Renewal Reflected in Culture
From Psalm 147 – 12 Extol the Lord, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion. 13 He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. 14 He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.
In the Ken Burns documentary Baseball I'm looking forward to undertaking again as an imagination warm-up for the new season, a sportswriter comments on the beguiling state of the game in the 1990s. As it was beset by steroids and yet more popular than ever before, he queries, "Is it possible to have a renaissance and a calamity at the same time?"
Biblically, yes. Cities are often the recipients of God's judgment for their collective self-assurance apart from Him. Cain was told to rely on God but built the city instead. The denizens of Babel tried to reach the Heavens on their own terms. Even Jerusalem, according to Isaiah 1 and many other places, can co-opt biblical vocabulary and rituals and use them to reinforce a national, regional, and municipal culture that actually knows nothing of God's humbling, reinvigorating power.
But the other side of that sportswriter's formula is true also. As God's people are blessed, as, according to 2 Chronicles 7:14 as a pattern even though it was specifically spoken to Jerusalem, His people who are called by His Name humble themselves and seek His face, the dynamic is so powerful that the whole land experiences a kind of healing. So it is, then, that the psalmist behind that book's 147th chapter finds in God a capacity for cultural renewal.
In verses 12 to 14, he is developing more fully an aspect of God's ongoing creative power he has already alluded to. The Almighty is interested in the civic specifics, lauded in verses two and three because, "The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles in Israel." Our ancient songster rests there for a minute before he launches into his God's intimate knowledge of nearly infinite space. He'll be back to the glory of God in the neighborhood shortly.
The hope that a city will praise God on the whole is worthwhile enough that the Divine object of that aspiration preserves it for us in Psalm 147:12. The distinction between this and soppy naïveté is clear enough by the next verse. Even as countries and cities might be experiencing the runoff of renewal from God's action among His elect, gates are still necessary. In fact, strong national defense is an aspect of His blessing.
As we, Christians, grow more satisfied in Him, more convicted and convinced that our worship in the church and our work in the thoroughfares and the fields are one, God's character is demonstrated in ways even the world begins to notice. The wheat we produce, the tangible results of our engagement in this world undertaken by faith even if we aren't farmers, are cause for comment. With CS Lewis in Mere Christianity, we can join those who make the biggest difference in this world precisely BECAUSE depend on the next world for our fulfillment and ultimate success.
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In the Ken Burns documentary Baseball I'm looking forward to undertaking again as an imagination warm-up for the new season, a sportswriter comments on the beguiling state of the game in the 1990s. As it was beset by steroids and yet more popular than ever before, he queries, "Is it possible to have a renaissance and a calamity at the same time?"
Biblically, yes. Cities are often the recipients of God's judgment for their collective self-assurance apart from Him. Cain was told to rely on God but built the city instead. The denizens of Babel tried to reach the Heavens on their own terms. Even Jerusalem, according to Isaiah 1 and many other places, can co-opt biblical vocabulary and rituals and use them to reinforce a national, regional, and municipal culture that actually knows nothing of God's humbling, reinvigorating power.
But the other side of that sportswriter's formula is true also. As God's people are blessed, as, according to 2 Chronicles 7:14 as a pattern even though it was specifically spoken to Jerusalem, His people who are called by His Name humble themselves and seek His face, the dynamic is so powerful that the whole land experiences a kind of healing. So it is, then, that the psalmist behind that book's 147th chapter finds in God a capacity for cultural renewal.
In verses 12 to 14, he is developing more fully an aspect of God's ongoing creative power he has already alluded to. The Almighty is interested in the civic specifics, lauded in verses two and three because, "The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles in Israel." Our ancient songster rests there for a minute before he launches into his God's intimate knowledge of nearly infinite space. He'll be back to the glory of God in the neighborhood shortly.
The hope that a city will praise God on the whole is worthwhile enough that the Divine object of that aspiration preserves it for us in Psalm 147:12. The distinction between this and soppy naïveté is clear enough by the next verse. Even as countries and cities might be experiencing the runoff of renewal from God's action among His elect, gates are still necessary. In fact, strong national defense is an aspect of His blessing.
As we, Christians, grow more satisfied in Him, more convicted and convinced that our worship in the church and our work in the thoroughfares and the fields are one, God's character is demonstrated in ways even the world begins to notice. The wheat we produce, the tangible results of our engagement in this world undertaken by faith even if we aren't farmers, are cause for comment. With CS Lewis in Mere Christianity, we can join those who make the biggest difference in this world precisely BECAUSE depend on the next world for our fulfillment and ultimate success.
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