A couple of months ago we met Nathan and his family at a restaurant about 15 miles south of here.  It has always been one of his favorites, primarily for their signature dish:  The Stogie, a one pound hamburger that is indeed one of the best I have ever eaten out.
            Having arrived early, we sat where we could see the street, so we did not miss their vehicle as it passed by the front windows.  Keith went out to help them unload and before long two little boys came running in with smiles, hugs, and kisses.  Judah, in fact, climbed right into my lap and did not leave it the whole time.  Trying to eat even half of my Stogie around him was an adventure, but do you think for one minute I would have told him he needed to leave my lap?  Not this grandma.  I did have to be careful not to drip hamburger grease on his shirt, or drop a tomato or pickle slice on his little head.  But Judah did not think about any of those things.   He just assumed he was safe in grandma’s lap.
            A few months earlier the boys stayed here for several days instead of just a few hours.  They immediately picked up words, phrases, and songs.  When one of them popped up that first night, I reminded myself then to be extra careful.  Aren’t I careful all the time?  Of course, but these little souls were learning from me even when I didn’t think I was teaching!  And what was dropping into their hearts and minds was a whole lot more important than a drop of mustard on their heads.
            If you are acting in any capacity as a teacher in the Lord’s household, the same is true of you.  Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers,  Paul told Timothy in 1 Tim 4:16.  First look to yourself, for it is often said that a person learns more from a sermon seen than one heard.  Make sure your life matches what you teach in every particular.  It is too easy to blind ourselves to things that are obvious to others. 
           Then make sure over and over that what you teach is correct.  Do not ever give an answer you are unsure of.  Never be afraid to say, “I don’t know, but I will find out.”  Never speak off the top of your head if you are at all uncertain.  Make sure the student knows if something is an opinion only.  I can tell you from experience that people will take things to heart you meant as a side note of no importance and they will repeat your words more than once to others, not out of spite but out of respect—they think you know what you are talking about, even when you don’t.
           And it may not be a class situation.  There may be someone out there who watches you with admiration.  Maybe in the past you said something kind to them.  Maybe they saw you do a good deed.  Maybe someone else they respect told them about you.  You are being watched whether you know it or not—every one of you!  Take heed to yourself!
           It isn’t just the little ears you have to worry about out there.  Just like a grandchild implicitly trusts that his grandparents would never teach him anything wrong whether by word or example, there may be others out there who believe the same of you.  What you do and say may indeed save them—and maybe not.
 
Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned…Titus 2:7,8.

