He who finds a wife...

I promised I would say a bit more about polygamy.  Here it is, but my hubby did it. I went to bed the other night, and he stayed up and prayed and pondered and studied.  He came up with this:

 

Adam had 1 wife - Eve.  This is how marriage was introduced by God, and is the foundation of any Biblical understanding of marriage as being unalterable - there was NEVER the slightest hint that this was not God's single and most holy intention.  Adam had neither additional wives, nor concubines - neither before, nor after the fall.

 

In 1 Corinthians 7:2 the Apostle Paul, speaking with the very authority of Heaven, declares: "let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband"; adding the provision than just as it is UNNATURAL for a man to have a multiplicity of wives, so it is likewise UNNATURAL for a woman to have a multiplicity of husbands.

 

Revelation 21:9b declares:  "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife." 

 

From Genesis to Revelation there is a singularity in the concept of marriage partners - one husband, one wife.

 

By the example given from the beginning of creation, He did notify His people that marriage is to be one man and one woman.  By the recording in His Word, it is recorded, and WE KNOW IT TODAY.  That you are positive or not is your responsibility, as God cannot make His will and purpose more plainly, or more simply.  One bride.  One groom.  God is immutable, that is, unchangeable (Hebrews 13:8-9a  "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines ")

 

That Old Testament history shows that many (not all)  were engaged in polygamy is not proof of God's approval, but more rather of His grace.  Any attempt to stretch Scripture to indicate that the practice of polygamy in the Old Testament is prescriptive, and ought to be practiced today, is being "carried about with various and strange doctrines."

 

Please notice the singularity in the following sample verses.

 

Proverbs 18:22 "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favour from the LORD."

 

.Song of Solomon 4:12;6:3  "A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed...  I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;"

 

Eph 5:28b; 31b  "he who loves his wife loves himself... and the two shall become one flesh"

 

Ephesians 5:23  "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church..."

 

The uniting together of a man and of a woman into the marriage relationship is a picture of the redemptive work of Christ - one sinner, one Saviour.

Vocabulary and other Lessons

In our vocabulary lesson this morning we studied the word "brevity" - a noun meaning "conciseness.  The sample sentence was

 "Brevity is essential when you send a telegram - you are charged for every word." 

 I gave the children the famous example of a brief telegram, "Saved Alone", written by Anna Spafford to her husband Horatio to tell him of the death of all four of their beautiful daughters.

Most Christians know that Horatio Spafford got on the next available ship to go and join his grieving wife.  As they were crossing the Atlantic, the captain informed Horatio when the ship was in the spot where the girls had drowned.  He went to his cabin and penned the words to the beautiful hymn, "It Is Well With My Soul".

However, many are not aware of the rest of the story.  

When the Spaffords got back to Chicago, they naturally expected their Christian brothers and sisters to rally around them and encourage them in their great loss.  Not only had they lost their daughters to drowning, but Horatio had lost most of his real estate holdings in the Great Fire of Chicago.  They knew what it was to suffer.  They knew what it was to lose everything they held dear.

But God wasn't finished teaching them to depend on Him, and Him alone.

Bertha Spafford (a daughter born later) wrote about her parents' struggle:

The important thing was not to lose faith... The Puritan foundation of the protestant churches had carried into the United States many of the harsh Old Testament tenets. It was universally accepted by all Christians then that sickness or sorrow was the result of sin.... What had father done, what had his young wife done, that they should be so afflicted? 

A bitter, public quarrel ensued, and Horatio decided to take his wife and young daughter, Bertha, to the Holy Land, where they threw themselves into the service of others.  

There is no doubt that God used suffering to refine this family.  He had a purpose - and that is evident in the life of Bertha Spafford, later Bertha Vester.  Click on the link and read her fascinating story.  She spent her life serving the Lord and the Arab people.

In 1963, King Hussein awarded Mrs. Vester the Jordanian Star in recognition of her "praiseworthy qualities," as His Majesty's citation read. She is the only Christian woman ever to have received the award. But perhaps the most touching tribute is a cement ramp which partly fills in a street of steps leading from Herod's Gate up to the children's hospital. In Jerusalem, where hardly a stone is moved without official sanction, the government allowed the steps to be filled in so Mrs. Vester could be wheeled up to visit her beloved babies.

Bertha died in 1968.  This is the obituary from Time Magazine:

Died. Bertha Spafford Vester, 90, Jerusalem's Florence Nightingale, who cared for thousands of Christians, Moslems and Jews under four flags (Turkish, British, Jordanian and Israeli); in Jerusalem. Called "Ummuna" (mother of us all) by her Arab friends, the ex-Chicagoan (who moved to the Holy City in 1881 with her parents) treated both British and Turkish soldiers wounded in the city during World War I, Jewish and Arab soldiers during the 1948 war. Her Spafford Memorial Children's Hospital, founded in 1925, is now —with its infant-welfare center and 60-bed clinic—one of the best pediatric clinics in the Arab Middle East. Mrs. Vester, herself a Presbyterian, capped a distinguished career in 1963 by obtaining enough polio vaccine from the U.S. to inoculate 300,000 Jordanian children.  

So, what are the lessons learned today in Vocabulary Class?  

1.  God uses great tragedy to accomplish His purposes of refinement in the lives of His children.

2.  It is nothing new that Christians sometimes choose to act unkindly and treat their brethren sinfully.  It happened to the Spaffords, and it still happens today.

3.  God has prepared work for His children in places they often can't imagine going to.  He orchestrates the events to move His people where He wants them to serve.  Were it not for the faulty doctrine of the Chicago churches, the Spaffords would not have moved to the Middle East, and Bertha would not have served and loved sick children for over 40 years.

Raison d'être*

*Raison d'être is a phrase borrowed from French where it means simply "reason for being".

I entered the blogging world a couple of years ago, writing semi-frequently on "Grannymom's Spot". That blog tends to be, for the most part, about my family and personal experiences. I have decided that it will be kept private, for family and invited friends.

For a few days, I have been pondering what to do about cyberspace. This morning, as he is wont to do(entirely unbeknownst to him), John Piper rocked my world with the following essay: Boasting Only In the Cross

He writes,

"You don't have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world. But you do have to know the few great things that matter, and then be willing to live for them and die for them. The people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by a few great things. If you want your life to count, if you want the ripple effect of the pebbles you drop to become waves that reach the ends of the earth and roll on for centuries and into eternity, you don't have to have a high IQ or EQ; you don't have to have to have good looks or riches; you don't have to come from a fine family or a fine school. You have to know a few great, majestic, unchanging, obvious, simple, glorious things, and be set on fire by them."

My few great, majestic, unchanging, obvious, simple, glorious things include:

GREAT: GOD. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, Three in One. The Father chose me from before the foundation of the earth. The Son redeemed my life from destruction, dying in my place on that cruel cross, and rising again to be the mediator on my behalf. The Holy Spirit lives in me, guiding me, leading me, reassuring me, and pointing me to the Cross.

MAJESTIC My home is in heaven. This world is not my home. I really am just passing through.

UNCHANGING God loves me. Whether or not I'm having a "good" day from man's perspective, my God never changes. Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Lights, in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He doesn't change. He loves me during the darkest days, He loves me during the most treasured moments, when I can scarcely breathe for joy.

OBVIOUS He blesses me. With family, and friends. With material blessings and spiritual wonders. With air and water and food and clothing. With thorns and stones and cuts and bruises, and heart-wrenching sobs that turn me to Him, He blesses.

SIMPLE I love Him. We love Him, because He first loved us. I love Him enough to want to tell others how very good He is. I can't begin to approach any sort of true description, but here on this blog, I will try.

GLORIOUS I bring Him glory. How cool is that? By simply living my life with my heart turned towards my God, I bring Him glory. By being willing to live in an obscure part of the Canadian countryside, far from any "big-wigs" or influential people, I bring Him glory. With a kiss on the cheek of my husband, or a snuggle or back-scratch for my little grandchild, I bring the God of the Universe glory.

So, this blog is about the ordinary things in life, and what God is teaching me through them. If you didn't bother clicking over to John Piper's exhortation, please do so. He says it so much more eloquently than I do.

I have to ask: What sets YOU on fire?