The righteous man considereth the house of the wicked, How the wicked are overthrown to their ruin. (Proverbs 21:12)
One evening a man was walking down the street towards the neighborhood where he lived. He walked with a steady, but ponderous gait, as one does when he is encompassed with thought and is pressing forward only by the will of his two feet. As he walked thus, deep in his own contemplations, another man called out to him from a shop on the left side of the dusty street.
Following in the footsteps of such esteemed scholars as our friend Sir Francis Bacon, I have decided to write an essay upon a topic which has been present in my mind for some time now, though it has been shoved aside repeatedly by the pressing responsibilities of my university studies. Indeed, these still remain, but at this moment they are of such a nature that I feel I may neglect them for a few moments in order to write something that is neither required nor subject to grading, and I sincerely hope that these writings will make the reader think about something he may never have thought about before, and perhaps even challenge his usage of the English language.
We often speak of luck. “What is luck?” one may justly ask. Luck is an abstract thing that is apparently believed to work in the life of every person either for good or ill, depending on its whim at the time. It may also be observed from usage that luck itself is neutral, for we speak both of good and bad luck. A certain dictionary describes luck as a “force.” I believe many people would not describe it thus, such as they might the “force” of the Star Wars legendarium, but if I were to take a survey of English speakers I believe it would become evident that most agree that luck is more the manifestation of random chance. The adjective “lucky” is applied to such serendipitous situations such as walking through town and discovering that a new ice cream shop has been opened, and is offering a free ice cream cone to whosoever may desire one, in celebration of their grand opening. It may also be used to describe one who barely misses a dread accident, such as a man who, while telling of his recent visit to a swamp, says that it was lucky that he wasn’t bitten by the many unforeseen alligators that he encountered.
Another oft-encountered phrase involving luck is heard when one person encourages another with the words “Good luck!” Assuming “luck” is the action of random chance upon one’s life, is this phrase as uplifting semantically as the well-wisher intends? Probably not. If I am going out into a dangerous part of the world to teach the good news of Jesus Christ, would you rather tell me that you hope things will work out in a mysterious, random manner, or would it be more effective for you to express your wish for God to bless my endeavour? If I am about to take an exam upon a difficult subject, I would much rather you wish me a clear mind and Godspeed than for you to say “good luck.”
I do not know how God works. As the esteemed poet Mr. Cowper wrote, “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.” However, I most definitely believe that He does act in the lives of men through His providence, and with the knowledge that all good things come from God, credit should be given to our Creator when something we may call “lucky” happens in our lives. “God bless you” carries so much more semantic and spiritual weight than “good luck.”
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6)
Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation. (Psalm 68:19)
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength. (Isaiah 40:29)
Here in Tennessee I have been learning a great many songs that I’ve never heard before, and I would like to share one of them with you. This particular song is actually Irish, and both the music and the words are very lovely. I hope to introduce this one to my home congregation someday (providing that it is in our songbooks). Here are the lyrics:
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
Or what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost. Even so, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
(Luke 15:8-10)
In this parable, which Jesus told after telling the parable of the Lost Sheep, Jesus has the same thought as was in the previous parable. In this parable, Jesus told of a woman who had ten pieces (coins) of silver. When one was lost, she swept the house and sought diligently to find it. When she found it, she called together her friends and neighbors, and told them to rejoice with her.
As with the previous parable, Jesus compares the woman finding one silver piece that was lost to one sinner who repents, and that “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God.”
Jesus was pointing out that when a sinner repents, there is more joy in heaven than over many who have no need of repentance.
In recent times there has been an increasing call from the scientific community for earth’s population to live more responsibly, with more sensitivity towards our environment. We hear such news all the time—always there is some new piece of information confirming global warming, some species teetering on the brink of extermination, or some government enacting new legislation to try to turn the tide. It may be disputed whether these alarms are based on factual evidence, but this is not the matter to be addressed here. These may not be legitimate concerns, but even if they are, how must we as Christians respond to this growing movement? We cannot merely stand by and let this issue rise or fall; the world demands a response. What will it be? Read More