Dene Ward

I love shortbread—at its simplest, real butter, flour, sugar, in a ratio of 3 to 2 to 1.  Pat it in a pan and bake it in a low oven.  With black coffee, or hot chocolate, or hot tea, or even good old Southern sweet tea to wash it down, I am happy.  And today makes me especially happy because it is National Shortbread Day.
            What does this have to do with history, you ask?  Like most other things, shortbread has a history.  It was invented sometime in the 12th Century by Scottish women who took leftover bread dough, sweetened it, and then dried it out in the oven to form something called a "rusk", a twice-baked biscuit.  Over time, the yeast in the dough was traded out for butter, and that suddenly made this an expensive treat saved mainly for special occasions.   Everyone loved it, including Mary, Queen of Scots, whose bakers refined the cookie to suit her tastes in the 16th Century.  She was especially fond of a version called Petticoat Tails which were flavored with caraway seeds.
            As to why January 6 was chosen for National Shortbread Day, I have been unable to find the answer.  I wondered if Queen Mary's history had anything to do with it, but no, neither her birth nor death date is January 6, nor was the date of her ascension to the throne.  So we will just be satisfied that today is the day and not worry about why.  Any reason is a good one for eating shortbread.
            One thing I like about shortbread is its versatility.  You can pat it in a round cake pan and cut it into wedges after it is baked.  You can pat it into an oblong pan and cut the finished cookies into fingers, triangles, or squares.  You can roll out the dough and cut it into shapes before baking.  You can stamp an emblem on it.
            Add some chopped toasted pecans and you have pecan shortbread.  Roll those into balls, and roll the baked cookies in powdered sugar and you have pecan sandies.
Exchange almond paste for some of the butter.  Leave out the vanilla and add almond extract; brush the dough with egg white and sprinkle with sparkling sugar and sliced almonds.  Suddenly your simple shortbread is almond shortbread.
            Add the grated zest of a lemon instead of vanilla.  Slather the cooked bars with a glaze made of the same lemon’s juice and some powdered sugar—iced lemon shortbread bars.  (Warning:  this is an adult cookie; kids are not crazy about it.)
            Cut your plain old shortbread into fingers.  Then, after baking and cooling, dip one end into melted semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate.  Leave some plain chocolate.  Dip others in chopped nuts before the chocolate sets.  Plain shortbread has suddenly become elegant.
            You can even use shortbread dough as the base for a layered dessert.  Just bake it and cool it first, enough to cover a 9 x 13 pan.  Add chopped nuts or not before baking as you please.  The layers can be three or four of your choosing—various flavors and mixings of pudding, peanut butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, fruit pie fillings, drained crushed pineapple, sweetened whipped cream, chopped nuts, toasted coconut, chopped chocolate bars, whatever you can imagine.  Chill and cut into layered squares, either light or rich, depending on your choices.  And it all started with a base of butter, flour, and sugar.
            Any time I hear someone say the Bible is no longer relevant, I think of shortbread.  It doesn’t matter for which of life’s situations you need guidance, God’s word contains something to help you.  Not only does it include the principles of marriage, but several real life examples as well—everything from good, sound marriages to marriages dealing with unfaithfulness and abuse.  The same is true with childrearing.  We are not stuck with abstract ideas like “raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”  We have examples of parents who made a mess of things—favoritism, lack of discipline, provocation, poor teaching.  We have parents who loved too much and in the wrong ways.  And we have the results of all those mistakes in heartbreaking detail.
            We have stories of neighbors who couldn’t get along and how they settled things.  We have stories of servants (think “employees”) who served well, and those who didn’t, and what made the difference.  We have stories of good masters (employers) and bad.  We have stories of those who handled power well and those who did not.  And if you can’t find exactly the same circumstances you need help with, “As you would that men should do unto you, do you also unto them,” covers a whole lot of territory, including email and cell phone etiquette.
            Just as shortbread can fit any situation from a children’s lunch to a family meal to an elegant party, God’s word works no matter what situation you find yourself in.  Keep a close eye out and I think you will find that people who think the Bible is irrelevant simply don’t want to follow its guidelines.  It isn’t that God says nothing about their situation; it’s that they don’t like His solution.
But that is nothing new either.  Ahab, one of the wickedest kings in Israel’s history, said of the prophet Micaiah, “I don’t like him because he never says anything good about me.”  There was a way to fix that; Ahab just didn’t like the remedy.
            God does not leave his children without guidance in every situation they might encounter.  It is up to us to find that guidance and obey it.
 
The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy;
They are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness, Psalm 111:7,8.
 
Dene Ward
 

We finally got there in our Psalms class—the infamous imprecatory psalms.  And yes, if you just start reading one of them without any sort of preparation they shock you with their intensity.  Is this really the Bible?  Should a Christian have anything to do with these vicious prayers?  And so we show our ignorance—just as I did for years and years and years.
            You will find all sorts of explanations for these psalms, including the assertion that they are not inspired.  Considering the fact that they are quoted by approved men in the New Testament (the apostles and even Jesus himself), I think we should take a careful step back and completely ignore that one before the lightning strikes.  Look at a few of those psalms yourself without preconceived notions and read carefully.  Psalms 35, 55, 59, 69, 79, 109, and 137 will explain themselves if you let them.
            The psalmist in each case has his relationship with God in good order.  He is under attack, but not for anything evil he has done.  His cause is the Lord’s cause.  He asks God to act “for thy name’s sake.”  His own personal faith has not been affected, but he is concerned that what the weak see will turn them away from God and destroy their faith.  In short, this is not about personal vengeance.  It is about justice.  It is about God keeping His covenant.  Remember when the people stood on Mt Gerizim and recited the blessings of the covenant?  The other half of them stood on Mt Ebal and recited the curses—that’s what an imprecation is—a prayer to curse.  Curses are every bit as much a part of the covenant as blessings are.  These psalmists are asking God to keep the covenant for His sake, not theirs.  (I must make a quick thank you to Tom Hamilton for showing me this.)
            And there is this obvious point:  inasmuch as I cannot become indignant at evil and injustice in the world, I cannot rejoice at the good in the world.  They are two sides of the same coin, a coin that points inevitably to my own moral compass.
            Do not for a minute think imprecations are only an Old Testament concept.  Besides quoting the psalms themselves, the New Testament has a few imprecations of its own.   But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.  Gal 1:8.  That is as obvious an imprecation (curse) as you can find anywhere, and then for good measure, Paul repeats it in the next verse.  Flip over to chapter 5 and read verse 12.  I wish that those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves.  Whoa!  Sounds “pretty severe” as one of my students quietly understated.  Want some more?  Try 2 Tim 4:14,15.  In fact, hang around that book for a good while.  Have a look at Rev 6:9,10.  There is a place for judgment in the New Testament just as much as in the Old.  We would do well to remember that.
            And please notice this:  in many cases the plea comes because of injustice, but in the New Testament nearly all of them are directed at people who are hindering the gospel.  What they are doing keeps new people from listening or undermines the faith of the babes.  This is not about personal vengeance any more than the psalms—it’s about spreading the gospel, about sharing the message of salvation to a lost world, and those who try to keep that from happening.
            So let’s turn this around.  Would it be possible for someone to pray these prayers (curses) about me?  What do I do or say that will impede the spread of the gospel?  Do I complain about my brethren to my neighbors, effectively turning them away from the church?  Do I stand in the parking lot and provoke strife between brothers and sisters with my gossip?  Do I incite rebellious attitudes toward the leadership?  Do my words and actions, and the world’s knowledge of where I hang my spiritual hat, cause people to look down on and turn away from the church and their opportunities to hear the gospel?  Anything that hurts the reputation of the Lord’s body in the community or causes dissension and conflict within makes me a worthy target for an imprecatory prayer. 
            The psalmist always left his request in the hands of God to do His own will, and God very often said yes to those imprecatory prayers.  Read some of those psalms listed above today.  Do you want God to even consider saying yes to those things about you?
 
Dene Ward

Now when they beheld the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)
            Peter and John had healed the lame man the day before.  As always, they used this obvious miracle as an opportunity to teach the gathered crowd and the result was another couple thousand people becoming part of this new and rapidly growing group.  The powers-that-be heard about it and came too—the rulers, elders, scribes, the high priest and a lot of his family.  Can't have something like this going on, can we?  Their primary concern was probably their own power over the people and their pull with the Roman authority.  Anything that hurt either of those things had to be dealt with.
            But the thing I really want us to see this morning is this:  they could tell that Peter and John "had been with Jesus."  Maybe some of them recognized them, some might have even known about the blood relationship between Jesus and John, but there was something different about these men.  For unlearned men they handled themselves extremely well, with discretion when called for, but bravery when necessary, and their speech was as if they were trained by the best teachers.  And yet, I believe it was even more than that.  They simply acted the way Jesus had acted.
            I can think of nothing I had rather anyone say about me more than this:  you can tell she has been with Jesus.  How can that happen when he is no longer here?  I can read his words every day.  I can study his life in the gospels.  And, as Peter tells us, I can follow in his footsteps.  We're not talking about times like the one here when people were questioning the apostles and they had to give an answer in public under close scrutiny and in danger of physical persecution.  We are talking about ordinary life.
            When you go to work, can your co-workers tell you have been with Jesus?  When you drive your car, can the other drivers tell you have been with Jesus?  When you attend your child's Little League game, can the other parents tell you have been with Jesus?  When you post on Facebook, can people tell you have been with Jesus?  Or does it look like you have been spending your time with someone else entirely different?
            Today as you go about your life, whatever you do, wherever you go, whoever you come in contact with, make sure they can see from your words and your behavior that you spend your whole life with Jesus.
 
He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. (1John 2:6)

Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.“ (John 5:39-40).
 
 These scribes and Pharisees were serious students of the OT and could quote extensive portions of it. Further, they could show proof-texts for all their positions. They were especially particular about worship and respect for God as regards the Sabbath.  But, with all their knowledge, they failed to see the Messiah of the Old Testament standing right before them. They knew what the scripture said and they were certain that Jesus was not it.

Before we point fingers, perhaps we should consider. We are very certain about the five acts of worship and can offer proof-texts on them all. And we are right. We are careful about how we spend the collection for the work of the church, and again, we are right to do so. But, did you know that if we consolidated all the passages that speak of the work and worship of the church we would have no more than 2 or 3 pages in the average Bible?  Shocking? Well, read on.
 
We search the scriptures and we are exceeding careful to do our worship correctly. We urge everyone to be in attendance to worship God. We debate over the proper actions of worship and in more recent history how to do the “work of the church.” By the latter, we mean how we are to spend the money collected on Sunday.
 
I keep telling my inmate church that the most important question, really the only question, is “What does it say?” Not, “What do you think it means?” Not, “What did you learn in the past?” But, “WHAT DOES IT SAY?”
And, the truth of the matter is that the New Testament says little about our together worship or the work of a local church. Read it!
 
Meanwhile, somewhere we have lost the beatitudes. When Jesus preached the kingdom of heaven, this is the whole of it: Poor in spirit, Mourn, Meek, Hunger and Thirst for righteousness, Merciful, Pure in heart, Peacemakers. If you are a Christian, these are who you are every day, everywhere. All the epistles restate and reemphasize these basic character traits. They tell us how to implement these in our lives. The majority of the rest of their words motivate us by telling of God’s love, mercy and grace. Whole books of the New Testament never mention the work and worship of the church.
 
And, when it comes to the final judgment scene, Jesus does not speak one word about what the church did, or one about whether we sang without instruments as we ought, instead, "For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ " (Matt 25:35-36).
So much of our religion centers around what we do at church. Certainly we should be correct in that. But, is that really what the New Testament says? Is that what Jesus and his apostles talked about?
 
It truly is a lot easier to be right about church than it is to get our lives in order:  when we drive, when we interact at work, when we post on social media, when we spend our time, energy and money on everything but what Jesus says in Matthew 5 and 25.
 
We search the scriptures because we know that in them we have life and they testify about so much that we leave undone.
 
For, He that would love life, And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips that they speak no guile: And let him turn away from evil, and do good; Let him seek peace, and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, And his ears unto their supplication: But the face of the Lord is upon them that do evil. (1Pet 3:1-12).

Finally, be ye all likeminded, compassionate, loving as brethren, tenderhearted, humbleminded: not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but contrariwise blessing; for hereunto were ye called, that ye should inherit a blessing.  (1Pet 3:8-9).
 
Keith Ward

I have an unusual first name.  Sometimes that is a good thing, sometimes not.  When I was a child and someone told the teacher I had done something, I could not say, “It was the other Dene, not me.”  There was never any question which “Dene” it was because there was never any other “Dene.” 
            On the other hand, I remember the year that Miss America was Debra Dene Barnes.  Now that was exciting.  When someone asked how to spell my name, I just said, “You know, like Miss America does.”
            In a new doctor’s office I can always tell when it’s my turn before the nurse even calls me, poking her head out the door with file in hand—she always hesitates.  I have been called “Den-ay,” “Dee-nah,” even “Danny” once.  You can always tell who learned to read with phonics—long “e” plus silent “e” always equals the correct pronunciation. 
            Sometimes I wish I had chosen to go by my middle name, Teresa.  At least all these doctor appointments would have been easier on everyone.  When I was young, I even looked like I thought a “Teresa” ought to look—long curly black hair.  Now I just look like Mother Teresa.
            Some time ago, I started pronouncing it by the pet name my parents always called me, and which Keith has taken up, “Denie.”  For some reason, when people look at “Dene” that makes more sense to them.  And so “Denie” I have become, though still spelled “Dene.”  It is still fairly unusual and I cannot hide behind the anonymity of a common name.
            Names have always been important to God.  He has even changed people’s names to suit himself when he thought it was important.  But far more important is for us to be called by God’s name.
            Under the Old Covenant people understood that being called by God’s name offered them protection (Deut 28:10).  They understood that being called by God’s name meant bearing the responsibility to act in certain ways (Isa 63:19), and that wearing his name was not permission to wander from his commandments without consequence (Jer 14:9ff).  
            But it also meant that He would have compassion on them, that He would love them even while they sinned, and that He wanted their repentance as much as any Father could want his wandering child to return home. 
            Today we still wear the name of God, Christian.  Wearing that name still means all those things it meant so long ago.  Are we living up to the responsibility that demands, or is God out there calling us back home?  After all, in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven that is given among men, wherein we must be saved. Acts 4:12.
 
Fear not; for I am with you: I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west;  I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth; every one that is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, and whom I have made. Isa 43:5-7
 
Dene Ward

I don’t know how many times in my life I have heard unbelievers make fun of the scriptures, but they obviously do not realize what they show themselves to be when they do.  Most of them would call themselves intellectuals, but the statements that come out of their mouths prove they are simply ignorant—at least of the thing they have chosen to ridicule. 
            Have you ever heard them talk about “the God of the Old Testament” and “the God of the New Testament?”  They do this to “prove” that our beliefs are based upon our society, subject to change just as society does, which means that it is all an invention of man.  Everyone knows, they affirm, that the God of the Old Testament was a cruel, angry God who punished indiscriminately for even the most minor infraction, while the God of the New Testament is a mild, friendly, grandfatherly sort who forgives anything whether we repent of it or not.  Study the two paragraphs below for a few minutes this morning.
            And Jehovah passed before him and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.  / Jehovah is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression. / Know therefore that Jehovah your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness to those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. / The earth is full of the lovingkindness of Jehovah, / Your lovingkindness, O Jehovah, is in the heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the skies. / Great are your tender mercies, O Jehovah. / Jehovah is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.
            And these shall go away into eternal punishment. / where their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched. / with angels in flaming fire rendering vengeance on those who know not God and obey not the gospel. / It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. / Our God is a consuming fire. / But the fearful and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
            If you know your scriptures, you probably recognize that the first paragraph is taken entirely from the Old Testament and the second from the New.  In fact, I found that the Old Testament uses descriptions of God like “merciful, gracious, and lovingkindness” 312 times, while the New Testament only uses them 200 times!  Considering that a good portion of the Old Testament is history rather than teaching about God, that seems significant.  So much for the intellectuals and all their theories about God. 
            Do you want to see a God full of compassion and mercy?  Read the book of Hosea (an Old Testament prophet) and hear the ache in God’s voice as He describes His people, first as a wife He loved who betrayed Him (2:19) and then as a son He cared for and taught, who turned against His father (11:1-4).
            Remember Jonah, that Old Testament prophet who tried to run from his mission to preach to the wicked city of Nineveh?  What did he say about why he ran?  I hasted to flee to Tarshish because I knew you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and would repent of the threatened judgment, Jonah 4:2.  Jonah knew God would forgive, and he didn’t want those people saved!
            God has not “changed with the times” because He was not invented.  Look at the Greek gods through their mythology and see what types of gods men create.  The true God could never have come from the mind of any man, no matter how intellectual he thinks he is.  A God who gave His creatures the freewill to reject Him?  A God who gave up His Son for creatures who did not deserve it?  A God who lowered Himself to become human, and allowed those same creatures to torture Him? 
            Don’t let the ignorant fools of the world steal your faith.  They have no answers at all for what they believe.  Our God loves us—look at what He did for us.  But our God will only save those who trust Him, obey Him, and live faithfully.  His prophets have been speaking this message for thousands of years--the same message, an unchanging message, a message so far above the intellect of man that no man anywhere could have made it up.
 
Where is the wise?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the disputer of this world?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?  For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God’s good pleasure through the thing preached to save those who believe.  Seeing that Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumblingblock, and unto Gentiles foolishness; but unto those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the wisdom of God.  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men, 1 Cor 1:20-25.
 
Dene Ward

“A wall of fire about me, I’ve nothing now to fear.”
 
            If I were surrounded by fire, I would probably be scared to death.  Obviously this figure is meant in an entirely different way.
            And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst, Zech 2:5.
            Zechariah was a minor prophet who prophesied shortly after Haggai.  In fact, you can think of him as writing the sequel to that prophet’s book, Homer Hailey once said.  The Jews have returned from Babylon and are in the midst of rebuilding the Temple.  Zechariah’s job was not only to encourage them to finish the task, but to look ahead to the glorious coming of the promised kingdom.  But here they were, a small remnant (42,360, Neh 7:66, out of an estimated million in Babylon), with no armies, no weapons, and not even a wall around their old city. 
            In the vision Zechariah sees a young man trying to measure the city, as if it were a finite place.  In verse 4 God says Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it.
            “My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus told Pilate.  It would not be a physical, measurable location at all.  The Jerusalem God had in mind was one too big for walls.  It is open to multitudes of peoples.  And the only wall it needs is the protection of God Himself.
            The Hebrew writer calls the church “the heavenly Jerusalem.”  We are in that city and we do not need stone walls or mighty weapons of war.  We have “a wall of fire about” us in the person of the Almighty God.  That fire represents not just the protection, but also the glory of our Savior.  Even as we approach what could be a new era of persecution in our country, if we have faith in those promises, what have we to fear?
            Of all the old hymns we sing, I can’t think of another with as many scriptural references as The Lily of the Valley, over forty if you count them all.  Wouldn’t it be a shame to assign this one to the trash pile just because it doesn’t have modern rhythms or harmonies?  And isn’t it shameful to us if we can’t understand what these lyrics mean?  Jesus should be to us and to our descendants in ages to come “the fairest of ten thousand” to our souls, and God “a wall of fire about” us.
 
What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also, 1 Cor 14:15.
 
Dene Ward

He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morningstar,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
 
            Three phrases, three passages, two in the same book.  This will take some explanation.
            The old view says that the Song of Solomon was an allegory of Christ and the church.  Fewer people accept that any longer, and though it may have sparked the original lyrics, I am not certain they were meant in precisely that way.  For one thing, the analogy doesn’t hold up.
            I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys, Song of Solomon 2:1.
            My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand, Song of Solomon 5:10.
            In the first passage, the shepherdess is talking about herself.  In the second, the shepherdess is speaking about her beloved, the shepherd (or Solomon if you prefer that interpretation of the book).  Those passages are about two different people in the narrative, so how could the poet be following the old interpretation of Christ and the church in the hymn if the analogy does not hold up? 
            Here is the point we are so bad about seeing sometimes:  they are figures of speech.  The lyricist has borrowed various phrases out of the Bible to depict how wonderful Christ is to the believer.  Did you catch the Rose of Sharon reference too?  These are poetic metaphors.  Making literal arguments from figures of speech is something we ridicule our religious neighbors for doing.  Why do we?  Jesus is like a beautiful flower.  He is so fair (as in “Fairest Lord Jesus” too, by the way) we could say he is the fairest among ten thousand. 
            Does that mean number 10,001 is fairer than he is?  Of course not, not any more than the other phrase means he has a stem and petals.  None of these is meant to be taken literally whether you believe in the allegorical version of the Song of Solomon or not.  As it happens, I don’t.  I believe it is in there to show us how to order our romantic marital love.  If that isn’t what it’s about, then God left something awfully important out of the Bible and I don’t believe that for a minute.  He tells us too many times that it contains everything we could possibly need in any circumstance.  And if Paul can talk about the church being the “bride of Christ” why can’t I use these terms for my spiritual “husband?”
            Then we have the “Bright and Morningstar.”  What is that all about?  Balaam prophesied, “There shall come forth a star out of Jacob,” Num 24:17.  Peter tells us, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,” 2 Pet 1:19.  The Morningstar, or daystar, was a bright star that appeared just before dawn at certain times of the year, Venus I read in one place, which at other times of the year is the Evening Star.  Jesus is our Morningstar. He appeared before the coming of his kingdom, the “day” Joel speaks of in Joel 2.  He will appear again on the “day” he takes us to our promised rest.  When we accept him in our hearts, he “appears” to us individually (and figuratively) on that “day” as we enter his spiritual body.  Take your pick of interpretations and “days.”  Any of them satisfy the metaphor.
            That leaves us with just one more wonderful phrase to cover next time, a promise that should encourage us all.  But for now, dwell on these a little while.  Is Christ that important to you?  Is he that beautiful to you?  Would these figures of speech rise from your lips?  Or are we a little too ignorant of the Word and a lot too embarrassed to say such syrupy words about a Savior who gave up everything for us?
 
Dene Ward
 

I have found a friend in Jesus, He’s everything to me,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;
The Lily of the Valley, in Him alone I see
All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.
In sorrow He’s my comfort, in trouble He’s my stay;
He tells me every care on Him to roll.

• Refrain:
  He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
  He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.

He all my grief has taken, and all my sorrows borne;
In temptation He’s my strong and mighty tow’r;
I have all for Him forsaken, and all my idols torn
From my heart and now He keeps me by His pow’r.
Though all the world forsake me, and Satan tempt me sore,
Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal.
(Refrain)

He’ll never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,
While I live by faith and do His blessed will;
A wall of fire about me, I’ve nothing now to fear,
With His manna He my hungry soul shall fill.
Then sweeping up to glory to see His blessed face,
Where rivers of delight shall ever roll.
(Refrain)

            I bet you have sung that song all your life.  It’s one of those old ones that so many sneer at nowadays.  Yet this song does something very few of the new ones can. It contains a different scriptural reference in nearly every line.  Take a minute and look at the song.  Can you find them?  Here is the shame on us—in the days when this song was written, everyone who claimed to be a Christian, even some we would not classify as “New Testament Christians,” could find them all—they knew their scriptures that well--while we sit here at best thinking, “That sounds vaguely familiar.”
            Obviously I don’t have space to go over them all.  Let me do the obvious ones quickly, and then we will spend two more sessions on the rest.
            “I have found a friend in Jesus,” Matt 11:19.
            “All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole,” 1 John 1:7; Acts 9:34.
            “In sorrow he’s my comfort, in trouble he’s my stay;” you will find this sentiment all over the psalms and the prophets, too many to list.
            “He tells me every care on him to roll,” 1 Pet 5:7.
            “He all my griefs has taken and all my sorrows borne,” Isa 53:4.
            “He’s my strong and mighty tower,” Psa 61:3.
            “I have all for him forsaken and all my idols torn from my heart,” Ezek 36:25; Hos 14:3,4.
            “He keeps me by his power,” 1 Pet 1:5.
            “Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal,” Phil 3:14.
            “He will never never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,” Heb 13:5.
            “While I live by faith” Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38.
            “Do his blessed will” Matt 7:21.
            “With his manna he my hungry soul shall fill,” nearly two dozen verses from Exodus 16 to John 6 along with Matt 5:6.
            “To see his blessed face,” Rev 22:4.
            Did you catch all those?  I defy you to find more than a few songs written after 1960 that have that many scriptural references in them, unless they repeat one Biblical phrase over and over, or are lifted whole cloth out of the scriptures.  It’s time we learned what those old songs were about before we go throwing them out just because we think them “old” and “archaic” and “boring.”  Maybe they wouldn’t be so difficult to understand if we knew God’s Word like we ought to. 
            And these phrases were just the easy ones, the ones you can probably figure out for yourself with no help.  In the next two days, the two remaining posts on this hymn will begin to get a little more difficult.  While you wait for those, though, spend a little time with the scriptures listed above and ask yourself, “Could I even begin to do the job this poet did?” 
 
Dene Ward