Andy's 'tell me a story...' blog

Habakkuk complains at the injustice he sees in Israel:
2O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you "Violence!"
and you will not save?
3Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong? (Hab1:2-3)

God replies that he is going to judge the nation by raising up the Babylonians (or Chaldeans) against them:
5"Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
6For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
[...]
11Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
guilty men, whose own might is their god!" (Hab 1:5-6,11)

Habakkuk:
12Are you not from everlasting,
O LORD my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
13You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
and are silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he? (Hab 1:12-13)

God:
4"Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
[...]
12"Woe to him who builds a town with blood
and founds a city on iniquity!
13Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts
that peoples labor merely for fire,
and nations weary themselves for nothing?
14For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
[...]
18"What profit is an idol
when its maker has shaped it,
a metal image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
when he makes speechless idols!
19Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and there is no breath at all in it.
20But the LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him." (Hab 2:4, 12-14, 18-20)

Habakkuk:
2"O LORD, I have heard the report of you,
and your work, O LORD, do I fear.
In the midst of the years revive it;
in the midst of the years make it known;
in wrath remember mercy.
3God came from Teman,
and the Holy One from Mount Paran.
His splendor covered the heavens,
and the earth was full of his praise.
[...]
6He stood and measured the earth;
he looked and shook the nations;
then the eternal mountains were scattered;
the everlasting hills sank low.
His were the everlasting ways.
[...]
12You marched through the earth in fury;
you threshed the nations in anger.
13You went out for the salvation of your people,
for the salvation of your anointed.
You crushed the head of the house of the wicked,
laying him bare from thigh to neck.
[...]
16I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.
17Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places. (Hab 3:2-3, 6, 12-13, 16-19)

With an amazing response! God tells Habakkuk that there is huge suffering ahead in the form of the Babylonian exile and how does H. respond? With faith in his saviour, looking forward to future judgement and rescue.

All the other verses are worth reading as well (of course). I just picked some of my favourites. All quotations are from the ESV translation.

I was delighted to read on the bbc website today that all of those cups of tea may have been preventing cancer and improving my teeth as well as filling me full of caffeine and general sensations of well-being.

Tea 'healthier' drink than water

Someone should tell Cate!

I've stumbled across a couple of articles that I've found really interesting (on beginningwithmoses.org as per usual):

'Assumed Evangelicalism: Some reflections en route to denying the gospel' by David Gibson

I thought this was interesting because from my (admittedly very limited) experience it seems like many liberal and/or heretical institutions, as well as cults, begin as bible-believing Christian groups that lose their focus and it was great to think about some of the ways in which that might start to happen. I guess not everyone will agree with everything said in the article so I'd be interested to hear any thoughts from anyone.

and

'What's so special about preaching?' by David Jackman

This challenged the way that I think about preaching and helped me idenitfy some of the ways in which my attitude towards it is influenced by 21st century culture rather than the bible. Food for thought two weeks before I start my apprenticeship at Christ Church Bromley but also really helpful as someone who hears the word preached each sunday.

Finally, I discovered that Mark Dever from Capitol Hill Baptist Church (which I seem to remember Will Timmins spent a few months working at) has preached overviews of every single book of the bible. And, they are all available to download free: Old Testament and New Testament. This is the sort of thing that makes me excited so I thought I'd better share it

Although my throat hurts like billio (an underused expression if ever there was one) whenever I swallow, my tonsils have not swelled up or anything and indeed the doctor confirmed that I don't have tonsilitis. However I'm having a blood test for glandular fever in an attept to explain the general knackeredness I have been experiencing all week. I'm feeling fairly frustrated at the moment because I seem to have no energy at all but I'm bored of just sitting around at home waiting to feel better.

Still at least it is a convenient time to be unwell - my job doesn't start for another two weeks and I don't really have any plans.

Also, on a more positive note I am getting a car tomorrow! It is a 2002 Seat Ibiza in metallic blue and it desperately wants to be used to visit people so as soon as I'm feeling up to it put the kettle on I'll be over in (insert number of hours it will take Andy to trundle over to your ghetto... or if you're from Wimbledon palace).

I think I've worked out why I've been feeling a bit rubbish the last few days. I had a glance down my throat in the mirror and my tonsils look an ugly red colour and although they don't look huge I'm fairly sure they are larger than I remember them being (not that I look at them that often). Guess a visit to the doctor is in order tomorrow. Boo!

Due to popular demand (Dan, Cate and Gareth need to get out more!) I have decided to recommence blogging this evening in the hope that I will continue to do so regularly. Hmmm...

I will begin with some things that made me chuckle a bit before moving onto something a touch more serious. This ought to be quite novel as I haven't really strayed into anything more serious than jokes about cats in my blogging career so far.

I was feeling quite depressed the other day and was standing on a 6th floor windowsill looking down at the ground below when the thought crossed my mind that if i fell about 6 inches it would be curtains. And if I fell the other way I was going to die.

You know that was funny really.

On another occasion I was sitting with my face in a plate of fried eggs. My mum entered the room, and you know what mums are like, she said (Remember, adopt South African accent as you read this bit):
"Andy, you'll never find a yourself a wife if you sit around with your face in a plate of fried eggs"
I responded (adopt my reasonably monotone voice at this point):
"That's ok mum, I've already decided to spend the rest of my life as a spatula"

And finally...

