Recently I was contacted by David Jaques (above), who shared with me his testimony of God’s unrelenting sovereign love. I hope you will be as blessed in reading it as I was.

Well Pastor Murray, I have been a Christian since I was 11 years old. My becoming a Christian was truly a miracle in the truest sense. I was a typical young man growing up in America. I loved video games and watching television. For about 6 years I had never really attended church. So my godfather who had been in this country for about 2 years sent for and got me a King James Bible accompanied with a workbook. I still remember it like yesterday. It arrived on a Saturday. Since I was a young boy I was so happy to receive mail. I tore open the package and started studying the material. I just kept reading and reading all afternoon into the early evening. It was hard reading. But I grasped the gist pretty immediately.

What I gathered from it was that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah from old as depicted in the old Testament and that he took our sins away and reconciled us to God making Him our Father and God. I actually cried a great deal later that  evening when I accepted Him as God’s incredible gift to us sinners. I didn’t cry so much because of sin but because I had somehow grasped whom God was. I cried I think because of recognizing God’s attributes. I saw His justice and His mercy. I just had to cry. I cleave unto Jesus like I don’t know what.

When I saw that sin was about offending an infinitely righteous God that made me realize the monstrosity of it. And then counterbalance that with the appeasement of that infinite justice through what Christ had done and I became completely undone. So I consider this a great miracle considering the fact that for 6 years I was just being a typical kid who had no cares for spiritual things. The first time I said a prayer in my life was being on my knees with eyes shut and confessing my utter depravity before God and accepting His Son as my Lord and ransomer. Go figure.

About 10 years ago at a frightful moment in my life. I was about to abandon the christian faith like I had done 4 years previously. So one night while I was working late, I searched the words pilgrims and puritans on the internet. I don’t know why. I guess I remembered being a young boy and being somewhat fascinated by these very strange people. I actually thought that they were just very harsh men and women never thought of them as Christians. That is how they are depicted in the history books you know. To me they never seemed nice so I never thought of them as Christians. I remember in high school hearing bad things about Calvin and Calvinist in world history class. The problem is they never tell you about the religious lives of these people. How incredibly robust and INTENSE it was. Had I known that I would have been a much stronger Christian and would never have left the faith.

So that night I was led to a website called  puritansermons.com. It’s a great website. It has great biographical information on individual Puritans. So in reading about the lives of several puritans I discovered that they were like me. They were incredible intellectuals and were on fire for the Triune God. But what surprised me the most was the sobriety of their faith. They were quiet reflective men. Well my personality is like that. I had trouble reconciling my faith with my personality. I was an intellectual. I went to college and majored in Classics and was very quiet sober young man. The churches that I was attending made me feel awkward. The services catered more to emotion. I wanted more substantive intellectual expressions of my faith. So in a way they made me feel as if Christianity was not worth pursuing. Emotions can only get you so far and then you burn out. I was burning out and began to see Christianity as senseless. But I was drawn to these faith communities because I remember how  much emotion was involved in my conversion. So in a way I connected Christianity with deep emotion which is what the people I was going to church had. Had I thought a little further I would have realized that my deep emotions came from profound intellectual understanding of God’s attributes as revealed in the Bible.

So in reading about the Puritans I learned that I was a lot like them. Suddenly I felt like I belonged. So my faith became very very strong. Because of them not even death can make renounce my faith. I will never abandon it. After reading the biographies of the individual Puritans I started reading their works. It was like a beggar being allowed into Fort Knox. I read things by the great Rutherford and other divines. I learned so much about this great faith of ours and my soul was so strengthened beyond words. There is also a great beauty about this Christian faith which words can’t express. I also after reading some of the works of British divines discovered the works of Calvin. I read the entire Institutes in about 2 weeks I think. I could not put it down.

Pastor Murray you know what is so crazy. The act of a young boy on his knees with a stream of tears flowing down his cheeks only makes sense because of what an incredibly educated French lawyer and humanist who wrote enough theological treatises to fill a whole room did. What I did would have made perfect sense to Calvin! That’s what is so crazy. Calvin is a Christian in the truest sense of the word. If you are a true christian reading him is like looking into the mirror. The man is a Christian. I can’t even see Christianity apart from Calvin. It does not even make sense. His Institutes include a great deal more than just his ideas on election. I agree with those ideas by the way wholeheartedly.

In this US News article Karen Burns gives clear voice to the silent millions of employees, who would love to say these things but don’t dare. But, fellow-pastors, might some of your flock be suffering in similar frustrated silence? 

1. “Give me the tools I need to do a good job.”
2. “Admit it when you make a mistake.”
3. “Don’t treat me like a cog on a wheel.”
4. “Ask for my opinion from time to time.”
5. “I truly need frequent feedback.”
6. “Don’t leave me hanging out to dry.”
7. “I can’t hear you when you shout.”
8. “Don’t make me work with idiots.”
9. “Have a clear agenda.”
10. “Don’t lie about deadlines.”
11. “Be predictable.”
12. “Mentor me.”

You can read the whole article here.

PS. I should quickly add, I have the best boss in the world! Really.

I preach quite regularly in Grand Rapids Free Reformed Church, and have come to know and love many of God’s dear people there. Among them are Dave and Heidi Pronk, who have a child with special needs. Heidi shared a moving story with me this week, and I asked her to write it up for this blog post.  

Our eight year old son was born with a genetic disease causing various physical and cognitive impairments; this diagnosis was followed by a stroke in infancy.  God has been very gracious over the years and he has been able to enjoy the benefits of a regular classroom at a small Christian school albeit with some extra assistance. Our son’s class has just 18 children in it but it is a remarkable group. There is a bright little girl who was born deaf, a quiet boy born severely prematurely with global delays, a tender boy adopted from a Chinese orphanage with a cleft lip and palate, and a girl who was born with all of her intestines outside of her body (gastroschisis). Several of the children have speech and language challenges, several have learning disabilities, and a couple of them struggle with physical problems but each of them are living testimonies to an extraordinary Providence. This is a very special, compassionate group of kids. They’ve had an instructional aide in their classroom since they started together in Kindergarten and several of them also use special education services to accommodate learning challenges.    

The school, desiring to be good stewards and faced with extreme financial shortages (due largely to the number of families hit by unemployment or underemployment in the last couple years), was faced with very difficult decisions. Two days before the school year ended the administration terminated the position of both the classroom aide and the special education teacher. This was devastating. These two ladies have worked so hard and spent so much time sacrificially meeting the needs of these children; the gains the children have made are amazing. They have flourished under the encouragement and instruction given them. When we learned of the decision, we called some of the other parents and started to pray – fervently. We also started investigating what it would take financially to re-hire the special education teacher part time for the next year so that some services would be available. We were told it would take about $15,000.

Two days later, on the last day of school after nearly everyone had left, I was standing in the hallway talking to their current teacher, the teacher for next year, and the special education teacher (who’s position was eliminated). We were discussing the needs of the school and the needs of the children. I said “This is a really difficult situation but I am not afraid because I know that we serve a God of limitless power and creativity. If He can part the Red Sea, feed the 5,000, and raise the dead then He can make provision for these little ones.” 

No sooner were the words out of my mouth than another mother came running through the doors and cried out “Someone just approached my car in the parking lot and said they were going to write a check for $5,000 for special education at Freedom Christian today!” We all stood there stunned for a moment (and then I started to cry.)   Faith as a grain of mustard seed blessed with a mountain of mercy! We still have $10,000 to raise but it doesn’t seem so hard now. God has already started to make provision. We know that He doesn’t just give us trials to test our faith but to increase it, so that in the end, He may receive all the glory.     

2  Cor. 12:9 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

I’m often asked, “Where should I begin my study of the Old Testament?” Here’s my answer, extracted from my review of Roots:

So where should you begin studying the Old Testament? I recommend starting with the ESV Study Bible notes or The Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible (although NIV). They have excellent introductory chapters on each Old Testament book, the presentation is superb, and the content of both the introductions and the study notes are very Christ-centered. Especially study two wonderful sections on Old Testament salvation in the ESV Study Bible (pp. 23-26, 2635-2661).

Then move on to read the hundred or so pages in Calvin’s Institutes on the relation between the Old and New Testaments (Book 2, chapters 7-11), followed by Jonathan Edward’s History of  the Work of Redemption (especially the first 100 or so pages). That will give you a firm Gospel-centered foundation before you progress to something like Mark Dever’s Promises Made, and then on to some of the more specialized introductions and surveys of the Old Testament: Dillard & Longman’s Introduction to the Old Testament (though too concessive to critical scholarship at times), William Dumbrell’s The Faith of Israel, and the Moody Introductions.