glorycloud's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jehovah is the Lord of history, as he is the Lord of creation It is the flow of my life as a white middle-class American male Christian 10:39 AM Tuesday morning. These verses just came to my mind, "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation" Galatians 6:14,15. I have had thus far a typical morning. I got up around 7:14 AM. I made myself a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. I drank coffee made last night. I ate my small bowl of oatmeal messing with our main computer. After messing with our main computer I walked to our dining room and wrote in my paper diary and read for morning devotions a volume titled, "Psalms 1-72" Old Testament VII Reformation Commentary On Scripture Edited By Herman J. Selderhuis. Carol got home from work around 8:33 AM and went to bed around 9:10 AM. When my wife comes home I put aside everything I am doing and listen to her tell me about her night at work. My wife is constantly talking to me. Carol and I have been talking to each other going on 37 years. I am always interested in my wife's world. I find Carol's world peaceful compared to mine. I am a raging volcano inside. I am constantly in motion inside. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" Phil. 4:6,7. I made a video this morning for my YouTube channel. Now I am writing in my online diaries. I have no plans for the day. I am not in the mood to go anywhere today even though it is sunny and warm. It would be a good day to take photos of the last of the autumn colors. I got out of my library this morning a book that came to me when I was reading Psalm 2 this morning. The book is titled, "The Lord Of History: Reflections on the Inner Meaning of History" by Jean Danielou, S.J. I will now quote from this book because it is sheds light on Psalm 2. "The passage of Jehovah through the universe of his creation is thus likened to a storm of such ferocity as to confound the very elements themselves. But he goes through human history too, like a victorious army overturning empires: 'There stood he, and scanned the earth; at his look, the nations were adread. . . I saw the Ethiop quail in his tent, the dwelling of Madian astir with terror.' Jehovah is the Lord of history, as he is the Lord of creation. In Deuteronomy, we are told that he 'divided the nations apart' [Deut. 32:8] that he made them the instruments of his purpose, to punish his own people for their sins [Deut. 32:21]; and that he afterwards broke and discarded them: 'Should the victors boast it was their own power, not mine, that he had won the day?' [Deut. 32:27]. The Prayer of Habacuc exhibits the execution of this verdict upon the nations. There is no other chosen race but the people of God, the new Israel; all the nations are guilty. So God's judgement upon the nations is not by way of punishing one and rewarding another: all nations alike are subject to his judgement, and must acknowledge their nothingness and their incompetence to plead against him. . . But if historical afflictions are not to be regarded as the punishment due to sin, how are they to be explained? Must it follow that we are the chance victims of tyrannical caprice? The question is fraught with anguish for too many sorrowful hearts to be lightly put off: we must get to the bottom of it. We must accept all the evidence, admit that the ills of this world are distributed at haphazard, without rhyme or reason: we must acknowledge that suffering humanity is engaged in a meaningless farce, and than attitude of revolt is the most fitting response a man can make to such a situation. We must allow all this to be a fair presentation of the case according to the principles of human justice. But if the world is subject to another and a better jurisdiction, that will be a different story. Great catastrophes, whether in the order of nature or of history, have just this very purpose-a fierce call to order, because men are prone to self-sufficiency, and unmindful of their creaturely estate. Historical disasters are a visitation of the Almighty, to strip mankind of vanity and utterly confound his self-possession, like the coming of Habacuc's army on the march, bring pestilence and death. 'Such was the tale set my whole frame trembling, at the rumour of it my lips quivered with fear; there was a faintness overcame my whole being, my steps faltered as I went' [Hab. 3:16]. When these things happen, the world is struck dumb. Men retire within themselves, silently, for there is a religious quality in the terror that is inspired by such immense catastrophes as the downfall of a might empire. They are as it were cracks in the protective covering of our little private world; light shines in from outside. They are like an open wound in the heart of our human existence. The self-sufficiency of man is rudely shaken, and himself violently thrown back upon the stark tragedy of real life-which he is always trying to forget; always taking any excuse not to think about, though it is all that really matters to him; always finding ways not to see, though this overhanging shadow of death contains his only hope of escape out of captivity. God comes then to awake mankind out of sleep, like the warning bell ringing for judgement. The disasters of human history are a call to repent while there is yet time." pg. 160-162 THE LORD OF HISTORY 11:30 a.m. - 2015-11-03 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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