Trust AND Obey » Music

Something Stinks!

Dave Miller — Thu, 06 May 2010 02:19:48 +0000

For most Americans, a shower is a daily necessity. My wife and I have been married for 20 years and I know she has showered at least once, every single day we’ve been married. I don’t share her singular passion for cleanliness, so about once a month I go without a shower on a Saturday. These occasions are usually when I have nothing to do, nowhere to go and nobody to see. This doesn’t seem to bother anybody in my family because, quite honestly, it’s hard to get really smelly in just one day if you’re just hanging around the house.

Not long ago, I was enjoying a shower-free Saturday and working a little harder than usual in the basement. Just before dinner, I was sitting at the computer and I noticed an odd aroma. At first, I didn’t know what it was, and then it dawned on me that it was me. I immediately shuffled off to the shower before I spoiled my family’s dinner.

Until you smell yourself, you don’t even suspect that you might need a shower. The problem is, other people can smell you long before you can smell yourself. For some reason, we’re somewhat immune to our own scent and we don’t even suspect that we might reek until we’ve been really stinky for a really, really long time.

It is no different with our sin. We are somewhat immune to noticing the stench of our own sins until we’ve allowed them to pollute our lives almost completely. Before I was saved, I was great at comparing myself to other stinking, sinning people and convincing myself that I didn’t smell as bad as they did. Some people, some nominal Christians, go through their entire lives this way. They’re kind of like the ‘deadheads’ of old, thinking a little patchouli oil (good works) will cover up the smell.

God knew that I was rotten to the core and His Holy Spirit convicted me of my sins and let me smell myself for the first time. He put it into my mind (and my nostrils) that I definitely needed a shower. He did that through a preacher who could smell me and was bold enough to tell me that I stank. God also made it clear that no water on earth could wash me as clean as I needed to be. Only the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God could wash my soul spotlessly clean. Revelation 7:14

Though I still enjoy a shower-free Saturday once in a while and like to think I don’t smell *that* bad, I am much more attuned to the smell of my own sins. Praise God that He rescued me from the patchouli-tainted works of my “carnal Christian” life and led me to trust completely in His Amazing Grace.

Where the Soul of Man Never Dies

Dave Miller — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:40:58 +0000

This is one of my favorite old-time hymns done by two great artists. Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice. There is so much wonderful music that you just don’t hear anymore. This is one that is worth listening to.

Grace – Amazing or Mundane

Dave Miller — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:13:03 +0000

O mundane grace, how dull the sound,
Useless to one like me.
I am not lost, don’t need t’be found,
I’m good, why can’t you see?

What’s grace, and why do I need it?
God knows my heart is pure.
He loves me just the way I am,
And my salvation’s sure.

Though I may sin, from time to time,
I’m not as bad as some.
At least I’m not a hypocrite,
Like all those Church-y scum.

And when I die, and go to Heav’n
And stand before the throne.
He’ll let me in, despite my sin,
For my goodness alone.

Sadly, there are many people who claim to know the Lord, who would think that there is nothing wrong with these lyrics. I have a very dear friend who believes that God is going to let her into His kingdom because of the good things she’s done. She is a universalist and my heart breaks whenever she tells me some of the non-biblical things she believes. I have talked to her at length about Romans 3:23, Titus 3:5 and Matthew 7:22-23, but she just dismisses those parts of the bible along with others that she doesn’t like. I pray for her every day. If you know people who take God’s Amazing Grace for granted, take time right now to pray for their stony hearts to be removed and replaced with hearts of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

“Beware of manufacturing a god of your own: A god who is all mercy but not just, a god who is all love but not holy, A god who has a heaven for everybody but a hell for none … Such a god is an idol of your own. The hands of your own fancy and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible.” — J.C. Ryle

The idea for this article came from an email I received from Ligonier Ministries last week announcing a new book entitled, By Grace Alone by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson. The email began with the words, “Routine Grace, How Monotonous the Sound?” I haven’t read the book, but would recommend it based on the author’s reputation alone.

Abide with Me

Dave Miller — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:47 +0000

The hymn, “Abide with Me” was written by Henry F. Lyte in 1847. My favorite verse of that great hymn appears below. Click here to hear the music while you read the lyrics.

I need thy presence every passing hour.

What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?

Who like thyself my guide and stay can be?

Through cloud and sunshine, Lord abide with me.

There is such a wonderfully textured meaning in this song. The first line expresses our utter helplessness and child-like dependence on our heavenly father. Not an hour or a minute goes by that we do not rely upon Him for our pulse and breath. Not only is our very existence sustained by God, but only His power and grace keeps us from sin. We cannot do it on our own; if we try without God we are sure to fail. Satan is powerful, but he cannot do ANYTHING without permission from the Almighty. God is sovereign over ALL.

The line about God being our ‘guide and stay’ has a much deeper meaning that it would appear. The word stay can mean simply a thing that supports or steadies something else. In that sense, God is our stay. But ’stay’ in this hymn, I believe, is a nautical term.

The writer of this hymn, Henry Lyte, was a minister in a small English town named Lower Brixham, Devonshire. In the mid-1800s, it was a fishing village and most of the people in Lyte’s parish were sea-farers. Lyte and his parishoners would understand the importance of the stay, which are the ropes used for steadying a mast fore and aft to keep it from bending. They are the strongest ropes on the ship and God is our strongest support in any storm.

The last line is a request for God to ‘abide with me.’ The greek word meno, which is used here, means to remain, endure and never leave. Through scorching sun and driving rain, Lord abide with me. What a wonderful prayer are these three words, Abide With Me.

The titular phrase is most likely taken from John 15:4-7 NASB These words are also used in the Hymn “God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand”