So the nature of the Fellows Program is that our schedules are pretty tightly packed! This has proved to be a huge blessing in many ways, but unfortunately this week has not afforded extra time to write a blog entry. HOWEVER, I very much wanted to be committed to a somewhat weekly posting... mostly to prove to my parents that I wouldn’t forget about the blog …. As I have done before…:).
This week, instead of writing a completely new blog entry, I am posting two snippets of a 7-page paper due Monday for our seminary course. The assignment was to write a reflection about how our devotional readings this semester transformed our walks with the Lord. Our readings were J.I. Packer’s Knowing God, A.W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God, and O. Hallesby’s Prayer. I also read Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God to fulfill a Puritan requirement (come to find out that Brother Lawrence was not, in fact, a Puritan… oops). These books were unbelievable – particularly the Tozer. Check them out - I've provided links for the ones available online.
Anyway! Here are a couple of passages. Have a fantastic week and drink some Eggnog for me!
The Snippets:
“I consider myself as the most wretched of men, full of sores and corruption, and who has committed all sorts of crimes against his King; touched with a sensible regret I confess to Him all my wickedness, I ask His forgiveness, I abandon myself in His hands, that He may do what He pleases with me. This King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favourite. It is thus I consider myself from time to time in His holy presence” (Lawrence 17).Lawrence does not expect any more from himself than to be a wicked sinner; instead, he fully understands that he is undeserving of grace or love. However, he does not dwell on his own unworthiness. Instead, he lays his sinful nature at God’s feet and receives the free gift of grace and love from his Father….
.... In short, this course has helped me understand God’s response to Job’s questioning. God responds with “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand” (Job 38:4). I had always felt a bit frustrated and undone by this passage. In truth, I felt that Job had every right to know why God would allow such tragedy and heartache to occur in the life of such a faithful man. However, this course has opened my eyes to understand that Job and I are not entitled to know or understand God’s ways. Instead, we are called to receive God’s free gift of grace and lead faithful lives of humble surrender to our heavenly Father….
Works Cited
Hallesby, Ole. Prayer. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 1994. Print.
Lawrence, Brother. The Practice of the Presence of God: The Best Rule of the Holy Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1666. eBook. <http://www.ccel.org/ccel/lawrence/practice.pdf>.
Packer, J.I. Knowing God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973. Print.
Tozer, A.W. The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine. Legacy Edition. Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, Inc., 1982. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment