When I am speaking to several hundred ladies, I cannot see the faces in front of me much past the first row.  But more often than not, I speak to much smaller groups, as few as a dozen up to fifty or sixty.  I can usually see more of those faces, at least the ones in the front half of the room.  Other speakers do not have my problem.  The preacher in your congregation may well be able to see every one of you.  You might be surprised at what you tell him as you sit there.  I have seen all of these things myself, just in the first few rows, so I know it’s true.
            A speaker knows when your mind is on something else.  You have a tendency to stare.  Your eyes glaze over and you miss all the cues—everyone laughs but you don’t; people turn pages in their Bibles and yours sits in your lap untouched; an inappropriate smile creases your face after a serious and sober statement.
            A speaker knows when you have somewhere to be right after services.  You keep looking at your watch.  You start patting your foot about 5 minutes before the usual ending time.  You stack up your Bibles before he even begins the invitation and have the songbook ready as if you could actually rush the song leader through the invitation song.
            A speaker knows when you are bored.  You stop looking at him and start fiddling with things—doodling, flipping through your Bible or the song book, making notes about something even when he hasn’t clicked the Power Point or listed a passage. 
            A speaker knows when you disagree with him.  You squint and pull that lower lip into a frown.  You start rapidly flipping through your Bible and running your fingers down the pages looking for ways to contradict him.  You cross your arms and huff.  Sometimes you even shake your head for all to see.
            A speaker knows when you are sick or just plain tired.  You try your best to listen, but keep losing interest.  You grimace.  You touch your stomach or rub your head or try gallantly not to nod off, only to do so at least three or four times.
            A speaker also knows when you are eagerly listening, trying your best to take in what he is saying and accommodate it to all the other things you have learned about that particular subject.  He recognizes a lover of God’s Word and that person, and his fellows, are why he does what he does, week after week, no matter how few of you there might be.
            Do you think God doesn’t know the same things about us?  Sometimes I wonder.  It doesn’t really matter what the preacher sees on our faces or in our actions.  No matter how far back I sit, God still knows the heart I bring to His worship.  He knows whether I am coming to please Him or to see how much everyone can please me.  He knows whether I have a heart of repentance or one that just goes through the motions.
            So this Sunday, be careful the tales you tell from your seat—even without opening your mouth.
 
“As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. Ezek 33:30-32
 
Dene Ward

George Matheson was a blind Presbyterian minister in Scotland, born in 1842.  Perhaps that accounts for the egregious errors in this book—he couldn't read the Bible due to his blindness and so his speculations took him far afield from the written facts.  Probably not, but I am trying to give him some sort of excuse for what he has written.
            In this book you will read that Eve was just wandering around the Garden like all the other creatures, with Adam having no idea who she was and why she was there until, as recorded in Genesis 2 (the author says), he fell asleep and had a dream in which God took his rib and made a woman.  When he woke up, he suddenly understood that Eve was his equal and his companion and began to treat her that way.
            You will read that Abraham was afraid to ask Sarah to go with him when God called because they would have to leave all their family and all their belongings and he didn't think she would do that.  Finally, he did ask, and the two of them left Ur, alone and penniless, and their journey to Canaan was their honeymoon!
            You will find out that Rebekah already had a proposal of marriage from a Hittite (which the author has living in Haran instead of Canaan) and she had to choose between a wealthy Hittite and a decidedly unambitious Isaac.  Then you will read how she loved Isaac like a mother when they first met—despite the fact (the scriptures tell us) that he was old enough to be her father!
            You will find out that Jacob was a hot-blooded young man when he first saw Rachel (though you can easily figure out that he was 77 at the time), and that Rachel was the blameless sister—despite stealing her father's idols, among other glaring faults.
            You will learn that Deborah sullied her white robes by praising Jael for her actions against Sisera—this in her inspired song, by the way.  And just what would he have had Jael do, completely alone in her encampment?  Meet the enemy army captain in a "fair fight?"
            You will also discover that Mary's job in raising Jesus was to keep him grounded in his humanity because otherwise, he might have starved to death. He couldn't be bothered to do such mundane things as eat and drink in his human body because of his important spiritual mission without her constant reminders.
            The best essay in this book is the one about Mary Magdalene, which the author includes as an appendix.  But it is only two and a half pages, so he didn't have time to speculate and embroider as he did in the others, which run roughly 20-25 pages each. 
            This author is best known for writing hymn lyrics, particularly those to "O Love that Will Not Let Me Go."  I have to tell you this.  After reading this book, I will go look at those lyrics carefully before I ever sing that hymn again.  There is no telling what odd notions I might have missed.
            This particular edition of Portraits of Bible Women was published by Kregel Publications.
 
