Vinegar upon Nitre - Not a Good Thing

Proverbs 25:20  As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.

First things first. What in the world is nitre?

I like the definition in Nave's Topical Dictionary. I think he understood as much as I do. His full definition: "a chemical". So, there you go. 

Since I'm no chemist and somehow passed chemistry in high school by the skin of my teeth by putting in Naves-like effort in learning about chemical properties, I'll give you what little I have come to understand about the aforementioned nitre. This chemical, from what my betters have discovered, is potassium nitrate, which is like a soda or carbonate and bubbles and fizzes when combined with acids, like vinegar. Apparently it was used to wash clothes in ancient times. Some sort of Ancient Egyptian Secret. I did a search on YouTube for potassium nitrate, and apparently we Americans have harnessed this power in different ways.

Without exactly knowing that vinegar causes nitre to be as bubbly as a Hello Kitty tour guide, we can tell by the taking the coat away in the cold example, that it isn't a good thing. It doesn't do much good taking a persons coat when they are freezing. Nor would it help a person carrying nitre to have you go and start a chemical reaction in their hands. Upon reflection, neither of these things would be optimal.

The "as" and the "so" is the key. Not to be overly simple, but these little words clue us in on how to read proverbs. As these two bad things are, so it is equally bad to do this other bad thing. In other words, only a jerk would take away a man's coat in a blizzard or dump water in a box of a man's Tide and everyone knows that.

It is equally bad to sing songs to a heavy heart. It is trying to overlook the pain of one whose heart is heavy by applying the wrong medicine at the wrong time. Proverbs 17:22  says A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. But be discerning enough to know when to apply this salve to which wound. I'm sure Tylenol would help the pain of a rattlesnake bite, but lets deal with the deadly poison coursing through my veins first. In other words telling someone to "cheer up" when they have just been devastated is not likely to be the best medicine. Another bit of science, the world doesn't revolve around you, or me as far as that goes. In fact, almost failing chemistry is one of the ways I learned that said earth's rotation has little to do with me and my proximity. Because you are not sad, that doesn't mean others are not, and trying to make them happy by singing songs is not going to help the situation, it is only going to make it worse.

There are those unfortunate souls who revel in sorrow and are their happiest when they are miserable. We are dealing with a person who is genuinely sad and a person who genuinely wants to help. One person has a very good reason to be brokenhearted, and the other person hates to see them that way. The problem arises in how to help them. Solomon is telling us if we go and act like a morning radio show in the midst of someone's sorrow to try to "help them" you are going to make it worse.

There are exceptions, of course, but if most people could just "cheer up" they would. There is a time to grieve and if you want to be a friend, don't be superficial with your friends pain. Sympathize, show loving compassion. There is a middle ground between being a clown and being a "friend to Job".

There is a time to weep and a time to laugh. Learn the difference.With kindly and brotherly affection, weep with them that weep. Help them, hear them, pray for them, and point them to Christ.

Grace & Peace,
Doug

How Many Legs Does a Dog Have?

Most Christians would affirm this and hold to the sufficiency of scripture. But there seems to be an exception when it comes to the church and how the church is supposed to operate. Like everything else concerning the Word of God, it does not matter what we think is right and wrong, but what God say’s is right and wrong. The church is a divine institution, with a divine head, who gave her a mission and book of faith and practice. We are at no more liberty to move an inch with the church than we are with any other portion of scripture.

 Abraham Lincoln once said “How many legs does a dog have, if you call his tail a leg? The answer is four, because calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.”  It doesn’t matter what we think is right, but what IS right, and we know what is right and wrong by the Word of God.  When it comes to the church, Christians sometimes become like the world and say that a “tail is a leg.”  

Backhoe vs. China Vase

Douglas Wilson On I Peter 3:7

 "Too often men read this passage and unfortunately respond to it with a junior high mentality. Thinking of every difference in terms of competition, they start doing a little touchdown dance. 'My wife loses! I am the strong one!' But this response just proves, among other things, that the men can't read. Peter assumes that the information he is providing will lead men to honor their wives. A china vase is weaker than a backhoe. But it is superior to the backhoe for a whole range of activities. And the backhoe is better for others. Our triune God did not create differences in the world so that we could try to figure out whether the sun or moon is better" (From 5 Paths, p. 75).

 

The Beauty of Holiness

Psalms 96:9  O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.

The beauty of God’s holiness and the fear of the Lord go hand in hand. Even the holy angels that spend their existence in the presence of God declaring his holiness must cover their eyes before Him. When Moses was called to the burning bush, God told him to remove his feet because he was on holy ground and Moses “hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God (Exodus 3:5-6).”  There is a fear that is in all creatures when we come to the holy God. But the fear comes from the greatness of God, and that greatness of His holiness is beautiful. It is at the same time beautiful and fearful. God’s beautiful holiness is too much for any person to behold.

