Monthly Archives: May 2007
The temptation of Christ on the cross
Reading Matthew’s account of Christ’s crucifixion, I was struck by the words used to mock Jesus:
Matthew 27:39-44
39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.
Verse 40 is an echo of Satan’s temptation of Christ in the wilderness. Twice, Satan challenged Him with the same phrase: “If you are the Son of God…” (Matthew 4:3, 6). The first time, he tried to convince Jesus to meet His own physical needs; the second time, he tried to convince Jesus to reveal His power when it was not appropriate to do so (Philippians 2:5-11).
On the cross, Jesus was again challenged to meet His own needs — to save Himself from death. He was even told by the religious leaders that they would believe in Him if only He would come down from the cross. Life and glory were rightfully His, yet He refused them both, His love holding Him to the cross until His suffering was accomplished.
I’d never put much thought into the temptation Christ faced on the cross. It must have been an unimaginable burden and struggle. What agony our Savior faced! “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12).
Nine little things I like a lot
In no particular order:
- Raspberries
- iCal
- Wendy’s Super Value Menu
- Chrono Trigger
- Lolcats
- Jelly Bellies
- Trampolines
- The Beverly Hillbillies
- Pasta Roni
Useful Mac utilities
In the last week, I’ve found several programs and utilities that are proving indispensable for my new computer:
- Eudora Mailbox Cleaner — Transferred my e-mails from my Windows copy of Thunderbird to Apple Mail.
- Feisar iSync plugin — I bought the Sony Ericsson W300i plugin to sync my new cell phone’s address book with my Mac using Bluetooth. (iSync doesn’t include a profile for the W300i.) This beats the pants off of using a USB cord.
- USB Overdrive — Allows me to program the buttons of my Logitech MediaPlay Cordless Mouse so that they actually work properly. (Logitech doesn’t make any Mac drivers.)
- SizzlingKeys — Allows universal keyboard shortcuts for iTunes. In combination with USB Overdrive, now I can get my mouse buttons to properly control iTunes, no matter what program I’m using — I simply assign the mouse buttons to these shortcuts. SizzlingKeys also pops up a transparent notice whenever a new track comes on, which is pretty snazzy looking.
- Mail Act-On — I was seriously debating whether to dump Apple’s Mail program since it doesn’t allow me to write HTML e-mails (with bulleted lists, etc.) and has been involved in the suspicious disappearance of some of my e-mails. However, this utility is really sweet and has probably tipped the scales in Mail’s favor. It allows me to hit a hotkey [`], then any other key to which I have assigned a rule. For example, I hit [`] and then [k] to move a selected message to the “KSBC” folder. This is a godsend for when I need to use the trackpad and struggle to drag e-mails to the right folder.
- Mail.appetizer — Displays pop-up notifications when new e-mails arrive. The nice thing is that it shows a picture of the sender, too, if I’ve put one in my address book.
- Firefox — Duh! Windows users should have this browser installed, too! Apple’s Safari browser is too bare-bones…though it does have the advantage of handling PDF files in-browser, which Firefox can’t do on Intel Macs….
Just thought you’d like to know!
Rhyme and Reason
Here’s another song I wrote in January ’06…this one was written in 7/4 time, which is pretty weird. Kind of fits in with what I’m learning from the book of Job.
There’s a rhyme and there’s a reason
For every time and every season under heaven.
There’s a will, there’s a way
That’ll fill every day the Lord has given.Providence, teach me how to trust You more.
Sovereign Lord, teach me to believe You more.
As darkness veils Your lovely face,
Let me trust Your saving grace,
And let me believe…There’s a rhyme and there’s a reason
For every time and every season under heaven.
There’s a will, there’s a way
That’ll fill every day the Lord has given.Providence, teach me how to trust You more.
Sovereign Lord, teach me to believe You more.
As darkness veils Your lovely face,
Let me trust Your saving grace,
And let me believe…In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds; He will not fail,
But I cannot believe!
Lord, have mercy on me!There’s a rhyme and there’s a reason
For every time and every season under heaven.
There’s a will, there’s a way
That’ll fill every day the Lord has given.
We suffer because God is both powerful and wise
The problem of evil is presented in our culture as the following question: if God is both a loving God and a powerful God, then why does He let bad things happen to good people? Some people respond to this question by denying that God is all-powerful or all-knowing (for example, open-view theists deny that God knows the future). They compromise the awesome nature of God because they feel that there is no excuse for God to allow suffering.
Job struggled with the same problem. Even though he was a righteous man, God allowed Satan to destroy all his possessions, kill off his children, and afflict him with boils. His friends were (falsely) convinced that Job must have sinned to deserve this, but Job “was righteous in his own eyes” (Job 32:1). He couldn’t understand why God would let this happen to him.
When God spoke to Job in chapters 38-41, He had three main points:
- I am wise (38-39).
- I am powerful (40-41).
- You are not.
God proved His wisdom by the fact that He created the world. He challenged Job with a heavy dose of sarcasm, asking him which of the two of them had created the earth by wisdom. “You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!” (38:21). He also reminded Job that He was the one who preserved the created order and who continued to govern the universe. “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?” (38:31). God then moved on to describe His intimate knowledge and loving care of the animals that He created — lions, ravens, mountain goats, wild donkeys, wild oxen, ostriches, horses, and hawks. “Is the wild ox willing to serve you?” was His challenge to Job (39:9).
God then described two powerful animals, Behemoth and Leviathan. (I’ve heard these referred to as a dinosaur and an extinct marine reptile, respectively, since they don’t fit the description of any living animals.) Behemoth was “the first of the works of God” (40:19) incredibly strong and unafraid even of a powerful flooded river. And God couldn’t seem to get enough of Leviathan — “I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame….On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear” (41:12, 33). Yet the creature is not more powerful than its Creator: “No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?” (41:11). God’s power is colossal, and even the terrible Leviathan is nothing in His sight.
Job was humbled before God. He admitted God’s superior strength (42:2) and wisdom (42:3). Even though God never explained to him why he was suffering, he saw that He could trust an infinitely wise and powerful God — a God who knew what He was doing.
I love this passage of scripture because it reminds me to think of my life from God’s perspective. I can get all worked up about my future or about the struggles I’m facing, but here I’m reminded that this is all part of God’s plan. He is wise and He is powerful. He knows better than me what to do with my life, lovingly bringing me both pain and pleasure.
Rather than viewing the problem of evil in terms of God’s power and love, perhaps we should join the Bible in focusing on God’s power and wisdom. We should remind ourselves that there is a wise purpose behind all the pain in the world and that God has made it clear to us in His Word.
