OUR SPIRITS BLOSSOM WHEN WE SING

Paul Estabrooks

God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. Psalm 68:6

Our Open Doors colleague, Ron Boyd-MacMillan, shares the following insight from his teaching, “Why I Need to Encounter the Persecuted Church.”

Chinese evangelist, Mrs Yang, was visited by another full time preacher who was very downcast. The preacher wanted to buy a tape player, but had no money. Mrs Yang sat down and just began to sing to him. Her voice was deep and scratchy, the tune barely discernible, the words simple: I am a wanderer, my home is in heaven/ Life is fleeting/ Our home is in heaven/ In this world we have many trials/ And sadness and sickness/ True happiness is not in this world/ But in heaven.

How To Win Him Back From The Other Woman

This is for my friend, I am charm, whose husband has left her and their child and is off having his affair with the other woman.

The statistics for an affair actually working out are very low, I think it is less than 2% of affairs actually turn into marriages, it is most likely not going to work out between him and the other woman, and it probably won’t even last past a year. This is good news for a wife who wants her husband to return to their family. However, you have many disadvantages on your side right now to work through.

Dear Friend of Insight for Living:

It isn't pretty, but it's here to stay. It occurs in every life and in every season of life. I call it the "daily grind."

Homemakers face fourteen-hour days with ever-present children and an endless grind of responsibilities. Students endure the grind of assignments, classes, and exams. Salespeople have quotas to meet. Musicians must constantly rehearse. Therapists can't escape one depressed soul after another. Husbands have grass to mow and things to fix each weekend. Preachers forever face the grind of sermon preparation.

Fact is—let's face it—the grind isn't going away! Instead of fussing about it or dreading it, we must find a way to live beyond it. How? Songs! But not just any songs. I have in mind a songbook that's really old. In fact, it's one of the first-ever composed, inspired by our Creator-God. Its timeless songs were written specifically to help us live beyond life's daily grind. That's right, beyond it. Why else would God have inspired those age-old compositions called psalms?

From Grapes to Wine

Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its grapes?" —Psalm 80:12

In Psalm 80, the Psalmist has a question for God. Using a grapevine as a metaphor, King David describes how God took the children of Israel out of Egypt and planted them in the Promised Land. There, they took root and flourished, covering the land with their sweet fruit. Yet, over time, the situation changed, causing the Psalmist to write: "Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes?" After all that work, why has God allowed his precious vineyard to be pummeled and ravaged? Why has the God of Israel allowed His people to be all but destroyed?

The prophet Hosea, as if answering King David’s question, had this to say: "Israel was a spreading vine; he brought forth fruit for himself. As his fruit increased, he built more altars; as his land prospered, he adorned his sacred stones. Their heart is deceitful, and now they must bear their guilt" (Hosea 10:1–2). Translation: While the Israelites blossomed and thrived in the land of Israel, their abundant blessings led them toward idolatry instead of toward God. In the place of thankfulness, they substituted forgetfulness. They forgot who had blessed them and what they were supposed to accomplish with all that they had been given.

How To Die

The doctor wasn’t smiling. “There’s no way I can sugarcoat it. You have a rare, fatal disease and there is no known cure.”by Rabbi Benjamin Blech

“How to Die” – the three words on last week’s cover of Time magazine – made my heart race. I rushed to read what has assumed such powerful personal relevance ever since my unforgettable moment in the doctor’s office.

I had no previous warning.

It was just my annual physical exam. No health problems. No complaints. Both my mother and father lived into healthy old age. I figured I’d receive my usual reassuring words that all was well, coupled with the suggestion that I return in six months to a year.

It seemed strange that the doctor wasn’t smiling when he called me to his office to provide me with the results of his examinations. It was then I began to suspect something might be wrong.

My Powerful Judge

I had sinned. Despite my efforts to convince myself that I hadn't really failed God, guilt whispered quietly, and then more loudly when I ignored its protests. It didn't matter if anyone else was aware. I knew. That self-knowledge made it terrible to bear. 

During that period, I read every day from the Psalms. Although I didn't speak quite as dramatically as the poet, I understood his words on an emotional level: "When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever-heat of summer" (Ps 32:3-4, NAS).

I had sinned. 

To make it worse, it wasn't what the Old Testament refers to as a sin of ignorance. I had deliberately gone astray. Before I sinned, I told myself that I was protecting my rights, standing up for myself and being faithful to my convictions. At other times, I've told myself that I had technically sinned, but I had really been overwhelmed by temptation (as though that made it a lesser offense).

The Lawgiver

On the chalkboard for my Sunday school class I drew a small square inside a large circle. "The circle represents life and the box stands for the laws of God. Where are you?" I placed an X inside the box and I placed another outside the box. "Which best represents you and your understanding of the laws of God?"

From there I went on to explain that committed Christians tend to take one of two positions: inside or outside the box. Those inside the box are keenly aware of God's laws and carefully obey them. Their lives revolve around staying away from the four walls of the box. Their freedom, although limited, is that they can do what they want, but within the confines of the walls.

Some in the class used the box to define their lives. The laws, rules, regulations, injunctions, commands, and statutes of God were about as far as they would travel.