Holiness is the magnificence of every attribute. God could not be just without being holy. God could have ultimate strength, but could not be God without holy strength.

All of His attributes are seasoned by holiness.

His strength is His holy arm, (Isaiah 52:10).

All his works and ways are holy ways  (Psalm 145:17).

His promises are holy promises (Psalm 105:42).

His law and commandments are holy (Rom 7:12).

His calling is a holy calling (II Timothy 1:9).

His mercy is holy, His Justice is holy, His sovereignty is holy, His omnipresence is holy

His love is holy love His mercy is holy mercy.

God’s holiness is an eternal holiness. God’s Holiness is beautiful, and all His attributes are beautiful.  They are pure, perfect and right in every way.  Beauty is this sinful world is fleeting.  The young girl who stops traffic with her beauty, will in the process of time, loose her beautiful appearance.  The young man, whose beauty is his strength and athleticism, will in the process of time, become slow and weak because of sin.  Beauty in mankind is always fading because of the corruption of sin.  But God, who is eternally holy, never fades, His holiness never lacks luster or beauty. What is pure now will be forever.

God cannot sin because is opposed to who He is.

God cannot sin in ignorance; He is infinitely wise.

God cannot sin is weakness; He is infinitely strong.

God cannot sin in wickedness; He is infinitely good.

God cannot sin unjustly; He is infinitely just.

God cannot sin in thought; He is infinitely pure.

God cannot sin in rebellion; He is infinitely unchangeable.

God cannot sin by being deceived; He is infinitely omniscient.

God has called us to be holy. That is the great end of our salvation.  Ephesians 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. What end were we chosen? That we would be holy. Negatively put, we are without blame, and positively put, holy. That is the fearful and beautiful hope and should be the object of every child of God to pursue holiness.

Psalms 96:9  O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.

Grace & peace,
Doug

Single Sisters, Don't Settle

A man that truly loves a woman will honor her, not exploit her. He will fight for her honor and would never dishonor her himself. He will treat her with respect. He will treat her with dignity. He will treat his wife as his own body and would rather die than allow harm to come to her. A man that loves a woman will live sacrificially and will protect her. He will delight in who she is and respect her as a person made in the image of God. Dear Sisters in Christ, if you are unmarried, do not settle for a “boy” who does not treat you as an heir to the grace of life that you are. I Peter 3:7  

Grace and Peace.

Doug

A.W. Pink and the Impeccability of Christ

Picking back up where I left off I found this article by A.W. Pink article on the Impeccability of Christ.

"The constitution of Christ’s person proves His impeccability.  In Him were united (in a manner altogether incomprehensible to created intelligence) the Divine and the human natures. Now “God cannot be tempted with evil” (James 1:13); “it is impossible for God to lie” (Heb. 6:18). And Christ was “God manifest in flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16);“Immanuel”—God with us (Matt. 1:23). Personality centered not in His humanity. Christ was a Divine person, who had been “made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7). Utterly impossible was it, then, for the God-man to sin. To affirm the contrary, is to be guilty of the most awful blasphemy. It is irreverent speculation to discuss what the human nature of Christ might have done if it had been alone. It never was alone; it never had a separate existence; from the first moment of  its being it was united to a Divine person."

The heart of the issue arrives from the definition of a man as well as Christ. Those that hold that Christ could have sinned, take their view of humanity from themselves, i.e. they are the standard of humanity. Since Christ was a man, He had to be like they are now in order to succor those who are tempted. But Christ was not born depraved, Christ was without sin, He was the perfect man. When the Word was made flesh, He was what humanity was to be, not what humanity has become. You and I are deformed, we are mutated and depraved. We are far from what true humanity is supposed to be. Jesus was fully man and fully God, He was not less man, nor was He less God, but the Godman. His perfection did not detract from His humanity. His impeccability did not detract from the attack of Satan.

We are so corrupted and tainted by sin, we cannot begin to conceive of sinless perfection. However, our imperfection and the knowledge of who we are should only cause us to bow in humble adoration to the truth of our Great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus the Lord.

A nice ceremony

There was a man whose favorite place on earth was my dad’s farm. He told his family that he wanted to be cremated and his ashes sprinkled on top of the hill overlooking the apple orchard. The family honored his request.

My dad watched them as they said a few solemn words as the sun crept over the mountain and opened the urn and dumped the ashes. If the swift breezes that are common to a Kentucky hilltop was one of things that endeared the man to this particular spot, he had left his family in the dark. Just as they turned him upside down, there was a gust of wind followed by the family spitting the remains out of their mouth and brushing him out of their hair.

All things considered, a nice ceremony.