On the eve (at whatever point God so wills) of departing from my home of almost 6 years, I have been experiencing a sweetness of the savor of our Lord Jesus Christ and His creation by way of the cool of evening. For the last few weeks it has pleased God to give perfect evenings of enjoyment to this lowly creature of His. I have had the blessing of enjoying God’s creation in the abode of my front yard, sitting on a bench, hearing the birds give their last chirps for the day, watching my neighbors immersed in their daily rituals, watching their little ones test their parents’ patience, yet giving their parents joy.

While doing all this I have been enjoying a bowl or two of tobacco in my pipe and engaged in reading various things. The sweetness of it all is overwhelming and by God’s good graces, He has reminded me of the treasure I have in Him. Who am I that God would send His saving grace to me, securing me for Himself, along with a host of other needy sinners, but especially me??!!!? I read of our forefathers of the faith and cannot help but be overwhelmed by my severe laxity and laziness in the things of God. I can’t so much as arise early to meditate on God’s good word and immerse myself in prayer for but an hour? Woe unto me! May God give me humility, grant me holiness, and extract all the waste of selfishness that runs ever so incessant in my being.

Who am I to spit in the face of mercy? Who am I to have a pride in anything other than the riches and the majesty of God’s redeeming grace? I am no one. I am nothing. Yet God, in His sovereign mercy, has seen fit to grant His love to me all the more. Blessed be His Name. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!”

Change me, God. Conform me to your will. Empty myself of me, to be filled with you continually. Make me labor in godliness and hate wickedness. May I be so taken up by the things of You, that my wrestling long with wickedness will not be so elongated. Help me to mortify my flesh and to overcome evil with good. Give me humility and grant me holiness. You have granted me pardon from sin’s end; how can I live in it any longer?

I am deficient.

I am a deficient man.

I am a deficient father.

I am a deficient son.

I am a deficient brother.

One thing in which I’m not deficient:

DEFICIENCY

As we should do each Lord’s Day, let us be mindful of that great sacrifice securing the justification of those Whom God gave to Christ in the Covenant of Redemption.

Isaiah 53

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Let us express praise to our Lord for His emptying of Himself on the behalf of we, His people. May each Lord’s Day, when we consider and commemorate His life, death, and resurrection, be a sobering, yet exceedingly joyful, time bringing contrition, assurance, sorrow, restoration, and repentance.

Thank You, Lord, Who knew no sin for becoming sin on my behalf.

Though, Harry still holds a special place in my heart, I have a new friend who looks a bit like him, but is different in many ways.

While moving large rocks, bricks, and dirt for my mom, as penance for being a bad son, I happened upon Lil’ Froggy. Unlike Harry, Lil’ Froggy has a soft structure, lungs, sticky substance secreting from his skin, and mobility. One other notable attribute which Lil’ Froggy possesses that distinguishes him from Harry is his uncanny ability to urinate on me.

This is, according to the horse’s mouth (though in this case, it’s a frog), Lil’ Froggy’s “good side”.

Lil’ Froggy was so pleased to meet my acquaintance that he burst forth with a clinging hug to my thumb. Look at those peepers!

Lil’ Froggy began helping me move rocks, a co-rocker in my institutionalized state, and because he worked so vigorously he became induced to deep slumber.

Me and Lil’ Froggy.

And you’ll notice how much better my face looks with a frog blocking its terror. And, so, I leave you with a song reminicsent of my evening with my new friend:

My buddy, My buddy
My buddy and meWherever he goes, I’m gonna go
unintelligible line (because I don’t remember)
unintelligible line (because I don’t remember)
My buddy and me!
(because I don’t remember) (because I don’t remember)(because I don’t remember) (because I don’t remember)(because I don’t remember) (because I don’t remember)

So where does this leave us? If we are to only worship as God has commanded, nothing more/nothing less, how is it we are to worship? RHETORICAL QUESTION: Furthermore, since a huge part of worship in the Old Testament was carried out via sacrifice, incense, use of altars, Levitical playing of music, etc., how does this play out in New Testament worship? I’m determined to get to the bottom of this, as I wouldn’t want the worship offered to Christ to be of my imagination, but rather, divine commandment. So this could take a while.

I’ve seen some people write that they hold to a position of Exclusive singing of the Psalms in order to be “safe”. However, the problem with this is if Eph 5:19 and Col 3:16 do call for actually singing human composed hymnology, there can be no “safe” place, other than singing the Psalms of David and the compositions of man. But that is only supposing that the aforementioned interpretation is correct.

Once we have established that the right way to worship God is to only do as He has commanded, then the crux of the matter is defining Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. As I said, this could take a while. I very much look forward to any feedback from the readers, but I request that there be no long quotations by other people. Rather, if you have a point to make that is well supported by Theologians, Puritans, etc. please summarize the points in your own words.

Thanks for sharpening me. Grace and Peace.

Josh with a J