REFORMED WITNESS
Volume XII, August 2004, Number 8
Summer Months
[In His Fear]
By Rev. M. Joostens
From the June 1, 1978, issue of The Standard Bearer
Also in this issue: Worshipping the Unknown God - by Rev. J. A. Heys
Seemingly this is a welcome topic after the passing of the harsh winter months and after being spoiled by the signs of spring. But, before you bring to your mind's eye the fanciful visions of summer and all the activities it affords, let me explain my purpose in choosing this topic. I do not care to engage in a discussion of the weather or the recreation that summer affords us. Rather, I want to approach this topic from a different point of view. I choose this subject out of concern. It is not that I am concerned whether we will utilize these months of summer to our advantage and delight. I know we will do this. But my concern is a spiritual one. We often have a combined society get-together at the beginning of the season. Then we are admonished with regard to our duties to attend society and faithfully prepare from the Word of God. Sometimes I am afraid that the admonition comes at the wrong end of the society and catechism season. The months of fall and winter are conducive to study and spiritual meditation. The weather is not conducive to the outdoors. We almost naturally turn to the reading of a book, learning of a lesson or meditating quietly upon spiritual things. Summer months are different.
It is with delight that we bring the society and catechism season to a close and welcome the reprieve of the weekly or bi-weekly grind that the summer gives us. This is not only the feeling and anticipation of our children who eagerly ask the preacher from time to time how many lessons are remaining. But this is the feeling for all of us, including preachers, as I must confess. Yet, there is always something rather bothersome and restless in my soul at the last of these meetings. I suppose it is that a minister (and I am sure that the people feel much the same) has this feeling because he knows that the communion of these meetings will be missed. But, back to my concern. It is more than this. Society and catechism meetings force us to have some kind of a systematic study and instruction in the Scriptures. We then habitually pick up the Bible and study those things that will be discussed in class or society, and knowing our own nature, it is good for us to have such a schedule to encourage us in the way of study and meditation. For we and our children often take the way of least resistance. To our shame, we do this even when we know we ought to prepare for our lesson. But I am afraid this happens much more when societies and catechism come to an end. For many of us with the exception of our family devotions have little or no occasion to study the Word of God except for society preparation or catechism studies. This ought not to be so. Part of the feeling of concern in my soul at the end of the season is always a wondering how often our Bibles, through which we page diligently to find answers in society, will see the light of day. It is this concern that usually prompts me to address a few words to my catechumens to the effect that they ought not to forget their Bibles or neglect their personal devotions and prayer time with God!
I am reminded of Psalm 119 verse 97: "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day." This is the theme of the entire 119th Psalm. Not only does the psalmist meditate upon the Law, in the narrow sense of the decalogue of the ten commandments, but his delight is in God's Word as he everywhere testifies. This Word of God is a light upon his pathway and a lamp unto his feet. This is also the place that the Word of God must hold in our lives. Our path is no different from that of the poet of old. We too are pilgrims and strangers. We too have enemies that threaten our spiritual life and well-being; and therefore, we too need the guidance and counsel of the Word of God to lead us and guide us in the way everlasting. But the Word does not speak through its covers! And as a light, it cannot shine unopened upon the shelf! The Word of God cannot be our counselor in the midst of life's difficulties and trials except we make it our trusted companion and friend as we traverse this pilgrim's journey. The point is that unless we continually, from day to day, consult the road map of the Scriptures, we become hopelessly lost as we try to make our way through this life. For it is the commandments of God that make us wiser than our enemies and give us more understanding than all our teachers. Such wisdom and understanding is in the way of searching the Scriptures and taking time to read them and study them.
During the season that societies are meeting we systematically study and discuss the Word of God. In this way we commune with God's Word on a regular basis. But at this time of year societies and catechisms discontinue meeting, and I am afraid that more often than not this means that we retire our personal Bible for the months of vacation. We ought to know that the Devil and the world gives us no reprieve during these months. In fact, one could make a case for the fact that the carnal temptations of the flesh are stepped up and increased for the child of God. The tendency is for our spiritual life to become relaxed and drowsy. It is good for us to be aware of this and attempt to combat it.
How shall we do this? When the leisure months of summer give time for everything else, we must also let them give time for being alone with the Scriptures. We might enjoy some systematic reading through the Psalms or the practical wisdom of the preacher. Oftentimes we do not understand what we read. It helps to reflect with a good concordance Bible, seeing what meanings various words in Scripture have. Maybe meditation upon a passage, with the aid of a good commentary to deepen and enrich our thoughts, is of benefit. There is a wealth of reading material that we ourselves publish in addition to the Standard Bearer and Beacon Lights. These meditations have chapters that are ideal for short intervals of study early in the morning or before bedtime at night. The important thing is simply to make time in the business of our schedule for communion and fellowship with our God. We must seek the instruction of His Word and precepts that it may shed light upon our path and guide our feet. Then we shall walk in His fear!
