Psalm 139

This last Sunday Tony, the Sr. High Youth Pastor at our church, preached the sermon. His passage was Hebrews 4:12-13,

(12) For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (13) And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

In a class I am taking this year entitled Pastoral Theology, the culminating assignment is to identify what you believe to be the sin in your life which has the most potential to undo your ministry, and write a 10 page paper discussing what Scripture says about it, how you experience it, and how you are going to resist it. We are also to seek out trusted friends to help give us insight into this, so that we aren't limited to only our own perspective. Hebrews 4:13 suddenly felt all the more real as Tony preached from it.

Tony used as scene from the movie Saving Private Ryan as an illustration. In the scene there is a Nazi soldier and an American soldier fighting in a room at the top of a stairwell with only bayonets as their weapons - the American is losing. At the bottom of the flight of stairs there is another American soldier who still has a gun. He can hear the fight above him, but he stands with his weapon in his arms, too afraid for his own safety to risk entering into the fray and use his gun.

Tony pointed out that Hebrews tells us that Scripture is our weapon, sin is our enemy, and we are often too scared of being cut open and exposed to enter in and use it well. However, he stated, the parallel ends there - the difference being that, while most weapons bring death through their wounds, Scripture, like a scalpel in the hands of a skilled surgeon, cuts through and brings life. With each slice, though you are left exposed to the very core before our Creator and Judge, Scripture serves to cut out the sin, and put you back together again.

To be honest, this is a pretty intimidating project. I have had graduates warn me about it since I first began here. However, as the author of Hebrews (and Tony) reminds us, we use God's Word to cut to the heart of our sin, expose it to our Redeemer, and then be brought back to further health once again. Pray that I would not shy away from using Scripture to evaluate my life and heart. Pray that I would not only be further exposed to the sin in my life, but to the grace of my Saviour as well. Please pray for me as I engage this and many other difficult assignments this semester.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Test me, and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.

(Psalm 139:23-24)

- Drew