I Enjoyed This

This World Series is going to rox my sox. :O) Hail to the World Series Champions, the St. Louis Cardinals! At least they're the Champions until Boston chokes.

I am such a creature of pleasure. I suppose we have a term for it. Hedonist. But I love to be pleased. I love to enjoy. I enjoy the enjoyment of pleasure. Did I just write that sentence? You bet. Moving on, if you ever read through Psalm 119, you start to notice strong currents of hedonism in the words. There is so much longing in Psalm 119! And what does the writer long for? He longs for the Bible. But in such language, you'd think he was an junkie begging to satiate his addiction. The man is desperately desirous of God's Word! Look at verse 20: "My soul is consumed with longing for Your rules at all times." That sounds like a breathless confession to me. Now, I know what he means when he says that. I've felt like that before. But to long for it "at all times"? Is that mere hyperbole? What must that feel like? So white and hot a desire for God's truth I have not known. I can't even imagine it as a constant drive, burning like a grease fire in my marrow.

Let's never forget that the Psalm 119 is a song about God's Word. It's a song. What song was ever written out of duty? It's laughable to think that the psalmist wrote it because it was the right thing to do. I can't picture him sitting with his pen and his twelve-string lyre, having to step up and deliver because he was honor bound to do so. The man passionately sings about delight and exulting and rejoicing in the Bible, in obedience to it. Where did the notion of "stiff upper lip" obedience come from? How did that sneak into my heart? Someone must have traduced. Does joy decrease as obedience to God's Word increases? This is a warped understanding of duty and it's killing the church softly. We assume that obedience is a matter of putting the will over the emotion. But duty can't be subtracted from delight. Duty can't be separated from delight. Duty IS delight. Or at least it should be. Reading Nehemiah this morning, I saw in verse 11 of chapter 1: "O Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who delight to fear Your name..." Do I delight to fear the name of my Lord? Is it my deep and burning pleasure to revere Him and obey His commandments? This kind of thing is so far above my head right now. It's something I want to climb up and attain. For fun, read through Psalm 119 and try and count how many times he talks about delighting in the Bible or loving the Bible or longing for the Bible. It's pretty overwhelming. As C.S Lewis so famously said (and as I now so rudely paraphrase), it isn't that God finds our desires too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures fooling around with food and sex. Something like that. It trails off into a marvelous illustration. Smart man, that Clive.

I miss you all so much. I miss my hometown friends too. I want to be in a band and play good songs and communicate with a crowd of strangers and friends on a level too deep to be spoken of with clarity.

Some recommended listening:
-The Duhks "Migrations". This band is one amazing bunch of musicians. Good French bluegrass.
-Claude Debussy's String Quartet in G Minor. The third movement is killer. Can anyone find me a better recording that the Medici Quartet performing it?
-Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio "The President Plays". Mellow dark saxaphone in the middle of one of the best jazz trios of all time. Very good stuff.

John Owens quote: "Be killing sin or sin will be killing you." Have a great week! :O)