupted by the sin that reared its ugly head in Genesis 3. I was reminded of this as I was reading Psalm 119, where verse 136 says:

"My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law."

The author of the psalm knew that same truth we do, that the world is full of brokenness and things that just aren't right, so much so in his case that he is frequently moved to tears. He also knew the underlying reason, and in doing so he points us towards the right path. The tears come as a direct consequence of people knowing God's law, and choosing to live with disregard for it.

We might ask "What is God's law?" and the companion question "Is God's law still valid today?"

The first question has two answers, the first being the moral law recorded in the Ten Commandments and the second answer being the words Jesus spoke in Mark 12:30-31:

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Both of those pieces of scripture do the same thing. They speak to how we should live in relationship towards God, and they speak to how we should live with each other.

And to the question of the validity of the law today I'll be brief and say "Oh yeah." Jesus tells us this himself in Matthew 24:35 and Luke 21:33, and even if he hadn't we can see that the things he talks about in the verses from Mark just make sense. Kind of like some wisdom your mother may have spoken to you years ago, something that sticks in your head and has always been right.

Now that we understand the problem, what are we to do? It’s a big problem and when it comes to keeping God's law the psalmist was speaking to God's people, a small and distinct group, and in our day the streams of tears include the fact that throughout the world people fail to keep his law, that is if they even know it in the first place. And in addition to that we know, often too well, the impossible nature of perfectly keeping God's law. What are we to do?

As a pastor I'm going to say that we look to the Lord and seek for him to guide our steps. Each time that we are tempted to take a side path we can turn to him for the strength to stay on course. And in those times we do wander, we should seek his forgiveness when we turn back to him for guidance. And don't try to do it all on your own but seek out another Christian who will be by your side for prayer and encouragement.

It's a fallen world but we can live and pray in such ways that one day, through God's grace, streams of tears will be turned into dry creek beds.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Careful Listening

This morning I went for a run on a road that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love that it is quiet, usually with light traffic for the first mile as it goes west of town, and then hardly any traffic as it reaches my turn-around 4½ miles from home. I hate that it is all downhill outbound and therefore all uphill on the way back. I'm the kind of runner whose preference is to get the hard parts of the run done early.

It is a beautiful piece of road, winding through a canyon. It follows a creek, hence its uphill/downhill nature. When the railroad was still in Dulce the tracks ran through the canyon, and at the bottom, where the creek joins the river and I turn around, there is still a water tank and railroad bridge.

I mentioned that the traffic is usually light, and this morning was no exception. Once I was past the edge of town the only vehicles I saw were dump trucks. I saw several, going downhill empty and coming back up filled with dirt.

My rule-of-thumb here for heavy trucks when they are on the same side of the road as I am is to move all the way off the shoulder. If there is a guard rail I stop and sit on it until the truck goes by. The truck drivers have enough things to pay attention to without having to worry about a possible collision with a runner. And a runner vs. dump truck incident never  works out well for the runner. The trucks this morning were all from the Tribal Roads department and their drivers are very considerate when they see me. They always move way over and give me space, slowing down if need be.

So this morning I was enjoying the quiet when I heard a rumble behind me. It got a little louder as it got closer. No problem, as I was going downhill facing traffic and it would come from behind in the far lane as it went past.

It got a little louder, and then I realized it wasn't behind me but in front of me. Quickly looking ahead I saw a truck rounding the bend, and the driver saw me. We both opted for safety. I stopped on the guard rail as the truck moved to the far lane.

The presence of the truck itself didn’t surprise me, as I had already seen several. But I had been deceived by the sound bouncing off the canyon walls. I thought that it was coming from one direction, and acted accordingly, when the exact opposite was true.

As Christians we need to be careful listeners to the voices of our culture. They are many. They are often loud. They often sound so reasonable. But very often they will lead us astray from God's truth.

The remedy to this is to turn to the word that God has revealed to us in the Bible. To read it. To pray it. To ponder it. To live by it. The author of Psalm 119 says this in verses 129-130:

"Your testimonies are wonderful;
    therefore my soul keeps them.
 The unfolding of your words gives light;
    it imparts understanding to the simple."

Those are just two verses in a long and beautiful song of praise to God, a psalm that, over and over, thanks and praises God for the gift of his word. May you carefully listen to that word as God uses it in your life each and every day.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.