Dene Ward

If you have been following this series on various hymns and their sometimes mysterious meanings, we will take a bit of a detour today with something that has worried me a lot lately.
            With the proliferation of more modern hymns, especially those called “praise songs,” I have started wondering if we have completely lost our understanding of the purpose of singing.  It isn’t “because I like the tune,” or “the beat.”  It isn’t “because it makes me feel good.”  Singing in the services is not, not, not, capital N-O-T, not done to please ourselves.  Singing is part of our worship of God and therefore to please Him, and it is an extremely important part of our teaching.  After all, how did you learn your alphabet?  You sang it until you had it memorized.  I am sure that is true of most of your Bible class memory work too—the twelve apostles, the books of the Bible, the sons of Jacob—you learned by singing.
            Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Col 3:16
            What is it then, brethren? When ye come together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. 1Cor 14:26
            Yes, I can also find verses that tell us to praise God in song (e.g., Psalm 100:2; James 5:13).  When I was a child we had about a six hymn repertoire of praise songs.  But just like usual, that old pendulum has swung way too far and now that’s just about all some of us sing. 
            As I was going through some old hymnals recently I found a hymn that stopped me in my tracks.  Read these lyrics and then think about a few things with me:

And Yet You’re Sinning Still
By J. G. Dailey
(inside cover – The Life of Victory by Meade MacGuire)

When Moses led his people from Egypt’s sunny plain,
From bondage sore and grievous, from hardship, toil, and plain.
They soon began to murmur against the sovereign will;
Forgetting God’s deliverance, we find them sinning still.

When Moses on the mountain had talked with God alone,
Receiving His commandments on tables made of stone,
The people brought their jewels, the sacrifice did kill,
The golden calf they worshiped, and kept on sinning still.

How often when your dear ones were lying near to death,
You earnestly entreated with every passing breath,
“O Father, spare my darling, and I will do Thy will!”
Your prayer was heard and answered, and yet you’re sinning still.

When sickness overtook you, when sorely racked with pain,
You said if God would spare you, you’d bear the cross again;
He gave you strength of body. He gave you strength of will,
But you forgot your promise, and you are sinning still.

How graciously the Savior has lengthened out your days!
His mercy, never ending, is guiding all your ways.
O brother, heed the warning, your broken vows fulfill,
Lest death should overtake you, and find you sinning still.

Chorus:
Oh, flee the wrath impending, and learn His gracious will,
Lest Jesus, coming quickly, should find you sinning still!
           
           Trust me as a musician when I say the music to this song is pleasant and easy to sing.  Now ask yourself this question:  how well would this go over if you sang it in your assembly this coming Sunday?  I have a feeling more than one group would want to run the song leader out on a rail.  Who would want to sing such harsh accusations to one another?  Who would want to be forced to really look at their lives?  Who would want to face up to their hypocrisy, a hypocrisy we all practice occasionally when we excuse our behavior with a “That’s different?”  Who among us really wants admonition after all, even if God did say that was an important purpose in singing (Col 3:16)?
            Look at the songs you sing this coming Sunday.  If you strike out all the repetitious phrases, how much “meat” are you really singing to one another?  Or is it just a bunch of feel good fluff?  How many times is it a matter of patting your feet instead of buffeting your body?  How many times do we want to lift our spirits instead of bowing our hearts in repentance?          No, we had rather sing songs we like, songs that pat us on the back and make us feel good.  We all want to be told we are just fine and nothing needs to change at all.
            “Teaching and admonishing one another,” God said.  “Let all things be done unto edifying,” He added.  Sometimes those things are painful.  You cannot anesthetize yourself to that pain and think it will still do you any good.  Godly repentance includes sorrow, Paul tells us.  We need to add that to our repertoire too.
 
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. Ps 51:13-14
 
To find the music go to: 
http://remnant-online.com/smf/index.php?topic=15818.0
 
Dene Ward