Mom’s Musings

My first love and familiar friend as far as Reformed Christian subordinate standards go are the Westminster Standards, such as the Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms. In the past year, however, we have been attending a Reformed church of Dutch background, where the subordinate standards are The Three Forms of Unity, which pre-date the Westminster Standards:

1. The Belgic Confession
2. The Canons of Dordt
3. The Heidelberg Catechism

We were only familiar with these faithful standards in a distant sort of way, so have started reading through them, discussing them, and will continue studying them in more depth.

Tonight, one part of family worship involved reading Question and answer 122 of the Heidelberg Catechism:

What is the first petition [of the Lord’s Prayer]?
Answer: Hallowed be thy name. That is: grant us, first, rightly to know Thee, and to sanctify, glorify, and praise Thee in all Thy works, in which Thy power, wisdom, goodness, justice, mercy, and truth shine forth; further also, that we may so order and direct our whole life, thoughts, words, and actions, that Thy Name may not be blasphemed but honored and praised on our account.

Contemplating this answer gave me such a burst of joy, like a heavenly sunbeam shone for a moment on my soul. The thought that blessed me so much was, Not only does the Lord graciously gift a person with salvation through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, He makes it really possible for folks like us to bring honor and praise to His Name. Makes life seem worth living, doesn’t it?

I’ll conclude with a portion from Psalm 145, verses one through three, from the Scottish Metrical Psalter, which expresses for me this joy and gratitude I feel to the Lord:

O LORD, thou art my God and King;
Thee will I magnify and praise:
I will thee bless, and gladly sing
Unto thy holy name always.
Each day I rise I will thee bless,
And praise thy name time without end.
Much to be prais’d, and great God is;
His greatness none can comprehend.

Yesterday was one of those days. At the end of the day, I was disappointed with how much I had gotten done, or rather, hadn’t gotten done. I successfully took one of our young people to do some necessary clothes shopping, did some Costco shopping, got all the laundry for a family of nine done, went over to my mom’s to help out a bit, and cooked a good dinner, but . . . I did not get everything on my “To Do” list done. This feeling of disappointment is a recurring thing, and I want to know why I so often am disappointed in myself.

One cause of my disappointment, I realize, is that I have unrealistic expectations for myself. At the beginning of each day, the world is new and fresh, and anything seems possible. Full of hope, I place so much on the “To Do” list, that any rational being would realize the impossibility of completing it. Why do I do this?

Well, all of the things on the list are good things to accomplish, and are within the scope of my calling as a wife and mother. I want to excel in my calling. In 1 Timothy 5:9,10 I read:

Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,

Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work. (Emphasis added.)

I earnestly desire to follow every good work that pertains to my calling. This I should continue to do. What needs to change is my attitude toward myself. Intellectually I assent to the fact that I am a finite creature. I have only a certain level of strength and endurance; I get sick; I require sleep; I need to stop and eat, and so on. However, I do sincerely regret these limitations. Many a time, for example, I have wished that I didn’t need to sleep. “Just think how much more I could get done!”

The Lord enabling me, I acknowledge my creature-hood, my finiteness. As He enables me, I will labor diligently, and then, when it’s time to quit, I purpose to thank Him for that which was done, and not mourn over what didn’t get done.

I will allow myself time to go for a walk, and will not begrudge myself that wee bit of down time which is necessary for my health and well-being. No matter how diligently I work, it will never be completely, perfectly or totally satisfactory. Ecclesiastes 1:15 states,

That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

So, impossibly large “To Do” lists will continue (I don’t want to forget something, after all), but irrational disappointment in myself when all is not done will cease, the Lord willing.

Nehushtan – “A Piece of Brass”
Filed under: Bible Thoughts — September 10, 2006 @ 12:39 pm

Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, [that] Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also [was] Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.
He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.– 2 Kings 18:1-4

In Easton’s Bible Dictionary, the entry for Nehushtan states:

Of copper; a brazen thing, a name of contempt given to the serpent Moses had made in the wilderness (Num 21:8), and which Hezekiah destroyed because the children of Israel began to regard it as an idol and “burn incense to it.” The lapse of nearly one thousand years had invested the “brazen serpent” with a mysterious sanctity; and in order to deliver the people from their infatuation, and impress them with the idea of its worthlessness, Hezekiah called it, in contempt, “Nehushtan,” a brazen thing, a mere piece of brass (2 Kings 18:4).

And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.– 2 Kings 21:8,9

At one time, Moses was commanded of God to make the brass or brazen serpent, and the Lord blessed it to the people as a means of healing. When the people idolized the brazen serpent, godly Hezekiah called it Nehushtan, and was commended for destroying it.

As an application, I take the idolizing of means of grace, such as historical vows, to be a snare to God’s people, as the old brazen serpent made by Moses became to the Israelites. One means of grace to God’s people is the swearing of covenants which more specifically bind to duties. These public social covenants, which are an aid to performing duties, are of great use, as long as they may be used. But when circumstances have changed to such an extent that men can no longer keep them, they must not be idolized, and made to be more than what they are. They are not a representation of God’s covenant of grace. They are not Scripture. They are MEANS OF GRACE.

In the Westminster Confession of Faith, Ch. 22 Of Lawful Oaths and Vows, Section 3, we read:

Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act; and therein to avouch nothing, but what he is fully persuaded is the truth. Neither may any man bind himself by oath to anything but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform. Yet is it a sin to refuse an oath touching anything that is good and just, being imposed by lawful authority.

The Scripture proof for the italicized portion is Genesis 24:2-9, in which Abraham holds his servant responsible to bring home a wife for Isaac only if the woman is willing to leave her homeland and travel to the land of Canaan. He does not bind the servant to perform that which is impossible.

Then said they, We will restore [them], and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise.– Nehemiah 5:12

It was not enough that the priests made a vow. They had to actually be able to do what was promised, and then do it.