Lament as true prayer (Dr Diane Jacobson)

I find this an excellent way of describing lament and prayer in the Old Testament. The following quotes are taken from an article written by Dr Diane Jacobson in The Lutheran, July 2005.

We speak honestly of what we know. God meets us there.

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words" (Romans 8:26).

I often think the sighs of the Spirit are heard most clearly in the laments of the Psalms. Praying the laments is difficult. But so often they are our deepest and truest prayers...

Some say God, in utter grace, allows us to express such lamentation until the time we can return to faithfulness. But I contend that the importance and truth of our laments goes much deeper: To lament is to be faithful.

The lament, more than any other form of prayer, speaks directly to God of the reality of suffering. And God knows when our prayers are true. (emphasis added)

Consider the book of Job. Job's speech is rife with lamentation. He rails against the Almighty, throwing the issue of suffering into God's face, begging for a relationship that speaks to the truth of his loss and pain. Job's friends are appalled by his words, which they deem unfaithful. The friends reason that humans should never question God's motives but, in all humility, should accept suffering as the righteous judgment of a just God...

But in contrast to his friends, Job refused to overlook the depth of his suffering. He refused to protect God from his despair. He refused to believe God wasn't active in the world. Perhaps most importantly, Job continued to speak directly to God, praying for justice, relief and comfort. True prayer, true speech to and about God, never uses theological platitudes to deny the reality of the world.

The power of the lament is this: We come to God boldly, directly, defenses stripped away, with nothing standing between us and the Almighty. Standing thus, we can do nothing but speak the truth from our depth. This isn't to say that we suddenly have right understanding, only that we speak honestly of what we know. God meets us there.

"Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. ... I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word !hope" (Psalm 130:1, 5).

True prayer, true speech to and about God, never uses theological platitudes to deny the reality of the world.

Click here for the full article.

Serving God and the poor sacrificially

I heard something from a group of Christians about their heart for God and the poor. The following is my paraphrase of what they said.

First, what they do.

• Provide vocational training, health, education and community based services
• Personal support for addicts in drug rehabilitation
• Social services for marginalized groups such as the homeless and those living with mental illnesses
• Support children living with disability

Second, their motivation and ethos.

"Serving the poor is the desire of our heart. We seek to follow Christ's example of humility, sacrifice and a self-effacing lifestyle. Serving the poor means for us serving in places where we do not expect to be honoured, acknowledged or rewarded. We believe that in Christ's example, we can sometimes feel being humiliated and trampled on. Our heart's desire is to serve among the poor everywhere."


This attitude is the kind of Christianity I got to know when I came to faith in Christ many years ago, and is the type of Christianity I find in the Bible. I understand that this group of Christians are more than keen and willing to share the gospel whenever they are given the opportunity. They go to remote villages to serve the poor, and make every opportunity to share the gospel with them. Their desire is to live with them and identify with their pain and suffering. I really appreciate this kind of commitment and authenticity in their lives.

Can Scriptures be 'deleted'?

Some friends of mine have suggested that certain parts of the Old Testament are wrong (and hence should be 'deleted'), because they are not in line with Jesus' teaching. I guess likewise they can extend this argument to Paul's letters, and 'delete' the passages that they think are not in line with Jesus' teaching.

My friends are especially referring to the Scriptures that talk about God' vengeance and judgment. They think that Jesus teaches God's love, not God's vengeance.

A good example is Jesus' citation of Isaiah 61:1, 2a; 58:6 in Luke 4:18-19. A friend of mine would say that Jesus stops at the middle of Isaiah 61:2, and does not cite "and the day of vengeance of our God". My friend would say that it is because Jesus does not believe in God's vengeance and God's judgment. My friend would even say that he would read the Old Testament according to 'this' teaching of Jesus, and treat similar Old Testament passages accordingly. (I think my friend might be thinking of the info from, for example, David J Bosch, Transforming Mission [Orbit: Maryknoll], 110.)

But we must note that later in Luke 21:5-38 Jesus pronounced judgment on Jerusalem, which is the type of judgment commonly found in the Prophets. Also, the Old Testament citation in Luke 4:18-19 is a mixture of Isaiah 61 and Isaiah 58. Furthermore, if we use my friend's argument, one must note that the rest of Isaiah 61:2 says "to comfort all who mourn", which is straight after "and the day of vengeance of our God". My friend must ask why Jesus also leaves out "to comfort all who mourn", because blessing to those who mourn is clearly Jesus' teaching on the Sermon on the Mount (or Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6). The fact is, we cannot be certain what exactly did Jesus read on that day. Instead, all that we have is Luke's record, which may well be quite selective material. (Not that Luke had changed Jesus' words, but that he was recording materials that would be relevant to a particular context.)

I wonder whether my friends' approach to Scripture has something to do with our human nature, in that we think 'we' has the right to decide which Bible passages are in line with Jesus' teaching or not. My friends are godly people and they are amazingly generous people. But isn't it true that our fallen human nature is that we want to live a life that is independent of God? Perhaps even the best humans can choose to 'delete' the Bible passages that they don't like (even with good intentions).

But Jesus himself says that he has come to fulfil the Law and the Prophets (Matt 5:17; 26:54, 56; John 17:12; 13:18; 15:25), and that Israel's Scripture (our Old Testament) itself bears witness to him (John 5:39). Both Jesus and the ancient Jews (and people in many parts of the non-Western world today) held their deepest respect for their sacred texts, especially for the texts that they believed to be revelation of God. I guess somehow in our Western world we no longer treat the Scripture in that way (even among those whose doctrine upholds the authority of Scripture). Somehow 'our interpretation' of Scripture has more authority than the Scripture itself. In doing so we undermine the authority of the God who gave us the Scripture.

Here is a Scripture that says heaps about Christ, his humility and the role of the Scripture in the earliest church. I hope we all follow the ways of Christ, his humility, and learn to use the Scripture from the earliest Christ-followers.

For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me." For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:3-4)

Attitude for the teacher and the students

In his preface to his book, An Introduction to the New Testament, David A deSilva says something that, I think, both the teachers of the Bible and their students can learn from.

"The reader [of deSilva's book] is therefore invited not to learn from a master but to wrestle alongside a fellow learner with these magnificent texts [ie. the Scriptures] that have opened up hearts to God, nourished faith and shaped lives for two millennia."

Too often we think we are the master and that we know all the truth. But in fact we only know a little bit, and we are fellow learners with others.

Below is something deSilva says about what his father taught him.

"He taught me that there are two sides to every argument, and he perhaps contributed more than anyone else to my awareness of ideology and rhetorical strategy in people, no less than in texts."

We all come to the Bible with our own biases, and even ideologies. Let's learn from God the Holy Spirit and from each other when we come to studying the Bible.

Doctrinal superiority?

Recently I visited a church of a particular denomination. It's a lovely church, with very sound teaching in the sermon. After the service one of the ministers chatted with me. In our conversation we discovered that we both liked the teaching of certain well-known Bible teachers. It was a good conversation... so far...

As the conversation continued, this minister started to tell me the differences between the belief of his denomination and that of others. In one case he said that one particular pastor of a church in another denomination was "liberal" (meaning "dangerous", I assume). In another case he said that his doctrine was very similar to a particular group of people in another denomination (which is known to be very conservative, and hence "safe" for this minister, I assume).

But this minister was eager to point out that there were still differences between the doctrine of this group and his denomination. And then he went on to say that people in this group would prefer to go to a church in his denomination when they were away on holidays.

At the end of the conversation I felt that what he was really saying was that the doctrine of his church/denomination was superior to that of everyone else.

I hope I am not misrepresenting his view here. (To be fair to him I won't name his church or his denomination, just in case I misrepresent him somehow.)

After the conversation I was glad that I had not told him which church I normally attended. And now, when I think about it, I am not sure whether I want to see him again, in case he asks me what church I belong to and despise me - and my church - as a result. Of course I am not ashamed of my belief, but I am not sure whether we can have a pleasant conversation if there is a sense of perceived superiority in the mind of one party.

As I read the New Testament I find that church division is something that God doesn't desire at all. It is true that Bible-based "healthy teaching" is absolutely important (as it is emphasised in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus). But equally Paul teaches us to receive one another with love, allowing diversity in the church. We are to be united as one people in the body of Christ. One has to accept that, as church history tells us, respected Christians do hold somewhat different doctrines. I respect both Calvin and Wesley, for instance, although there are differences between their doctrines. I believe that we need to study the Scriptures carefully and diligently. But at the same time I believe that we need to remain humble and learn to hear each other's voice and opinions. We need to be more gracious.

Discipleship re-visited, as the church faces the temptation of cultural captivity

Here is another quote from Michael Gorman's Reading Paul.

"Today, once again, many Christians and churches face the temptations of cultural captivity, 'spirituality' without discipleship or ethics, and knee-jerk nationalism. These are all forms of cheap grace, or cheap justification—a relationship with God in which God is believed to be a kind of cosmic agent of 'salvation' (happiness, blessing, security, prosperity, etc.) who requires little or nothing of the allegedly 'saved' or 'blessed.' Cheap justification is justification without trans­formation, without conversion, without justice. Once again, someone needs to speak, not merely of grace, but of costly grace; not merely of justification by faith, but of costly justification by faith. That someone is Paul."

Of course the language of "cheap grace" and "cheap justification" is not found in Paul's letters (not literally). But Gorman's critique must be heard. Any reading of Paul's letters will find that as Christ-followers we are challenged to follow the way of the Cross. At the heart of his letter to the Romans, we find a very important verse.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:17)

In the Greek the words for "co-heirs", "share in his sufferings", and "share in his glory" start with the same prefix, which means "with-" in English. This means that, for Paul, the three are all very important and are indeed interlocking ideas and cannot be separated (especially with the connecting words "if indeed" and "in order that").

Discipleship can be costly. I personally find it very challenging. But I think ultimately it is the love of Christ that compels us to follow him wholeheartedly. For me, I am very much aware of my limitations and weaknesses, and I ask the Holy Spirit to help me on the journey.

The challenge for a Christian media manager

I am reading a magazine called East Asia's Millions (Jul-Sep 2009). There is an article written by the OMF International Media Projects Manager. Here is a reflection from him.

My other challenge is to tell the whole truth, however imperfect it may be. There's a tendency in the Christian media to create and tell 'perfect' stories, with anything unpleasant or difficult left out. I believe most people realise this filtering goes on and can therefore become suspicious, even desensitised, to most media. What would their reaction be if we told the gritty truth, even about mission? I believe that vulnerability and truth builds trust; after all, our god is a God of truth,...

Humility and grace

I had the opportunity to hear from the International Director of a major mission ageny today. Here are some encouraging words from him (my paraphrase).

"It is not about our organisation, but about the people we seek to serve."

"We have a great history. But it is not for us to be proud of - instead, it is for us to remember God's faithfulness."

"There is no place for triumphalism or superiority... there has to be cross-centred humility."