Scripture Monday - Psalm 40:1

"I waited patiently for the Lord;

He inclined to me and heard my cry."

It's hard to be patient, especially when waiting on God. Our flesh will usually say something like, "He's God!
Can't He just zap me and get rid of my problem?" Obviously, God doesn't work like that, which is just to say
that He is not a vending machine. When a problem comes up, we just want it to go away so we can get on with life. But what if there is a vital message in the problem, one that we would never learn if we just eased through life? I believe that God will send us problems, not to make our lives horrible, but to teach us something. He may teach us to "not lean on your own understanding (Prov. 3:5)", and to "Be still, and know that I am God (Ps. 46:10)". He may also be letting us know that we're getting off track. I ask, how can we expect to have a strong
faith if it is never tested? And how can we expect to be tested without going through some discomfort?
  Maybe God is teaching this very thing to some of you right now. If so, don't lose heart. Wait on the Lord, and you will soon say with the psalmist,

"I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord."

(Psalm 40:1-3)

Scripture Tuesday - Psalm 119:140

"Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it."

The Psalm are full of praise for God's laws and promises. Here, the Psalmist expresses his confidence in God's
promises and the delight that he finds in them. We can be sure that whatever God promises, He will bring to
pass, although it may not happen the way we think it should. God is outside of time; He is all-knowing and all-
powerful; He is loving and merciful, and does not lie; He is, for lack of a better term, God. We have no need of
fear or worry as regards the future, for the Lord provides for His own; and that is just one of the promises He
has made to His people. He also promises that "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Rom. 10:13), and that "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1 John. 1:9). There
are many more to be found, but that is a post for another day. Back to the main point, I am sure that we can all
look back to times in our lives when God's promises were proven trustworthy; situations where we were
tempted to go against His direction, but persevered, and found that, indeed, "The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul" (Ps. 19:7). King David, when he was in "a time of trouble", did this very thing. He called to
remembrance the many works that God had done, and His faithfulness to Israel. (The Psalms are filled with
examples of this, but chapter 77 is a good place to start.) In the end, he was filled with praise and hope in the
most trying circumstances. may we also do this, remembering that God's promises are well tried, and they will
always be found trustworthy.

Read This Before You Vote!

You thought I had some miraculous morsel of wisdom-beyond-my-years, didn't you? Well, I don't, but here is
a great post over at Biblical Christianity that you should check out. Seriously.

Scripture Wednesday - 1 John 2:17

Okay, it's not Tuesday, but yesterday was busy, so here ya go:

"And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

This world is temporal. It's not meant to last forever, and we see evidence of this all the time. Things decay

and break, things die. Indeed, "the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until

now" (Rom. 8:22). Granted, these things are part of the natural order of creation, but they still serve as

reminders that nothing in this world lasts forever.

  Yet the meaning of this verse is deeper than just the physical creation, as we can see from the context:

"15 Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of

the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

17 And the world is passing away along with its desires,

but whoever does the will of God abides forever."- I John 2:15-17

In light of this, we understand that John is speaking of the corrupted world system that we live in, and also the sinful desires and cravings that permeate it. As Christians, this should give us courage, because we know that

the corruption and injustice that we often encounter in this world will not last. It may prosper for an age, but it

will fall on the last day. Also, the desires of this world are fleeting and vain, promising happiness or fulfillment,

and although they may seem to make good on those promises, they don't last. If you devote your life to gaining riches, neglecting your soul, your family, and your health, what use are they then? Sure, you can buy whatever you want, you can have lots of toys to pass the time with, but it's just a pile of icing with no cake to go on.

  So, if this world and all the cool stuff it has to offer can't be depended on, what do we do? We strive for

things eternal, to be in right standing with our Creator. The one who does God's will builds up treasure for him-

self in heaven, "where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matt. 6:20).

And he does this not to fulfill his worldly desires, which pass away, but because he has been born of God's

Spirit, delighting in Him and in doing His will, and because God delights in blessing those who fear Him. This

individual also lives forever to enjoy these blessings, and God Himself, not because he worked so hard to please

God, but because he put his trust in Jesus Christ, who is the only way to the Father.

  Let us therefore seek to do God's will, because He is the rock of our salvation that will never pass away!

New Music

Here is a new song that we recorded yesterday: (I just about wore raw spots on my fingers playing this one, so
enjoy it!)



Expositional post tomorrow.

Scripture Monday - 1 John 2:3

"And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments."

Lots of the time, people like to stress the grace of God in salvation to such an extent that they obscure the

imperative that we must obey His commands. It truly boggles the mind. Jesus is our Savior, but He is also our

Lord. And what good is it, calling Him Lord, if we disregard His laws? It is preposterous! Just read all of 1 John,
read James. Read the Gospels, for cryin' out loud!  You can't get around it. God does not deliver us from the

judgment our sins deserve, only to give us the "freedom" to pursue those same sins. I mean, see here:

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know

that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that,

just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,

we too might walk in newness of life." - Romans 6:1-4

We clearly see throughout the bible that there is an expectation that christians will obey the law of God! Once
again, read the Psalms, the Proverbs... It's all over the place. One specific thing I would draw your attention to
is this: Jesus never said that all we have to do is "ask Him into our heart", and then we'd be good to go. He said,
"Follow Me". He also said, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand". And what does one repent of but sin?
 At the same time, I must have at least one disclaimer here, to avoid a misunderstanding. All this is not to say
that if you sin, you are not really a christian. Christians sin. That is reality. What this does mean is that a true
christian, i.e., a person that has repented of his sin and depends entirely on Christ for his hope and salvation,
also has a desire for, and a growing inclination towards, righteousness. This person knows that there is nothing
good in his old nature, and that he must obey the One who is his only source of life, for He says, "Follow Me"! 

For Guitarist's Eyes Only!

One fellow whose music I have come to love is Jeff Beck, and I have been somewhat inspired by him, especially
since he plays completely sans plectrum, like me. If you can ignore the lack of sleeves, and that strange thing
around his neck, he really makes some beautiful music. These performances are from a live concert in London,
which I have the recording from.

This is just a classic:



Blues with a twist:
(The actual title is "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat/Brush With The Blues")



Amazing use of harmonics and vibrato bar: