When I was a teenager, way back in the dark ages of the 1950s, two songs rose high in the popular music charts. Both songs were sentimental. Both songs had nice, flowing, rich orchestral accompaniments, which were far more appreciated then in popular music than they are today. Both songs were recorded by artists who enjoyed a wide popularity at the time. One of the songs was called He and was recorded by a blind singer named Al Hibbler. The other was called I Believe and was recorded by many artists, but perhaps was most identified at the time with Elvis Presley.
These songs had much in common, as noted here. And besides these things, there was one more characteristic the two songs shared. They both perpetuated and popularized a false god of human invention.
He can turn the tides and calm the angry sea
He alone decides who writes a symphony
He lights ev’ry star that makes the darkness bright
He keeps watch all through each long and lonely night
He still finds the time to hear a child's first prayer
Saint or sinner calls and always finds him there
Though it makes him sad to see the way we live
He’ll always say “I forgive.”
He can touch a tree and turn the leaves to gold
He knows every lie that you and I have told
Though it makes him sad to see the way we live
He'll always say “I forgive.”
Words by Richard Mullan. Recorded by Al Hibbler and others
I believe for every drop of rain that falls
A flower grows
I believe that somewhere in the darkest night
A candle glows
I believe for everyone who goes astray, someone will come
To show the way
I believe, I believe
I believe above a storm the smallest prayer
Can still be heard
I believe that someone in the great somewhere
Hears every word
Every time I hear a new born baby cry,
Or touch a leaf or see the sky
Then I know why, I believe
Words & music by Erwin Drake - Irvin Graham - Jimmy Shirl - Al Stillman Recorded by Elvis Presley and many others.
The true God is not “someone in the great somewhere.” He is the God of Heaven and earth. The true God is not always ready to say “I forgive.” There is a price to pay for sin, and His righteousness and holiness demand that price be paid. He also, in love, sent His Son, Jesus to pay for the sin with His own blood. God forgives those who come to Him by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
I Believe does not make reference to God except to say that “someone in the great somewhere” hears prayers. He says that God is “sad” by the way we live, but offers no word on what God has done about our situation. The Bible, of course, says much about what God has done to correct our sin problem.
Neither song makes any direct reference to sin, to judgment, or to the shedding of the blood of God's own Son, Jesus. These are the things the true God is concerned about.
So, why bring up songs that have long ago faded into the history of popular music in North America, and no doubt are unknown to most younger readers of this blog? The songs may be a distant memory, but the concept of the weak, powerless, sentimental god they praised still exists and has actually grown in acceptance today. Perhaps most people today think of God as he is depicted in these songs. He is a vague and distant “someone in the great somewhere.” He is sad. He spends his time turning leaves to gold and listening to a child’s first prayer, but he can’t do anything about the death both leaves and children ultimately face.
The only way to know the true God is to find Him in the pages of the Scriptures. Those who find Him there can establish a faith relationship with His Son Jesus. When I see Jesus, that is when I know why I believe.
Showing posts with label faith in Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith in Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Three Score and Ten
Three score and ten.
Now, that is a lot of years to be involved in any one activity. But as of Sunday, June 5, 2011, it is the measure of the number of years I have been involved in one activity, the activity of life.
The phrase, three score and ten, comes from the King James translation of the Bible. Moses (he is the author of this particular psalm) was having one of those “talking to myself and feeling old” kind of days when he wrote it. He said, “Our days may come to seventy years (three score and ten), or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”
Moses certainly knew his share of trouble and sorrow. After all, God called him to lead a stubborn nation of people who were forever resistant to what God asked of them.
The best of those seventy years we might get on earth are trouble and sorrow. They quickly pass. Then we’re gone!
That is where I am now. The best of my seventy years are history, forever consigned to old photographs and writings. If my “strength endures” I have about ten years left, according to Moses.
So, what will I do with these next ten years, assuming, of course, that I will actually have them. The same thing I have done with the last fifty: Serve the Lord Jesus Christ. It has been a blessing to be His servant all these years.
It is not that I have been called to minister to people who were better than the ancient Hebrews Moses led. People are people. They are all sinners, every last one of them. When a sinner ministers to other sinners, you can expect trouble. And sorrow, too, just as Moses said.
Servants of Jesus Christ must remain focused on Jesus Christ; if they don’t, they will fall into depression and failure. Jesus never disappoints. Jesus never fails. Jesus never resists the will of God. Keeping my attention on Him brings joy and satisfaction. Keeping my attention on myself or on people He calls me to minister to makes me think the best of my seventy years are filled with trouble and sorrow.
Funny thing is, Moses was 120 years old when he died, and Deuteronomy 34:7 says that “his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.” Apparently there is no Biblical mandate that we live on this earth for 70 or 80 years and then we are gone. If I follow Moses’ example, then I still have fifty years more to live in this old world!
The most important thing is not how many years we get to live on this earth. The most important thing is whether or not we are prepared through faith in Jesus Christ to live for eternity in Heaven with Him after our three score and ten, or whatever we wind up getting, conclude.
Now, that is a lot of years to be involved in any one activity. But as of Sunday, June 5, 2011, it is the measure of the number of years I have been involved in one activity, the activity of life.
The phrase, three score and ten, comes from the King James translation of the Bible. Moses (he is the author of this particular psalm) was having one of those “talking to myself and feeling old” kind of days when he wrote it. He said, “Our days may come to seventy years (three score and ten), or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”
Moses certainly knew his share of trouble and sorrow. After all, God called him to lead a stubborn nation of people who were forever resistant to what God asked of them.
The best of those seventy years we might get on earth are trouble and sorrow. They quickly pass. Then we’re gone!
That is where I am now. The best of my seventy years are history, forever consigned to old photographs and writings. If my “strength endures” I have about ten years left, according to Moses.
So, what will I do with these next ten years, assuming, of course, that I will actually have them. The same thing I have done with the last fifty: Serve the Lord Jesus Christ. It has been a blessing to be His servant all these years.
It is not that I have been called to minister to people who were better than the ancient Hebrews Moses led. People are people. They are all sinners, every last one of them. When a sinner ministers to other sinners, you can expect trouble. And sorrow, too, just as Moses said.
Servants of Jesus Christ must remain focused on Jesus Christ; if they don’t, they will fall into depression and failure. Jesus never disappoints. Jesus never fails. Jesus never resists the will of God. Keeping my attention on Him brings joy and satisfaction. Keeping my attention on myself or on people He calls me to minister to makes me think the best of my seventy years are filled with trouble and sorrow.
Funny thing is, Moses was 120 years old when he died, and Deuteronomy 34:7 says that “his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.” Apparently there is no Biblical mandate that we live on this earth for 70 or 80 years and then we are gone. If I follow Moses’ example, then I still have fifty years more to live in this old world!
The most important thing is not how many years we get to live on this earth. The most important thing is whether or not we are prepared through faith in Jesus Christ to live for eternity in Heaven with Him after our three score and ten, or whatever we wind up getting, conclude.
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