I was reading Isaiah chapter 1 today (the joys of not having a job) and it is just amazing so I thought I would include some of it with a few thoughts:

2Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the LORD has spoken:
"Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master's crib,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand."

4Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the LORD,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.

Court is in session as the God who commands the heavens and the earth calls them to bear witness to his people's rejection of him. God shows us that for to sin is ungrateful - The children he has brought up (Sonship in this context refers to redemption from Egypt, Cf. Exodus 4:22) have rebelled against him - and it is unnatural - they are intended to develop an instinctive attachment to him like an ox to it's master but instead do not know or understand him.

Instead of being a holy nation as they were redeemed to be (Exodus 19:6) they have become the 'sinful nation', their characters 'laden with iniquity'. Rather than offspring of Abraham they are described as 'offspring of evildoers'. The verdict is that they are bad people and the reason; they have given up on God, they hate him. And the result is that are 'estranged', they have made themselves strangers - "God's chosen people have reverted to alien status" (Motyer, p.44).

It is sobering stuff and must be a warning to the visible church today against being "hardened by by the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:13). We must look to Christ and cast off sin with the grace that he gives us. Isaiah goes on in verses 10 - 17 to express the Lord's disinterest and anger at outward religion without real obedience to God. No amount of religious activity is going to impress him if we are those who have forsaken him and are strangers to him.

But he also goes on to promise grace to the person who turns and trusts in God in verse 18:

18"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.

Good news seems like an understatement when you consider that for all that each of us has rejected and hated God if we come back to him, repent and trust in Christ, he washes us clean of guilt and accepts us as beloved children.

So there we have it a sobering warning and a great promise - praise God!

N.B. All bible quotes are from the English Standard Version. Also, I am indebted to Jon Bell for the nice photos, Andy Chadwick for the lame jokes and J. A. Motyer's commentary on Isaiah (pp. 42-4)for anything interesting or intelligent about the bible in this blog. You may notice that this means none of the material is original. Apologies, I hope you enjoyed it anyway.

I have far too much dissertation to blog properly but I couldn't resist plugging this book quickly:

'Dig Deeper! Tools to unearth the Bible's treasure' - Nigel Beynon and Andrew Sach

I've just read the first few chapters so far but it is without doubt one of the most helpful books I've ever read. As I'm sure many of you know I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about bible handling anyway but I'm absolutely convinced that every Christian student should get a copy of this - it is just full of advice on how to approach reading and understanding a passage of the bible for yourself (for all those times when you don't have a commentary/ sermon tape/ Matt Vosper to tell you the answers).

(Plus it is IVP so if you are a Nottingham student you can probably get this book for less than the price of a Mr. B's kebab - ask an exec member to phone the warehouse)

As if my general excitement isn't enough to convince you I'll include the blurb too:

"This is a toolbox. Sorry if this conjures up painful memories of failed DIY projects, hours spent waiting for the emergency services on the hard shoulder of the motorway, or rusty, forgotten implements decked with cobwebs at the back of your garden shed.

But there are no spanners or trowels here. These tools are rather a means of getting to the bottom of any Bible passage and discovering its true meaning.

Listening to God speak to us through the Bible is like picking up a telephone and hearing your Creator at the other end of the line. It should be exciting, life-changing even. But sometimes it seems more like a long-distance call, with static on the line, and it’s hard to make out what our Father is saying. Maybe our own interpretation is such guesswork that we’re in danger of putting words into God’s mouth.

The passionate aim of this book is that it should help you to ‘correctly handle the word of truth’ (2 Timothy 2:15) so that you will experience God’s clear guidance in your life, come to know him better and grow to love him more. Our prayer is that your Bible reading will never be the same again."

Perhaps this is the answer to the question that confronts every CU Evangelism Secretary:

How can we get more people to do First Contact Evangelism?

A large thank you to Rachel Brown for suggesting this radical new policy on evangelism!

While enjoying the pleasures of Xfm's Big Night Out at the Brixton Academy on Thursday night my phone disappeared. You would have thought that in combination with the almost unbelievable 45-minutes-of-suffering crush to get to the bar and the 3 hours the night bus took to get home this would have made it a really rubbish night out. Especially given the frequency with which the thoughts "This is alright but it's just not my living room" "Where's my sofa?" and "I just want a cup of tea" usually surface in my mind at about midnight on most nights out. However I had a really good time.

A paticular highlight was the bassist from We Are Scientists' moustache. They are an excellent band but the lip slug really was the icing on the cake!

Moustache guy, I salute you.

Unfortunately, as the more thoughtful of you may have already concluded any attempt to text or call me on my mobile phone in about the next week will fail. Please use some other method of contacting me, like email, smoke signals, carrier pigeons or my house phone.

I found this very entertaining quote on the coffee bible club blog:

"A dog says, "You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, you must be God." A cat says, "You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, I must be God."" - Cat & Dog Theology

It is a far more serious and thought provoking blog than mine. Dan Gover would thoroughly approve.