July 27, 2015
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
You feed them from the abundance of your own house, letting them drink
from your river of delights. For you are the fountain of life, the light by
which we see.
Psalm 36:8-9
The parallels between David’s
psalm 36 and modern times are many. In the centuries since the Industrial
Revolution, people have grown in their confidence to master their environment.
There has developed a growing belief that through the power of human intellect,
better government and education, the ills of human society can be cured.
The psalmist declares there are
but two alternatives: humanity or divine grace. In the more recent evolution of
society, a third alternative has been established. Instead of the “Either / Or”
of the psalmist, there is a “Both / And” movement that tries to hold to both a
belief in God and confidence in human ability. On the surface, this movement
seems to be an appropriate position; after all, John Wesley did teach his
followers to sort out life by Scripture, Reason, Tradition and Experience. This
quadrilateral certainly seems to combine human ability with theology. But there
is a huge problem with the “Both / And” approach.
The “Both / And” approach creates
a temptation to dismiss or ignore the parts of Scripture we do not like, or do
not understand; and instead, trust our own judgment and intellect. When we do
so, we leave the “Both / And” camp and move into the Humanist camp.
Karl Barth is considered by many
as the most important theologian of the Twentieth Century. He was in the “Both
/ And” camp, leaning more to the Humanist approach of solving the world’s
problems. Then came WWI and the evidence of human depravity was overwhelming.
After a fresh reading of the Book of Romans, Barth aligned himself with the
psalmist’s expression of the sovereignty of God.
In Wesley’s quadrilateral, he
begins with Scripture. None of the following three elements (Reason, Tradition
and Experience) are valid unless they align with Scripture. This way of living
in our environment does not ignore human intellect and potential; it affirms
that human intellect and potential are fully realized within God’s divine grace
and will. Thus we can sing with the psalmist:
Your unfailing love, O Lord, is
as vast as the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches beyond the
clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty
mountains,
your justice like the ocean depths.
You care for people and animals
alike, O Lord.
How precious is your unfailing love, O
God!
All humanity finds shelter
in the shadow of your wings.
You feed them from the abundance of your own
house,
letting them drink from your river of
delights.
For you are the fountain of life,
the light by which we see.
Psalm 36: 5-9
Sē’lah
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(Selah is a word that appears in the
Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my
correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about
these things.)
These
meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his
way of life. The meditations are
published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/
and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may
subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by
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Publications by Alex M. Knight:
·
Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New
Testament and Psalms has been
published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.
·
The second
edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.
·
Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus
Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.
Unless
otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.
