Deus Misereatur

Over the past three months I’ve been working on memorizing Habakkuk 3.17-19a. I’m not there yet, but one of the benefits of weekly working on this passage is that it gives me generous times of reflection. Below are some of my ruminations that have come from working on these verses. To begin with, two of Habakkuk’s three chapters are deliberations between Yahweh and the prophet. In chapter one Habakkuk is fed up with the immorality among his people and he tells God so. The LORD responds by saying he’s bringing judgment and the instrument of his justice will be brutal, blasphemous Babylon. Habakkuk swallows hard, and then in vexation sputters out, “How can you do that?! How can you use a thoroughly immoral and god-hating nation like Babylon to inflict justice on your people who are still more righteous than those pagans?” God responds in chapter two with two sets of answers. The final (and longest answer) is that Babylon will be brought down in judgment one day as well. But his ...

Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present Ed. by Jonathan Gibson and Mark Earngey New Growth Press 1301 Carolina St., Suite L-101 Greensboro, NC 27401 ISBN: 978-1-948130-21-9; 23 April 2018; $69.99 Many American Presbyterian and Reformed believers are either out of touch with their Reformation roots, or have only snippets of information. One area where this is glaringly clear is in regard to worship, and specifically liturgy. Jonathan Gibson, assistant professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary,   and Mark Earngey, doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford, have accomplish a yoeman’s job in their new 736 page hardback “Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the past for the Present”.   This weighty tome is ideal for liturgists, worship leaders, pastors, seminary professors, and highly interested parties. It is a reference work that “aims to recover and reaffirm the significant part that worship played in the Magisteria...

“ O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger ” (Psalm 8.1-2). We pray for our foes, some of whom are even in some of our own families. Change their ways and outlooks. If there are actions and attitudes we need to repent of and ask forgiveness for, help us to swallow our pride and take the plunge. Bring those who are presently antagonistic toward us to the place where they will be affable, and draw them and us together at your feet to adore you and acclaim your amazing grace. “ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him ” (Psalm 8.3-4)? Sometimes, Lord, we citizens of the United States and our leaders, as well as the heads of other nations and thei...