Tender Grass

I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord.  The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state and how my inner man may be nourished ….  I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to reading of the Word of God and meditation on it. – George Müller (as quoted in John Piper’s Desiring God)

I will never forget a conversation with a therapist about a boy who was a resident in the facility where I briefly worked.  I had giving him a series of tests, the results of which looked normal.  As the therapist and I discussed the tests, I remarked that the boy did not seem to have any real issues that would require being confined.   She replied, “Just one.  He’s German Catholic.”  The therapist was, too.  

The idea that Christianity is a religion of sacrifice, suffering, and misery is fairly wide-spread – especially, it seems sometimes, among Christians.  Some Christians try to get out of this with a gospel of health, wealth, happiness, and positive thinking.  Bad things are simply not accepted.  Anything bad that happens is a result of a “bad confession”.  Frankly my wife gets into this mode now and then and tells me that if I would not call a piece of equipment “junk” (or worse, depending on how long I’ve tried to make it function) I would not have so much trouble with it.  I am not responsible for Microsoft Windows being a crap OS or Italian steel being Fra-Jah-LEE or HP building obnoxious, temperamental  boxes -- let alone all the other ills and spills of the world. 

If I reject that approach, is the only course left just to sing:  “Doom, despair and agony on me/ Deep, dark depression excessive misery/ If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all/ Doom, despair and agony on me”?  That’s the reason that Piper wrote his book promoting what he calls Christian Hedonism – the idea that a Christian’s very purpose is to be happy – wherein he explores our beliefs about God’s sovereignty, about conversion, love, worship, Scripture, prayer, money, marriage, etc.   I think I’ve mentioned this book before.  Actually Piper starts out pretty well, but he gets really pedestrian throughout most of the text. 

No publisher is going to pay a writer for a couple of quotes from Jonathan Edwards, Luther, and Müller tied together with a couple thousand word essay.  But it would have been a much better book. 

That’s one of the problems with way too much evangelical discourse.  The writers and speakers feel compelled to make it relatable in a context.  They think they have to go into detailed explanations of how to “honor God” in your marriage and with your money and on your job.  Why can’t you just tell me what you know about God (ah, that might be the rub), shut up, and I’ll figure out the rest.   What’s the matter?  You all think you’d be out of a job if you couldn’t tell sheep how to eat grass?  A shepherd’s job is not to teach sheep how to be sheep.  It is to lead them up to higher, better pastures and protect them from the wolves. 

Anyway, as Müller points out, our job, as sheep is to be happy sheep, and we find that happiness in Christ, the Logos – often as we are led to feed upon and reflect upon His word. 

Know that the Lord, he is God!  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. – Psalm 100:3

Psalms 23 (Young’s Literal Translation)

Jehovah is my shepherd, I do not lack,

In pastures of tender grass He causeth me to lie down,

By quiet waters He doth lead me.

My soul He refresheth,

He leadeth me in paths of righteousness,

For His name's sake,

Also--when I walk in a valley of death-shade,

I fear no evil, for Thou art with me,

Thy rod and Thy staff--they comfort me.

Thou arrangest before me a table,

Over-against my adversaries,

Thou hast anointed with oil my head,

My cup is full!

Only--goodness and kindness pursue me,

All the days of my life,

And my dwelling is in the house of Jehovah,

For a length of days!