By Rev. J. A. Heys
From the May 1, 1966, issue of The
Standard Bearer
Do we worship the Unknown God?
On his second missionary journey the apostle Paul found the altar to The Unknown God in Athens, and he branded the Athenians as "too superstitious." But then Athens was an heathen nation and could stand a little missionary work and could profit from a sermon or two being preached on Mars' hill. But here in Christian(?) America is it not even insulting to ask the question as to whether we are worshiping an "Unknown God"? - and by all means asking in the Standard Bearer, which comes not to the unchurched but to men and women particularly (although not exclusively) of the Reformed Faith. To brethren and sisters in the Lord who confess that Jehovah is God alone, do we need to ask whether we are that superstitious? Do we not in the Reformed circles subscribe to Article 1 of the Netherlands Confession, which declares, "We all believe with the heart, and confess with the mouth, that there is only one simple and spiritual Being, which we call God; and that He is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, immutable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise, just, good, and the overflowing fountain of all good"? Do we not likewise agree wholeheartedly with the Heidelberg Catechism when it asks "What is idolatry?" and then answers, "Idolatry is, instead of, or besides that one true God, Who has manifested Himself in His Word, to contrive, or have any other object, in which men place their trust?' We know of no unknown god. We confess that Jehovah is God and that there is no god beside Him. We are not heathens, and we are not idolaters, are we?
Our trust in this one true God is not strong, that we will readily concede. We live so often in fear rather than in His fear. We can sing so seldom with conviction and enthusiasm with David, "The Lord (Jehovah) is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" We are ready to agree that so very often we put our trust in the very coins of our land which state "In God we Trust." The moment sickness, calamity or serious trouble strikes, our thoughts are of doctors, insurance policies, welfare agencies, Social Security and what have you? God is an afterthought. "In His fear," and "In God we trust" are slogans that we revert to because we depart from them so often. But worship an unknown God? Surely in the church and in this day and age that is not a sin to be found with us!
But let us look again: "Super Bingo!" "50 gallons of gas given free every week." "Door prizes and valuable gifts for all."
These are only a few of the evidences in the area at the moment of worshiping the unknown God. They will change with the times and will have variations in other areas; but they reveal that this sin is not so far away from us and outmoded in this day and age.
"Super Bingo" looks not to the living God. It looks not to Him for all good from Him but expects good from the unknown god of luck - "Fifty gallons of gas free every week" from the god of luck, if you will accept the "lucky" ticket and bow thus before the god of luck. "Door prizes" are for those who worship the unknown God of Luck and will comply with his rules and regulations. A polished and refined gambling (but does not our Form for the celebration of the Lord's Supper warn those who are defiled with the sin of being gamesters to refrain from eating and drinking damnation to themselves?) is practiced as though the Word of God did not say, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." That does not mean that we will not try to serve God as well as worship this unknown god. It does not mean that we will not try to expect all good from Jehovah and yet also look to that box -- which is the altar of this unknown god of luck -- for a good that we covet in dissatisfaction with our lot as appointed and arranged by Jehovah, the God Who has made Himself known in the Son of His love.
Our god is that object or person whom we worship and serve because we trust in that object or person for our good. The unbeliever worships the creature rather than the Creator because he sees only the creature through which the Creator sustains him and supplies him with the necessities of life. Men realize the value of the sun and the rain clouds for our food and life. They also fear the burning heat of that sun and the floods which result, when a superabundance of rain falls from those clouds and they return again after the rain. And so the unbeliever worships sun and rain clouds. The fool says in his heart that there is no God. The unbeliever ignores and denies the one true God and worships the creature, seeks to appease its wrath and looks to that creature for its life and good. And we try to serve God and mammon. We look to Jehovah for all good when it becomes plain to us that our idol is not able to do so. We look up in prayer to Jehovah when our bowing before the altar of the unknown god of luck -- to write our name on the half of the ticket in which we put our trust -- fails to give us what we covet. We hold on to that ticket. We cherish it. This might be our key to happiness (?) and good. We will feel miserable, if we lose it. This is the thing that might make the difference in our lives of having our desires filled or of remaining empty-handed of our heart's treasure.. Oh we dare not, as we stand before this altar of luck, offer a prayer to Jehovah and say, "Lord guide the hands of the man who will make me lucky." We dare not, after having been "lucky" (shame on us for even having our pictures and names in the paper), offer a prayer of thanksgiving to Jehovah, as though after all it was His providence and favor upon us rather than this unknown god of luck. We did not seek this from Him; and therefore, we had better not give Him the thanks for it. We did not seek it in the way of the work which He gave and gives to our hands. We ignored Him. We avoided Him. We did not pray for it, for we did not quite dare, being convinced in our hearts that as we would be offering such a prayer, He might answer us through His Spirit by recalling to our minds His commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's..." You know, the Spirit might just convict us that wanting in jealousy what the neighbor has, that is, the same kind of treasure, is as evil as wanting his possessions. The Spirit, you know, might just sanctify us and purify us through the truth, so that we reject that word of the unknown god, because we have heard the Word of God Who made Himself. known to us in the Son of His love and through the blood of Calvary. No, we will have to try to serve God AND mammon. We will have to be disciples and children of Jeroboam - who made Israel to sin - by worshiping Jehovah through these golden calves of lucky number tickets, bingo, gambling and the like.
It is really no different. Oh you may be sure that Jeroboam told Israel that this all was perfectly legitimate. No, NO, they were not worshiping an idol. These golden calves only represented Jehovah Who brought Israel out of Egypt. No, no you must not forget Him. This will help you, these golden calves, to remember Him. So we soothe our consciences and say that after all we are not worshiping and serving mammon but God Himself. We do not bow before this altar of the unknown god of luck as denying Jehovah. We look to Jehovah to guide the selection of the lucky number. We will acknowledge it all as His kind providence.
But where in Scripture do you ever come across that word luck? You can come pretty close to it, however, in the word lust! Lust will move us to seek another god than Jehovah. We know that we cannot come to Him to ask Him to satisfy our lusts. We know that He declares to us, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but of the world." (I John 2:15,16). To the God Whom we know we cannot come for the satisfaction of our lust. We will have to seek that from this unknown god of luck.
Therein is also our folly - yes our folly. The Athenians, who were too superstitious and wanted to be sure that they did not invoke the wrath of a god whom they inadvertently overlooked, built an altar also to him(?). We do the same, when besides our prayers to Jehovah, besides looking to Him for our all and receiving all from Him as our covenant Father, we resort to acts of "luck", speak of being lucky or of having had bad luck. Webster tells us that luck is that which happens to us by chance. We worship this unknown god when we take a chance and drop our ticket into the slotted altar to chance the satisfaction of our lust.
He is an unknown god. Nothing can be known about him. For, as Paul states in I Corinthians 8:4, "we know that an idol is nothing". What can be known about that which is nothing? If it does not exist, all you can know about it is that it does not exist. It is unknown and unknowable. Then it is no god, and since there is only one God, Jehovah, there can be no unknown god beside Him. Jehovah Himself may not be known by the heathen and is not known by them. They know from the testimony of His works that there is a God and; therefore, are without excuse. But they do not know this God to be Jehovah. But He can be known and is known by the regenerated children of God through His self-revelation in Holy Writ.
The child of God in his fear bows before Him and worships Him, putting all His trust in Him. In the measure that one trusts in luck and seeks to obtain anything in the way of a "lucky" ticket, whether that be a door prize or possession obtained in the way of lottery, bingo or the like, one does not know Jehovah. In that measure he does not serve Him, does not worship Him and does not put his trust in Him. Such must not be surprised if God tells them in the day of days, "I never knew you." Away then with all this superstition, for worshiping the unknown god of luck is superstition. The word means literally to stand over or above. Because we cannot serve God and mammon, striving to obtain that which we lust after by means of luck is causing in our thinking (not in actual fact, of course) that unknown god of luck to stand above God. Then in that act Jehovah is not God anymore in our life. If the unknown god stands above Him, then Jehovah is not God anymore but is subject to that one who stands over Him. Satan knows more than one way to get us to try to whittle God down to our level (and below us) so that we can think that we are like and above him. Recognize his evil tricks and walk not in his evil ways.
Unless we want to be idolaters, we had better put away all this luck business and put all our trust in the living God, Who is known among His people and has never put them to shame and never will. One can go away from the altar of the unknown god of luck and not be disappointed. All others are not favored by him and may have squandered their good hard-earned money to seek his favor, only to find that he has turned against them and become the unknown god of bad luck. Only one person can "know" this unknown god at a time (the winner of the draw). But Jehovah blesses countless thousands and never puts them to shame.
Let us therefore heed the word of His apostle, and not that of Satan's prophets, as He speaks through this apostle in Philippians 4:6,7, "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." This is quite different from trusting to luck and seeking good from a "lucky" number.
In His fear stand in awe before Jehovah, the God of our salvation, and let it be the truth of your life: "In God we trust." The world will speak of being lucky, but you will speak of being blessed. The possessions the world gains by "luck" it will soon lose in God's wrath. The blessings you receive from Jehovah will increase and be yours everlastingly.
| Back to top | Back to main Reformed Witness page |
The Reformed Witness newsletter is published monthly under the auspices of the Evangelism Committee of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church of Redlands. This newsletter is available to anyone who is interested in the Reformed Faith. If you would like your name added to our mailing list, please write to:The Reformed Witness
Hope Protestant Reformed Church
1307 E. Brockton Ave.
Redlands, CA 92374-3802
or email us: